Name: Hannah Esquenazi
Year: Senior
Age: 21
Hometown: Davie, Florida
Majors: Political Science, International Affairs
Relationship Status: Single
Courtesy: Hannah Esquenazi
Her Campus (HC): What are you involved with on campus?
Hannah Esquenazi (HE): Too much! I’m in the Marching Chiefs’ Colorguard, Sigma Alpha Iota (a music fraternity), and Alpha Phi Omega, to name a few things.
HC: When you’re not running around campus, where is your favorite place on campus to take a breather?
HE: Depends on my mood really – sometimes I like the benches in front of Stroz, or the ones in front of Bellamy, or I go chill at Starbucks.
HC: If you were planning a night out, where would you plan for you and your friends to go?
HE: Well, my friends are better with nights in – we love grabbing a bottle of wine, a good movie, some cards against humanity, and just de-stressing. But if we go out typically we just go to a restaurant with a bar and relax – trivia night is our favorite (we aren’t very good but we love it).
HC: What is your dream job?
HE: My dream job would have to be Secretary of State, but much more realistically would be being in international law or a politician.
HC: I see you’re studying for the LSAT. What schools do you plan on applying to?
HE: Honestly I haven’t fully decided yet because I want to see my scores first, but for sure FSU and UF. Probably some places in D.C. as well. I also really like the University of Colorado.
HC: How did you get interested in politics?
HE: I joined debate in high school because I like talking. A lot. And so I thought it would be fun, but I quickly realized I didn’t know much about politics, so I spent hours researching and slowly I learned. I realized I actually enjoyed reading and discussing politics and fell in love with it.
HC: What are your political views? If you were to become a politician, what issues would you seek to address? But at the same time, what is free time? That must be nice.
HE: I’m a democrat, although economically I am a bit more moderate. I just feel social issues are so important and are currently under attack in a lot of ways. There are a lot of issues important to me ranging from social to (obviously with my other major) I am really invested in international issues. Specifically, issues such as women’s choice, equality under all measures (race, sexual orientation, religion, etc.) and on that notion more education on “taboo” topics like sex and sexual orientations and such. I feel these are not talked about enough and lead to a lot of discrimination and misunderstanding in this country and worldwide. I am also really invested in the issues regarding the current movement in wars – the types of wars and conflicts we fight are slowly changing and growing which from a scholarly standpoint I find absolutely fascinating, but as a politician I would love to have my hands in shaping them. Again, I think part of our issue is social and religious misunderstandings from all sides. Sorry, I get excited when I talk about this stuff, but I tried to just give a basic summary!
Courtesy: Hannah Esquenazi
HC: Passion is nothing to apologize for! Pertaining to international affairs, which countries interest you the most to explore affairs with?
HE: Gosh that’s like asking for my favorite child. I’ve studied abroad a few places throughout my time in college, so I have a really big interest in those because I’ve been there (specifically Korea and China really interest me). I also love Japanese culture. A majority of my study and interest, however, has been in the Middle East – specifically, I find Afghanistan and Pakistan really fascinating and specifically the ties between the two.
HC: Where do you plan on visiting next?
HE: If I suddenly grow money (I have that penny I buried when I was a kid in hopes of making that money tree, still hoping it’ll grow) I want to travel to Japan. I’ve been wanting to go there since I was three – hence why my mother called the fact I would be an international affairs major way before I did! But I would also like to do the backpacking through Europe shebang because that is one region I really have not been to (I mean, I went to Poland in high school, but that was to view the concentration camps, so I don’t really count it).
Courtesy: Hannah Esquenazi
HC: Do you study any other languages?
HE: I studied Arabic for a while throughout college and my dad is from Cuba, but to my grandparents’ dismay, I have never been able to figure out Spanish. I am, however, fluent in sarcasm so that is a plus. I also studied some Korean when I was in Korea, and I took intensive Chinese in China but I only know the very basics.
HC: Is there anything you would like to add?
HE: Just that I’ve enjoyed my time and FSU and have gotten to do so many amazing things, and I hope other people reach for their goals – make the most out of your time at FSU, because it flies. Fast.