Kara Panzer

COL ’15
Age: 21
Hometown: Millerton, N.Y.
Major: STIA

Do you feel like you can establish friendships pretty quickly?
I think I’m good at establishing peripheral friendships pretty quickly, but I have a very small circle of people who I call on a regular basis to hang out. If I look to the broad picture, I have people in New York who I’m really close with, people in Boston, but in D.C., who I hang out with regularly is honestly probably like four girls. I think it’s good — I like having really strong, close friendships, but then to be able to have friends on a different level that you don’t have to pour your heart out to all of the time is good, too.

What do you do on campus?
This is terrible, but I’m not really involved in campus life; I’m not in clubs. I work at Malmaison as a waitress. On campus, I go to Lau a lot and try to be productive. I live in Henle; my roommate and I cook together. Yeah, I’m not super involved in campus life; it’s really bad. I’ve never been to a basketball game.

What do you do for “me” time?
I do CorePower Yoga; I’m addicted. It’s a really fun workout. I like to run outside; my friends and I do a good loop into Rosslyn, then around to the Washington Monument, and then come back. I like to read. I read The New York Times on my phone in the morning. When I go out, I generally don’t go out in Georgetown; I like to go out on U Street.

Where and with whom do you feel most comfortable at Georgetown?
I have a group of really close girlfriends, and wherever we are, we have a good time. My classes are mostly in ICC or the business school, so I am generally in the ICC in the daytime, then a few hours in Lau. It’s really nice — I don’t have class until 2 p.m. ever, so I usually go to Lau in the mornings. I definitely feel like I move on kind of a small track on campus. I never go to Southwest Quad; I don’t know what goes on there. I don’t have a meal plan [so] I don’t know what goes on at Leo’s. I like Henle; Henle’s really fun, [but] the only thing that’s really weird is that we never see our neighbors. There’s a couple people I see, but it’s like living in an apartment building in New York. My RA does a great job in trying to bring us together, but … I’m a vegan, too, so their food doesn’t really tempt me. Wait, I’m sorry, I’m a fake vegan — I don’t eat meat meat, eggs or dairy. My sister’s like, “You’re not a vegan.” I buy leather, so…[laughs]. But according to the Stall Seat Journal I’m way better for the environment.

What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done?
People always ask me why I moved to Egypt, and I think that sounds [laughs] … I’ve never been there before and I just went. I don’t know what the hardest thing I’ve ever done is. Anything that seems hard in the moment turns out to have not been that hard once you finally get it done. My accounting project right now seems like the hardest thing I’m ever going to do, but we’ll figure it out.

What attracted you to going abroad?
I wanted to learn Arabic, and I wanted to experience it. I think by moving there, you get a very different experience than if you just visited for a week or two and are just staying at a hotel. My friends and I had this awesome apartment in Maadi right on the Nile that costs us $250 each; I had my own little balcony, we had a doorman, it was on this quiet little side street, and it was just so green and beautiful. We did have an hour commute to campus every day because it was in the middle of the desert, which I did not realize. There were just so many things … I can be a little impulsive in my planning of things.

What would you change about yourself if you could?
I wouldn’t change anything about myself. I mean there’s things I try to work on; I can get kind of single-minded in my projects and my focus and can sometimes lose sight of the big picture, but not in a way that I think is detrimental. I think it’s just part of being young. Teenagers always think that if something goes bad, it’s the end of the world, and I’ve definitely grown out of that a lot, but I think I have work to do. I think I’m on the right track. 

What’s one change you’ve consciously made?
No. I have a very casual approach to my life now. I went to boarding school in Connecticut — I was a day student — where it was very intense, a ton of pressure, and I think after coming from that, I’ve realized that it’s not worth it to be busy for the sake of being busy; you should pursue what interests you. If it doesn’t seem like something that’s bettering you or helping you achieve your goals, why, you know? I’m not about being busy for the sake of being busy. I like to do my workout, I like to get my coffee every morning, and I work on the weekends, and I think that works for me.

Do you feel like you fit in at Georgetown?
I’d say yes. I mean, I don’t really know what that means exactly; I don’t think I’m like a lot of other Georgetown students, but I feel like it’s easy to meet people and I’m generally down to get along with others. 

Do you think there’s a mold to fit into?
No, I don’t think so. Sure, some people have similar styles, but I don’t think there’s any pressure that that has to be you. There’s always going to be certain things or things to say that are trendy, but I don’t think that if you go against the grain it’s frowned upon.

Interview by Hanaa Khadraoui