Growing up in a highly conservative, semi-rural area, part of Virginia (USA) sometimes called the “buckle of the Bible Belt”, history for me was a great way to travel in time and space across and around the globe. This fascination led me to study it as well as religion at Virginia Tech University. In 2012 armed with two BAs in History and Religious Studies I was able to get a job in my field:  working in a restaurant.  After a few money-saving years there I was able to actually travel, not in time, but in space around the globe, spending time in South Africa, Turkey, Israel and over a dozen European countries. 

It was Berlin, a very unique, affordable, and vibrant metropolis , dripping with history, where I chose to set up base camp. Since 2015 I’ve lived and worked here as an English teacher, as well as a tour guide at Berliner Unterwelten, leading people through underground structures, educating about WW2.  My #1 interest for most of these years has been learning and improving my German, followed by exploring and visiting all the famous, historic, and idiosyncratic things this city has to offer. 

As 2020 made its coronating presence felt, there seemed no better choice for me than to start an MA in global history to return to traveling in time and space—from the comfort of my couch, in a building that was built during the Kaiserzeit, survived the Allied bombings of WW2, and was renovated in the DDR, still equipped with their state-of-the-art heaters. The flexibility of this program, accommodating people with various, seemingly-unconnected interests (in religions and religious fundamentalism, 20th century German history and nationalism, American history and race relations and the plights of the marginalized, among others), as well as the ability to take courses in both English and German were indispensable to me.  Finally, I look forward to getting to know and learning from all of you smart people from around our globe.