Where in the World is Gdansk?

Now you know.

The Unplanned Unknown

People keep asking me questions about Poland.  My own grasp of details surrounding my year in Poland is minimal.  Minimal as in almost entirely nonexistent.

Things I DO know:

1. I leave for Poland on September 5th.
2. I will live in Gdansk.
3. I will be assisting in three phonetics classes.
4. I like Polish food.

Things I DON'T know:

1. When I go to Gdansk.
2. Where I'm going to live.
3. What assisting in three phonetics classes entails.
4. What my time outside of teaching will be spent on.
5. How much I will be able to travel.
6. If I'm coming home for Christmas.
7. If I'm coming home during the year at all.
8. When I'm coming home for good.
9. Just about everything else that isn't explicitly mentioned in "Things I DO know."

 As you can see, the details of my life for the next year are known only by one person, NOT ME!  Praise God I have a strong faith that He will provide for me.  So many other students have successfully completed the Fulbright program, that I'm surprisingly not freaking out too much about not having an answer to my housing question.

One of my dear adult friends at church reminded me that planning just leaves room for failure.  Without plans, things can't go wrong and so stress levels are lower.  I have a feeling the next month is going to be a major test of the veracity of this theory.

For now, I will ignore the panic of the planner in me bubbling under the surface and procrastinate on packing as I continue to enjoy my life as an American in the United States with my lifelong friends and family around me for 2 1/2 more weeks!

A Shameless Plug of My Summer's Awesomeness

Even with a pretty rocky start, my internship at the Heritage Foundation in D.C. has been incredible.    My impressions during the first few days of the internship were a pretty accurate portrayal of how the summer would go.  The last ten weeks have been a whirlwind of excitement and learning, but I’ve grown a lot in my research skills, made incredible friends, and eaten way too much free food. 

You can continue for a more detailed description of my summer, or scroll down for more aesthetically pleasing representation (aka pictures).

Over the summer, I worked in the Center for Data Analysis (CDA).  CDA is responsible for most of the statistical research that Heritage policy relies on.  The most valuable part of this internship has been working on policy issues that are part of the current political landscape.  My long term projects are still under wraps, but I’ll be sharing that research as it gets published!

Shorter term projects involved different blog posts on issues like taxes in Obamacare and crazy union shenanigans.  I’ve done smaller research projects that have been passed onto congressional offices to support things like the Raise Act and whistleblower protection statute for union employees

The biggest benefit in the research I’ve done was my supervisor challenging me to figure it out on my own.  I have grown immensely in my statistical capabilities, as well as my understanding of STATA, an important statistical software package.

. 

My experience at Heritage has solidified my love for DC and the work that is done in the conservative movement to preserve our country’s greatness. After the SCOTUS decision about Obamacare, the director of CDA, Bill Beach, said something that sums up my feelings about working at the Heritage Foundation.  He said that when we’re 80 years old and in rocking chairs, we can tell our kids we did our best to leave them a country we’re proud of. 

On top of the phenomenal time at Heritage, I’ve had a wide variety of other experiences.   In just one week, I met Ron Paul, met Dr. John Taylor, went to the Congressional Baseball game, watched the SCOTUS decision on Obamacare, watched the House vote Holder in contempt of Congress, visited Mt. Vernon (where I learned about the 4^th of July!), went to a DC-United match and survived a massive thunder storm.

I’ve also been blessed to be involved with a fantastic Catholic community at St. Joseph’s on Capitol Hill.  Through Bible studies and other fellowship-building activities, my faith and friendships have deepened.  Being in DC during the Fortnight for Freedom was also an incredible experience because DC is the heart of the policy decisions for this country.   

Some highlights in pictures:

This was pre-getting lost in a rain storm and walking an hour to find dinner.  

Fabulous CDA interns, the best and brightest (and only) that James has ever supervised.

The Summer 2012 Intern Class.  Check out who's next to Dr. Feulner!

My friend Jonathan is ensuring my aim gets better every time I'm in town.

Ron Paul cheering on the Republicans at the Congressional Baseball game.

Cardinal Wuerl after the Fortnight for Freedom celebration.

Stephanie just hit the wall, she never had it all.

No, I'm not referring to depression or prozac use.  Summer always has a wall for me.  Since graduating high school, I've noticed right around the beginning of August I have an intense longing for Mt. Pleasant (which is incredibly weird if you've ever BEEN to Mt. P.)

Whether I'm living at home or on an internship or in Spain for World Youth Day, I desire normalcy, the comfort of regularity.   My college life evolved quite a bit over four years---I joined and left different clubs, participated in different volunteer projects, changed my major and acquired different friend-groups.  However, there were things that stayed pretty constant.  I knew on Tuesdays at 9 pm I was at College Republicans and Thursdays at 7 pm was reserved for Corpus Christi.  I could visit Ken Rumsey whenever I had an academic crisis.  Most importantly, my closest friends were only a text message and a 15 minute walk away.

Maybe that's why the number of new places I've been the last two and a half years bothers me  sometimes.  I've lived in five different places: Mt. Pleasant, Clinton Township, Ann Arbor, Warsaw, Washington D.C. (twice!).   In those moves, I've met an untold number of awesome people and had some amazing experiences, but they're short.  My visits home generally last no more than three weeks---which makes it difficult to maintain friendships or feel like more than a visitor.  Mt. Pleasant has effectively been my home base for four years. 

Life has become a series of short-term friendships.  Don't get me wrong, there are people I've met during every opportunity that I still talk to and consider a good friend.  I have friends in Poland that I haven't seen in over two years who are anxiously planning my return next month.  Friends have gotten me through crazy things during the summer and study abroad.  From deaths in the family to weddings I've missed, I wouldn't be sane without friends.

I've made good friends over the summers, but there's something intrinsically different between investing in a friendship that is going to be around for four years vs. ten weeks.  And my friends at CMU are seriously like part of my family.

Over the weekend I started talking to my younger friends about how excited they are to move back to school.  I hit that wall of desire, but I'm not going back.  It's an incredibly weird feeling to not start packing for Mt. Pleasant. That's what I've done the last four years of my life.  I've lived in Mt. P. longer than anywhere since high school and it was my home until May.  Now, I feel a little bit more like an unmoored boat whose crew isn't sure when to throw out the anchor.

Permanence is something that our culture doesn't seem to value, but I crave it.  While I'm incredibly excited for Poland and grad school, I can't help but think that the next three years are very temporary and will play out very much like the last two and half years have been---a substantial amount of moving and another influx of incredible people into my life.  However, a part of me just can't help but look forward to the day I graduate from IU, settle down into a career somewhere, and begin to invest in a more permanent life.