My Background: Part 1, University

Although I love my job, I am currently in the process of trying to become something else. How did I get to this point in my life?

When I started college at UNC, I still had no idea what I wanted to do in life. Freshman year I chose my classes by picking whatever looked interesting, and figured I would have time later to settle on a major, let alone a career path. I had enjoyed working on my high school newspaper and was enjoying the DTH, but although I considered it, journalism was not high on my list of potential career interests, as I tended to view it as an extremely tough environment in which to succeed.

In taking whatever classes seemed interesting at the time, I ended up with a lot of great courses in the Philosophy department, so I did identify that fairly early on as a major I'd likely be able to earn without much trouble. I never wanted to go to law school, though, so I wasn't sure what I'd do with a philosophy degree. My parents strongly encouraged me, if that was the case, to double major. The summer after my freshman year, a study-abroad opportunity in Vienna pointed me on the path to that second major by giving me nine hours toward an International Studies major - I would only need four more classes to complete it, and there was even a good chance that I'd be able to get one or two courses to count towards both majors.

During those two months studying abroad, I became hugely interested in the study of intergovernmental organizations and multilateral diplomacy. In my "slacker" period as a junior and senior in college, I guess I kind of let go of that passion, although I remained interested in the subject and even continued taking fascinating courses on related topics ("European Democracies", "Language and Nationalism") - but I was not focusing on creating a viable career path in that field, and instead kind of going with the flow rather than trying to steer my destiny at all, thinking I might happily end up in academia - going to grad school in philosophy, becoming a professor, that kind of thing. Inertia was definitely a factor.

I had indeed identified the Foreign Service early on as a dream career, but the main reason I did not particularly work toward making it my career was precisely that: it seemed such an amazing thing that I knew there was no way I would ever be qualified, let alone get a position. It looked like it was just out of reach; I wasn't about to break my heart by trying to become an FSO any more than I would by setting myself the goal of becoming editor-in-chief of the New York Times, for example.

If I had known more about the process at the time, it might have seemed viable, but I somehow had the idea that those jobs were so far above the range of ordinary mortals that I didn't bother to research it. That is one of my reasons for starting this Web site: in the hopes that someone else will read about me going through that process, and learn that it is possible after all - and more than that, a valuable experience in itself, regardless of whether it ends up becoming a career.

To be continued!