From
Since I was very young, I’ve been interested in learning about people and cultures from around the world. However, my global perspective truly changed after GYLC.
When I landed at
When I reached the hotel and signed in, I looked around the conference room to see people from all corners of the globe. I was fascinated by the wide range of accents, clothing styles, skin colors, and hair textures present under this roof. Hearing simultaneous conversations in Spanish, German, Arabic and even Chinese made me feel as if I were at the Olympics. It was intriguing to see how people of different cultures behaved in a large social setting. Although I wanted to join in and get to know everyone, my introverted nature initially held me back. However, I quickly realized that in order to full enjoy the experience I would have to throw aside this shyness. As I saw others going around and introducing themselves, I did the same. Everyone was very warm and receptive and before I knew it, I was being pushed into group pictures with people from
As anxious as everyone else to meet my roommates, I went to my room and opened the door to find two other girls, one from Trinidad & Tobago and the other from
Everyday we attended Leadership Group Meetings with our assigned country groups. In the beginning, our
It was an amazing experience visiting all the historical monuments of DC and
In addition to my roommates and LGM members I made other new friends. I ate dinner with a new group of people almost everyday, got to know my bus buddies and even made some friends through elevator conversations. I even had the opportunity to speak in different languages—while I spoke in Spanish to my friends from
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