What D.C Has Done For Me

Before I came to Washington D.C., much of the anticipation that I had had came from knowing that I would have the opportunity to meet many different people from many different backgrounds as well as have a unique academic experience.  However, I did not really consider how much I would evolve as a person and as a leader during my time here.  As someone who has been in school for the last fifteen years of my life, my mind, much like those of most college students, has been programmed to think primarily about the academic benefits of an educational experience and not as much about how experiences can connect on a personal level.  This is not to suggest that I did not receive any significant academic advantages from my time here in D.C. by any means, however my biggest accomplishments are more comprehensive in nature as opposed to simply a scholastic achievement.  My achievements have come in the form of improving as a leader, as a student of higher learning, and as a person on the aggregate.

          

Since I did not possess much work experience prior to participating in The Washington Center Program, I never knew what my leadership style was simply because I had never been put into any legitimate leadership roles.  I had always viewed myself as somewhat of a leader because I consider myself to be an outgoing person, but I never had much of a leadership style that I could call my own.  This new style that I have developed while in Washington D.C. has come through working with several other interns with different tasks that we have to perform. 

          

At my internship with the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies (NESA Center), we were given a series of tasks specifically for us to do, and it would be up to all of us to delegate these tasks for ourselves since we may not have as much time to complete all the tasks we had been asked to do by the assigned deadline.  Consequently, we as interns had to take it upon ourselves to decide who would and was capable of performing certain tasks at that time.  I have found that my leadership style is more hands-off in nature in the sense that I do not feel the need to micromanage whatever I asked the interns to do.  Granted, I am sure that once I am put into more important leadership roles, my leadership methods will probably change and be more assertive, but in the meantime, I have found this hands-off approach very beneficial and critical towards maintaining a good working relationship with my colleagues.

          

With this newly developed leadership style has come a change in personality on my part as well.  In my Individual Development Plan, I mention that I wanted to improve upon my assertiveness yet also attempt to discover the balance between that newfound assertiveness and non-confrontation.  While this balance is difficult to attain, I have found that I have been able to be more assertive when the situation properly calls for it.  More importantly, studying the dynamics of different personalities has helped shape me into what kind of person that I would like to be personally and professionally.  While interning at the NESA Center, I have had the opportunity to meet people with several different personality types.  Along the way, I have made mental notes as to what personality attributes I would like to keep, to develop, and, as well as traits that I would not like to have.

           

Even amongst all of these personal achievements, however, The Washington Center program is still academic in nature and thus I have accomplished a great amount academically as well.  One of the most interesting aspects of my U.S. Foreign Policy in the 21st Century class that I took while in Washington is that it was taught in the style of a graduate school seminar, in which the entire class was driven by class discussions of readings and writing policy proposals.  Furthermore, I really enjoyed learning how to write policy papers simply because these essays are different than the typical essays one writes in a high school or undergraduate course.  While a research paper is very structured in nature, policy papers are persuasive in nature, meaning that the style in which the paper is written is equally as important as the substance that is conveyed through that style. 

           

However, my favorite academic experience was the opportunity that I had to work alongside a faculty member of the NESA Center named Dr. Murhaf Jouejati, a scholar specializing in Syrian politics and the Arab-Israeli Conflict.  Part of my internship involved what my supervisor created known as a mentorship program, in which we would be paired up with a faculty member and assist him in any projects that he/she may be doing.  I had the chance to help him create a presentation before a moderately high ranking group of American military officials on the Arab-Israeli conflict.  More importantly, we have had a chance to have fascinating discussions on the Arab-Israeli conflict as well as on Syrian politics, and from this we have become good friends and will be keeping in touch once I return home.

I am very thankful for the opportunities that I have had here in Washington D.C. while participating in The Washington Center program.  The experiences that I have had here have far exceeded my expectations of what life in D.C. would be like.  This program has impacted my life so much that it has inspired me to come live here, attend law school, and work at an international trade law firm in the D.C. area.  If I were to reach that point, I would love to give back to The Washington Center as much as the Center has given me, if such were possible.  Perhaps a future TWC student can intern wherever I work and I will be able to give him/her the same experiences my internship did for me.    

Day 2-4: U.S. Foreign Policy, Regional Dynamics, and a tour of DC

The last three days have been very interesting. On Day 2 (Thursday), I came in around 7:45 a.m. and checked to see if the coffee was made and then turned on all of the TV screens. The first full day of seminars focused on U.S. foreign policy, how it’s made, and how the governmental structure of the United States works. It was basically a year’s worth of a high school government class packed into an hour and a half long session with half of the time devoted to Q&A. It was actually a great refresher course for me as well, because it gave me a chance to learn about a lot of the stuff that I didn’t learn in high school. The other session was the basic breakdown of the intelligence community in the United States, which was completely new for me, considering I do not know the first thing about the intelligence community. That section was eye-opening. At the end of the day, we split up into discussion groups that we called “breakout groups”. It was a pretty interesting discussion, as the group simply brought up questions about what they had heard in the earlier session.  A lot of the different questions revolved around the intelligence community, and in particular how massive amounts of information could be spread so covertly within the intelligence community. 

      

Friday was a shorter day because the participants were given the afternoon off to visit their respective embassies. The morning was spent discussing the regional dynamics of the NESA region, and how the United States' national interests relate to many of the issues on the ground in the Middle East, such as issues with immigration in North Africa, drug trafficking, and of course, the rise of terrorist organizations. 

       

Saturday was quite an eventful day. NESA offered the chance for participants to go on a tour of DC and get a historical lesson of the significance of many of the famous memorials around DC, such as the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, the Washington Monument, Lafayette Square, and the White House from a NESA faculty member. This was the second time that I had been on the DC tour. If you recall from awhile back, I also helped tour a group of Pakistani military officials for our Pakistani Military Seminar. It was really nice to see the monuments again, especially since I didn’t have to see these monuments immediately following a massive snowstorm. Seventy-five degrees and sunny, it was the perfect day to walk around and see the sights of DC. Afterwards, we drove to Woodbridge, VA to the Potomac Mills Shopping Mall, where the participants had about two hours to eat lunch and shop around this incredibly huge shopping mall.

       

So what was my job throughout all of this? My job was to distribute the interpretation devices so that the participants who didn’t speak English could understand the tour guide. I also was part of the crowd control so that we could keep the group together. You would be surprised how difficult it was to keep 24 participants in one group. There were always a few people that would just run off and do their own thing and then I would have the lovely task of trying to look for them in a mile-long stretch of monuments. Nevertheless, it was still a great experience because I really got to know a lot of the participants a lot better. 

     
On Monday, the CT Seminar will hold sessions on transnational threats in a greater context, the rise of illicit support networks, and a discussion on the different sources of insurgency and political violence, and I'll let you all know the different tasks that will be in store for me.  Until then, take care, and hope you all enjoy the rest of your day. Peace!

Combating Terrorism Seminar: Day 1

Right now, you’re all probably looking at the title wondering whatever happened to my seminar on Yemen.  Well, it turns out that NESA was planning on holding two seminars at the same time, the first being the Yemen Bilateral Seminar, and the other the Combating Terrorism Seminar.  Little did I know until late last week that I would be assigned to the Combating Terrorism Seminar and not the Seminar on Yemen, so I will be taking you all on a daily look of my role in the Combating Terrorism Seminar.  While I was looking forward to helping out with the Yemen Seminar, I’m also really excited this upcoming Terrorism seminar as well.  The Combating Terrorism Seminar, as the title already suggests, involves high ranking government officials from 17 different countries in various ministries discussing and debating the more pressing transnational and domestic issues revolving around terrorism, and discussing what can be done to take steps forward towards ending it.

With that being said, I will be giving you an insider look at the work that goes behind the scenes during the Combating Terrorism (CT) Seminar as well as a description of some of the events that will be going on during this seminar for the next five days.  The first event actually began on Tuesday evening, where the interns, planners, and participant program assistants hosted a Welcome Reception at the hotel that the Seminar participants were staying in.  My job for the evening was to direct the participants into the Jefferson Room inside the hotel and then prepare the interpretation devices so that the non-English speakers will be able to understand everything that the course director was saying during the speech.  After the reception, I had the chance to mingle with the participants over a delicious dinner.  The evening ended around 9 pm and then we all had to be back in NESA at 7:30 pm am for the first day of the CT Seminar.

The first full day of the Seminar started the next morning around 7:30 am.  Most of the day was spent taking care of administrative issues and other housekeeping businesses, such as getting the participants badges to get into the building, taking a group photo, and simply getting the participants acquainted with their surroundings around the NESA building and Washington D.C. in general.  My tasks for the day involved helping out with all of those administrative tasks that needed to be taken care of, including walking the participants down to get their badges and distributing forms that needed to be filled out during the registration process.  I was also responsible for managing the TV screens around the building, which would show the participants the schedule for the upcoming sessions as well as display any pictures taken from the previous day.  In this case, I put up pictures from the Welcome.  Unfortunately, due to national security reasons, I cannot display any pictures from the Welcome Reception or the CT Seminar on the whole. Also, as interns we are assigned to make coffee and tea for our participants.  Now it may not be the best part about being an intern, but it also benefits us as interns because then we will get the opportunity to have free coffee and tea for the day.  The day ended with the Senior Vice President of National Defense University speaking on behalf of the NESA Center, welcoming the participants to NESA.  The most interesting aspect about this session was that what was supposed to be simply an introductory talk ended up turning into a discussion on Iran and its influence in the region.  The first day of the seminar ended around 4:15 for the participants, but our day was not over just yet.  We had to help clean the plenary room, which is the main room that the CT Seminar assembles, as well as prepare coffee and tea for the next day.  By the time we were all set with that, I got by around 5:45.  

Tomorrow we will begin the first full day of sessions and discussion groups, with those discussions revolving around how U.S. foreign policy is shaped and how the shaping of U.S. foreign policy and national security strategy affects the Near East South Asian (NESA) region.  Until then, take care, and hope you enjoy the rest of your day! 

What’s up world!  Hope all is well wherever you are, and for those in college, hope everyone’s finals studying is going well.  The semester is coming to a close soon, but that does not mean that things are slowing down around here at the NESA Center by any stretch of the imagination.  
     
A little while ago, I mentioned that we had the opportunity to work during NESA’s Senior Executive Seminar (SES), the seminar of the highest level.  The two-week long seminar addresses strategic concerns of the Near Eastern and South Asian countries as well as those of the U.S.  From issues such as the Arab-Israeli Conflict to how to address the Iranian nuclear issue, over thirty participants from fifteen different countries listened in on several speakers and would later separate into small discussion groups.

This is the discussion group that I sat in on for two weeks and had the opportunity to listen to diplomats and military officials about proper strategies needed to bring more regional stability to the Middle East.

         
As an intern, one of my favorite responsibilities is to sit in the breakout room and take notes on significant remarks made by the participants.  It was especially interesting to see how certain delegates from particular countries addressed certain issues.  For example, countries that are further away from the region were less inclined to discuss about the Arab-Israeli Conflict than the countries closer to the region.  From this and other encounters in the breakout room, I’ve learned that while countries recognize that their national issues affect countries around them, those same countries are out for their own national interests first and others second. 
       
The highlight of this past week was visiting the NEWSeum, a museum devoted to exhibiting the history of journalism for the last several centuries through articles and a series of different exhibits.  One of my favorite exhibits, yet also the most saddening, was the 9/11 exhibit, which displayed newspapers from all 50 states as well as about 30 different countries showcasing their way of reporting such a devastating tragedy.  What was most interesting to me was just seeing the different ways different newspapers reported the story. I would imagine if I were in that situation and I had to report on the 9/11 attacks, I wouldn’t really know where to start--I would be in such a state of shock. Another interesting exhibit was the Elvis Presley exhibit, which discussed Elvis’s impact on music, popular culture, as well as journalism.

This map shows the amount of press freedom that is recognized in each country around the world.  An extensive study conducted annually by think tank Freedom House, the map shows the countries in green as free, those in yellow as partly free, and those in red as not free.

Now for those who are following other Washington Center bloggers, they are all on their last week here in D.C.  I, on the other hand, have been asked by NESA to stay an additional two weeks to help them out on their upcoming seminar with Yemeni military officials.  So that you all can get a more in-depth look at what exactly goes down during these seminars, I plan to do a daily post starting next Monday and ending next Friday on all of the seminar events, including the people that I will get to meet, and the topics discussed, so please stay tuned for that soon! Until then, take care, and hope everyone enjoys the rest of their week.

Peace!

My Interview with Peter Stephens

What’s up, world!  Hope all is well and that you are enjoying the beginning of your week.  This week I decided to depart from the typical accounts of everyday life in order to focus on my informational interview with international trade specialist Peter Stephens.  For those who are planning to come to The Washington Center, you'll have an assignment to interview someone in the DC area who is in a position that you would like to have at some point in your professional career. 
        
Ever since I was in high school, I had always wanted to attend law school and pursue a career in international trade law.  As an undergraduate at the University of San Diego, I chose International Relations as a major and Economics as one of my minors (the other in Spanish) as potential precursors to my future studies in international trade law.  Therefore, I felt it would be fitting for me to interview someone like Peter Stephens, a man with 19 years of public policy experience in international trade law.  The opportunity that I had to interview him has helped shape my future career path.

Peter Stephens is currently the vice president for the National Council for Community and Educational Partnerships (NCCEP), an organization devoted to helping to provide education for the students that, according to the organization’s website, are “most often left behind”.  However, he also has extensive public policy experience especially with regards to international trade.  He was the director for governmental affairs at the Council of the Americas, where he served as the U.S. private sector representative to the free trade area for the Americas, worked on Trade Promotion Authority and the official North American Free Trade Organization (NAFTA) annual report card.

We first talked about the amazing opportunities that Washington D.C. can provide for my professional career as an international trade lawyer or as someone interested in public service.  He alluded to how amazing it was that so many prominent contacts around the DC area are more readily accessible than one may believe.  From all of the lectures, seminars, and other events that I have attended all semester long, what he mentioned seems to be very accurate.  What I also noticed about Washington is just how diverse the population is, mainly because so many public service officials, whether they are working at the local, regional, or international level, work in the D.C. area and come from so many different parts of the world.

From that point on, our discussion revolved around several different topics, among them relevant economic schools of thought in today’s global economy and their implications, the importance of opening up trade opportunities with more countries and the merits of going straight to law school after college versus taking time off to work.
  
We both seemed to agree that governments on the whole have grown, yet at the same time, the growth of nation’s governments and economies have meant a greater interdependence on other countries.  As a result, Stephens argues, more countries need to open up their markets to help spur growth within their own economies. When he mentioned that subject, I specifically thought back to the Pakistani Military Seminar that my internship at NESA held, when a Pakistani Air Commodore once asked in one of the discussion panels about the possibility of the United States opening trade relations with Pakistan.  I then turned that question over to Mr. Stephens. He emphatically supported opening up trade and saw it as important because of Pakistan's ability to produce goods and distribute them at low prices.    
 
While I didn't resolve my internal debate about whether or not to go directly to law school post-college by taking with Mr. Stephens, he did give me some great advice. First of all, he suggested that if I ultimately take time off, I should not let myself get sucked into the thought of working and making money, which could prevent me from advancing my professional career.  I also greatly appreciated his candor when he mentioned that I will never really know what the “correct” decision to make is until I jump into a particular situation and see how it plays out.
  
I greatly appreciated the opportunity to chat with Mr. Stephens about his career path and how my path could potentially be shaped. With all of what I have learned at the interview in mind, I feel confident that I will be able to make good decisions whenever that time comes. 
        
Next week, I plan to discuss my trip to the NEWSeum and the Senior Executive Seminar that NESA held a little while back.  Until then, take care, and hope you all enjoy the rest of your week.  Peace!

So Busy!

Hello, everyone! I apologize for not posting in a while, but work has been so incredibly busy!!! A lot has happened within the last 3 weeks--and I’ll definitely be sharing more with you through several posts over the course of the week. I hope all is well and that you’re enjoying the wonderful spring weather wherever you are.

All right, so I’ll backtrack to about three weeks ago. If you recall in my previous post, I mentioned to you all about my amazing opportunity to work with Dr. Jouejati, the scholar from Syria who specializes in Syrian politics and is also an expert on the Arab-Israeli conflict. I was working with him on a presentation that he was planning to give on a simple comprehensive overview of the issues that have created instability in the Middle East, namely the Arab-Israeli conflict. The talk was given at the Elliott International School in George Washington University in front of military officials attending the National Security Studies Program. Despite the broad nature of the lecture and discussion, I found it to be very informative. For those not interested in political science and international relations, I’ll spare you all the details, but for those interested I’d love to share with you all that I learned.

Two days later, I went to visit my good friends Brandon and Bobby in Philadelphia for the weekend.  When I got there on Friday evening, we immediately made our way over to what was considered the best soul food restaurant in Philly called Ms. Tootsies.  When my friend told me we were going there, I didn’t really know what sort of atmosphere to expect, but when I walked in I was surprised to see the restaurant set in a formal setting with Harlem Renaissance artwork all over the walls.  Our meal was served to us on very fancy china plates, and we feasted on fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, collared greens, string beans, and cornbread.  It was absolutely delicious, and it was definitely money well spent.  The next day, we spent most of our day walking around South Street in Center City.  It was a great place to walk around because there were so many different little shops and other places to eat.  Of course, no experience in Philly would be complete without eating a Philly cheesesteak, so we spent our lunch eating at a local restaurant that only served different varieties of cheesesteaks.

Again, I’m so sorry for not having updated this blog for a while but now that work will be a little less hectic, I’ll be sure to make up for the last few weeks.  Until next time, take care, and hope you all have a wonderful day.  Peace!

Reunion

What’s up, everyone!  Hope all is well wherever you are.  It is such a wonderful day outside in D.C. today; there isn’t a cloud in the sky and the temperature is supposed to get up to 66 degrees today!  I’m sure the San Diegans reading this are laughing at the thought of 66 degrees being beautiful, but hey, it’s as close to beautiful as we can get around here this time of year!

Before I begin, I just wanted to give everyone my March Madness picks for college basketball, because we all know that it’s that time of year again.  Even though my school was absolutely nowhere close to qualifying for this tournament, it’s always exciting to see who ends up on top.  That being said, my Final Four picks will be Kansas, Kansas State, Kentucky, and Duke, and I have Kansas State and Kentucky in the championship with Kentucky winning the whole thing.  I can’t wait for all the games to start!

So last weekend, my good friend Brandon came into town and we had a chance to hang out and check out all the different sights.  I got the chance to do the tourist thing all over again, which is always nice.  We first made our way over to the Natural History Museum at the Smithsonian.  It was a great refresher’s course in biology and a wonderful reminder of how awful I was at it in high school.  All kidding aside, I really enjoyed looking at all of the different exhibits.  Afterwards, we walked all the way to the Lincoln Memorial.  It was just as beautiful of a sight to see as it was the first time that I had visited it.  I’m sure I’ll be going at least one more time and it will probably be equally as beautiful once again.  It’s difficult to put into words just why it’s so beautiful; unfortunately you won’t really get a sense of what I’m talking about unless you’ve actually visited the memorial.  Afterwards we walked from the Memorial over to the World War II Memorial and then to the Washington Monument and physically got up close and touched the monument, which is something that I hadn’t done yet.  What I also learned is that by law, no building in Washington DC can be taller than the Washington Monument, which I thought was very interesting.   

 My buddy Brandon & I in front of the ledge below the steps of the Lincoln Memorial

 The Lincoln Memorial: Take 2

Just recently at NESA, I was given a great opportunity to work with a scholar who specializes in Syrian politics and US-Syrian relations named Dr. Murhaf Jouejati.  He also teaches at the George Washington University here in the D.C. area and teaches courses on Comparative Politics and the politics of Syria and Lebanon.  He attended the confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee of the upcoming US ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford.  Right now, I’m helping him prepare a presentation to high-ranking military officials on the importance of the Arab-Israeli conflict towards restoring peace in the Middle East that he will be giving on Thursday, and I will also be there to assist him during his presentation.  I will be sure to let you know in my next post how that goes, because I’m really looking forward to sharing that with you all. 

I have a very busy rest of the week planned, not only do I have this upcoming talk to attend, but I’ll also be going to Philadelphia this weekend to visit some friends, plus I’m going to get the opportunity to interview a specialist on international trade for my Washington Center portfolio next Monday.  I’ll explain more of what that all entails in next week’s post.  Until then, take care, and hope everyone enjoys the rest of their week.

Peace!