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U.S. Foreign Service Officer headed to Wuhan, China

The mission of a U.S. diplomat in the Foreign Service is to promote peace, support prosperity, and protect American citizens while advancing the interests of the U.S. abroad. The work that diplomats do has an impact on the world as they serve at one of any of the more than 270 embassies, consulates and other diplomatic missions in The Americas, Africa, Europe and Eurasia, East Asia and Pacific, Middle East and North Africa, and South Asia.

The duties of a Consular Officer include to provide emergency and non-emergency services to American citizens and protect our borders through the proper adjudication of visas to foreign nationals and passports to American citizens. We adjudicate immigrant and non-immigrant visas, facilitate adoptions, help evacuate Americans, combat fraud, and fight human trafficking. Consular Officers touch people’s lives in important ways, often reassuring families in crisis. They face many situations which require quick thinking under stress and develop and use a wide range of skills, from managing resources and conducting public outreach to assisting Americans in distress.

Who's who on the trip


As I have mentioned before in a previous post, the diversity of students on the course regarding life experience and personalities was pretty staggering. I believe it’s safe to say that for most people the most challenging part of the course was not the physical part but the relational aspect. From day one we were separated into cook/tent groups. This means that for one week you cooked, ate and slept with two other people. You also had to share the weight of your group gear and be responsible for the timeliness and behavior for your other group members. It was pretty stressful to keep everyone involved and satisfied and also doing equal amounts of work. To give you an idea of the type of people on the course let me give you a quick description of each person.

Ron (57) – Overall course leader and head instructor. Had worked for NOLS for 25 years and runs his own business in Colorado called Aspen Alpine Guides. Fit the cliche of wizened old mountain man and sage to a T. Quirky, sarcastic and very hard to figure out.

Ted (36) – Super intelligent outdoor pro. Sailor for the Coast Guard and also teaches the NOLS Baja Sailing course. Was a whiz at navigation and compass use. Clear and straight-to-the-point instructor. Extremely witty. An interesting side note of Ted is that he worked so hard in the course that he lost 13 lbs and he wasn’t that big to begin with.

Adam (27) – Relatively new NOLS instructor. Your quintessential late twenty-something hippie who knew how to do everything at an expert level: skiing, kayaking, mountaineering, orienteering and backpacking. Was in ridiculously good physical condition and would often go for jogs after a full day of hiking with a heavy pack, just to give him that extra edge. Was growing a handlebar moustache and mullet for a specific Halloween costume.

Ryan (39) – Super laid back accountant turned manager of a rock climbing gym from Kentucky. The only other married person on the entire course. For the middle section of the course Sean, Ryan and I formed a tent group and called ourselves “Team Married”. I wouldn’t have been able to get through the course without those boys; they let me sleep in the middle so I could keep warm and carried a lot of the extra group weight so I didn’t have to.



Tienlon (33) – Born in Ohio to Chinese immigrants and had hands-down the most impressive resume out of all of us. A lawyer educated at Stanford she is also a writer and food critic in New York City. She recently wrote a decent chunk of the Lonely Planet guidebook for China (no wonder she knew right where our little Chinese city was!)

Will (26) – Just finished the Peace Corps in Senegal and has completed two Iron man triathlons since he has been back (yeah, I know, insane, right!? - no wonder I couldn’t keep up). Found out during the course that he was accepted into medical school. He could rock climb like you wouldn’t believe.

Scott (25) – Math teacher from Jersey who had recently completed NOLS’ wilderness first responder course. He’s also signed up to take a NOLS winter course and the sailing course. He’s basically already a NOLS instructor. I was really happy to have him in my first tent group because he taught me a lot and was super patient.

Julie (25) – Your classic Boulder denizen who loves the outdoor but can’t eat gluten or dairy. Worked at a recycling operation for a few years after college and is all about saving the environment. Studied biology in college and studied abroad for a year in Chile and Ecuador.

Allycee (24) – Born and raised in Malibu with a similar love for biology and Spanish. Studied abroad in Argentina and has done biological research and volunteer work all over the world including rare fish counting in Figi. Worked for a medical marijuana grower in California. Had the fastest hiking speed of everyone in the group (expect maybe Adam). Even the boys couldn’t keep up with her.



Kat (23) – Currently a barista in Portland who loves yoga. Going to gradate school for conflict resolution and has hiked some of the Appalachian Trail. Spent time abroad in France learning the language and learning to cook. I was so grateful to have her as my first female tent mate as she is super grounded and supportive.

Joe (23) – The comedian from Arkansas. Heard about NOLS while at a bar and signed up for the course while intoxicated. Hilarious and didn't take crap from anyone. His southern accent and jokes kept us all in stitches the whole trip. Also was fond of singing country songs while hiking and blowing his duck call incessantly.

Eric (20) - Our youngest hails from UNC Chapel Hill and was super easygoing and fun to be around. Not eager to return to school anytime soon he plans to spend second semester off as a ski bum out West and hitch-hiked and sofa-bummed his way down to Denver after the course. I was always awed by the sheer quantity of food this young man could put down - after meals he would scavenge for leftovers and bargain hard for extra food.


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    I am currently in Mandarin language training as a new diplomat in the U.S. Foreign Service. Sean and I depart for Wuhan, China in November 2019 for my first tour in consular affairs.
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