Assignment 0: Autobiography

My name is Andrew Marvin. I was born on April 21, 1989 in Denver, Colorado. Due to my father's occupation, I've lived all across the United States. In order: Colorado, Michigan, Washington, Pennsylvania, Sacramento CA, Utah, Los Angeles CA, Santa Barbara CA. I consider Moorpark (near LA) my hometown because I lived there the longest over the past 8 years. During high school I didn’t have anything that I wanted to "do" when I got out. Disillusioned, I was drifting along only going through the motions of living. I decided to go to UC Santa Barbara to study political science because it was my biggest interest at the time. About halfway through college I developed an even bigger interest in history but it was too late to complete anything more than a minor. Around my third year of college, I decided I wanted to intensify my study of history and political science so I started looking into the EAP program. This fit perfectly with my lifelong dream to leave the West. At first I considered Sweden and Germany because I was fascinated by many aspects of old-world European culture. I decided that studying in a cushy, white-washed First World country did not fit well with my field of interest (the Third World, global poverty, neo-liberal economics, etc). I also abandoned my plan to study in Japan for similar reasons. Though I've been a major Japanese history and culture fanatic for years, it didn't fit well with study. I finally chose Vietnam to study in because it was a perfect match with my education and because I've always been interested in Vietnamese history and culture. I want to know why capitalism was ultimately restored in Vietnam by the same party that started out to destroy it forever. I want to understand the class divisions within Vietnam and how the poor are kept chained to a life of abject poverty. Though I believe I know the answers to these questions and more already, I came to witness firsthand what I've only read about. I came to test theory against reality. I came to be a historian and a political scientist.