Hello! Hej! Dumella Rah! Vaturak! Mingalarba! Olá!* to all the great readers of My Wonderful World!
My name is Julia Guard and I am one of the newest additions to the National Geographic Society. I hail from Lawrence, Kansas where I studied geography and business at the University of Kansas. I have recently moved to Washington D.C. to commence my fall internship with the National Geographic Society, Education working in Public Engagement. My journey to National Geographic begins with my ever-present interest in travel, and the itching sensation I feel to personally contextualize anything I am ignorant of in this (wonderful) world. My favorite form of self-education is getting up and moving around! Thus, I have spent much of my free time racking up destinations such as: Hawaii, Alaska, Canada, Mexico, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Scotland, South Africa, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. Whether it is a new country, a new face, or even a new idea, I maintain to be adaptive and open-minded in the name of continuing my education and strengthening my connection to mankind.
My name is Julia Guard and I am one of the newest additions to the National Geographic Society. I hail from Lawrence, Kansas where I studied geography and business at the University of Kansas. I have recently moved to Washington D.C. to commence my fall internship with the National Geographic Society, Education working in Public Engagement. My journey to National Geographic begins with my ever-present interest in travel, and the itching sensation I feel to personally contextualize anything I am ignorant of in this (wonderful) world. My favorite form of self-education is getting up and moving around! Thus, I have spent much of my free time racking up destinations such as: Hawaii, Alaska, Canada, Mexico, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Scotland, South Africa, Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. Whether it is a new country, a new face, or even a new idea, I maintain to be adaptive and open-minded in the name of continuing my education and strengthening my connection to mankind.
On paper, I am a human geographer as I recently completed an undergraduate honors thesis focused on how HIV is a function of multidimensional movement patterns throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. In practice, I am a physical geographer as I spent several months as a research assistant at the Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets where I processed data sets and produced topographical maps of Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica. In person, and most importantly, I am travel junkie, a marathon runner, a huge novel aficionado, and an available resource to any My Wonderful World reader. I hope to fill the shoes of all the great interns that have come before me, and to bring you a fresh, entertaining, and genuine perspective of modern geography.
*The "hellos!" above are from the following languages: American English. Danish. Tswana. Aborigine. Burmese. Brazilian Portuguese. Although, I can only continue a conversation in one of languages listed above, I am working in a field where learning to understand people across numerous cultural barriers is a challenging yet inspiring part of my job. I intend to keep the conversation going!
*The "hellos!" above are from the following languages: American English. Danish. Tswana. Aborigine. Burmese. Brazilian Portuguese. Although, I can only continue a conversation in one of languages listed above, I am working in a field where learning to understand people across numerous cultural barriers is a challenging yet inspiring part of my job. I intend to keep the conversation going!
Very cute. I was there in 2010. I preferred the baby cubs :)