I am currently a graduate student at the George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs. This semester, I am taking a leave of absence to study political science and economics at UC Berkeley and explore the West Coast with my parents. I will be returning to DC in January (hopefully by then I'll have an apartment!) so I can graduate in May 2007 with an MA in International Affairs (concentration: international economics).

I did study abroad for a semester during my Junior year - I went to Paris, was going to stay for a whole year, and then ended up leaving after a semester because I did not like it as much as I thought I would. My first host family was absolutely terrible, my second one was okay, but overall my experience in Paris was not as positive and exciting as I had hoped it would be. Nevertheless, I did find that I benefited from it as I am now more familiar with French culture, and I was able to travel a lot more through France than I would have otherwise on my own. It was an interesting cultural experience and it helped me significantly improve my French.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to use it much during my years at graduate school. Occasionally, I will meet someone who speaks French, but other than that it is really hard to keep it up. Hopefully I will be able to make use of my French skills though once I get a real job after graduate school.