GYLC Journal
Day 1
Sunday: June 14, 2009
At Washington Dullus Airport
Alrighty, I’m going to make a very sad attempt to keep a decent journal.
Flying for six something hours was fairly uneventful. Both planes were full, and I spent both flights sleeping or taking extensive notes on the political history of Russia. On the second flight I woke up and my teeth really hurt. Landed around 10 am, and after finding the baggage claim where I was supposed to meet the GYLC staff anytime from noon to 4:30, I settled down in a Starbucks and took more notes until about 12:30, then went back.
Must’ve missed the first shuttle, because the next one doesn’t leave until 2:30. Pleh.
I don’t really feel up to eating a $14 sandwich, but some other people are here and I might go with them to get food. Maybe I should read the articles on Sheikh Hasina I brought.
My eyelid keeps twitching. Might turn in early tonight for once.
After 10:30 Security Check
I ended up waiting 4 hours for the shuttle. A lot of people showed up, and I got to talk to a couple of them. People are here from everywhere - India, China, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, Australia, France, Canada, Kansas, Vermont, Argentina, Philippines, Panama…
The Sheraton we’re staying at is pretty nice: rooms with plenty of natural light, a nice comfortable lobby, and big conference rooms. Unfortunately we don’t seem to be using those conference rooms for anything other than speeches and meals. Each group of about 20-ish people is assigned to represent a country, and then is stuffed into a room that is actually just another hotel room minus the bed and with excess chairs. It’s quite crowded.
I like my group so far! It remains to be seen how we’ll fare with the seminars and everything, but today was a good start.
The food is alright. I was too hungry to really care that much. I wonder what it’s like to cook for this many people at once?
Tomorrow: Union Station, Jefferson Memorial, sleeeepy….
My shoes are being stupid.
As far as the conference is going, a lot of the activities today were similar to what we did in NYLSC, but I think NYLSC did it better. Plus we had real, spacious conference rooms for every group in the San Jose Doubletree - it really is too crowded in our little hotel room, even without the bed.
Hopefully things around here start to pick up. I’m tired, and my eye is twitching again.
Met some cool people: Mehr, my roommate (so far just her, but another is expected to show up tomorrow) and her friends from India, Chloe from France (I wonder what kind of food she regularly eats? She couldn’t finish her dinner spaghetti/salad/brownie, and the punch was way too sweet for her. I would go back to France just for the food…), Luca and Daniel from Canada, Li from China, Cavan from Delaware…
Day 2
Monday: June 15, 2009
After Dinner and Keynote Speech
I’m really glad Sim and my mom shoved a bunch of snacks at me before I left. Dinner is really early - we ate at six today and before six yesterday, and we get back to our rooms after 10. Plus, I’m not paying $14 for a hamburger, though by the end of the conference we may be desperate enough to. We’ll try to stock up on snacks whenever we get the chance to go out and buy something.
Third roommate still hasn’t shown up. I wonder if she’s coming?
Didn’t end up sleeping enough last night. I set alarms and ended up turning them all off and going back to sleep, and my roommate woke me up after her shower. Luckily we only have to be five minutes early for everything except breakfast. Wake-up tomorrow is an hour earlier than it was today, fml.
We’re sharing a bus with the Saudi Arabia country group. Today we visited Union Station for lunch and some brief shopping. I didn’t buy anything, but I did take a lot of pictures and I hung out with some new friends from the Russia group. I’m trying to take pictures with and count every single Obama stand-up I see.
We piled back into the buses and went off to the National Press Club, where we zoomed up to the top floor by elevator-fulls (16 floors?) grand ballroom. Dr. Gary Weaver (Professor, School of International Service, American University) gave us a lecture called Cross Cultural Communication and Leadership. He is a very intelligent man and an excellent speaker. Despite being tired as hell, we were all entertained and paid close attention. I actually bothered to take some notes, because he discussed two contrasting quotes that I really liked - in America, there is a saying, “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.” However, in Japan “The nail that stands up gets hammered down.” Dr. Weaver also discussed the contrasting values of different cultures between “To Do” and “To Be”; the contrast between earned status and ascribed status, individual achievement and affiliation, individual action and harmony within a society, etc.
There is also one example of cross-cultural miscommunication he gave that I want to remember. He described a scenario in which you come across a woman in Greece down on her hands and knees, carefully picking up bread crumbs from the floor. What do you assume? She must be poor and cannot afford to waste a single crumb, or she is too poor to afford a broom or a brush to sweep up the crumbs. You hand her some money so that she can afford one.
In either case, by handing her money, you offend the woman. In her culture, bread is sacred; it is her sacred duty to pick up every crumb with her fingers. To do otherwise would be nothing less than sacrilege.
After occupying the elevators for another 10 minutes or so, we drove off to see the Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial, from where we walked down to take a group picture at the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. I made the mistake of not changing into flats, and got my first real taste of walking in heels for too long. I took quite a few pictures, many of which were with Nina and Pia from Singapore before I lost them in the crowd. It’s a nice, open, peaceful memorial, with quotes carved into the rocks, statues with pastel-green patina, and plenty of small waterfalls and greenery, and on the walk down to the Jefferson Memorial you get a nice view of party of the city and the Lincoln Memorial obelisk on the other side of the lake.
Bused back to the hotel, met with our groups, then had dinner. Today was salad with some kind of vinaigrette dressing, buns, mashed potatoes with butter, and corn on the cob. I don’t have any complaints about the food, but a lot of people do. It takes time to get used to American food, I suppose.
Keynote address after dinner was by Megan Brand, a Marshall Scholar, and was called Launching the Leadership Journey. It discussed her work researching human trafficking - at first impression it’s a depressing field to go into, but it’s clear she’s found her passion in it, and it was very helpful to hear about first-person encounters with human traffickers on both sides of the business. On the downside, she did not interact with us at all, and immediately after she started speaking, we knew she was reading straight off of something.
She did say something that really caught my attention though. The only way to understand your culture is to leave it.
My next meeting with my group starts and 9, and it is now 8:54 according to conference time. Last meeting of the day.
After Meeting:
Our first simulation is tomorrow. The Politics of Trade: we are simulating negotiations between the U.S., Europe, and the World Trade Organization based on the issue of the two countries in question subsidizing their main large aircraft suppliers, Boeing and Airbus respectively.
I was assigned the role of Lead Researcher of NASA. We had about 20 minutes to discuss the issue and meet with our groups, and tomorrow we will have 20 more minutes to prepare. Pleh. Too tired to absorb information. There are many Antonio’s in this conference.
Wake-up tomorrow is at 7. I have to wait until security check at 10:30 before I can go take a shower, and I still have to read over the simulation information and prepare tonight.
Day 3
Tuesday: June 16, 2009
After Security Check-in
Today got off to a very sleepy start. I left my bag in our Leadership Group Meeting (LGM) room with my phone in it, so I set a wake-up alarm on the hotel room clock. I woke up abruptly to find my roommate still asleep, though she has to get up an hour earlier than me to take a shower.
Slept all the way through the bus ride to the World Bank, where we attended a seminar with two successive speakers, Angelica Silvero and Colum Garrity. They gave individual presentations on economics in the growing world, focusing particularly on corruption and developing versus developed countries. It was somewhat disturbing to see the actual statistics of what gets donated to schools and such in developing countries, versus how much actually manages to get there. Ms. Silvero’s speech was quite interesting; Mr. Garrity’s actually contained a lot of the same content, and he periodically walked away from the microphone, which made it hard to hear and pay attention.
I wish I’d taken notes. I was under the impression that security was so tight in the World Bank that they did not even allow you to take pens in.
Afterwards we went back to the buses and drove to Georgetown, where they let us loose for an hour and forty minutes to wander around town, eat lunch, and go shopping. Not nearly enough time. Vini and I wanted to eat lunch together, and I wanted to try Indian food. On the way to the restaurant we picked up Miko, who forgot his map on the bus. It was great having Vini with us. She helped us order our food and then taught us how to eat it in the correct Indian style.
No time for shopping. I owed Vini $5, so we went to a Godiva shop and bought chocolate-dipped strawberries. So delicious, but very expensive. I’d been planning to stock up on chocolate to bring back to the hotel room for nighttime snacks, but I changed my mind. The chocolates were $44 dollars per pound.
Saw a lot of familiar shops. H&M seems to be quite popular.
After Georgetown, we headed back to the LGM rooms to meet with our groups and discuss the issues mentioned in the presentations. There are many people from developing countries in our group, especially South American countries. Emanuel, from Panama, and Kat, from Australia, had completely different views on the U.N.; Emanuel argued that there is no country in history that has ever gone from being a “developing” country to a “developed” country, and the loans given out by the World Bank hypocritically increase poverty because of interest rates. On the other hand, Kat argues that there are countries like Chile that have paid off all their debts and are prospering, and the U.N. will only intervene where they are needed and for however long they are needed.
I love having a group of people from all around the world to discuss with. There’s nothing like it.
We had a choice of two out of eight different speaker seminars to attend next, each an hour long. I chose to go to the Genocide Intervention Network (STAND, which is the student-run division) seminars and the Peace Corps Seminar. The woman at the STAND seminar was very well-informed and very well-educated. She knew her stuff and was able to give us a lot of information on misconceptions of genocide and the GIN, but she was noticeably nervous and spoke quite fast.
The one thing that disturbed me was the process of determining genocide; technically, genocide is declared after 100,000 or so people have been targeted and killed. How many people have to die before it becomes significant enough for the rest of the world to notice? Does the GIN step only where there is a genocide taking place, or step in before it can take place?
I loved the Peace Corps presentation. It’s something I’m very interested in looking into one day (must be at least 18). Two past Peace Corps volunteers gave the presentation - one worked in Jordan, and one in Africa - and showed us a video documenting the experiences of several other volunteers. I think I would like to remove myself entirely to another culture for awhile and be able to contribute something to the community that needs it, maybe as a medical or health educator or a teacher of the arts.
After discussing what we learned from and thought about the presentations, Lindsay decided to play one game before dinner. She told me and Raksha to come outside with her, then told me to act like a penguin and her to act like a snake, and try to make the others guess the right animal. We practiced while she went inside to explain the rules to the other people in our group.
After two minutes of failing (Nes guessed “my sister” for penguin), we figured out that while we’d been waiting outside, Lindsay had told them to not guess penguin or snake. There’s nothing like public humiliation.
The Politics of Trade seminar went wonderfully. Despite being underprepared, everyone did some amazing improvising, and though some of the situation was complicated and the information we received was ambiguous or interpreted incorrectly, we managed to break down all the components, and the U.S. and E.C. groups reached a solution; our interpretation was that Airbus was a much larger and more financially successful company than Boeing (which turned out to be incorrect), and therefore the E.C. should decrease direct subsidies and increase indirect subsidies, while the U.S. did the same with Boeing more gradually, removing direct subsidies completely only when Boeing is able to compete with Airbus in the large aircraft industry.
As the lead researcher of NASA, I advocated that Boeing should be able to use NASA facilities due to close partnership between the two groups, especially concerning economical and environmental technological development, and for national security reasons. At the end of the simulation, I got props from our F.A., Lindsay, for being professional and concise, which is very encouraging for me because I am a shy and nervous public speaker.
We played a game after called Five Senses, where, one sense at a time, we went around the circle and described a favorite. I believe my answers were fresh clover (scent), the San Francisco skyline and the bay on a clear night (sight), my piano (sound), a manta ray’s skin (touch), and rosehip gelato (taste).
Dinner was great. I met up with Cavan again and we ended up having a really awesome time. He really likes raspberries and carrot cake. I took a lot of pictures.
After dinner: super intense Around the World trivia! The U.K. group ended up winning, but we were pumped and we got a lot of questions right - they ranged from identifying the location of landmarks to sports and geography. Must remember to tell Kai about that question I got right for my group because of OSC. We also need to think of a Russia cheer.
Had a little scare earlier tonight when my roommate smelled something burning while I was in the shower, and thought it was my laptop because it was the only thing she saw plugged in. I turned out to be the A.C. unit.
I still have some work to do, and wakeup is super early again tomorrow. Tonight was a lot of fun.
Day 4
Wednesday: June 17, 2009
After Security Check-in
Today was another early wakeup. Instant eye-shadow, I guess. We were a little late to breakfast today, and the first LGM meeting of the morning went by in a completely fuzzy haze for me.
Piled onto the buses and prepared to leave for the U.S. Department of State, then sat there for quite a while because the buses had to be staggered so that only a few at a time arrived in front of the building at once. There was a guy living across from our hotel who was practicing break-dancing moves and trick flips, which entertained everyone quite a bit.
At the Department of State, Esther Brimmer (?) gave a lecture on international organizations, specifically on the U.N. I would be able to give a much better description if 1) I had not been so sleepy, or 2) the lecture had been a visual Power Point presentation rather than a monotone lecture. Everyone was bored out of their minds. I realized today that no one can get more than six or seven hours of sleep maximum, even if they were to go to sleep immediately after security check. We never got a day to sleep off the jetlag either, so we have been piling on sleep deprivation daily, and many of us are falling asleep in seminars.
I swear I want to learn about the U.N. It’s just very hard to focus your eyes on the speaker when they don’t want to stay open.
It started raining today. We went to Dupont Circle for lunch, and on the way to Potbelly Sandwiches/Chipotle, Vini was not happy about getting wet. On the other hand, the sandwiches were delicious, particularly the jalapeno peppers.
From there the groups split up. The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia invited us to visit, so we and three other groups went to watch a short slide show movie (very interesting and well made, but again, caught myself falling asleep near the middle) and attend a question and answer session. Afterwards, a representative from Saudi Arabia took volunteers to model traditional Saudi Arabian clothing (I was wide awake for this). The outfits were beautiful, though somewhat modified from the authentic versions.
Today was memorial-mania, we were dropped off at the National World War II Memorial, and from there we walked to the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and the Korean War Veterans Memorial. The Vietnam Women’s Memorial was also on the list, but I’m not sure if our group ever got around to seeing it. I took lots of pictures (my hair looks crazy in all of them). I was with Mehr, Alisha, and Vini for most of the time. Hans was with us up until we left the Lincoln Memorial, until he left us to attend an impromptu photo shoot.
(I wish I spoke Spanish. It’s clearly the most comfortable language for a lot of people at this conference. Between English, French, and Latin, I understand about one out of every twenty words they say.)
Dinner was…make-it-yourself hamburgers. I should have guessed. And for the first time this conference, we were allowed to wear casual! As soon as we got off the buses, I went upstairs to change (it feels so good to wear real, comfortable shoes again) before getting food, then sat down with some new people, which was a lot of fun. I told them about Keko’s neuclear-bombing reaction for chart unveilings/revealings. I wish we did that here, though I suppose it would be disruptive with such small and close-together rooms.
More LGM meetings. We have another simulation in two days, called Peace and Security, and this time we will be representing Russia. I have more homework.
The evening social tonight was fun, if a little brief. We played a song game where we have to, as a group, come up with a song that everyone can sing containing a certain keyword: “world.”
I’M A BARBIE GIRL, IN A BARBIE WOOOORLD. LIFE IS SO FANTASTIC, IT’S MADE OF PLAAASTIIIC - We only got through one round. Afterwards everybody sort of started mingling, and we somehow ended up having a break dance show in the middle of the room.
Hans is not ticklish. At all. However, I am, which he figured out as we were leaving to go back to our rooms. Good grief.
Mehr locked herself out of the room after dinner. I went upstairs right after the social ended to wait for her, and after 10:30 she still hadn’t shown up. I walked out of our room and walked down the hall to see if she was in her friend’s room. I left my key inside. I had to go downstairs to get new keys.
So tired. I’m going to sleep, maybe I can read the homework on the bus.
Day 5
Thursday: June 18, 2009
After Security Check-in
[…Nope. No reading the homework on the bus, all because I sat with Hans today. I think this is the first time I haven’t taken a nap on the bus at least once.]
Today was an awesome, ALL CASUAL DRESS day! I sleep-turned off my alarms again, and we got to the South Ballroom about half an hour after breakfast had already started, but still had plenty of time to eat.
Yesterday was monument mania, and today was museum marathon. We were first dropped off in the middle of the Smithsonian Institution museums; I went in to the natural history museum and saw the dinosaur and prehistoric exhibits before I had to head back outside to get back on the bus and head to the Holocaust Museum.
A depressing experience, though educating at the same time.
…a train car, empty, placed so that the path circling the exhibit runs straight through. Completely empty on both sides, the slats let in a beam of dim light that breaks on the rusty red floor. I walk into the interior and take a breath; the air is musty and metallic, and suddenly I feet like I am smelling blood, picturing the train car scene from Elie Wiesel’s Night, and I can’t stay inside the train car for a moment longer. I walk out and continue on.
…a room with black benches, with spiral bound notebooks lying scattered, their pages filled with the words that are being spoken by Holocaust survivors, their voices filling the rooms with pain and grief and the memory of terrible things that have passed. We sit, listen, and read.
…part of the wall covered with sets of three photographs. Each set is composed of a photo of the prisoner from the front, side, and an angle. I look over their dejected visages sadly and begin to move on. One set catches my eyes. Among these worn and weathered prisoners, there is a young boy, not possibly older than myself.
I’m running a little late today, so I’ll be brief. After the Holocaust Museum and lunch at the café, we were free to roam the rest of the museums in the area; we went back to the natural history museum, where we met up with other GYLC scholars and walked to the White House. The sky cleared up and the sun was out. We managed to get some good pictures, but the walk was long and hot.
Afterwards we went back to the natural history museum and hit the gift shop - I bought bismuth samples for both me and Corwin (on request), and then we had to go back to the buses. Hans showed me the ketchup stain on his shirt shaped like Argentina.
Our last trek of the day was the Fashion Centre mall at Pentagon City. Not quite hungry yet, Alisha and I picked up Subway sandwiches, then went off and hit Aéropostale. I found a teal shirt on sale that matches the sweater I bought from Hope, and Alisha decided to get the same shirt. By the time we checked out it was time to go back to the buses. This was our last day to shop in Washington D.C.; I really wish we’d had more time, especially for souvenirs.
On the way back, Hans’s jacket was still damp from the afternoon rain, and since he was cold I tossed him my trench coat. I didn’t think it was that small. I got a few pictures that will be on Facebook very shortly.
The rest of the day passed quickly. We played three more round-the-room games with new topics (favorite place, favorite person, and describe your siblings), reflected on our Holocaust Museum experience, and wrote index cards for the new Wall of Remembrance poster. I drew a picture, and wrote under it “love your friends” in Chinese. I hope Nes sees it, his ‘favorite person’ story was part of why I drew it.
We have another simulation tomorrow. I am nowhere near ready. Tomorrow is our last day in D.C., and we will be spending all of it inside the Sheraton prepping.
Day 6
Friday: June 20, 2009
After Security Check-in
Today was a long day. A very, very long day. Well, technically yesterday. I’ll keep it brief this time, we’re leaving for New York so we have to wake up quite early.
Where to start? We had three consecutive speakers right off the bat in a panel discussion, but I admit that I can’t say very much on the subject (except for the a brief part regarding child mortality due to malaria), largely due to the fact that their soothing, gentle voices sent me drifting off to sleep quite a few times. I feel bad about it, but I tried to stay awake.
Today we never left the hotel. We spent a huge majority of the day preparing for a simulation of a U.N. meeting regarding a dispute in Southeast Asia over the Spratly Islands. As Russia, we were to maintain friendly relations with China, which was difficult since it seemed that almost all other non-neutral countries were against China.
In the end, this is what we decided:
- Maintain neutrality. Support China by helping to reach a consensus on the matter (which is why China called the meeting in the first place).
- Insist that, in the first step of our plan of action, that all military personnel from every nation involved in the territorial dispute must be withdrawn from the Spratly Islands, and that China halt all oil pumping before negotiations begin. Time limit: 1 week. We also insist that China and all ASEAN nations must resume diplomatic negotiations
- Have the U.N. send in a fact-finding team, and station U.N. peacekeeping forces to prevent pirates from raiding the resources and, more importantly, to ensure that no nation attempts to violate the agreement to remove all military personnel. Time limit: 30 days.
- After 30 days, the team reports all findings to members of the U.N. China and ASEAN nations must attempt to reach a consensus on the distribution of land.
- If after a week China and the ASEAN nations cannot reach an agreement, the matter will be handed over to the ICJ, whose decision is final.
- Any breach of these agreements will result in a sanction.
The actual simulation, to be concise, was mayhem. There were actually 7 simulations going on at once, with groups of 3 from every country. Christian, who was the Russian foreign minister, completely went against our own foreign policy; Kelly, our ambassador, listened to each set of resolutions during the caucus; I couldn’t help but argue a few times even though as Information Attaché, I wasn’t supposed to say anything, just take notes and supply my foreign minister and ambassador with information.
In the end, this is what we voted on and passed:
- All military personnel will be withdrawn, and a neutral fact-finding mission will be sent.
- Brazil agrees to fund the fact-finding mission.
- The oil will be distributed 64% to China and 6% to each of the other nations involved, since China (a) agrees to, as the most developed nation involved in the conflict, supply all the necessary technology and machinery to pump the oil, and (b) allow the other nations to fill take the jobs involved in their 6% share.
Christian almost used Russia’s veto power because he wanted to lower China’s share to 60%. I frantically managed to make him change his mind, and the resolution passed with 100% of the votes.
It seems that everyone’s simulations turned out differently. From what I understand, two groups never reached an agreement, because in one China used their veto and France did in another (strangely, since France is not directly involved in the conflict).
Tonight was also cultural exchange night. I tried to play the scale on my hulusi, but of course made it wail like a dying cat. It was a lot of fun, probably my favorite event so far. It was great to just spend more than two hours discussing everyone’s different culture, especially because we are from all over the world. I wish I’d brought presents for all my groupmates.
I know I learned the tango a very long time ago; the problem with ballroom dances is that I learn them from other people (namely Dorothy) and then forget them immediately, then relearn them whenever the event comes up again. But I never use them, and I will always forget them. Naturally, as an Argentinean, Hans knows the tango, but he wouldn’t dance because he couldn’t do it alone, and no one else in our group knew it. They tried to make me dance and learn “on the job” - the thing is it was a very long time ago. I don’t remember anything about it.
The other thing about the tango is it’s quite difficult - the fact that I learned it once doesn’t mean I’ll be able to pick it up again. We’ll see. If we can somehow manage to find time for him to teach me (without sneaking out after security check), then we might be able to try it during the dance cruise on the last night of the conference.
The conference is officially half-over; we’re starting on page 2 of our schedules. Time is flying by. I know I’m not going to last through goodbye-day without any tears. The strength and, simultaneously, the problem with this conference is that we come from all over the world. As much as I want to, I will probably never see these people again. I will miss my friends from India, all my groupmates, and, I do have to admit, Hans especially, who I’ve probably spent more laughs with here than anyone else, though he told me to let him know if I ever really get a chance to visit Buenos Aires.
Even if I do, it probably won’t be for a couple years, and you can never come back to a time when you were truly happy.
Time to sleep. Breakfast tomorrow is at 6:45.
Day 7
Saturday: June 20, 2009
On the bus to Philadelphia (for lunch)
I sent out a mass update email using the lobby WiFi this morning. For some reason I had problems sending it.
We got off to a sleepy start, but very few people on the bus right now are sleeping; the others make it hard to, since it’s quite loud in here.
I tried to listen to my iPod, but Hans (who is sitting behind me) kept trying to pull the earphones out because he knew I was going to fall asleep with my music still playing, which is bad for my ears. Screwed around for a while, then I really did fall asleep with my iPod on. Not for long though, I woke up and it’s too loud to go back to sleep.
More later. We’ll be on the road for an estimated 8 hours before we get to New York, two of which will be spent in Philadelphia for lunch and play.
After Security Check-in
We ate Chinese for lunch, then wandered around town until bus-boarding. Vini and I went to go see the Liberty Bell, but when we arrived we found a long line for the Independence Hall tour. We took a couple pictures of the bell tower, then went off to go see Benjamin Franklin’s gravesite instead.
It was more modest than I expected; engraved marble, decorated with several pennies tossed by visitors, with a large tablet nearby with a timeline of his life. We took a few pictures then left to go walk in the general direction of the bus-boarding site, stopping at Constitution Center instead to raid the gift shop.
When we arrived to bus-boarding, we found Hans with his new pen and laser pointer in one. There were two buttons. He told me not to press the second one. I pressed it anyways. It shocked me.
Anyways, we’re finally here. We hit New York rush hour, and ended up getting to the Manhattan College campus later than expected. Even so, dinner lasted longer than usual, and the food in the cafeteria is quite good.
Not many people are happy about the rain, but we’re glad to be away from the humidity.
The campus is much more confusing to navigate than U.C. Berkeley, but I like it. I would really like to see it in the fog, but unfortunately now that the night fog has rolled in, we have security officers patrolling the hallways.
I met my new roommates. I’m sharing a room with one of them, and the other two have their own room in our suite. I don’t know what I think; we’re all tired, so I hope I’ll get to know them better tomorrow.
Our suite is on the tenth (and last) floor; the view is lovely, and I have to admit, climbing the stairs up was pretty refreshing (they used the elevators for our luggage). Not everyone agrees.
I like our new, bigger LGM room, but it is uncomfortably similar to our classrooms at AHS; the walls are the same color, we have the same desks, the projector is the same, the ceiling tiles and lights are the same… We started preparing for our last simulation, the Global Summit, immediately. I am in the Science and Technology commission with Ishmeet; Hans was also originally in our group, but when no one signed up for the Politics commission, Nina volunteered, and then he volunteered to switch over to Politics before I could because neither of us wanted Nina to be alone.
I’m waiting for the shower; all four of us roommates share one bathroom. This is going to be an interesting five days.
Tomorrow should be fun, most of us are going to visit Ellis Island, and later we are going to see Disney Presents Mary Poppins on Broadway. Tanvi is supposed to call me early tomorrow so I can borrow her SD-to-USB converter. The camera’s memory card maxed out today; I need to dump the pictures on my laptop so I don’t have to worry about taking too many pictures tomorrow.
Day 8
Sunday: June 21, 2009
Waiting for Security Check-in
I’m not liking the dorms very much. The lighting in our room sucks. There’s one, pale light by the doorway, and our desks are all the way on the other side of the room. Our bathroom also has a drainage problem; my roommate Adrienne pulled the metal catcher out of the drain and found a mass of hair and green slime. Gross.
My phone alarms didn’t go off today, and I didn’t get Tanvi’s call. Adrienne woke me up at 7:20, and I didn’t have time to eat breakfast; I went directly to De La Salle Hall, then a couple minutes later realized I’d forgotten my camera. I sprinted back to my dorm and got it, then ran back. We actually ended up leaving pretty late.
I got to see the world from a new perspective today. I fell asleep on the bus, and when I woke up my contacts had become dry. I rubbed my eyes sleepily and tried to readjust them so that they were comfortable; it wasn’t until I was halfway down the block that I realized my right eye was seeing everything in blurs. Maria and Hans confirmed that there wasn’t a contact lens in that eye. I must have blinked it out, and I hadn’t brought any spares or my glasses. In fact, today of all days, we wouldn’t be going back to the dorms until after dinner.
The site visit to Ellis Island was a little disappointing, but we had fun together. I was with Hans, Maria, and Christian, and while milling around outside security, we found Ana. We all took some really nice pictures on the boat, both of Hans revealing his true passion as an Argentinean model and of the Statue of Liberty.
I didn’t get to see much of the Ellis Island Immigration Museum, which is what we actually came for, and whatever I did see was half-focused. Because of our late start in the morning, we spent very little time there. The museum itself was also not very big. About 10 minutes before boat-boarding time, we gave up and went outside to take pictures of us with the city in the background.
We lost Hans sometime during boat-boarding. What a ninja, though we spotted him again after we got off.
Everything today was off-schedule. We got to Times Square late, and had only about forty-five minutes to run around and find somewhere to eat. We lost Hans again. Maria and Ana went to Burger King with one of their friends, and I met them there later after buying a hot dog and a pretzel from a stand on the sidewalk. We met up with our groups again outside the New Amsterdam Theater (found Hans again).
Finding seats was mayhem. We were directed all the way up to the third floor balcony, which seemed fun, but Hans doesn’t like heights and we wanted to sit near the edge of the balcony so we could see the stage below. We ended up losing him again (Nina and I found him on the ground floor during intermission on the way to the restrooms), and I sat in front of Nina and Samvid, with Maria in the row in front of me. Disney Presents Marry Poppins was very cute; it was a little hard to see the stage with only one eye in focus, and I missed some of the lines through the heavy British accents, but it was a wonderful, adorable musical.
A couple GYLC people I talked to fell asleep. I really wish they’d let us go to bed sooner.
We lost Hans for the fourth time after we left the theater. Maria and I gave up and went to Walgreens to look for things we need for our dorms (Walgreens doesn’t have towels, apparently) and, since we weren’t hungry, bought dinner to go. My spaghetti started leaking sauce all inside the bag, and it was really, really hot. After that we slowly made our way back to the theater for bus-boarding; neither of us were really motivated to find a place to shop. Maria is staying in New York for an additional week after the conference ends, and I’m not really looking for anything that I can’t find back at home.
Found Hans again during bus-boarding. He told me he had been waiting for me outside the theater front door. I don’t know how we missed him, but I got his phone number this time, so it won’t happen again.
We always get the jank bus. Our first one didn’t have a working mike, our second one had windows with their own brains, and this one actually broke down and was out of commission. Everyone from Bus 5 had to split up and go onto different buses, which was inconvenient because pretty much all of us needed to sit with our commission partners and work on an opening statement for the commission meeting that we needed to go to the moment we got back to the campus.
The meeting itself went quickly. Once again, we were off to a late start. We had a lot of clowns who made it a little hard to get things done, but in the end we came up with a list of priorities and were able to wrap things up on time.
Still trying to finish my dinner. This is a lot of spaghetti. I don’t think I can eat anymore.
Looking forward to spending the entire day on campus with my group tomorrow, I missed them while we were all out and about today.
I promised Hans today that I’ll find a chance to visit Buenos Aires, and he promised to come to San Francisco if he gets the chance. I also told Raksha and Mehr that I will see India one day. My biggest fear about this conference is that when we all leave, we will forget each other and go back to our own lives. They promised it wouldn’t happen, but we do, after all, live continents away from each other.
Day 9
Monday: June 22, 2009
Waiting for Security Check-in
God, we have so few days left. I don’t want it to be over.
We basically spent all day bouncing back and forth between LGMs and Committee Meetings. In the morning I went to my LGM room to find Lindsay with a special notice for me; I’d been “chosen” to thank our guest speaker, Vickie Tillman from the organization Standard and Poor’s in front of more than 300 of my peers, in this format:
“[INTRODUCE SELF]. On behalf of the Global Young Leaders Conference, I would like to thank Ms. Vickie Tillman for sharing her insight with us this morning. Her comments about [BLANK] helped me consider [BLANK]. I found it particularly interesting to hear her perspective on [BLANK]. I would like to present her with this gift to show our appreciation.”
Sleepy though I was, I was forced to take extensive notes and fill in the blanks during her lecture, which I’m afraid to say which was monotone, aimless, and somewhat beyond my comprehension. The individual topics she covered were interesting, but she discussed them in no particular order and had clearly decided to keep talking until her time was up.
Since I have a tendency to fall asleep during boring seminars, I borrowed Hans’s shock pen to stay awake, and used it twice.
The rest of the day was all about finalizing our sub-commission resolutions and voting on them. I was originally part of the Genetically Modified Organisms sub-committee, but after meeting back at the LGM for the last time before voting, we decided to prioritize on Space Technology. I ended up sitting in with them for the last minute, and was elected to speak in favor of it against the other two sub-commissions.
Everyone gave up on Control of the Arctic. The solution was basically just to hand the matter over to the U.N., which didn’t solve any of our problems.
Final result: GMO, 7-5. Freaking U.K., they were going to vote for Space Tech, but once the representative saw how many people were voting for GMO, he raised his placard too, claiming that he “didn’t like to be on the losing side.” If he had just voted how the U.K. group had originally planned, we would have landed a tie. And had U.S. realized that their space program will generate more benefits than GMO research, we would have won.
We got out early today, so there was some free time between the end of the meeting and security check. Plenty of people took advantage to party on the 8th floor; I ran into some of my other groupmates from Russia, and it looks like we lost a couple sub-commission votes.
Alright Nick, you caught me, but if you ever say a word about it, I may have to kick your ass before we leave for home this Thursday.
I just cleaned up the bathroom. The floor was flooded with water all day, and the shower drain was still plugged with really gross hair and slime. We were all complaining about it, so today I finally mopped up the floor with a towel and pulled as much hair and slime out of the drain as I could reach before I took my shower. The floor and the hair were fine, the slime was disgusting. Hygiene demands sacrifice.
Early wakeup again tomorrow. Professional dress, too.
Day 10
Tuesday: June 23, 2009
After Security Check-in
Oh boy, where to begin.
Today started with an LGM right off the bat; we had 40 minutes to prepare for coalition-building with other countries. Our final strategy was to basically focus on the Politics commission, and try to convince other countries to vote no on their resolution using Human Rights, Science and Technology, and Environment as bargaining chips.
The caucus, as can be imagined, was absolutely crazy. Negotiators ran back and forth between tables, making deals and reporting them, a lot of people were just taking pictures, and by the end most of them were actually just sitting around on the stage. While Hans and Christian worked together to form a coalition with about eight other countries, I tried to convince the U.S. and talked with two very different negotiators. In the end we promised a ‘yes’ on Peace and Security in exchange for a ‘no’ on Politics, but by then Hans and Christian had also stepped in. Ghana and France also gave us very ambiguous answers.
The issue with these coalitions is we really doubt any country group will actually honor them when it comes to making the real votes; one negotiator makes the deal with another country, but in the end that negotiator’s country will make their own decision. I’m anticipating that, despite the coalition, the Politics resolution will probably be passed.
After that we picked up our lunches, boarded buses, and headed off to Columbia University for a lecture from Mrs. Gillian Martin Sorensen, who is a Senior Advisor and a National Advocate for the U.N. This was one of the best seminars we’ve had. She was an engaging, enthusiastic speaker, and as a result I’ve become somewhat of a fangirl of the U.N. After the seminar we went to the U.N. headquarters itself and took a guided tour, after which I went down to the gift shops to buy a postcard and a very expensive pin.
We had dinner at Rockefeller Center. Hans, Christina and I went down to Yummy Sushi, where I got eel udon. Hans bought two boxes of chocolate-filled panda cookies and three boxes of Pocky. Apparently Pocky is expensive in Argentina. I’m about to airmail him a giant box of giant Pocky for his birthday. There were empty tables a floor down, so we sat down to eat.
An ice cream truck stopped next to the crowd of GYLC kids outside the center during the bus-boarding wait. It was a rip-off, but what the hell, why not. It’s almost the end of the conference.
We came back to the campus and had one more LGM. I was nominated and elected to be our group’s speaker/presenter during the Global Summit tomorrow, since Kat was elected to the council and Louis is speaking for Trade and Globalization. Someone needs to cough up some notes, because I’m supposed to be ready to speak about all eight commissions, and I’m only familiar with one of them.
The National Delegations Rally (which was pretty much just a skit show) was fun. For something we cobbled together at the last minute, our presentation wasn’t bad. The U.S. won with Soulja Boy, which I guess is actually a good representation of U.S. culture.
I need to sleep. The Global Summit tomorrow is going to be hectic.
Day 11
Wednesday: June 24, 2009
After Security Check-in
It’s the last night, so everyone is sneaking out of their rooms after security check because they can’t be sent home for breaking the rules anymore. I also doubt that, if they’re caught, the FA’s will actually withhold their certificates of graduation.
Hey! I just realized that the last time I had this many Life Savers was last summer during Intro to Java. We were really desperate for snacks when I bought them, since Sheraton fed us dinner so early in the evening.
We had zero LGMs today. I spent breakfast helping Hans with his against speech for Politics, and the Global Summit began immediately after. I had less to do as the speaker for Russia than I’d thought. In fact, I only stood up to speak once, to direct a question towards the Health commission. My other responsibilities included raising the Russia placard (which, sad as it seems, I almost failed at twice) and writing notes to delegates of other countries. Sending the notes was actually the most fun part of the simulation.
For our country group, the Global Summit was a complete success. We got absolutely every single thing we wanted for all eight resolutions. We even managed to fail the Politics resolution, though it was very close call. Seven countries voted to pass it, and the other 7 either abstained or voted no, so without a majority the resolution was not passed.
France sent us a message saying that if we helped them pass the Trade and Globalization resolution, they would be open to voting no on politics; when we agreed, they also added that they would also like us to vote no on Science and Technology (GMO), which was not something we had been planning to do. In the end they settled an agreement with the U.S. behind our backs and voted yes on Politics. We did help them pass Trade and Globalization, but we helped pass the Science and Technology resolution as well.
Lunch was at Chinatown and Little Italy, but the bus arrived very, very late. Bus-boarding was pushed back, and Hans, Nina, Pia, Billie and I followed the map to find that the restaurant on the map had been closed, and the next closest one was an electronics store, not a restaurant. In the end we came across a Malaysian restaurant. I ordered ginger duck soup and a longan ice drink and, for Hans, beef chow fun. The food was very good, but somehow Billie ordered two very expensive dishes, and her bill came to around $40.
We were going to be very late for bus-boarding, but after running back we ended up waiting about 30 minutes on the bus before leaving. Of course. We were so behind schedule because of that and traffic that our LGM meeting for the day was canceled, and we went directly to our rooms to change for the dinner cruise.
The cruise was amazing. The food wasn’t bad, and there were two floors for dancing. Vini, Tanvi, Hans, Chloe, Talla and I stayed on the second floor, and though there wasn’t much room for dancing, apparently no one had any problems with crowding together.
Just dance! It’ll be alright…
We had a short break in the middle, when we stopped in front of the Statue of Liberty. Everyone went up to the top deck for some fresh air. The sun was almost completely set and all the city lights were on. The New York skyline is beautiful but the pictures were coming out blurry on my camera. I wish I’d though to turn up the ISO sooner. We spent the second half the cruise looking at the New York skyline and taking pictures. Hilarious, hilarious pictures.
When we realized we were stopping back at the dock, we ran back downstairs for about the last 20 seconds of the last song before it was time to disembark. It was around then that people began to realize that it would be our last night out together.
I’ve screamed, cheered, danced in heels and had my toes stepped on a lot today, but it was fun. There’s still one more LGM before we leave. I’m going to miss these people so much when we all leave to go home.
Everyone else is going to JFK. I’m going to have to say goodbye very soon.
Day 12
Thursday: June 25, 2009
At Newark Airport
A day of tearful goodbyes. There were a lot of things I couldn’t or didn’t get to say before I had to run to catch my shuttle to the airport.
Luca, Daniel, and Cavan, you were the first ones to make me feel like I wasn’t alone in this conference. I wish we’d all been in the same country group or at least had more time to hang out after the first two days.
Dude, Li, you are so freaking awesome, I’m sorry I didn’t really get to see you in your comfort zone until the dinner cruise. Don’t be so shy and chill out some, because we had a great time taking pictures with you. I also hope you realize how comforting it was for me to be able to speak with someone in Mandarin on Day 1.
Nina and Pia, thank you so much for sticking with me. It was awkward and lonely to have come by myself, but you guys walked and took pictures with me, and I’m really going to miss you both. I’m sorry I didn’t really get to say a real goodbye before my shuttle left.
Raksha, Vini, Tanvi, and Alisha, there is no way in hell you guys are all getting away. One of these days, I am going to come to India. Remember that we have plans for Louis’s twenty-first birthday: February 11, 2011. You’re all amazing, as both friends and diplomats.
Mehr, being your roommate was one of the greatest parts of this conference. I’m also coming to India to see you. I was really sad to find out we were being split up in New York, but those first six days in Washington D.C. were great. Stop buying painful shoes.
Maria and Ana, it was kinda weird hanging out with you and your Spanish-speaking friends when I could only understand about one in every twenty words, but I love you both for translating and talking in English with me. Ana, I hope you know you have an amazing life-is-wonderful smile. It was also great to have someone to talk to during the second and third simulations. Maria, you are the craziest woman I have ever known. Thank you so much for bringing the spice and the humor to the LGMs, I’m going to miss you and your way of making everybody relax and laugh.
Hans, I can’t even begin to say how much I am going to miss you. It would have been worth coming to this conference just to meet someone who could make me laugh so easily. And don’t think you can get away without paying up, you owe me a cookie and you know it. I will come to Buenos Aires and hunt you down if I have to. Thank you so much for making this conference one of the happiest memories of my life, and I’m sorry I remember zilch about the tango and that I can’t roll my r’s. Next time I see you (and I definitely will) I’ll be able to say more in Spanish than “I don’t speak Spanish.” Happy Eighteenth Birthday on July 12! I’ll airmail you a giant box of Pocky.
I’ve been in the airport for about two hours, and there are another two to go until I board my flight to Chicago. I’m alone, just like I was when I came here. I hope all my friends still have a few more hours to hang out together before they also have to go their own ways.
I’m glad I decided to come to the conference. It was definitely an experience I needed, and though I’m really sad to be leaving, I suppose that, in a way, I’m ready to go home. I’ve missed California and San Francisco, and I’ve been wondering what everyone was up to in TIC.
I love you guys in the Russia country group. I didn’t get to spend as much time with you or get to know you all as well as I’d have liked to, but every single one of you played a special role that made this conference unforgettable.
We all have to go back home to our own lives, but that doesn’t mean it’s over.
Everywhere we go, (Everywhere we go),
People wanna know, (People wanna know),
Who we are, (Who we are),
Where we come from, (Where we come from),
So we tell them, (So we tell them),
We’re the mighty Russia, (We’re the mighty Russia),
The Russian Federation! (The Russian Federation!)
Sixteen! Twenty-two!
Lindsay for Sweep, I’m missing an N.B. from Panama in the Russia group…
Good morning scholars! Bus-boarding will be right now! When I say bus-boarding, you say now!
Cero!
Dey’re so ugly!
Oh my gah, dat’s crasy!
At Chicago Airport
I had fun listening to Connie’s long and informative voicemail while I was getting off the plane. I tried to call her back, except I forgot that California is two hours behind Chicago, so she’s still in class.
It’s only 5:41 in New York. Most of my country group friends are still in the airport, and every second that I am on the plane I am getting farther and farther away from them. Flight 907 to San Francisco boards in two minutes.
I ran into Josh in front of the gate. He told me he boarded the wrong shuttle and ended up at the wrong airport, then had to take a second shuttle. His hair is not gelled because he overslept and woke up at 7:30, just as breakfast was ending. I deleted two photos of the Statue of Liberty and took a picture; my camera’s memory is full again.
I walked past a caramel apple store on the way here, but I don’t think I have time to buy one before we board.
I have a lot of photos to upload and many people to add on Facebook. Guys, I love you all and I’m going to miss you like hell. I guess it’s left to be seen if we can successfully use the internet to keep in contact, despite physical distance and different time zones.
There’s nothing left to say, so I guess this concludes my GYLC journal. This was a lot of fun.