So we’re all back after a lengthy Holiday Break (three weeks!), and the semester has just started. I have found it more difficult to find classes this semester that I am interested in, primarily because many professors at Fletcher and also at Harvard have decided to take a sabbatical. Although I admit that I was disappointed and somewhat discouraged at first, I decided to “expand the horizons” and take courses that fall outside of my traditional interests. I am currently enrolled in courses that deal specifically with public diplomacy, and how it relates to national and international security. My previous course selections have been more based in theory, and have always concerned what’s going on “behind the scenes”. It is fascinating to see the flip side of the coin, and be involved in debates that are on the front pages of the news and in all the headlines. Last week, we had a guest speaker that is highly involved with public diplomacy and the Arab Countries, and this coming week we will be hearing from the former head of the US Information Agency. The perspective that these individuals bring and will bring to the class is phenomenal (even if I don’t always agree with them), and I am fortunate to have the chance to interact and dialgoue with them.

I’m stil looking at taking one course at Harvard, but worried about the commute and the time that it might take away from Fletcher. Many other students, however, have taken courses at Harvard/KSG, and have been able to manage their time well, it seems. And many of my friends are cross-registering with one of the schools of Harvard. It is great to have that opportunity, since it opens up a whole new range of course options with some well-renowned professors. I should look into that tonight.

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So we’ve been back from break for a couple weeks now and everyone’s pretty much got their schedules sorted out, although not entirely. The beginning of the semester is always so chaotic, but in a good way and it’s not nearly as crazy as last semester. It’s fun to see everyone and realize all the people you know and all the people you stil have to meet. The Januarians have arrived and they seem like a cool bunch. The best part about being back is that I feel soooo much more comfortable here now than I did last semester. I don’t have that same nervous fear of “Will I know someone in the cafe to sit with?” or “I can’t handle this class stuff.” Actually, I feel way more confident in class, which is probably the best part.

Brussels was great. Good times with all the Fletcherites. It was fun getting to know my classmates in a different setting. It was cool to meet the KSG folks, too, and hopefully we’ll continue to hang out, thus branching out of the Fletcher circle a little bit. The meetings were good, but it was more fun just to see the EU and NATO in action and to hang out in Brussels–obviously. I thought one of the most interesting parts of the trip was actually the Fletcher alumni dinner. Christi organized it for us (thanks!) and you were really able to tell see the Fletcher mafia in effect. These people would do anything (well, almost anything) to help you get a job/internship/contacts and they even paid for some of our dinner! That’s what I’m talking about–Fletcher in action.

I have to write about last night, too, because it was really such a classic Fletcher story. A few of us went dancing downtown to celebrate Indian Nationl Day and among the people in the group was Abeer, from Baghdad (who had never been to a club before!), Ali, from Paelstine (on the day Hamas just won the elections) and tons of crazy South Asians–Sandhya, Aadeesh, Amber, Zeba, Khadija, Nabina–, and Swiss Martin (as opposed to Belgian Martin), Italian Sara (as opposed to Portuegese Sara) and me. In some ways such a random group of people, but that’s what you gotta love about being here. I also tried to use my negotiation skills (Najam would be so proud!) to try to get everyone into the bar faster, although I’m not sure that worked the way I wanted it to. Better luck next time let’s hope, but at least the dancing was great. :)

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And I’m going to Brussels!! Pretty exciting. Even though the weather will be kinda cold there it’ll be a nice change of pace and I’m of course excited to go abroad, as I wasn’t sure when the next time would be. Plus, you can’t get much better than a trip where you don’t have to pay that much. It’s just luck and happenstance really…I happened to be in the right class, with the right professor who has the right connections. And now I’ll be spending a week hanging out with EU and NATO officials…not too shabby. Hopefully we’ll be able to squeeze in some time for sightseeing as well.

Overall, break has been really nice and very relaxing, which is what it needed to be. It’s always wonderful to see my family and be back in Atlanta, which never feels like home, but I guess it’s the closest I have. I was of course bored the first few days. It was strange going from being busy all the time and always being surrounded by friends to not have any of that, but it’s amazing how you can get used to sleeping in, watching talk shows and catching up on issues of The New Yorker (in that order).

But now that we’ve got the hang of things with first semester under our belts, second semester should be a peice of cake. Right?

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Driving more than 600 miles in Texas, I was struck by the fact that the distance covered was more than twice the breadth of Sri Lanka. I should have been alerted to this fact earlier when I saw the souvenir t-shirts proclaiming that Texas was bigger than France, but I was too excited about my black cowboy hat to ponder the matter seriously. Equally striking was the unchanged desert landscape. It would have only taken half the distance to traverse through the myriad geographical and climatic zones in Sri Lanka – from beaches, to verdant vegetation, tropical rain-forests, mountains, arid deserts and back to white sanded beaches again.

These nostalgic thoughts of home, seem to have been somehow repressed in Boston. Perhaps it was the narrow roads with horn tooting maniacal drivers, reminiscent of the harrowing driving experiences in Colombo, that comforted me – if the panic that sets in could be termed comfort! The bone penetrating cold was certainly not comforting and that is one phenomenon not found in my little island – it doesn’t even snow on our mountains. The reason for my nostalgia, then, probably has nothing to do with the landscape or climate. It must be that I have time on my hands – well, not really, as my unfinished thesis is still looming ominously ahead like the proverbial sword of Damocles – nevertheless the deadline is in 2006 and it is still 2005…

Perhaps, I actually miss the hustle of the Hall of Flags, the vain attempts at justifying procrastination, the social list serve debates from the banal to the sublime, the eternal search for free food and the consequently necessary search for daily special events, the slow but steady sign of the first -years staking their claim… Perhaps it’s the realization that the incandescence of the academic environment is to be soon replaced by the cool neon lights of the real world.

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