For four weeks, State Department Professional Fellow Aydan Rzayeva from Azerbaijan will be living with local host families and working with the City of Sequim.

American Councils, a nonprofit that administers the Professional Fellows Program, competitively selects Fellows and short-term host families in the City he or she will be involved in.

This year, Rzayeva was Sequim’s selected Professional Fellow and will be in the City from Oct. 13-Nov. 13.

Rzayeva works in Baku, the nation’s capital, for the State Agency for Public Service and Social Innovations under the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan in the Human Resource and training department. She works on promoting public service accessibility among citizens and is passionate about Public Service and Human Resources.

“I love Sequim a lot,” Rzayeva said. “You can see the mountains and the trees; the nature is really amazing.”

This will be Rzayeva’s second week in Sequim and she has already participated in City events such as the Business Blitz, city council meetings and more.

She said she has enjoyed getting to know the people in the Sequim community and said in particular she loves the volunteers.

“What I love here is the volunteers,” she said.

“I really love people trying to help their city and trying to be involved in the process.”

Rzayeva said she is visiting some of Sequim’s lavender farms this weekend with her host family and said she tried Thai food for the first time.

In the future, Rzayeva said she hopes to continue working with the City.

“I think we can work with the City of Sequim,” Rzayeva said.

She suggested the possibility of doing, “trainings together or we can share ideas,” she said.

To learn more about the Professional Fellows Program, visit https://exchanges.state.gov/non-us/program/professional-fellows-program.