So what are you doing again?

That is a great question!

I am attending the American Studies Programme in Washington DC. I will be in seminars and doing an internship. To save time, I have decided so simply just copy and past stuff from their websites...

The American Studies Program is an interdisciplinary internship/seminar program based in Washington, DC. The program is sponsored by the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities, an association of one hundred member colleges and universities of the liberal arts and sciences in the United States and Canada and forty-three affiliate members around the world. Over twenty-one hundred university students have participated in the program since it began in September of 1976. Designed to expose undergraduates to opportunities for involvement in public life, the program also provides students with a general understanding of the public policy dynamics at work in the nation's capital. The program provides internship opportunities for the diverse majors and career interests of university juniors and seniors.Students live together in our campus apartments, work as voluntary interns and participate in a seminar program for which they receive full academic credit. Since the number of participants is limited, the program is highly selective.

Public Policy Seminar classes meet three afternoons each week and are organized into three academic modules dealing with a variety of topics in domestic and international policy. The subject of each module is addressed from a non-partisan, multi-disciplinary approach utilizing the vast resources available to students in Washington, D.C. The modules have included studies of the national deficit, defense and weapons policies, social welfare policies, national campaigning, the debate over environmental and economic growth issues, U.S. relations with Eastern Europe, and other current public policy issues.

Internships are designed to be pre-career work experiences which will assist the students in understanding the nature of professional life in their fields of interest. Interns have been placed in over 500 offices and agencies across the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Students intern in the legislative, judicial and executive branches of government. Other internships are in the arts, social services, science and the environment, business and economics, international affairs, law, journalism and communications, and with public interest research groups.

A.S.P. interns are available 20-30 hours per week for 14 weeks during the fall or spring semesters. The students are required to keep a daily journal and meet periodically with American Studies Program faculty who monitor their internship to ensure a quality learning experience. The student's monitor also maintains regular contact with the supervisor at the intern's placement.
Topics in Vocational Leadership (5-week module, 3 semester credits)

The course introduces concepts for Christian responsibility and involvement in public issues important to your internship. It asks what it means for you to “enact” your vocation by living out the truth of your convictions in “real life.” By focusing on a public topic salient to your internship placement, you learn to use (1) basic techniques for issue analysis and (2) the narrative pattern of the Bible (creation, fall, redemption, consummation) as an analytical framework. Reflecting on the responsibilities, challenges and opportunities that arise from your internship experience, attention is given both to the larger biblical narrative and to your own unique story, identity and gifting. Unlike other 5-week ASP modular courses, this course stresses interaction with your internship placement and extends across the semester, beginning with the term’s first two weeks, involving a week at midterm and concluding with the term’s last two weeks.

Internship Placement: (14-week part-time work, 6 semester credits)
This course is an internship placement that continues across the semester. You must work a minimum average of 20 hours a week for a minimum of 13 weeks to receive 6 semester hours of credit. Although ASP has placed students in hundreds of agencies and offices throughout the greater Washington metropolitan area, each internship placement is designed with you in mind. Your position and duties are arranged through a careful process involving ASP, the sponsoring agency and you.
As an ASP intern, you work the same type of daily schedule as your placement’s regular staff and observe all legal holidays. There are no provisions for vacation leave and you must maintain a regular, professional schedule. Illness and family problems are the only excuses for absence. You must get approval from both the on-site supervisor and program faculty monitor prior to altering your regular schedule.
You and your on-site supervisor craft a set of goals for the semester. You also submit three reflection essays (minimum of 5 pages each), each of which include reflections on (1) the mission and organization of your workplace, (2) how your faith relates to your work, and (3) your emerging vocational vision in light of classroom themes and workplace experiences.
At the end of the semester, you submit and sign a one-page typed summary of what you did and learned during the internship course. The summary is submitted, along with the recommended grade and supporting documents, to your college registrar.
You receive academic credit for this course so you cannot be paid for your work. Neither can your internship be turned into a full-time or paid position while you are enrolled in the program. (This is out of fairness to all ASP students.) On occasion, however, you may be given the opportunity by your office to continue in a paid position following completion of the ASP term.
Your internship is carefully monitored by ASP faculty. Faculty monitors confer with you and your on-site supervisor. Your faculty monitor also visits your internship site at least once during the term. To successfully complete an internship, you are required to (1) submit three reflection essays on your experiences & observations, (2) get “the big picture” surrounding your placement by attending events around the city, and (3) read and reflect on an internship text.

Mentorship Course (optional): (4 mentor meetings, 1 semester credit)
This optional course gives you the opportunity to meet with a professional mentor in your field four times during the semester. You submit four recorded individual oral reflections to your faculty monitor, one following each of the four professional mentor meetings, and one recorded group oral reflection to your faculty monitor at the conclusion of the semester.
Your oral reflections (2) demonstrate an effort to learn from your mentor’s experience and background to clarify your career aspirations and emerging vocational vision and (2) draw upon a biography or novel (chosen by your mentor) to wrestle with questions, insights and implications raised by the text for your internship and life experience and for your developing sense of call.

Topics in National Affairs (5-week module, 3 semester credits)

Involving field research and applying tools of policy analysis, the course introduces various perspectives on social and political involvement with a pressing national issue. The course is designed to expose you to the Washington leadership networks that are engaged in the complex dynamic of national public policy formation and decision-making. You will gain perspective on the way Washington really works by personally engaging decision-makers and by using the biblical idea of justice as a point of departure for analyzing an important national topic. Coursework includes policy analysis, political studies, sociology, ethics, theology, and biblical studies.


Topics in International Affairs & Globalization (5-week module, 3 semester credits)

In this unit the two ASP Projects intersect by focusing on a major topic in globalization and international affairs. Through field research and face-to-face meetings with experts in Washington's international community, you are challenged to develop a biblical perspective, either on foreign affairs (in the Public Affairs Project) or on globalization (in the Marketplace Project). The course typically emphasizes ways of dealing with the conflict of international interests (both political and commercial) and the biblical idea of shalom. It examines the just role and responsibilities of governments, businesses and of the international expression of the church. Coursework includes aspects of international relations theory, diplomacy and foreign affairs, globalization and international trade, international economics and ethics, biblical studies and the theology of the church in the world.


My internship, the Institute for Global Engagement

Mission
IGE promotes sustainable environments for religious freedom worldwide. It studies the impact of faith on state and society, it encourages governments to protect religious freedom, and it equips citizens to exercise that freedom responsibly.

In our efforts to promote religious freedom it is imperative to operate at the intersection of thoughts and deeds. Words without action are worthless; action without thought is dangerous. Each must hone the other. Accordingly, IGE combines theory with praxis, thinking with doing.

IGE's three centers catalyze thought and action, promoting a practical and sustainable religious freedom that serves state and society worldwide.
The Center for Relational Diplomacy

Under the direction of IGE President, Dr. Chris Seiple, the Center for Relational Diplomacy (CRD) works in Central, South, and East Asia, as well as Africa and the Middle East. IGE's relational diplomacy is grounded in a commitment to first study, listen to, and understand the local context and then engage it. It seeks to create partnerships and practical agreements between governmental and religious communities that promote a culturally owned and legally protected religious freedom which contributes to social and political stability.
The Center on Faith & International Affairs

Led by IGE Vice-President for Research and Publications, Dr. Dennis Hoover, the Center on Faith & International Affairs (CFIA) equips scholars and practitioners of international affairs with the tools necessary to understand religion's impact on the world today. The Center publishes a groundbreaking quarterly journal, The Review of Faith & International Affairs (also available online at www.cfia.org), and books, monographs, policy papers, and online resources such as its collection of course syllabi. CFIA also sponsors conferences, lectures, research projects, and fellowships.
The Center for Global Education

Directed by IGE COO, Dr. Paul Manuel, the Center for Global Education (CGE) prepares current and emerging leaders to engage global affairs in ways that promote sustainable environments for religious freedom. Currently CGE programs include its annual Global Leadership Forum, a website for Christian global education (www.globalchristian.org), undergraduate internships, and graduate fellowships. Forthcoming programs will include a Master of Science in Global Engagement degree program, offered in partnership with the Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies at Baylor University.

That's all, got to get back to packing!!!