Summer plans at State, GS-5 pay!

For the non-DC insiders, State refers to the US Dept of State (DOC = commerce, the fund = IMF, the bank = world bank, etc.) Ok, I sound pompous so I'll quit it.

Anyways, 3 weeks ago I get a call from EAP (Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs) Director at State saying that I'm one out of four final candidates out of 3 dozen. Then a week later and after a few more interviews I find out that I am the one person they selected for the paid internship! Specifically, I will be at the Office Regional Security. EAP is the umbrella group for all of the Embassies/Consulates along the East Asia and Pacific, which shuffles diplomats and formulates policy. Exciting!

They say that I have a few tasks, some security related and some economic. For instance, I'm supposed to help coordinate the ASEAN conference held in Indonesia this year. ASEAN is the SE Asian counterpart to NAFTA (N. Atlantic Free Trade Agreement) and Mercosur. My friend Solomon from UCSD will be working on ASEAN from the US Embassy in Indonesia, so I'm excited that we'll be working together on this from HQ and the field.

Then, I will plan "regional dialogues" among foreign officials on the topic of nuclear proliferation, threat of war, which is the security aspect. This is interesting/exciting since my office oversees China - Taiwan concerns, N. Korea nuclear issues, etc.

Ok, this blog is far too political. But I love this stuff. It's the reason I left medicine and bio research. Ironically, I'm currently at TA for undergrad neurobiology even though I'm a Poli Sci grad student. It kinda fits, I guess...

~D.An