Dreams fulfilling

My dreams are about to be fulfilled, as you may have guessed from the couple of Norwegian entries below... I have had two applications for internships accepted, both were in fact accepted within 36 hrs of my applying. It is quite amazing how God has worked things out! Some of my friends/colleagues/ fellow PhD students are struggling to find or get internships; it is either too competitive or the time frame does not fit or ... there is always some obstacle. I just sent an email, had a quick positive response, then sent another and received another quick positive response.

People say 'good job' or 'Good for you, you've really worked hard for it' or similar. And that is not true. I did not do anything particular to get either of them, apart from applying (fairly easy!). I do not feel guilty when people say that, but a bit embarrassed perhaps, since they give me credit for something that is not my work at all. It is all the work of God, and it is amazing to see how things I have been doing in the past out of sheer interest - as far back as 10 years for some things - now all come together into one overall order and purpose with my life and what I am doing. I am a bit stunned, to be honest. And my supervisors are very excited about it and happy for me, it seems. As are my 'classmates', the people studying with me.

So, what is happening? In July I'll go to Belgrade, Serbia, and stay for three months. I will work 3 days a week with an NGO that deals with interethnic relations. Then, in October, I'll go to Tblisi, Georgia. There I will work full time with another organization for three months. This organization has informally asked me to carry out a specific research project and write a report/working paper on it. Both internships are at the core of what my research interest is, and the things I do there will be directly 100 % relevant for my PhD. At the same time they also fit perfectly in as experince with what I want to do AFTER my PhD, even though that is way into the future.


So I am happy. And motivated. And beginning to realise that I have a lot of work to do, and that I need to do it rather quickly since it is only a few months until I am going away... Imagine what the blog will be like in a while! ;-)











This is Serbia. I will be based in Belgrade from July through September. (Picture from CIA World Fact Book.)










This is Georgia. I will be Based in Tblisi from October until Christmas. (Picture also from CIA World Fact Book.)