There is No Place I'd Rather Be

Helping me ride out my creativity lapse is first-year MALD student Jessie Evans.  You may remember reading about Jessie last summer, when she took her pre-Fletcher road trip.  Today she updates us on her activities.

I’ve been meaning to take a break from the daily demands of school and life to write a short piece for the Admissions Blog; however, as with most Fletcher students, I hit the ground running this semester, and feel like I haven’t had the chance to catch my breath!  Between practicing oral arguments with my teammates for the Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition, enduring freezing temperatures on the Fletcher Ski Trip to Maine, dancing the night away at Africana Night (one of Fletcher’s four awesome annual Cultural Nights) and preparing my résumé and setting up appointments for the DC Career Trip, I’ve hardly had time to see straight this past month, let alone sit down and reflect on my time here.

Oh yeah.  And then there are my classes, too …

As I write, it surprises me to think it has been an entire year since I was admitted to Fletcher.  Time has gone by so quickly!  Shortly after I was admitted, I became friends with Aparna, another early admit student living in Boston.  Over dinner one night, Aparna and I instantly connected.  Within two weeks of our first meeting we concocted a plan to travel by car from London to Cameroon the summer before starting the MALD program, to raise money for an NGO working in Africa.

And off we went on our random summer adventure.

Three days before the Fletcher New Student Orientation, Aparna and I arrived back in Boston from Douala, Cameroon, exhausted.  We did it!  We drove 7,500 miles, experienced 10 amazing countries, and endured countless police checkpoints and border crossings.  We camped our way down the continent, met hundreds of kind souls, and hosted a number of stomach viruses along the way.

Jumping right into Fletcher post-Africa adventure, I was thoroughly impressed with the fantastic professors and dynamic classes. However, the most sustained amazement I have felt at the School since starting last September, is with my classmates.  I’ve never met such intelligent, humble, and hilarious people.  Now I know why Aparna and I hit it off so quickly — Fletcher attracts and admits absolutely awesome people.

I sit in class in complete awe of my classmates — my friends — as they weave together the reading assignments, the professors’ comments, and their own past experience to tell tales that make the topics we discuss come alive.  I’ve never been surrounded by such a high concentration of thoughtful, smart, and creative people.

This summer, I won’t be driving across any continents, but I will be working, testing out some of my newly acquired skills as an intern.  Perhaps my internship will involve some camping and stomach bugs.  Or maybe it will involve enduring the heat and humidity of a DC summer. I don’t know yet. What I do know for certain is that I am reserving a few weeks for another summer adventure.  It may not be as complicated as the epic journey of the summer past, but it most certainly will involve Aparna and a big group of my cherished friends from Fletcher.