1995

Well, spring is in full swing and love is in the air, at least for these folks who were engaged recently. Alex Nikas got engaged to Marianne Ruhl '93 on New Year's Eve. They are planning a spring '98 wedding after Marianne finishes her medical internship. Alex is working on his master's degree in Public Health at George Washington University. He's living in Arlington, Va., with Peter Jolicoeur and John Jones. And he's seen Scott Meacham, who is enjoying his master's program in architectural history at University of Virginia, and Joe Berger, who is working at the White House.

Another couple who became engaged are Brian Spence and Kirsten Glass. Brian is busy with his first year at University of Rochester School of Medicine and Kirsten is studying to become a vet at UPENN. Brian also had some interesting news to report on AmyMadden who took a couple weeks off from working with the Peace Corps in Malawi, Africa. Amy is concentrating on AIDS prevention and education. She was originallystationed in the Central African Republic but a coup attempt forced her to be evacuated by the French Foreign Legion and the U.S. Marines. How's that for a crazy turn of events!

I have some terrific news from BarbaraSeniawski who returned from her Fulbright year in Jordan. She is in Washington, D.C., at a "fantastic and fun law firm" (now how many times have you heard that kind of rave review about a law firm?)

Another '95 back from abroad is GinaVetere who was studying German in where else but Germany. What began as a two-month stint ended up being a ninemonth stay. Then when Gina returned home to Long Island, she decided to just up and leave with only the belongings that would fit in her car. She headed straight for D.C. without a job or a home! But of course things worked out well for Gina, who's working at the National Demoratic Institute, a political development organization. Her work involves projects in Central and Eastern Europe. She e-mailed, "It's fascinating work and I'm looking forward to traveling to the region several times over the course of the year."

Gina said she feels like she could be living in Hanover again because her neighbors happen to be Kay Parry, AnneHawk, Kristi Kimball, and MeganDelany.

Becky Liddicoat also spent some time out of the country last summer when she worked at a missionary hospital in Central Zaire. Becky, , e-mailed from Northwestern Medical School, which she claims is "slightly harder than being a history major at Dartmouth" but still enjoyable.

Becky wrote about a few others: KerryGormley is teaching Hamlet in her tenthgrade English class at Choate, ErinGaffhey is continuing her pursuit of a psychology Ph.D. at the University of Pittsburgh, Beth Cassavell is working for the Boston University admissions office (hey isn't this considered a conflict of interest?), and Michale Glennon is in her second year of her Ph.D. studies in biology at Syracuse.

And finally (I say this because GonzaloLira called me ages ago with this pretty exciting news that I finally have space to print!), we can claim to know an author. Gonazalo's first novel, Counterparts, is being published this fall by G.P. Putnam which he described as a "character driven action thriller."

He's already hard at work on his second. It sounds like it was a long process but "now it's for real."

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