Winter to Spring

So much has gone on, that I think I'm going to need to dive headfirst right back into blogging. I apologize if the posts over the next few weeks seem disjointed, and they are certainly not in chronological order.

So, it's now March. I've officially survived a northern winter. It started off as a blur: November saw a bus trip with the international club of Tallinn University, a day-trip to Helsinki, a trip to Jerusalem followed by a trip to Lapland, my 23rd birthday, exams, and countless Christmas parties. The Christmas spirit was what got me through the first part of winter. For the last six weeks I was in Estonia before coming home for Christmas, I literally did not see the sun. (Except for the time I was in Israel, but that's a different blog post.) The days were short- sun rose around 9:30, and it was completely dark before 4pm. The days were also quite cloudy. If it weren't for the blur of friends, love, gift giving, and gluhwein that comes with Christmas, I think I would have been rather mopey.

January was a strange time for me. Classes had ended, I wasn't traveling anywhere, and my internship hadn't started yet. I could do pretty much anything I wanted. I've never had so much free time for so long. But it was so cold! And so dark! In retrospect, I think I was dealing with a bit of seasonal affective disorder. I wasn't consciously depressed. Nor did I register being even a tiny bit sad. I just had no interest whatsoever in going outside, which isn't terribly characteristic of me. Nor is sleeping 12 hours a day. I blame Vitamin D deficiency.

In February, I started a new internship at the Estonian Atlantic Treaty Association (EATA). I had attended a Youth Atlantic Treaty Association General Assembly in Ukraine in October, 2009. I'd met some good, inspirational people there and found that all of the organizations within the ATA umbrella did work on interesting subjects. (It's also worth noting that the Atlanticist crowd is also less likely to ever make an issue of my nationality.) I'm hoping to help however I can, but it seems as though the bulk of my work with EATA will be to handle the English-language communications.

The week before I formally started at EATA, my phone rang. It was around noon, I was still asleep, and I was strongly tempted not to take the call. I answered anyways, and my boss was in the other line. She thought she may have found another project for me, and I could perhaps meet with someone the next day to discuss it. Alas, I was boarding a plane for Barcelona the next morning. Ah, so can you come meet in an hour? I took the world's fastest shower, dried my hair, tried to look presentable, and rushed over. I was introduced to a man who earned his law degree at Georgetown as a Fulbright student. He worked in the Estonian Ministry of Defense during the cyber attacks of 2007. (Those could be a blog post on their own, but check the Wikipedia entry for a quick overview if you're interested.) He told me that today most countries have the technical ability to address a cyber attack, but those in a decision-making capacity don't necessarily know how to approach the situation. He and his brother now head up a consulting firm to deal with the subject, and they've asked me to come on to help write their English website, some grant applications, and maybe a few information sheets. I should start any day now- as soon as I returned from Barcelona, the head of this (two-person) company left for two back-to-back business trips. Hopefully this week I'll get some marching orders.

The days are getting longer, I'm watching melting snow drip from the rooftops across the street, and I'm feeling hopeful for the next semester.