Seattle’s Re-Entry
Working a little backwards here… I’m going to start my series of blog posts on my recent travels from the end, with no promises of going in chronological order, either. I’m using this as an opportunity to work on my writing skills and to tell the stories of history, conflict, culture, and food that I study on my adventures. Sometimes these will be easily connected to my work in space law, sometimes they’ll just be an attempt to share global perspectives that can inform us all on how to be more kind and thoughtful human beings. Feedback from you is welcome!
I’m home, and goodness does it feel nice. Mt Rainier was out and bright pink as I got off the airplane. There was inevitably an unknown disaster affecting traffic at SEA-TAC causing me to take the light rail for a stop just to get picked up by my optimization-seeking-yet-doting boyfriend. Our house is filled with sunshine that the cat and I are enjoying, despite the looming winter in Seattle and cold temperatures. I feel so grateful for the sunshine, a pour over coffee, a couch, a desk! I missed these things during my 5 weeks of nomadic life exploring the bounds of “Eurasia.” The most delightful thing about coming home from extended travel this time is that life is fairly settled. I’m still in a bit of a transitory phase concerning my professional career, but I’m not leaving school or a career or moving across the country at some unknown date. I’m home, and I could simply unpack and get back into my routine and my work and catch up with friends. Wow. If you’ve known me for awhile… this is not usually how things go. When I came home from 2 months in Nepal last year, the first couple months were capricious - I didn’t have a home to come back to and was faced with extending my military career by 2 or 10 years or leaving it entirely. How nice it is to have my life and work connected to me and my brain and not where I’ve been assigned to live. I feel this is giving me the space to share what I’ve learned in a more meaningful way, so for that I’m grateful.
Let’s get on with it then!
I spent 5 weeks traveling because I was awarded the Emerging Space Leaders Grant from the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) to attend the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) to present my work on a case study concerning the operational, insurance, and legal investigation surrounding an on-orbit servicing mishap. But more on this in the IAC post coming soon. I took the opportunity to extend my return flight home and explore this region of the world that I’d been curious about. I’d say that my time is well summarized as studying the Silk Road, and the history of commerce and conflict in three post-Soviet states. I’m so excited to share my findings with you.
The IAC was in Azerbaijan, where I also had the opportunity to attend a UN Workshop focused on capacity-building. I then went to many cities and ancient sites in Uzbekistan, and spent the most time here. I learned the hard way why I had never heard anything about the food in this region, but overall this was my favorite place to visit out of this cohort. Georgia was the next stop! It was great to catch up with some folks from the IAC and fulfill a dream of visiting Tbilisi after seeing a National Geographic article many years ago. The European Centre for Space Law and a student/young professionals organization co-hosted a Model United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (MUN COPUOS) in Paris, France at the end of October. I figured that was sort of on the way home, and a meaningful detour since the formal proceedings of the UN have been a blind spot for me in my work. Finally, back to the east for a few days in Istanbul (and where my flight home was from).
My Key Takeaways:
I love traveling solo and the flexibility chaos that offers. It’s so fun.
It was difficult to combine cultural tourism and adventure tourism solo.
5 weeks was 4-7 days too long.
Experts in every field experience frustration with processes and communication failures.
The result seems to be to write a book bitching about it and I love that.
Staying in Seattle and figuring out something fun to do for a few years is my plan. Sorry to DC, CO, and EU. Try to woo me again later.
Idk what that actually entails. We’ll find out together.
I think a PhD and becoming an academic seems to be the most desirable path for me, but I’m not in a place to do a PhD right now and that’s okay.
Sorry to everyone that had to talk to me about what I wanted to do with my life during this prioritization process.
I was just as frustrated as you trying to talk to me.
Google Fi was the MVP for facilitating my flexibility traveling and working and research methods.
I feel like a badass because it worked out to travel with a suit and dresses and nice shoes in a 45L backpack.
Thanks so much for reading along! I hope you enjoyed these highlights. I look forward to sharing more about the Temurid Empire, the Soviet Republics and economic reform, and the latest and greatest random thoughts from my interactions in the space community.
