This year was a good one for me. I finally felt fully comfortable and confident as a student at Ohio State. On a personal level, I have lived on my own for two years now and can actually cook a decent meal and I know how to pay taxes! I ran my second half marathon on a chilly morning, and learned how to climb a rock wall. I got closer with my friends, most of whom I met through my International Affairs Scholars’s program.

But academically and career-wise, my growth has been even more pronounced. This year started with a trip to India, which convinced me that I really enjoy traveling and learning about religion, and that I can handle 100+ degree Fahrenheit temperatures. I got myself a year ahead in 7 weeks in Arabic, with a summer intensive program.  I took some amazing political science classes, and became confident enough to speak up more in class and actually go to office hours to get to know my professors. I approached a few of my professors about research, something that I hope to assist with next fall and to start my own next spring.

I started my strategic communications major and learned how to write in AP Style, which opens up a lot of internship doors at PR firms or media outlets. I wrote not one but two 1000 word papers in Arabic, and read a handful of novels written by Arab feminists. After a long and stressful wait, I won funding to study Arabic in Morocco for eight weeks abroad, an experience that I look forward to with equal parts excitement and nervousness. I read grant proposals with several hundred other women at the Women’s Fund of Central Ohio, and I job shadowed a brilliant lawyer at an oral argument. I discovered that I like Ohio Politics and working in the legislature, but that I LOVE teaching citizenship classes to immigrants and refugees who are seeking naturalization. I enjoyed teaching so much that it has made me consider applying for a Fulbright to teach English abroad, and to pursue a career in higher education and teach people for a living.