My Last Official Blog Post

Hello, my name is Sweta Sudhir and I am a junior in high school. My about page described my interest in traveling as the reason for my blogging, while that is true, maintaining this blog was an assignment for my AP Language and Composition course. The task seemed daunting to me originally. Writing 1200 words a week with three separate topics seemed like it would be the end-all back in August when school started. This didn’t end up being the case. Blogging taught me a lot of things that my teacher wanted it to, like keeping up with current events, introducing my own opinion to topics that are already being widely discussed, exploring my interests, using technology, and writing, of course. Blogging also taught me many things our teacher probably didn’t intend for including how to crank out 1200 words in an hour on Sunday night (I swear that only happened once), how to make an interesting story about whatever was going on in my life and somehow connect it to global affairs that would appeal to a broader audience, and finally how to drag yourself to that 400 word count on a blog post that just wasn’t working for you.

Now that the school year is winding down, blogging will no longer be a required assignment. I have to say I’ve enjoyed blogging to the extent that it keeps me informed and forced me to learn how to produce quality(ish) work without spending hours up-on hours drafting and redrafting each piece. My blog is ending on one front, I will no longer be blogging for the purpose of getting a good grade in AP Lang, I will, however, keep up this blog, at least for this summer. Those of you who read my blog regularly or know me in person, know that I applied for the Borlaug-Ruan International Internship through the World Food Prize organization last December. I had an interview in February and recently found out I got the internship! I will be going to the CIMMYT research center in Turkey for 60 days this summer. This blog will serve as my public journal/diary of my experiences in Turkey. I won’t be trying to tie the topics to world events, but if you are interested to follow me on this journey I encourage you to keep reading throughout the summer. I will be there from June 13th to August 11^th and though I am a bit nervous, I am incredibly excited to see what this summer has in store for me.  I hope to make a contribution to the fight for food security while exploring a new culture. Güle güle!