So I'm a Slacker
Sorry, waaaaaaaaayyyy long time no blog. Well, sue me. I've been busy.

My birthday (which was, like, more than a week ago) was awesome. It was definitly the best birthday I've had in a long time, I think since my Sweet 16th. Mom and Dad were here cuz it was Parent's Weekend, and they brought presents (FOOD!, etc) from home. We had a good time . . . that is, until I told them I wanted to intern with the State Department at an embassy overseas and then when I said I hadn't been to mass since I'd arrived in New Haven (the latter, an issue I mean to rectify tomorrow, capitalizing on my extra hour). Then I organized my own birthday party, getting a group of all my favorite people together to go sake-bombing at Miya's! We had SUCH a good time. It was a really great group of people - everyone that I love here at Yale (Beth, Nick, Abby, Dave, Drew, Caitlin, Melanie, Angela, Ankita, and Ted), and we had an awesome time!

Yeah, so you haven't missed much. Because outside of my birthday I've been, hmmm, let's see - what have I been doing? Oh, I remember - WORKING.

There was a cool film presentation this week on UN Peacekeeping operations that was quite interesting. So was the discussion afterward. Robert Piper (our Australian World Fellow who works for the UNDP) was there and I think he's just brilliant. And it's not just the accent. He's realistic without being pessimistic and I appreciate that. I also appreciate his shaved head. I think that facial expression is really enhanced by a bald head, because then your whole head and not just your face contributes to conveying your feelings. It's much more effective.

Happy Birthday, Leah!
- posted by Nicole @ 1:24 AM

 
University of Namibia
Yes, Namibia - that country in Africa. Glee Club went to Africa a couple years ago for their international tour, and they did a joint concert with the UNAM choir. Last week, the UNAM choir came here! And we hosted them! I had one of the members of the choir stay with me. Her name was Regina - she was so awesome! We had so much fun. They were all such cool people, and what a fabulous choir! They were awesome! Their choir had about 18 members, but they had such a strong, solid sound, and the music was awesome. They tought us some songs, and at the end of their concert they brought us up on stage and we performed a song together. It was one of the coolest experiences so far this semester. I was really amazed at how close we all got, even with them only being here for a couple days. It was so cool - I can say I have a friend in Namibia! And if I do end up studying abroad in South Africa, she may try to come visit me there, because Namibia just north of South Africa.

On Friday, the European Union representative to the UN came here to speak, and I went. He gave a really fabulous talk (and my ever-amazing advisor/professor was there too, to introduce the speaker). He talked about how cultural differences affect policy decisions, and he focused a lot on the transatlantic relationship. You wouldn't really think of Europe and America as having very disparate cultures, but there are some major tenets that result in some very different policies and approaches to international affairs. For example, because of our colonial history, our culture is much more suspicious of government - especially big government - than in Europe. Then there's that whole "right to bear arms" thing, and our willingness to use violence and agression as a means of redressing grievances or protecting ourselves. He had some really insightful things to say, and I really enjoyed the talk.

. . . And my birthday is this Friday - YEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAA! (Just in case anyone forgot . . .) I'm so excited! But I'm sooooooooooooooo old! This is my LAST teenage year. THIS IS MY LAST NIGHT IN THE NURSURY!
- posted by Nicole @ 1:12 AM

 
This Weekend
Nick's sisters came to visit this weekend and I think I successfully passed the "Sister Test". They're such nice girls! It was really fun to spend time with them, and to watch him interact with them. It was really cute.

World Fellows Night was Thursday, and while it was certainly enjoyable, it wasn't as good as last year's. I went to the panel discussion on "(Mis)Matching Local and International Needs", and it provided a lot of insight on the relationship between donor countries and the recipients of aid. The guy from Malawi in particular had some interesting things to say about the process of privatization, and how it's not always as beneficial as it seems. The main point of the panel was that "one size fits all" solutions and the conditions imposed by organizations like the World Bank and IMF are not always conducive to solving the problems in developing countries.

Sadly, I left before they started serving the South African wine.
- posted by Nicole @ 3:30 PM

 
Ca fait longtemps que je ne blog pas . . .
*sigh of relief* The preliminary midterms finally ended today. Yes, it's already that time of year; that's why I dropped off the radar for a little bit. So, here's some catch-up (no, not the red stuff):

Me mum was in town last weekend, with Nana, Aunt Lisa, and Julia. It was really great to have them here! We had an awesome time together (they stayed at this really cool little European Bed and Breakfast place called the Three Chimneys - it was so quaint, and yet, so bourgeois.) Julia got to stay the night, which was really cool (thanks for trying to stay up with me while I was studying, hon!), and she bought me a teddy bear with chocolate! What more could you want? And Nana bought me Casablanca for my birthday - yea!

After barely suviving my heinous astronomy midterm, I went to a master's tea with Gregory Maguire, the author of Wicked (the Wizard of Oz from the Wicked Witch of the West's P.O.V.). He was incredible - he was funny and dynamic, and had a lot of profound things to say both about writing and about "evil", and how when he wants to understand something better, he writes about it. He is a fascinating person, and I'm looking forward to reading other books by him, Confessions of an Ugly Step-Sister, as well as the sequal to Wicked that he's currently working on; I'm also considering *gasp* re-reading Wicked, which is something I NEVER do - too many good books to read one more than once. On a politcal note, he brought up an interesting point about the notion of "just war". He was talking about how his view of the first Gulf War became unconsciously altered when he read an article in the paper entitled, "Is Saddam Hussein the next Hitler?". His point was that whenever a state or its leader wishes to present a possible war as just, they endeavor to draw parallels to WWII, one of the only morally unambiguous wars in history. It's the textbook definition of "just war". I thought that was interesting.

Coming soon . . . World Fellows Night, a visit from Nick's sisters, and my epiphany about Lord of the Rings . . .
- posted by Nicole @ 11:20 PM