Questions

Here are some questions people seem to enjoy asking me. If you have your own, please let me know!

What did you major in?
International Affairs, and I double-minored in Mandarin and Asian Studies.

What's International Affairs?
It's really hard to answer this without sounding sarcastic, because it's exactly what it sounds like: it's international relations. You can choose to focus on a certain area, like politics, international organizations, education, etc., but the major itself involves becoming well-rounded in a variety of subjects and learning to write multiple, lengthy papers in a very short time. You essentially need to learn to be conversational about nearly anything and adaptable to situations you'd encounter if you ever traveled overseas (which most people in that field wish to do!)

What are you going to do with this aforementioned degree?
Hopefully, become a diplomat! I passed the first part of the test and then the Foreign Service said "no, thank you" to me the year I graduated. As of now, I'll be trying again in December! It's a test you can only take once a year, so...you know. No pressure!

Who is Marcus?
That's my man-candy. He's been my partner in life for almost four years and he's incredibly supportive of my many (often changing) interests. In return, he gets to be my taste-tester when I cook anything.

Do you miss Arizona?
Oh, no. I'm sorry, I wish I could pretend I did. I really do.

Do you like Washington?
Yeah, for the most part! I don't necessarily dig on the traffic all the time. Marcus mentioned once that he thought the streets must have been built by the D-student engineers, and now I can't shake that...the stoplights are really inconveniently placed. I do love the rain, though!

Do you really need those glasses?
Yes.

Aren't you a little young to be requesting one of our complimentary wine samples?
No.*

*--but I probably also shouldn't be having too much of that anyway. I was recently informed on a trip overseas that the trademark heaviness I get in my legs when I've had a few sips of alcohol is actually a potential indicator of an allergic reaction. More on that once I verify.

Are you fluent in Chinese?
I wish! I'm moderately conversational at best, and that distinction was afforded to me by a very gracious and patient professor who has probably been listening to people butchering her native tongue for quite some time.