Fall Break already?

This week was busy, busy, busy.

I prepared a huge report on some 1970s Church Committee findings, which took a lot of my time and effort. I also did a lot of work on my research paper proposal for my seminar. I got to see one of my committee’s hearings on AIG from the anteroom, which was neat. It was definitely the biggest hearing we’ve had since I’ve been on. People off the Hill seem to be getting a lot more riled up about the bailout…makes me wonder whether the bailout may have some roots in the impending elections. hmm…

Classes were really interesting this week. We mostly worked on the Ferghana Valley region of Central Asia. I hadn’t heard of it before, but now I feel like an expert.

A lot of the students watched the debates in my room this Tuesday. There were some heated discussions, but I think we all agreed that this set of debates was not as interesting as we’d hoped. Yesterday I dropped my phone while waiting on the metro, and it fell into the tracks. I then watched in horror as one of the people from my group jumped INTO the metro and grabbed it out. That may have been one of the most nerve-wracking experiences I’ve ever had in my life. I was pretty happy to not have to buy a new iPhone, though…

Now it’s Fall Break, and most people in the program went home or back to William and Mary. I am staying here, and will hopefully get to see some friends. I am also going to spend a lot of time working on my research paper. The topic is so interesting to me, and I hope to also develop some thoughts I’ve been playing with about civilian task forces in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq. I’ll find some way to keep busy!