This past week marked the end of my time at FCJ Refugee Center. The office is closed for their annual summer vacation this week, so while I will have a few tasks to complete remotely before returning home, I am practically finished with my LiA. I spent the last week continuing the humanitarian and compassionate application I talked about in my last post. Although it was still difficult and occasionally tedious, I was able to grapple with the difficulties in crafting an argument as the week went on. Being able to speak to and collaborate with other people at the center, including those who know the applicant better than me, helped me find an argumentative path I could work with. Additionally, I found out that a visa extension application that I worked on during week two got accepted! Although it was not a full permanent residency application like this one, it made me very happy to know that the person I helped can now spend the rest of the year with her family in Canada. Although I was not able to personally meet with as many applicants as I would have liked, the human connections and impact I have made with them have been my favorite part of the LiA.

It wound up being very hard to say goodbye, although it helped that there were several other student interns leaving as well. One of the Executive Directors called a meeting for everyone to say goodbye to us, and even gave each of us a thank you card! It was incredibly heartwarming to see all these people I spent the last five weeks learning from and working with wishing me good luck for the future. I can only hope that all of the applicants I helped are able to receive good news on their asylum applications.

After work on Friday, I got to walk around the city with fellow scholar @Akshaya Nishanthan, and on Saturday my relatives here invited me to a pool party. I feel like my mind has been so focused on doing things and making the most of my time here, so it was nice to slow down and just talk to people for a change. I do hope that between my remote tasks and packing I will have time to explore the city though, since I fly back home on Saturday!