Through the Hourglass
September 4th, 2003: I'm beginning my fourth year at McGill in Montreal. I'm ready to experiment with new pursuits beyond the confines of Model UN, eager to begin what turned out to be a terribly enriching thesis writing process with my two partners in crime Dr. E and PD, and itching to complete my degree in order to venture out into the real world.
September 4th, 2004: Hello real world. I'm cooped up in an air-conditioned (thank God) hotel room in the middle of flooded Dhaka, Bangladesh. The city of 14 million people has been treating me well for the past three days despite the rain, the unfamiliar food and my new-found celebrity status as a two meter tall white guy. I'm also a few pleasant days away from my week-long stomach flu and looking forward to what would become six eyes-wide-open months in one of the world's poorest but friendliest nations.
September 4th, 2005: Looks like those two months of writing and Fedexing grad school applications from Bangladesh has paid off. Tomorrow I'm returning to eastern Canada to begin my Masters in International Affairs at NPSIA in Ottawa. To answer the three questions that will likely have come to mind after reading that (something I've realized after trying to explain what I'm doing to various people over the past few weeks), NPSIA stands for the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs; it's a graduate school within Carleton University; and my concentration is titled - and this is for you, Baili - Global Finance, Multinationals and the State.
Vancouver will always be my home. It's where my roots are, and it's where I'd love to be if I could choose any city in the world to live in (ceterus peribus - all else being equal - as an economist might say). For now, however, my future is pulling me elsewhere. I can only hope that it will eventually be kind enough to drop me off back here along the way.
September 4th, 2004: Hello real world. I'm cooped up in an air-conditioned (thank God) hotel room in the middle of flooded Dhaka, Bangladesh. The city of 14 million people has been treating me well for the past three days despite the rain, the unfamiliar food and my new-found celebrity status as a two meter tall white guy. I'm also a few pleasant days away from my week-long stomach flu and looking forward to what would become six eyes-wide-open months in one of the world's poorest but friendliest nations.
September 4th, 2005: Looks like those two months of writing and Fedexing grad school applications from Bangladesh has paid off. Tomorrow I'm returning to eastern Canada to begin my Masters in International Affairs at NPSIA in Ottawa. To answer the three questions that will likely have come to mind after reading that (something I've realized after trying to explain what I'm doing to various people over the past few weeks), NPSIA stands for the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs; it's a graduate school within Carleton University; and my concentration is titled - and this is for you, Baili - Global Finance, Multinationals and the State.
Vancouver will always be my home. It's where my roots are, and it's where I'd love to be if I could choose any city in the world to live in (ceterus peribus - all else being equal - as an economist might say). For now, however, my future is pulling me elsewhere. I can only hope that it will eventually be kind enough to drop me off back here along the way.
posted by Per at 11:32 p.m.
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