Samantha Lin

SFS ’14
Age: 22
Hometown:Charlottesville, VA
Major: Regional and Comparative Studies

What do you do?
Well for my senior year I consciously limited my involvement in many organizations so that I could focus on being deeply involved in what I was doing. The formal organizations I’ve been involved with are Alternative Spring Break in Appalachia, IRC: Model United Nations conference (NCSC for college students and NAIMUN for high schoolers), Blue and Gray Tour Guides, Rangila, and the Regional and Comparative Studies Major Thesis Cohort.

What do you find most frustrating about Georgetown?
I am most frustrated that in the SFS there appears to be a “path.” Recently the SFS hosted an internship panel with the “most common” internships represented. There were banks, consulting firms, giant think tanks and the government represented. There was no focus on local, community organizations and made it seem as though there is a mold to fit to succeed in the SFS. I have done almost nothing within the mold: no “high-powered” internship, no typical course choices and no expected study abroad. I don’t want SFS underclassmen to lose what makes them each individually special by feeling the need to buy into a larger system void of people-to-people interactions.

What do you like most about Georgetown?
I love that people here are engaged. No one is here to skate by and grab a diploma after four years. People want to challenge others and be challenged, they care about their fellow students and believe that we can all succeed together, they treat Georgetown with the love they treat their homes. I love that Georgetown students love each other, love their studies, love their professors and use that love to make the world a better place.

What are your plans after Georgetown? Does this question annoy you?
I’m going to be working with a peace-building camp for kids from the Middle East, South Asia and the U.S. called Seeds of Peace this summer. After that, I’m taking it one day at a time. This question doesn’t annoy me if it is asked in full innocence. If someone is genuinely interested in how I’m going to use my Georgetown education I don’t mind, but if the question has a competitive or judgmental edge then I do mind.

Do you feel you fit in at Georgetown?
I feel like I fit in precisely because I don’t fit in. Different parts of myself fit into different organizations and each organization or class does its best to nurture that part of myself. But I think that’s what everyone is like at Georgetown so I love getting to see the different sides of my friends in surprising ways.

Where are you from? Compare and contrast it to Georgetown. Where are you more comfortable?
I come from the best town in the whole world, Charlottesville, Va. Charlottesville is a university town with the University of Virginia at the center. It is a unique mix of small town charm, Southern hospitality, American history and university-inspired cultural/academic diversity. I’m more comfortable here now. I love knowing Charlottesville like the back of my hand but after a couple days of sleeping and eating my mom’s food I start to feel suffocated.

What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done?
Study abroad in Amman, Jordan. I decided to study in Jordan despite no prior study of Arabic because I am so passionate about the Middle East and wanted to experience the culture in person. Arabic is an incredibly difficult language and I struggled to survive for the first month. It was hot, women weren’t treated well and the language was incredibly difficult: I’ve never felt so frustrated and disappointed in myself for not adapting as well as I had hoped I would! However I stuck it out, and after the first month I began to love Jordan (and get the hang of Arabic!).

What’s your greatest fear?
Sylvia Plath says it best: “What horrifies me most is the idea of being useless: well-educated, brilliantly promising, and fading out into an indifferent middle age.”

What do you do for “me time”?
I run if I’m ultra motivated, but more often than not I’ll knit while watching “The West Wing.”

If you could lead a protest on one thing, what would it be?
Ending the excessive military assistance to Israel.

Interview by Sean Sullivan