As far as I can tell, there are several different kinds of country songs. There are the ones designed to make you feel good about being an American, so good that you want to bomb people who aren’t. Don’t like those much. There are those that suggest all the reasons why you’re perfectly right to get cat-kicking drunk on a lonely Tuesday night. Not wild about those either.

Let me take you back to my first day at Georgetown. It was the first weekend of New Student Orientation, and I had moved into my room on the fifth floor of Darnall Hall the night before. But that Saturday morning, I abruptly woke up at 5 a.m. to a loud buzzing noise.

I am an international student from South Korea. I was born and raised there for 19 years and had never been to the United States before college. Like many others, I was drawn to the Hilltop because of the School of Foreign Service.

Whenever I hear someone call Georgetown students stuck-up or apathetic, I get angry. “No,” I tell them. “That may be the Georgetown you see, but you don’t know my Georgetown!” For me, Georgetown has been defined by the students fighting for a more just, inclusive Georgetown community and world.

“Diversity, diversity, diversity … there goes Hammad again, talking about gender, religion, race and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict!”

“Geez, Hammad. You are such a mainstream Georgetown student. I’m really surprised you aren’t in The Corp!”