The written part to US Embassy!

            On August 30, 2011 our Justice Studies Budapest Group traveled to the US Embassy.  Here we entered and were quickly greeted, scanned and asked to hand over our passports. Then we entered into an office building where we awaited a guest speaker. The speaker was Jay Truesdale, the US diplomat in Hungary who is from New Hampshire!

            Jay presented himself as an extremely intelligent, motivated, young family man who has a lot of experiences within countries all over the world, specifically within the government. Jay was passionate about his experiences and changes he has made throughout his lifetime. He was teary eyed when describing his desire to continually make as many differences as he can around the world.

            Jay explained that a diplomat is a representative to the American people who embodies the United States and the Constitution throughout almost all countries around the world. A diplomat must be at least 18 years old and from the United States. To become a diplomat there are many written and oral exams one must pass. Jay explained his story, telling our group that shortly after passing these exams, he was given a list of different missions and countries where he could become a member of the embassy. He explained that each time he was given this list he received his top choice! The first time he was situated within Russia, the second time in Ukraine and the third in Hungary where he is now the diplomat for the United States.

            He told us that the Hungarian embassy is not involved in policy making but helps within all relations between the United States and Hungary. The diplomat relays important messages to the Ambassador (currently - Eleni Tsakopoulos Kounalakis). Then this information is passed on to the Secretary of State (currently – Hillary Clinton) and then to the President of the United States (Barrack Obama).

            Overall, Jay’s presentation blew me away. I enjoyed his passion and interest in the questions we had as a group. One of the questions I asked was “How do the people and citizens within Hungary, outside of the embassy view the United States – Hungarian NATO alliance?” Jay answered that it depends on the person, but most seemingly see the alliance as positive, because it provides each side with safety and protection in case of emergency. I thought this was interesting. Tito later followed up my question by asking “How the Hungarians view Americans?” or something along this line and Jay told us that, as we all know, this is a complicated question. It is hard to say how all Hungarians view Americans, but Jay gave us some good advice – when speaking with locals or other Europeans, ask them how they view Americans as a whole and why they feel this way. I am going to take his advice to heart and discover how others really feel about us as Americans. All in all, Jay opened my eyes to how an embassy runs and what it takes to be a diplomat. Jay has changed many people’s lives, especially within Ukraine. From the stories he told us, without Jay, Ukraine may have had a larger economic collapse years ago then they ended up having.

            This was a wonderful field experience! J