... I fail so much that I might as well eat failure for breakfast. The numerous kinds of failure that have befallen me are like breakfast cereals from which I can choose.

That’s right, I failed the Qualifications Evaluation Pannel. I was fairly certain that I was going to fail this portion of the exam simply because I am young and Master’s-less.

However, I do not despair at the numerous breakfast cereals of failures from which I can feast, for dwelling on failure (except as a way to examine a mistake and improve) does nothing but create more failure. Oh Failure Breakfast, you Foolish Fiend! I will not get sucked into that trap! Nice Try.

I am not really ready to be a diplomat yet. I think that I need to grow and learn more about myself and the world before I can be a diplomat and before I can decide whether I even still want to be a diplomat or not. When I first passed the Foreign Service Officer Test, I panicked because I knew that I was not ready to be a diplomat and that I was not sure I even wanted to be a diplomat anymore. This is one of the first goals that I ever added to 43things. I chose diplomacy as a career path, because I love to travel and it seemed to be the best career path for one who wants to travel. Now I still want to travel more than ever, but being a diplomat seems to involve mostly bureaucracy and being-a-yes-man. I would have to defend causes/beliefs that I do not believe in. I can physically do that, I am quite an eloquent speaker and talented at making logical arguments, but ethically I can not do that.

I am happy with the idea of working in Korea as a teacher for a little bit to raise money for graduate school and then potentially getting a PhD or going into the non-profit sector. I love the idea of being able to travel on my own for a little bit to raise money to learn, that feels right. One of my favourite professors did just that before he got his Master’s degrees and PhD. My mother insinuated, however, that getting a job in Korea was a kind of failure on my part. If an adventure in Korea is a sort of failure, then I am happy to be a failure. 12 months ago

I am fairly certain that I will not pass the Qualifications Evaluation Pannel (QEP) who review my Personal Narratives (PN), HOWEVER, I certainly tried! I put off writing my narratives, because I keep thinking that I will not make it into the Foreign Service. But I must not think like that. I must believe that I am brilliant and that any company/school/program that does not want me is losing out.

My responses are in and now it is in their hands….

It’s nice to have these responses done and this weight lifted off of my back.

We’ll see. We’ll see… 15 months ago

I think that I did very well on the FSOT (Foreign Service Officer Test) which is the first step towards becoming a diplomat. It was trivia questions (which I found fun to answer), English-language questions (nothing tricky really) and Biographical questions (which was only difficult in that we had a very short amount of time to write answers to several questions). There was also an essay that asked me to defend my opinion on a given topic.

I think that I passed… if not, I would be quite surprised. But I thought that I would make it into the JET program too, so that shows how much my opinion of myself is worth. What I am worried about is passing the QEP (Qualifications Evaluation Panel). I am very young and have not yet gone to graduate school and my only work experience is volunteer, part time, and temporary jobs. I am hoping that if I am able to relate the experience that I do have to being a diplomat that I stand a chance of making it to the Oral Assessment (OA). The OA is basically a day-long interview and practical examination that pits me against other would-be diplomats. 16 months ago