Iran So Far Away

After watching daily the riots in Iran, reading twitter feed after twitter feed of Iranian University students witnessing the violence in the streets of Iran, and hearing eye witness accounts of what is happening from my relatives it's becoming clear to me I won't be allowed to go to Iran this summer. But seeing all this change happen makes me want to be there to witness it myself.

This will now be my 3rd failed attempt to go to Iran in my life. I'm not sure what's there that someone up there doesn't want me to see, but I'm going to use every resource available to get there before the school year begins again.

The Summer of Dreams

So this summer I decided is going to be a summer of personal improvement. I have a list of goals I want to accomplish that I'm going to work on every day/week:
1. Bike the glacial trail from Madison to my house in Waukesha
2. Read a book a week
3. Learn to play guitar
4. Learn Spanish
5. Learn to write Farsi

This blog will serve as my accountability, aka I'll have to write what I did every day and I'll feel like a douche if I neglected one of the goals during the week.

So by the end of the summer I will be able to:
1. Bike to my house from my apt
2. Have read 12 books
3. Play 5 songs on my guitar
4. Hold a conversation in Spanish
5. Be able to write in farsi

I hate politics

So turns out getting to Iran this summer is going to be more difficult than expected. Iranian elections are coming up and the Iranian embassy is telling me I can't stay for very long because I'm an American. Sweet.

L'Avenir

Dad: Meemee, you need to get your life in order and get your head out of the clouds. School is number one.
Me: Dad I don't care about school. The only people who care about my undergrad grades in the long run are you and mom and grandma. Especially since I'm not planning on grad school.
Dad: Well what are you going to do with your life then??? You are going to be a bum aren't you! I knew you didn't want to do anything with your life!!!

Plan for my life:
December 2010- Graduate
Summer 2011- Move to Iran
2011-2012 year Internship in Iran...doing ANYTHING
2012-2013 Intensive Arabic classes in Dubai University
2013-2014 Return to America and pray someone needs an Arabic, Farsi, or French translator.


If that's not the sweetest life plan ever I don't know what is.

To the Princess

I've had requests to make this post, so here we go.

For those of you who didn't know: Monica Sharma is an Indian Princess. She is also a carpet muncher, but you didn't hear that from me.

Another Incredible AIESEC Experience

Not quite as incredible as my traineeship, but certainly another heart-felt experience was this past weekend with the Rowdies Region for ROKS. It was AMAZING talking to all the different AIESECers old and new. It was especially cool because I actually have a pretty substantial influence in Madison and so I have an idea of our structure and how we can keep improving. Because of this I could have really meaningful conversations with AIESECers around the region involving their LCs.

Every semester I keep wondering what I will learn and every semester my mind is continually blown. I sometimes look forward in my life and wonder where I'm headed. Then I realize if I keep pushing myself to meet new people, discover new ideas, and work with different minds, I'll never feel unfulfilled.

A prochaine mes amis :)

Seeing a lot of my friends leaving for foreign countries on new and exciting adventures was a lot easier than I thought it would be.
1. I know they'll be back to frolic once again in glorious Madison
2. They are going to have the time of their lives, and it would be cruel for me to be selfish
3. When they return they'll tell me about all their amazing experiences, and I'll feel like I too have all those experiences in my memory

I just read The World Is Flat by Thomas Friedman for the second time and recalled what had been shoved in the back of my brain before: The world is flat, and everyone on it can now see everyone else. Globalization definitely has it's faults but then again, it definitely has it's advantages also.