Shabnam:   Welcome to the Boren Around the World podcast! We are so excited to launch the series for listeners like you. This podcast is designed to be a platform for Boren award recipients, language lovers and public service enthusiastic of all kinds. We hope to discuss topics such as culture shock, identity, foreign language sustainment, past federal service and more. This podcast is run by the National Security education program, or the NSEP team for short. If you are a Boren award recipient, you may have even interacted with the few of us along the way. My name is Shabnam and I'm excited to spearhead some of these awesome conversations. You may hear different voices from time to time as our team transitions, but we hope this series will bring clarity, spark conversation, and develop a more inspired global community. Stay tuned for more episodes!