The End of Taught Course Work - The Start of Independent Research
I honestly can't begin to tell you how quickly the past couple of months have gone by.
From moving out of my London flat to finishing four of the hardest essays I've ever had to do and beginning to prepare for the adventure of married life, it has been in a word a whirlwind.
After getting back from London and before unpacking any of my luggage, I had four essay deadlines to meet. The first was for my course in Borders & Development, second in Issues in Forced Migration, third was Theory, Policy & Practice of Development, and finally my largest paper to date in International Migration and Diaspora Studies was due the 23rd of April.
Each paper discussed a very different area of what I had been studying and therefore all required an incredible amount of organizing and framing before writing anything. I cut it pretty close on the deadline for two of them (all of them) and can't begin to tell you the relief that I felt in submitting my final taught course assignments.
Once I finished my taught course assessments I gave myself basically a month to settle back into life stateside. That month was filled with blessings. Shane took up a long-term substitute teaching position at Winona High School and coaching with my dad at Onalaska High School.
I was absolutely blown away by my younger sisters with Emily competing at two national forensic competitions (in addition to being chosen to be an RA at UW-Eau Claire next year!) and Clair qualifying for the NCAA Division III track and field championships in both the 100 hurdles and as a relay member for UWL's 4x100. My amazing mother landed a new job and my dad successfully coached several athletes back to the Wisconsin State Track meet as well as received a distinguished teacher rating in his latest renewal. I am so proud of my family for seeking out new opportunities and instilling a passion for hard-work in everything they do.
With my wonderful month off done I have spent the last week and a half really digging into my independent research and hopefully will complete the literature review component of the paper by the end of June. That being said the topic has been narrowed to focus on bio-political power and strategies at the US Southwest Border. It combines my passion for political geography, political science, and biology. I am really excited to see where this research will take me.
In more academic news, I am only waiting for one last grade to come in to find out my interim marks and standing for the taught portion of the course. As of right now I have achieved two merits and three distinctions in my courses. The two merits were in Migration & Development and Issues in Forced Migration while the distinctions were in Theory, Policy & Practice of Development, Borders & Development, and Violence, Conflict and the Politics of Memory. I am just waiting on my final grade for International Migration and Diaspora Politics.
In general life news, Shane and I have adopted a rescue kitten who we have dubbed Bagheera after the black panther in the Jungle Book.
We successfully booked a venue for our wedding reception, chose a date to begin marriage preparation at the Roncalli Newman Center, decided on June 29th 2019 for the actual wedding date, and I even said yes to the dress last week!!!!
The dresses in the pictures are just two of the dresses I tried on....
....the actual wedding dress is a secret ;)
We are having such a fun time planning this celebration and I'll hopefully have more updates coming in the next couple of weeks about this entire process. Shane has also taken up a seat on the La Crosse Track Club board to help introduce an adult track club program to our area. We are so excited for this opportunity mostly because of the incredible community we were adopted into in London at the Heathside Track Club. Their passion for track and field not only inspired Shane into taking on this new adventure here in La Crosse but also inspired me to come back to competitive track and field after nearly a three year hiatus.
In Rotary news, I had an amazing time sitting on a panel with former Global Grant Scholars and a Peace Fellow at the Rotary Tri-Conference in May. I always find myself so energized after Rotary District Conferences and was impressed with the passion and purpose of Rotarians, Roteracts and Rotary exchange students that I have decided to apply for a position with Rotary International. I know that I really can't give enough back to Rotary to repay them for their belief in me and their support. However, I think that pursuing a position with RI is just a step in that direction. Rotary is an incredible organization and I want to share it (and my love for it) with as many people as I can.
I know that regardless of whether or not I am blessed with the opportunity to join Rotary in a professional sense, I will always be apart of this community and will keep seeking ways in which to serve it.
Well, while I could probably keep this update going (because I have certainly missed and skimmed over some big stuff) I think it may be best to call it a day and get back to my research.
Chao for now!