Oh…by the way, I graduated!

Woah - Life is FLYING by!  Slow Down please!

Yikes I apologize that it has been SO long since I wrote in this blog…life seems to be progressing faster than the speed of light, and I am holding on with my cheeks flapping in the wind. 

Good news is: in the last few months I have successfully graduated from my one-year intensive Master’s program, and have picked up several interesting consultancy positions within the area.  I have traveled to Indonesia to present my thesis at an International Conference on Human Rights, I traveled to Myanmar for a friend’s wedding, and went to Cambodia to present a co-authored report at the ASEAN Summit.  (Don’t worry I will fill you in on all of this in more detail in the subsequent posts!)  

That million dollar question that everyone seems to ask me: “What are you going to do now that you graduated?”  I have had people ask me this question so often I sometimes come up with snarky answers like, “Oh I don’t know, maybe travel the world, or spend time on the beach – I can’t really be bothered by much at the moment.”  As most people might suspect, or as the chain of events goes, after you are a poor measly student – you need to get a job.  So there is nothing that is profound or unique about my upcoming months here – I am trying to get a job!

Me with my published thesis :)  DONE!

The most logical question that follows the “get a job” one, is “WHERE?”  And that is an interesting question.  The world seems like such a big place, and there are so many places I hope to travel to and live.  The expression “the world is your oyster” has never seemed more real and I often dream about the amazing places that I can work in this world.  I really could pick up and move anywhere!   However, I have managed to fall in love with Southeast Asia and find that the mix of development issues in this region are vast, complex and unique – and I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here thus far and do not feel ready to part ways with this region just yet.  My grandmother and others can’t seem to understand why or how I could possibly want to work in this region of the world, and I honestly don’t know how to better explain it than by reviewing this blog and seeing all the wonderful, amazing and inspiring opportunities I have had here in the past year: working with refugees along the border, interviewing flood victims in mid-Thailand, creating agri-business plans with farmers in Viet Nam and enjoying tea with fisherman in rural Myanmar while discussing the impact of tourism development.  If that isn’t convincing enough – I don’t know what is!

The next few posts take a quick overview of the past two months, and try to encapsulate everything (or almost everything!) that I have done since graduating!