I’m a sophomore at a small liberal arts college in New England, where 25% of the student population is from the Boston suburbs and another 25% are polisci majors. Guess where I’m from and what my major is.
I’m happy here now, but if I could do it over again, I would be somewhere completely different. That is why you shouldn’t go to a college based on the reaction you get when you tell people you’re going there.
I am on the edge of wrapping up what I was as a teenager and starting to figure out what I will be in my 20s. I have some delusions about things I want to accomplish after college, and hopefully, I’ll do some of them instead of never accomplishing anything besides more lines on my resume.
I am mostly interested in the Middle East, but I doubt I’ll write much about it because the more I learn, the more I realize there is that I don’t know. I went to Israel in January and my (incredibly lucid) conclusion was that the situation is really complicated and it’s impossible to even begin to have an opinion unless you’ve been there. Anyone who pretends to be an expert is lying unless they’ve lived there, and even then, they’re probably still lying.
I wanted to go into politics, but then I got involved in a political campaign and realized that 75% of people my age who want to go into politics are pretentious assholes. I have a really low tolerance for pretentious assholes. It’s also why I hate talking with people my age about music. Or the Middle East. Or grad school.
I’m also starting to learn Arabic, which is going (very) slowly, but I don’t think it will be impossible.
My claims to fame all lie in the cousins. One was probably in the CIA, another had a couple of articles in Rolling Stone and was namechecked by Bill Clinton, and another one brought you Heidi Klum’s acting career. I do love that Project Runway.
I like Indian food, Friday Night Lights, Amélie, David Sedaris, and Explosions in the Sky. I get more sleep than anyone I know and my favorite pastime is watching Michael Flatley videos on Youtube.
I don’t know if anyone else will think what I have to say is interesting, but if you do, leave a comment — otherwise I’m just whistling in the dark.
-A.
