To start off, life in BC is pretty awesome. I have made some great friends, and am so lucky to live close to downtown and the ocean and mountains! I can go for a seaside walk anytime I like, which is pretty amazing (which I am sure my facebook friends are getting tired of pictures of :P). The West coast is so beautiful and vibrant, and I have been lucky to call it home for the past 8 months.
As for school, I could not be happier with my choice to do my masters at Royal Roads! I am enjoying my readings and assignments so much! I also love that I get to learn from the experiences of those in my program who are already well into their careers in disaster management. Every week brings a new topic, a new area for discussion, and new learnings. I am never bored with my courses, even though they are online. I guess it goes to show that I am studying my passion if I am never bored! I also enjoy that the courses are designed so that you can work full time while completing them. It can be stressful managing a full time job, school, and a social life, but it is certainly worth it!
The last bit of great news is that as part of my degree requirements, I have landed myself an internship with the United Nations! This has long been a dream of mine, and I cannot believe it is coming true! I started the application process wayyyyy back in December, and took a good 2 weeks to fill it out because I wanted it to be perfect. Then, in March, I got an email saying I had been selected for an interview. It was the most nerve racking interview of my life for sure, and I thought it didn't do well at all, but a few days later I found out that it did go well and I had been accepted for the internship! Since then, I have been doing my best to save up, and well as fundraise, to cover my living costs while I will be in Geneva for the internship (because UN internships are unpaid, and I am already paying my own way though school so I have very little savings that can go towards these costs). Here's the link to my fundraising page. Although figuring out how to cover my living costs during this internship has been stressful, it has truly shown me that accomplishing your dreams is NEVER easy. You have to fight and work hard for them, which is exactly what I am going to do! I have wanted to work for the United Nations since I came home from Ecuador over 5 years ago, and I am going to do whatever it takes to make that happen.
So, I suppose I will now use my blog to share Geneva updates and continue to share my journey of getting there. If anyone has any advice for me on fundraising or working for the UN please feel free to share it!
All my best! Until next time, internet...
