Looking towards the future..

Kelsey FINALLY Graduates on April 13th, 2013! I'm very excited to be graduating and continuing on with our lives after our Bachelor's degrees. The question we keep getting is, 'what are you guys going to do??'. Well, I wish we knew for sure what we plan to do! 

The thing is, I graduate in April but Claudio doesn't graduate until December 2013. That sure makes it hard to plan! If you don't know a lot about our university, we live in a small town of 6,318 people, about 29 hundred of those are BYU-Hawaii students. In other words, the purest definition of college town. When I graduate, there's not a lot of full time jobs waiting in our small community of 1 grocery store, 1 gas station, a McDonalds, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut.

You may know that I am studying International Cultural Studies here at BYU-Hawaii. It's the perfect place, because over 45% of our small population are international students from about 75 different countries. I love it here! This has given me the desire to study a Masters of Arts in Conflict Resolution, using my different perspectives gained here studying.

Luckily, Claudio has learned to manipulate the system and has figured out how to study his final (fall) semester from September through December completely online. Why? Because all of my Masters programs that I have applied for begin in September or October. Until then, I have a possible solution for the summer working. So, here are our basic options in order of favorites of the future:


1. Konstanz, Germany

• Masters of International Administration and Conflict Management at the University of Konstanz, Starting October 1st
• My top choice by far, incredible university, location, cost, and ranks 14th in the world of Universities under 50 years old! It would be incredible. Plus, good connections with the UN.

2. Amsterdam, Netherlands

• Studying a Masters of Conflict Resolution and Governance at the University of Amsterdam, starts in September
• I like the program, but is a lot more expensive than the two German schools and I've heard Amsterdam is very much a "get crazy" city.. but it ranks higher than every single other school on this list!

3. Heidelberg, Germany

• Masters of Transcultural Studies at the University of Heidelberg
• The University itself is about 800 years old in a beautiful location and is an incredible school all around. Yet, it's in almost the exact field I did my bachelor's in. Maybe I would want to diversify a little more.

4. Dallas, Texas

• Masters of Arts in Dispute Resolution at Southern Methodist University
• It's a really great school in the United States, but I'd rather go abroad. Yet, it's in the top 100 US schools so it all depends on what I would choose

5. Portland, Oregon

• This is for the Masters of Science in Conflict Resolution at Portland State University
• Good school, I've heard the program is good and we love Portland!

Depending on where I go helps Claudio decide his future as well. It's possible he will just work full time while I study, or also that he enters a program that he wants to master in (economics, finance, or real estate) at the same university.

Wish us luck as we wait to hear!