After Conference Feelings

    The leadership conference has been one of my favorite parts of this experience, because I met so many new faces and had an amazing time while doing so. Coming into this experience it can be a little nerve wracking because of the language barrier, but I honestly feel like I have thrived in that aspect while being here. Just last year I was given an opportunity similar to this but in Japan. I was able to host a Japanese student at my house and then stay with a student over there as well. I honestly love it and getting to hear about the different cultures and what they do during their daily lives because I find it so interesting. It is so impactful to see and hear from people from different walks of life and helps me personally to see things through a new lens. 

    After attending the leadership conference the bonds, I created with the Italian students were deeper than surface level which is amazing how we can create friendships in such a short amount of time considering the language barrier. We talked about their aspirations for their future and things they enjoy doing that make them uniquely them. An experience like this where there is a language barrier can often make people forget that these students are real people and that they are just like us with similar beliefs and interests. The relationships that I have made have influenced me by helping me to realize how grateful I am to live in America and how I can often take simple things for granted. 

    In my group specifically throughout the conference I noticed an overarching leadership style of collaboration. Simple things such as asking others what their thoughts were about the games we played and the way they listened when others would speak then added on to what they said really stood out to me. Sometimes I can get so obsessive and want everything to be perfect, so I start going off on my own and forget to have the whole group contribute. Today, Remy Cook spoke to us about the 5 voices of leadership and now knowing the information we were given by him I understand completely why I am this way. I am a pioneer who is driven by success and winning. I seek to achieve the end goal and dismiss what I feel are not beneficial contributions. This is something that I hope to grow and work at so I can be a more effective leader. 

Immersing ourselves in different cultures and making relationships with those outside of the US is so important because it teaches us to be aware of current happenings that we do not normally deal with. It points us back to a state of gratitude and gives us insight to things we never were aware of before. I very much hope to sustain the friendships I have made with the students from the conference, and I plan to stay in touch through social media and snapchat. As I go throughout my life, I can continue to learn from this experience and refer back to how they interacted with me and others around them, how they go about their daily life with no rush and urgency to get the next thing done, and live in the present. I loved hearing from my new exchange friends from Malaysia and Hong Kong about their experiences here and hearing about how it differs from their home country. I was able to have lunch with an Italian student that wasn’t in my group and it was so fun getting to know her even though I wasn’t able to talk to her at the conference.