From summing up the courage to take that first lunch break to playing Harout and Aram while we work, the atmosphere at the ANCA – for me at least – has definitely changed. We have all officially gotten comfortable with the new work environment and are slowly easing our way into various routines. This week we each began to plunge into our personal projects, participated in a resume/interview workshop, and learned a bit about backgrounds.

Being a grassroots organization, history is an important aspect of the ANCA, and this concept seems to be implemented within some of our daily tasks. For example, this past Wednesday a representative from AYF, Serouj Aprahamian, came to talk to us and the bulk of his presentation seemed to be on the background of AYF. Earlier this week, we stumbled upon a discussion of our own family history, and I seemed to fall a bit short on information. I did not know very much about my family’s past, which concerned me. I went home that day and asked my parents eagerly about our history. Even though I intern for an office with people of the same ethnicity as me, it is crazy to think how each of us had come from very different parts of the world. This of course, is credited to the Armenian Diaspora.

There are always conversations of different events of history going on in our “Bullpen” of an office. The constant back-and-forth of these conversations are entertaining, as if it were a competition to see who knows more about the many events that have occurred throughout history. In turn, these discussions are then connected to present-day issues going on either a national or global scale. Sounds a lot like my IB Global Studies class. It just comes to show that there is a lot to learn about just everything in general – an overwhelming idea, but exciting also. For the time being, until I begin my college career in the fall, I shall sit back and listen to these discussions, and learn all that I can.