Day One: Saturday

Saturday July 24th, 2010

So here's to the beginning of my great adventure! After having had the chance to unpack and say goodbye to my family, we started with our first workshop of the week. Her name was Ekaterini, aka EKat, where we focused on team building and obtained our journals. Although these weren't from the actual workshop with EKat, I just associate the two of them together. These journals were to be used all week in whatever way we chose, and the thought of being able to fill this up entirely in a week almost excites me. Anyways, in EKat's workshop we started with some "getting-to-know-you" games, such as making eye contact with someone new and making up handshakes. After those games we also played 2-3 rounds of tag, but it wasn't one's usual game of tag; one round was where everyone was it, and the other was simply between partners.

Following those, we split into 2 smaller groups where we took turns doing activities. The first was "Have you ever" where one person stood in the middle and stated something they had done before. If it had been done then you'd go to another spot in the circle by not running but "a quick walk." The object, if you will, was to not get in the middle. Then, we had out first real team building experience with this gigantic calculator. We took 2 tries to do the task of "punching in" all 30 numbers in ascending order. By the second try we really worked together and got it done quickly and efficiently. To finish that workshop we had to think of a word to describe the experience. Mine was imaginative for whatever reason. 

After that workshop, we listened to one on the Poughkeepsie Farm Project. Basically we focused on both the producers and consumers side of foods, and we also learned the real meaning of organic and environment. The speaker Sarah reminded me of a good friend of mine actually; they had the same voice and kind of looked similar. Anyways to finish that we did a quick project.

The last activity of the night, excluding peer groups, was Kris's discussion on mentoring. She started with a story about her going to the library, and eventually, it led to a beautiful backpack metaphor. She became very personal with us on her childhood and her experience with verbal abuse. She talked about how that had impacted her entire life, and how afraid she had been to make mistakes, but with the help of Annett she learned that making a mistake didn't mean she was a loser or an idiot. It was just something that had happened in her life. She then talked about the importance of mentors and a 360 degree mentoring system. We each wrote down a few people who could be potential mentors and mentorees.

Then came peer groups with the ever so awesome Martha. Of course we did the usual evaluation, but then she told us hilarious stories about her brother and mother who apparently can't sweat. We all talked about role models, and I mentioned my dad and how charismatic and knowledgeable he is. (Note: Looking back, he was the first and only name that popped into my head, but due to recent circumstances I had realized how many names I really could've said. It's crazy at how things can change so quickly.) I feel like I've made a lot of friends here, and my roommate is awesome. I think this is going to be a beautiful week.

With Love,
Becca