Graduation and Reflection

Now that I am finally done with finals and almost GW, I am able to reflect on my years in DC...

From freshman year to senior year, from Rugby to Arc Aspicio and now the Peace Corps, my life has changed. I arrived at GW, a young, confident kid that thought he knew everything (I still do) but that changed quickly. I was out of place, an international student in an unknown city, surrounded by people that are not from the same ASL bubble. I wanted to drop out of college, because I thought I was not a college kid, I was something different; I wanted to do something bigger and better than be in school, being forced to reading books that I could care less about, writing papers and taking tests that taught me facts and theories that I would never use in my life. To my parents, the thought of my other choice made them sick to their stomach: the army. I thought that I had only two choices in life either college or the military. But one thing changed, possibly greatest thing in my life, my mother's worst nightmare in college; I joined a fraternity, Pi Kappa Alpha. As I told my chapter last Sunday, if it were not for Pike, I would not be at GW. The fraternity got me involved and I found a purpose at GW. As a Pike, I was able to get involved in intramurals, philanthropy, and general fun. After freshman year, I had my core group of friends, my extracurricular activities that kept my mind off of other things and kept me in check/in line.

The next thing that I remember about college are my work experiences that have helped me find what I like in the world and what I want to do. At Rugby, I found that I have a knack for sales. It must be in our genes because my father and brothers can somehow sell anything to anyone, as I was. My junior summer was possibly the biggest party summer because every day we would work and then go out. But I was able to learn the art of selling/flirting with anything the moved in front of me. Some people called it the "lean" because the other people who worked there knew that I was working a customer when I leaned on anything that was around me. Well, the good thing was that it worked and I was able to sell anything. My next major employment was Aramark. This job taught me the importance of my college experience because I realized I never want to ever be a supervisor at a baseball stadium ever again. It was the shittiest working experience: horrible hours, horrible boss, horrible people. But the most important work experience that I have had was my time at Arc Aspicio, working for Lynn Ann. Under her tutelage, I was able to soak up as much of the business consulting world as I could. With nearly no guidance on many projects, I was forced to work through problems that presented themselves to me and succeed. Whether it was contract management (which was the worst project) to conquering the newsletter and doing real consulting work for clients, I learned a little about the work world and the world of consulting. On that note, I have to say that I will miss working in a work place that has a resident baby (Aisling) and a dog (Magnum), and a cat that I think I saw twice the entire year that I worked there.

College has been a time of love and hate. I learned to love the things I like and to hate the idea of institutionalized education. It was not specifically GW, I would have hated anywhere I would have gone. If someone were to ask me what the most important thing I learned at school was I would have to say it was my perfection of the ability to bullshit. ASL taught me how to get close with a teacher, good enough friends that I could coerce them to give me a better grade, get me out of trouble, or not tell my mother things that I did not want her to hear; while GW taught me how to convince teachers that I was not at fault, but in fact they were, allowing me to get away with a lot. My father always told me, "Its not what you know, its who you know", and GW taught me that he was right. I watched my fraternity and friends talk their way out of trouble because they contacted the right person and followed the correct path of bureaucracy and got away scott-free from whatever it was we were in trouble for.

Now that I have graduated, people ask me why I am doing the Peace Corps. And most of the time, I can think of nothing else but why not? I am not not tied down to anyone, anywhere or anything right now. What better time in my life than to disappear for two and a half years in a small village in Africa to help other people and better myself doing it? I am done with college, so I no longer have an institution keeping me in Washington nor the US, I don't have a girlfriend so why would I stay in the US and I don't have any obligation to anyone but myself and follow what I want to do. I am going to Africa with the Peace Corps, because I feel it necessary to do what I can for other people, for myself and for my country. I was blessed with the education and the lifestyle that I have lived and it is my job as an American and a Jewish man to provide tzedakah. The best form of tzedakah is to teach others, so that is what I am going to do. By teaching the Beninese what I know (partially making it up as I go), I will not only, hopefully, better their situation but also better myself.

Now it is time for me to pack up my life and move on to a new adventure.