Qatar

QATAR?!?!!

Yes, Qatar. I just accepted a position with AIESEC United States to be on the expansion team into Qatar for 12-18 months.

I'll be working to establish an image and a market for AIESEC in Qatar, in addition to some sales work. I'll be working with two female AIESECers; one from Canada and one from the Netherlands.

The departure dates are still a bit fuzzy, and a lot of the details still have to be ironed out, but this is a tentative schedule:

Orientation Meeting: First or second week in June
Go to Qatar: End of June (that's a month from now!!)
Come back to Madison: Last two weeks of July
Go back to Qatar: End of July

Ooh... I'm a little scared and definitely a lot excited! :)

What clown school can teach you...

Penn and Teller burn a flag in the White House... (not the real white house... The West Wing's White House)

"There is nothing like a vanish; so pure. But what does it mean? I know what you're thinking. A simple magic trick, a simple vanish can have no meaning whatsoever. But what if, instead, we used a piece of cloth that was nothing but meaning? What if the piece of cloth that we chose was the flag of the United States of America?"

The dialogue is so cool and insightful. Talk about patriotism.

yesterday

Yesterday was beautiful... I slept in, made a delicious breakfast, went shopping with one of my best friends, spent time outside at the terrace with my little sister and her boyfriend, went to an AIESEC barbeque with my favorite people in Madison, had dinner with my family at the fanciest restaurant in town and went out with AIESECers until 3 AM.

If this is what it means to be an "adult," I'm all for it. :)

My graduation ceremony is tomorrow.

empty spaces

“All I’m saying is this,” the older man says. “You have to look at the empty spaces in your life, see the possibilities, and turn them into opportunities.”

Hmm...

transition

I haven't studied at all for my last final at 7:45 AM tomorrow, but instead have been preparing for the transition that's happening in four days. I picked up my graduation cap and gown today. I had lunch with my two best friends and we thought about that being the last time we would all be in the same place for at least a year. I got a haircut, perhaps to shed the "college student" image (?) and to facilitate reaching into a new era .

And I talked about being part of the expansion team into Bahrain, Qatar or Oman next year instead of doing a traineeship. A potential interview awaits on Monday if I decide I want to go for it. My mom says no, but every AIESECer I've talked to says YES. I think my mind is already made up.

And I realize... I'm totally ready. I know what I want to do, and whatever the challenges, I'll pursue it. Maybe there's a reason my traineeships have been falling through. Maybe this is the opportunity I've been waiting for. If my time in AIESEC has taught me anything, it's that going for an opportunity that presents itself despite misgivings and uncertainty is the most courageous thing you can do for yourself. There's nothing like the feeling you have when that thing that you didn't think you could do becomes real because of your successes.

last day

After an incredibly frustrating last day of classes (ever) on Thursday, I was supposed to meet my friend at the Union and go out on his boat. I did, and called a few AIESECers to come with me... it was a gorgeous, gorgeous night... We were on the boat from 4ish until 9ish, enjoying life, chatting, swimming, reminiscing, watching the sunset and listening to music from the union... I really needed that time to decompress, as the reality of my undergraduate career coming to a close had just hit me square in the face.

After the boat, we took a leisurely walk down State Street around dusk, and I could feel myself wanting to savor every moment as long as possible. After an Ian's pizza and some margaritas, I went home.

A wonderful surprise was waiting for me in my mailbox: a thank-you card from one of the AIESECers that I bonded with this year. She has done great things so far, things that I never had the opportunity to do in the organization, and I'm looking forward to seeing so much more from her. And then I get another e-mail from another AIESECer that I worked closely with this semester, thanking me for my encouragement and inspiration this semester...

As my favorite underclassmen AIESECers begin to gain the confidence that comes with knowing that they are now one year older and a whole lot wiser and are now in charge of the organization, I can see them developing and taking ownership. And I know that I helped them get there. And it's a great feeling. :)

It was probably the most memorable Thursday I've ever had.

echo

After spending a day having a good time and not a care in the world with people that I love, I got home a checked my e-mail. This was what was waiting for me:

"Your father and I are in Barcelona, just arriving back to the hotel (at nearly midnight!!) from eating at a lovely restaurant. It is so great to be here, looking at people all around us talking with intensity and expression and passion, like I and you do, not with anesthetized demeanors! It feels so like being at home! Of course it also feels like we forgot something, because you both are not along with us for the trip. Everything we see, we feel your absence because we can't share it with you both. It feels so weird not to have you with us on this adventure, as we always did all of our lives... I will wish with all my heart that you know your roots always, because that is the biggest gift: to echo with the places and the dignity of our ancestry, as I do here."

[Yes, my mom really does write like that - and English is her second language - but that's how she sounds especially when she's really, truly happy. You can hear the passion in the way her words are strung together. Nobody can say that I'm not my mom's daughter... :) ]

This is how I felt in Mexico... this is how I feel with AIESECers... this is how it feels to be at home. But for us, home can be anywhere in the world.

Tonight, I'm toasting to the possibility of the future. I'm beginning to embrace the uncertainty, because knowing exactly what the future holds for me isn't as pleasurable and exciting as it is to know that whatever I do, I'm driven to do because of the chance that I will have this feeling... but in a different country with a different culture and people I've only just met.