First post from Brussels and a bit of history as to how I ended up here.

I've never had a blog before, or even really thought about starting one. But I figured an adventure in Europe for many months, away from friends and family, would be a good opportunity to start one. As a disclaimer, I apologize if any of you find my postings boring and drab, it's more of a way for me to sort out what's going on in my life then to entertain all you folks back home.

I always thought that after undergrad I'd be done with school, start a career and go from there. It wasn't until two weeks from graduation that I thought a Masters might in fact be a good idea. Luckily I knew going right after undergrad wasn't what I wanted, I figured maybe two or three years later. Well, four and a half years later, I'm finally here. Not that I mind. I was originally supposed to go in the fall of 2007, but as I was preparing everything the summer before, I got a call from a presidential campaign in Iowa, that of New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, to go be a field organizer in Des Moines. After initially declining on the basis that I was going to school, I called back a few days later saying that I was interested in learning more about it. I figured that the opportunity to gain experience and meet many people involved in politics was too good of an opportunity to pass up.

It was for the better. I didn't have the large portion of my visa requirements ready, almost nothing in savings and had not yet applied for student loans. So, I said goodbye to DC and headed out to Des Moines, Iowa to start a new adventure. It was one of the best decisions that I have made. Not only did I learn a lot, but I met many new people, some of whom I count as my very best friends (PK, Bluto, that's for you). For those of you who follow politics, you'll know that the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 3rd 2008 did not turn out the way we on the Richardson campaign had hoped. Ultimately the future President, one Mr. Barack Obama, won a resounding victory in the first contest of what was to become the longest primary campaign in history. Now, I would like to point out that our campaign did have a role in Obama winning.

It became clear to us that we had little to no chance of securing very many delegates during the caucuses, so the upper leadership instructed us of what our strategy was to be for that evening. While our first priority was to get as many delegates for Richardson as possible, we were to push our supporters to move to the Obama camp if we were not viable. Whether this was designed to boost Obama so that we could separate him and hopefully defeat him later, as we were told, or if it was a prearranged agreement between the two camps to give Obama a boost for the following primaries, I don't know. However, Huffington Post had an article the day before the caucus that described our strategy in detail, obviously obtained from someone in the know, so it wasn't going to be a surprise. Nonetheless, we did in fact succeed in moving supporters to Obama when our own attempts to get delegates failed. I know this has nothing to do with going to grad school in Brussels, but it was the culmination of 4 months in Iowa and a major part of one of, if not the most exciting campaign in US politics.

Needless to say, after a disappointing result for us in Iowa, we were all out of jobs. Luckily, based on the people I met in Iowa, I managed to get a meager job as a committee attendant for the month long session of the New Mexico Legislature. After that, I started working as an Executive Assistant at the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department. Worst. Job. Ever. Nothing like being a glorified secretary to boost your resume. Knowing that I was going to school in January, I figured I could wait it out for 10 months. But with each passing day, I became more and more bored and frustrated with what I was doing.

Thankfully, a number of coworkers from the Richardson campaign were joining a congressional primary race in Boulder, CO and they asked me to join them. Having only started my job a couple months before, I felt bad about leaving so soon. But as the lure of joining my friends on another campaign outweighed my bad feelings, I was soon driving the six hours up I-25 to join them.

The campaign for Jared Polis was quite different from the Richardson campaign. For one, we actually had money to spend, albeit mostly from the candidates one coffers. We also had a comparatively big staff, and one that knew what they were doing, at least on the field and press staff side of things. When we all arrived, there ended up being 14 former Richardson staffers working for Polis, we were down by 20+/- points in polls, but we ended up winning by 4 points, upended the former State Senate President and by all accounts the assumed winner in the months before. This post here is a good interpretation of the effect that our work had on the campaign after all of us joined it. Anyways, Jared Polis is now Representative Jared Polis CO-2 and has already made waves by being appointed to the House Steering, Rules, and Education Committees, so he has the opportunity to be a great member of the house and have a lot of influence. We'll see what happens.

I didn't mean for this to be a long post, but I think a lot of what has happened in the last year and a half has led me to where I am now, although the next part only had one advantage and that was "filling the ol' coffers."

After the primary, I was once again out of a job, though I anticipated it this time and contacted my old boss back in DC at Cafe Milano, in Georgetown, where I had worked before. Luckily I left on good terms and he agreed to hire me again (although I didn't tell him it would only be for four months). Why did I go from working on campaigns to a restaurant? Well, in one word: money. School is not cheap, and I knew that the only way the be able to save the amount that I wanted to for school in January was to work here. Now I love DC, it's a great city, and I liked the majority of the people that I worked with, but restaurant work is the last thing I want to do. Ok, second to last. Executive Assistant is the last thing I want to do. So, I worked through my displeasure with restaurant work, even sneaking in a first trip to Las Vegas where I, amazingly, actually left with more money that I went with. In the end, I nearly achieved my goal and flew back to New Mexico for a few days rest before flying out to Belgium.

I was not looking forward to January 6th. Getting up at 5am to make a 7:45am flight in Albuquerque set the stage for a long long day. After a brief layover in Chicago, I arrived at DC Dulles and a four hour layover. Luckily two friends from the campaign (PK and the Nest) decided to come have dinner with me and keep me occupied in the airport as I awaited my flight. On a side note, Dulles is quite possibly the worst airport in the world. I hope the $2billion that they are spending to "upgrade" it actually makes it worthwhile. My flight took off at 7:55pm and was scheduled to take a little less than seven hours to Dublin, where I had an even longer lay over of five hours before my flight to Brussels.

The first thing that I saw in Brussels was  snow. Apparently more snow than has fallen in the last 12 years to be exact. Perfect timing. I've always had a desire to travel, and have several times gone off by myself to different countries. But this is different. I'm actually living in a different country for a year and a half, not just a couple months or a few weeks. A year and a half. And I signed a lease the day after I got in. If that doesn't mean that I live here, I don't know what will (maybe when I open my bank account tomorrow or find a part time job/internship). My sleep schedule is still screwed up, going to bed at 5am and waking up at 1pm. But orientation starts tomorrow, so I better sort it out soon.

I have two roommates, and we live a short 10 minute walk from campus, so it's very convenient. One roommate, Christina, also will be going the my school (University of Kent, Brussels School of International Studies) and while having been born in Cuba, has lived most of her live in the US, but also spent a year or so of undergrad here in Brussels. The other is Alexandros, a Greek who is going to a different University in Brussels and has lived here for several years. Both know their way around the city and have friends here, so it's nice to be living with people who know the city, so it's not quite so much of a dramatic jump into an unknown city.

That's not to say it's been easy. I go to bed and, in addition to not being able to go to sleep because of jet lag, I think about what I've gotten myself into. Away from friends and family for an extended period of time, working on a Masters degree that will, in large part, be a major factor in what kind of career I end up having after I graduate. I've heaped a lot of pressure on myself to do well, but it's been many years coming, so I think that I am ready to take it on and rise to my own expectations. I have no idea how often I'll post on here, but I'll try and keep up. Now, it's time to go pack my bag for tomorrow.