I suppose I really haven’t told you guys what I’ve been up to over the past few months. I also haven’t been posting regularly aside from the few big trips I’ve taken to Peru and the Grand Canyon. I planned to write about my trip to Romania around Halloween since we visited Dracula’s castle when I was there this past March, but I didn’t even get around to that in time.

A couple of my friends and family have recently asked me, what exactly are you doing right now? I figure if not even my family knows then I guess I haven’t been good about conveying what is going on in my life right now, so I’ll just quickly catch you guys up.

Currently, I’m in Monterey California, working on a Master’s degree at Naval Postgraduate School, through the National Security Affairs Department. The degree is for Far East and South East Asian Strategy Studies. And I’m getting it at a military school, which has an actual campus and bar and everything. I only say that because every other Navy school I’ve been to has been in some of the shadiest and weirdest places.

I know it sounds complex right? What a mouthful of words. I was instantly overwhelmed when I got told that was going to be my major and I had to try to piece it all together a week before classes started. The first few semesters at NPS were a little rough, but I think I’ve gotten the hang of things, at least to some extent. Although I have an undergraduate degree in Forensic Science, which can we all admit that these two majors don’t really go hand in hand?

In fact, I only took one international relations class in college, which I begged my best friend M to take with me as an elective (We were in the same major and took all the same class so we could split the cost of our books, haha). I’m pretty sure I ended up with a B- or a C in that class because I had no concept of the world or world history a the time. That’s pretty bad. Now I’m basically getting a Master’s in an international relations degree. A lot has changed since my days at West Virginia University. M did a lot better in the class than I did, she went on to get a minor in political science after we took that class together.

Why am I getting this degree you ask? Good question. I don’t have my next assignment yet, which is a little rare for my field because I’m supposed to go to language school after I get my degree and at this point, most people know which language they will learn and where they are going next. I don’t have any prior language training so you could say I’m needs of the Navy. Never a good position to be in. My new job is to go and work for an ambassador at an embassy somewhere in the world.

I’m getting an Asian specific degree, which means I’m supposed to learn an Asian language and head back to Asia when I’m done here. Yes, that’s the projected plan but you know how the Military can be. That’s more of a guideline really not a set rule, like the pirate’s code of parlay.

There is good news. I’ve been in contact with the guy who will be determining where I go next and after this semester finishes in December, I’ll be able to find out what the future holds. Finally!! That’s pretty exciting stuff right there! Hopefully this clears things up a bit, sorry I have been so off the grid recently, research for my thesis has been painful and time-consuming. Can’t wait to get my proposal signed off on because that means that the holiday’s are near and it’s time for Christmas cheers.

This article appeared first on The Cassey Excursion.