In college, a four-month study abroad trip was life-changing. In my 30s, living in a new country for a year is a mere warm-up. Celebrating one year of living in Saigon has felt somewhat anticlimactic. In so many ways, I feel we’ve only just arrived in Vietnam. We seem to …
Phew! I’m done with my first and hopefully final (given I passed everything) set of LSE exams!! This honestly has been the worst academic purgatory I have ever endured. It was just so… long, and painful. Cramming 5, year-long courses worth of information in my head is definitely not anyone’s …
As we grow older, the phrase, “time flies” is uttered often. For me, however, this past year did not fly by; the year progressed seemingly slowly in the best possible way. While only 365 days have lapsed, I feel as though 5 years’ worth of experiences had taken place since …
Recently, I’ve received requests for informational calls to discuss my “career path”. I’ve happily obliged to pay it forward, since I myself had requested many of these calls while in grad school. A pattern soon emerged. Gleaming from my resumé, people apparently think I had some master plan to weave …
Happy New Year to all! 2009 was a fulfilling year for me where I spent the entire calendar year in Cameroon with the Peace Corps. 2010 is the year that I will depart. When I received my invitation to the Peace Corps that read August 2008 – August 2010, the …
I’ve been receiving emails regarding the GPPN Dual Degree program between the LSE and Columbia SIPA that I am pursuing. In the interest of sharing information, here’s some key considerations…
The last time that I spent Chinese New Year in Asia was 15 years ago, so I was awaiting CNY in Shanghai with much anticipation. I’ve always heard about the Great Migration that happens over the holiday. Starting on February 1st, I began to witness an exodus out of Shanghai. …
Since my last post on the LSE MPA, there have been some significant changes made to the curriculum. How did I find out about the new changes? An email from my blog reader. This in and of itself should raise concern over the level (or lack thereof) of communication between …
Several years ago, someone told me that their company gives every employee a day off on their birthday. I found that to be a brilliant idea. Since my company doesn’t have this policy, I decided to implemented for myself. For the past few years, I’ve taken at least one day off for my birthday. If it falls on a weekend, as it does this year, then I take a day to make it a long weekend! This is #selfcare in all its beauty, and I encourage you to adopt it…
A few months ago, I wrote a post on my thoughts on the LSE MPA after my first term. Now that I have completed the year and am in the final stretch preparing for exams, I thought it’s time to do a bit of update on how I really feel. …