This past week has been crazy busy. I turned in my history thesis on monday! All history majors are required to take a history seminar class, which is where every student writes a thesis. My seminar this semester is themed 1945, so a comprehensive study of the year of 1945, a pretty big year. My thesis is about the "comfort women" who were forced to served the U.S occupation forces in occupied Japan in 1945 and 1946. I took a gender analysis approach in analyzing the broader context of U.S foreign policy in democratizing Japan, and how these gender relationshps were an imperative part of U.S foreign policy.
Sunday night I pulled an all-nighter- and got no sleep to work on my thesis, which I am quite proud of.
Today I presented my thesis to my class. I used some pictures of US soldiers and Japanese women I had found in the US National Archives. It went pretty well. I'm just glad to have the brunt of my thesis done. I must say though, I really enjoyed writing my thesis. The topic is so interesting and has so many lenses in which it can be analyzed. It is really exciting and rewarding feeling to write a paper which you feel you've properly articulated your point.

I just got back from New York City!! Last week was spring break, and with the student group Model UN on campus I went to a Model United Nations simulation in New York City! We were there for a full week, and our hotel was right in Time Square. This year we represented Panama. In our free time we did a lot of walking around and taking the subway seeing the cites. I went to two Broadway musicals! Chicago and Rent! Rent was amazing! wow. Alphabet City was really cool and Grand Central Station. On Saint Patrick’s day they had a two hour parade which was really fun to watch.
Monday we went to the Panamanian Embassy and spoke with the Ambassador from Panama. This meeting was really interesting because he told us the countries Panama tends to work with and those they are neutral with.
Tuesday was the opening ceremony. Both the opening ceremony and closing ceremony are in the actual United Nations General Assembly room! it was so cool. The Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-Moon spoke. That night we had our first session. I was on the General Assembly Plenary. Our room was huge- because we had to fit all 181 countries plus NGOs. Our topics this year was Conflict Diamonds and the Role in Peace Keeping, Finding Alternative Sources of Energy, and Malaria in Sub-Saharan Africa. The first thing we did Tuesday night was to set the agenda. Procedures in committee is vary formal, and we voted on discussing Finding Alternative Sources of Energy first- which is the topic Panama felt most pertinent.
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday we had committe sessions and Saturday was the closing ceremony.

I must say the history department here at Augsburg is outstanding. As a history major, I have taken many history classes at Augsburg- all the professors offer something different to the department. Professor Lansing is problably my favorite professor, his classes have forced me to analyze the way I percieve history and how that impacts my life today. His classes are challenging and always have alot of work- but I've learned so much. I took Latin American History and Environmental history with him. Environmental history was my favorite class I've had at Augsburg. It was a United States history class where we looked at people's relationships to the environment. We looked at the race, gender and class relations to the environment. It was fascinating!
We also wrote the environmental history of Augsburg College, which was quite a task. My group looked at sociel hierarchies in environmental history. We spent alot of time in the archives at Augsburg- which was a ton of fun. We would spend hours and hours in there- and it was so interesting- looking at old Echos (our school newspaper) and seeing how Auggies from decades ago spent their time at Augsburg!

It is a really exciting time to be on campus right now. There are alot of new ideas on campus. I have seen this spirit evolving since I was a Freshman and it is so exciting! There are alot of new student organizations on campus- doing alot of cool things. A spanish club was started this year, and about a week ago they put on a really cool event. It was salsa dancing instructions, flamenco performace, and great music and food.
Also last week the Pan African Student Union had their annual fashion show, which is always cool. They have students model different styles and also have people read poems, play music and dance. Also this year they hosted a frat, who performed a step routine which was SWEET!

I am currently taking my senior history thesis class, and currenty I am in the process of figuring out my topic. I havn't had alot of time to think about it because we already have so much reading- but it is really interesting. The topic for my class is 1945- so we are studying the entire year in depth. Last week we read, I will Bear Witness, a diary of a Jewish man working in a factory. It was really interesting- reading about his day to day activities. This week we are reading Animal Farm by George Orwell - another great book!

Last saturday I went downtown to the Target Center to see Obama speak- there was so many people there! I waited in line for over 3 hours to see him- well worth it though- people were so excited at the rally- it was great!
Sunday Hillary Clinton came to Augsburg!! I was so surprised to hear she was coming to Augsburg, I waited in line for over an hour and I got was able to sit right behind her- if you've seen the pictures I am to the left of the American flag. It was a smaller crowd than Obama- but it was still exciting!
Tuesday was the caucuses- the democratic one was at Augsburg in the East Commons and it was CRAZY! there was a huge turn out- especially students- Auggies well represented!
After the caucuses some of my friends I studied abroad with came up from St. Olaf and we all went salsa dancing- which was great! I love being in the city- there are so many choices of activites and so many activities. I just had to hop on the light rail to see Obama!

This past week has been crazy! Last thrusday was Focus the Nation, a student led initiative to create action around the issue of global warming. The day was filled with teachins, panel discussions, and speakers. Each teach-in included three professors who each spoke about global warming from the perspective within their field. For example, the biology professor spoke about evolution in global warming, a psychology professor spoke about people cognitive reasoning in how they act towards the environment. There was two panel discussions. One with alumni from Augsburg who spoke about their work in the environmental advocacy groups and corporations. The second panel discussion included many politicians from around the cities. Mark Richie came, and Cam Gordon, our city council rep. It was a great discussion- a good way to wrap up the day!