It’s time for one of these. I’m already entering my last semester of school. Soon, I will be an official MIA*.
This semester has already proved itself to be the busiest semester ever. There are some good reasons, and a few bad ones, for why this is the case. Let’s start with the positives – Uganda!
One of the reasons that I choose Columbia University is that, instead of a thesis, for our final semester we have to do a capstone project. The projects ranged from Evaluating the risks of Rare Earth minerals, Land Tenure in Haiti, a Green Transportation analysis for the Sierra Club, and the mine.
Our’s is unique – it’s called “Avoiding the Resource Curse in Uganda” and it’s one of only a few that have a field travel component. Yep – during Spring Break I’ll be going to Uganda to see how well setup their institutions and governance structures are in order for them to manage and develop their oil resources sustainably.
It’s a project that involves a lot of sectors – energy, environment, economics, international institutions – which make it a ton of work, but incredibly fulfilling too, as I feel I’m learning applicable skills and practical knowledge. There are eight of us on the team, representing six nationalities, and everyone is pretty awesome. I’ll be posting updates on the progress of our project here, and also stories/insight from Uganda.
Besides that, job hunting…job hunting. Not as much as I should be doing, but still a big deal
* MIA = Master in International Affairs, my degree
