life update :)

before writing the next two blog entries (destination: bologna and destination: paris.. i know, creative titles) - a quick life update.

1) first, i changed my schedule for the fall from what i originally planned. for anyone who knows me and is remotely aware of my love affair with wesmaps and/or my inability to make decisions.. this comes as no surprise. i'm still taking worling the world and islam and muslim cultures, but i'm taking foreign policy at the movies and russian politics. i'm sure everyone was dying to know what my schedule would be so there it is. 

pro: i only have class on tuesdays, wednesdays, and thursdays.
con: i have three classes on tuesdays and thursdays and my rubenstein class on wednesdays. 
con: i'm going to have so much reading. for the rubenstein class alone it'll probs be 400 pages a week or something equally ridic.
pro and con: i'm going to have to work. really. hard. and be stressed out. but at least i'll enjoy going to class?

well. we'll see how that works out.

2) it looks like i will not be going home this summer. so if you haven't been reading my blog but happen to catch this entry - it's your lucky day because apparently my blog is full of inconsistencies. well. i'm not going back to seoul because.... i got the davenport grant from wesleyan to do research for my thesis in france this summer!!!!!!!!! yes, this means someone is actually giving ME money to do something that i really want to do!!!!! SO. EXCITING. i've moved around a couple dates so it looks like my plans will look something like this:

may 19: leave prague
may 19-june 9: research in france
june 9: fly to dc
june 14-august 13: intern at pfaw
august 15: move back to wes for HR training

so what is my thesis and what kind of research will i be doing? well i will hopefully be writing about all my french adventures in this blog! my thesis is about french representation of religion and religious communities in north africa. i want to study how colonizers are affected and transformed through their interaction with the colonized, and how french representation of north african religions and religious communities changed domestic french policies. that's the gist of it. anyhow i am bummed that i won't be going home but i think this is going to be an incredible experience. now, if only i could find a place to live between may 19 to august 15...