Let’s run through today’s emotions: nervous, excited,
enthusiastic, anxious…and I expect that these emotions will continue on
throughout the semester. I woke up this morning in my own bed, in my own room, with
lots of privacy. I went for a quick run, showered, got ready, and did some last
minute packing. Of course, I knew exactly what I had to pack because it was all
spelled out in lists on my desk at home. Driving into New York City was one of
the most nerve-racking car rides of my life. All of the “what-ifs” ran through
my head. What if no one likes me? What if everyone is smarter than me? What if
this is a mistake? Blah blah blah.
My parents and I dropped my stuff off at the Vanderbilt YMCA
and ate lunch in the lobby of the UN Plaza Hotel. I then went to the YMCA to
meet the other members of my program. I walked into a group of people who were
all smiling and friendly, and I felt a little more comfortable. I’m sure
everyone was just as nervous as me.
After a few handshakes and introductions that I probably
won’t remember, it was time for a few icebreakers. After about a half an hour,
we walked over to the opening reception where my parents met me again, and we
were introduced to all of the faculty and staff that are going to work with us
this semester as well as an overview of the program. We then had to say goodbye
to our parents and come back together to dive in to the program. I’m very proud
of my parents for being so supportive and encouraging!!
We watched a video of a Martin Luther King Jr. speech
(fitting, because today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day), and discussed it after.
He talked about the irony of black and white soldiers from the U.S. going off
to fight side-by-side in Vietnam to solve their problems when we have a ton of
problems here that we should be fixing. This feeds into the current debate of
spending tons of money on military interventions to solve “other” country’s
problems when we could be spending money on domestic issues. It was a great
discussion and a great tie-in to why we are studying these important themes.
We then met as a group to eat pizza and discussed what we
are excited and scared about for the program, and it was great to hear people
start to open up. This ended around 8PM, and then had the rest of the night
off. A group of us decided to go on a tram that goes across the city. It was
free and a great view of the city night sky.
Excited for tomorrow. This post was super long…I hope I can
have this motivation for the duration of the trip!!
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