One year ago today, the members of the 178th Generalist Class made their way to Main State in northwest Washington, DC for the first day of A-100. Arrival time requested: 07:45. That morning kind of felt like holding onto an electric fence with both hands, for so many reasons.
For many of us, I suppose, and myself definitely included, arrival there was the culmination of so much waiting and hoping for a successful candidacy. As anti-climactic as it was in terms of being death-by-PowerPoint and hours of adminstrative topics like retirement planning and picking health insurance that I already knew as a transfer from another federal agency, I felt an overwhelming happiness and gratitude. And, although I probably didn’t say it then, soaring hopes for new friendships with people I already felt connected to. I talked about day one a little bit here, in the recap I did of A-100 week one.
Today I heard from or was in contact with members of my class in more than a dozen countries, from Russia to the Philippines, from Egypt to China. It’s great to know so many talented and hard-working people and I hope that we will cross paths many times in the future as we continue this nomadic Foreign Service life.
I’m going to borrow an excellent idea from one of my colleagues and list the other 178th blogs I’m aware of below. If I find out about others in the future, I will update this post. Enjoy!
Bangladesh: https://accordingtoathena.wordpress.com
Burundi: http://blog.bryanschell.com/?m=1
China: https://allpointsforward.com
Egypt: https://mapya.wordpress.com
Collecting Postcards 