A third visa, and a new adventure

People have been asking me if I'll be blogging, because I've inadvertently developed a bit of a reputation for blogging while living overseas. So naturally I said yes, without having any plan of how or where or what I would say. I decided that rather than start a new blog (which would be my...fourth?), I would rather reincarnate my India blog and repurpose it to keep loved ones apprised of my life over the next six months while I'm away.

I'm currently at the airport in Detroit, waiting to board a plane to Amsterdam and then Geneva, which is where I will be living through the end of August. I have been offered an internship in the Evaluation Office of the International Labour Organization at the United Nations. I asked my mom if she would be willing to fly out with me to help me get settled, since the thing I was most stressed about was the initial period of getting oriented in a new city alone. She agreed, so we're now getting excited about a week of exploring, walking, learning, cooking, and meeting people together until I start working (yay!) and she leaves.

A couple things that have changed since I spent three months in India:

• Jeff and I are engaged!
• I got my M.A. from the International Development Administration program I was in, and I am now a doctoral candidate in the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Evaluation (IDPE) program at WMU

My friend Corey, who is in the IDPE program at WMU with me, has been working at the ILO in Geneva since last July (first as an intern, now an employee). It will be great to have a friendly, familiar face around (and in my face, in fact, since we will be sharing an office for my first two months).

I'll write again after we arrive in Geneva.

PS: It's extremely unsettling to be leaving right after there's been a mass shooting in Kalamazoo. I'm glad not to have been in town when it occurred, but I feel like I'm abandoning my town. My emotions are confusing.