Meandering

 Towards  Reality  
 
  Roughly  four  years  ago,  I  began  my  collegiate  life  at  George  Washington  University  

ready  to  dive  into  the  world  of  Asian  thought,  language,  and  history.    I  brought  nearly  two  

dozen  credits  into  the  university  from  high  school,  and  though  my  previous  attempts  to  

master  the  Spanish  language  proved  futile,  I  was  convinced  that  my  determination  to  

understand  and  explore  East  Asia  would  drive  my  will  to  learn  Chinese.    This,  I  slowly—and  

painfully—discovered,  was  a  mistake.  

  Two  years  of  Chinese  language  courses,  tutors,  and  seeking  alternative  learning  styles  

(ever  hear  of  Rosetta  Stone?),  took  a  toll  on  my  mental  capacity  and  academic  objectives.    

Struggling  with  an  unbeatable  adversary  humbles  a  man,  but  I  attempted  to  tame  the  beast  I  

called  Chinese.    Unfortunately,  I  ultimately  failed  that  three-­‐year  battle,  but  before  accepting  

defeat,  I  met  a  friend  by  the  name  of  Tim.  

  Tim  and  I  became  co-­‐workers  my  first  summer  at  the  George  Washington  University  

(the  summer  of  2006),  and  though  we  worked  together  almost  daily,  our  friendship  did  not  

mature  until  the  following  fall  and  spring  semesters.  Tim’s  friendship  became  the  most  

important  connection  I  made  at  GW  for  a  number  of  reasons,  but  the  most  important  (and  

resonating)  impact  on  my  life  involved  encouraging  me  to  take  two  introductory  geography  

courses  in  the  spring  of  2007.  

  While  I  was  skeptical—I  had  never  heard  of  geography  as  a  college-­‐level  program  of  

study—Tim  knew  two  critical  pieces  of  information  about  me.    First,  he  knew  about  my  

struggle  with  Chinese,  so  a  secondary  field  of  study  would  provide  me  a  fallback  option  to  

Asian  Studies.    Second,  Tim  recognized  my  fervor  for  exploring  urban  development  in  all  

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respects,  from  recognizing  new  building  projects  to  understanding  mass  transit,  road  

development,  and  park  development.    

  After  a  semester  of  interesting  (but  not  quite  life-­‐changing)  introductory  courses,  Tim  

convinced  me  to  take  a  course  with  him  called  Building  Cities  with  Professor  Benton-­‐Short.    

This  became  a  turning  point  in  my  academic  career.    Just  one  week  into  Building  Cities,  I  

decided  that  urban  planning  was  the  greatest  field  of  study—ever.    I  never  imagined  in  high  

school,  as  I  frantically  searched  through  the  local  newspaper  to  find  the  latest  news  on  road  

and  downtown  development,  that  there  would  be  a  related  academic  field.  

  I  recall  hours  of  heavy  reading  in  the  course  and  an  intense  dissection  of  Robert  

Moses’  brand  of  post-­‐World  War  II  urban  development  in  New  York  City.  My  understanding  

of  New  York  City  came  mostly  from  my  visits,  and  its  nearly  endless  streets,  avenues  and  

intertwined  highways  began  making  sense  as  the  semester  progressed.    However,  while  this  

textbook  knowledge  was  both  fascinating  and  insightful—I  have  researched  countless  new  

features  found  on  subsequent  trips  to  the  city—our  campus  mapping  project  with  Casey  

Trees  stood  out  as  the  most  exciting  event  in  my  academic  career.  

  Here,  we  were  placed  in  groups  (I  was  lucky  enough  to  work  with  Tim),  and  we  were  

directed  to  scour  the  campus  with  hand-­‐held  GPS  devices  to  pinpoint  every  tree  in  our  pre-­‐

designated  area.    We  then  built  maps  in  ArcGIS—my  first  experience  with  the  program—that  

plotted  our  trees,  and  we  then  drafted  proposals  for  planting  new  trees  and  changing  the  

feel  of  our  campus.    As  if  the  project  wasn’t  enough,  we  ended  the  semester  with  class  

presentations  of  our  projects,  and  my  animated  PowerPoint  presentation  stole  the  show.  

  This  project  became  a  huge  achievement  and  source  of  pride,  but  more  importantly,  

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the  entire  Building  Cities  course  revealed  a  new  outlet  for  my  own  interests  and  provided  a  

solution  to  the  many  doubts  about  my  future  in  the  Asian  Studies  program.  I  felt  that  I  finally  

found  a  home  for  the  first  time  since  enrolling  at  the  university.  

  This  single  semester  helped  me  realize  that  an  entire  branches  of  government  and  

private  sector  companies  relied  on  valuable  research  and  methods  developed  by  this  

previously  unnoticed  field  of  study;  and  before  the  semester  was  out,  I  was  attending  

District  planning  meetings  for  Square  54,  studying  GW’s  20  year  campus  plan,  and  tracking  

other  city  planning  developments.  My  childhood  hobby  of  checking  newspapers  for  new  

developments  in  Tampa  finally  matured  into  a  viable  learning  experience  and  career  path,  

but  the  journey  was  far  from  over.  

  Unfortunately  the  frustration  with  Chinese  only  worsened,  and  maintaining  near  full-­‐

time  employment  while  balancing  semesters  of  heavy  coursework  took  its  toll  on  my  

academic  life.    I  realized  my  dream  of  studying  China  and  Chinese  (at  least  from  the  

international  affairs  perspective)  was  over,  but  its  malice  on  my  academic  record  forced  me  

to  leave  George  Washington  to  rebuild  myself.  

  In  what  was  to  be  the  beginning  of  my  senior  year  at  GW,  I  enrolled  at  Georgetown  

University  and  began  with  their  core  requirements—ancient  history,  beginning  with  the  

Greeks  and  Romans.    These  courses  provided  a  new  and  fascinating  perspective  of  the  

ancient  world,  but  they  did  little  to  expand  my  intensifying  geographic  curiosity.    However,  

one  course—Introduction  to  Social  Science—explored  the  application  of  scientific  theory  to  

research,  from  polls  and  surveys  to  analyzing  the  writing  structure  of  newspaper  columns.    

The  wide  spectrum  and  organizational  structure  of  this  course  proved  somewhat  taxing,  but  

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the  course  itself  provided  an  in-­‐depth  lesson  on  the  various  aspects  of  qualitative  and  

quantitative  research.    Furthermore,  I  gained  greater  understanding  of  data  analysis  while  

studying  data  sets,  news  reports,  and  data  projections—most  notably  maps—with  healthy  

skepticism.    Before  this  course,  a  colorful  map  of  county-­‐by-­‐county  projections  of  post-­‐

election  results  excited  my  intellectual  nerves,  but  this  course  provoked  my  skepticism  by  

providing  new  techniques  essential  to  validate  these  data  sources.  

  My  Georgetown  experience  ended  in  a  hectic  semester  where  I  also  took  two  classes  

through  the  University  of  Colorado  at  Boulder  while  pursuing  full-­‐time  employment  in  the  US  

Senate.  Additionally,  I  returned  to  GW  for  the  summer  2009,  but  the  two  geography  courses  

I  enrolled  in  were—like  my  other  recent  geographic  experiences—online.    This  led  to  the  

unfortunate  reality  that  most  of  the  credits  applicable  to  my  major  were  earned  through  

online  courses,  which  lack  formal  discussion  (among  other  obstacles).      

  While  my  classroom  experience  was  unconventional  I  used  my  proximity  to  three  

major  airports  to  devise  my  own  coast-­‐to-­‐coast  learning  experience.  Since  ‘freshman  year,  I  

have  traveled  up  and  down  the  east  coast  on  trains,  buses,  and  planes;  I  visited  Chicago  

numerous  times  to  see  friends,  attend  concerts  and  live  like  a  local.    Job  training  sent  me  to  

San  Francisco  for  half  a  month,  where  I  again  explored  the  city  and  surrounding  parks  and  

scenic  spaces.    This  year  alone,  I  visited  to  Denver  three  times,  including  a  3,100  mile  loop  

into  sparsely-­‐populated  areas  of  New  Mexico,  Arizona,  and  Utah.  

  These  experiences  broadened  my  perspective  of  the  cultural,  architectural,  and  even  

political  landscape  of  many  American  cities.    Furthermore,  I  began  observing  new  

phenomena  in  the  west  like  human  encroachment  on  the  natural  environment.    Though  

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there  were  no  classes  in  these  cities,  I  found  myself  recalling  information  from  my  very  first  

geography  courses  with  Thomas  Foggin  and  Lisa  Benton  Short.    Suddenly  the  lectures  and  

readings  about  strata  layers,  cloud  formations,  water  basins,  and  human  development  

patterns  made  sense,  and  the  miles  of  unique  features  spread  across  the  Colorado  Plateau  

provided  real-­‐life  examples  of  the  environmental  and  human-­‐made  systems  discussed  in  

these  introductory  courses.  A  light  switched  on  in  my  head  with  every  stop  (every  few  

hundred  feet  at  times)  in  my  rental  car  to  examine  and  study  every  aspect  of  the  geography  

surrounding  me.  

  My  geographic  experience  provided  enough  insight  to  question  and  understand  how  

cities  and  neighborhoods  grew  in  their  respective  locations,  or  to  research  how  a  rock  stands  

by  itself  in  the  middle  of  a  plateau,  or  even  absorb  how  rivers  carved  strata  layers  to  form  

geological  marvels  throughout  the  Colorado  Plateau.    Each  of  these  experiences  was  

enhanced  through  geographic  knowledge,  and  while  I  wish  I  had  the  opportunity  to  study  

more  physical  geography—a  semester  exploring  the  American  West  would  be  ideal  in  this  

field—or  master  GIS,  my  current  experience  should  only  mark  the  beginning  of  my  lifelong  

geographic  education.