Meeting the Director

After a long week of getting used to college life and meeting a lot of new and amazing friends, Friday had finally arrived. The road to this day had not been easy at all and really involved a complete change of lifestyle for me. Not only did I have to become accustomed to the level of academics that my class was teaching me, but also the whole college aspect of being on your own and independent. Over this last week I have had to change my life immensely to conform it to college life.

The day seemed to start off very differently compared to all the other days during my stay here. Unlike our suite's usual schedule of eating together for breakfast, we all chose to sleep in a bit longer and skip eating. Thankfully, earlier in the week, we had bought some food to keep in the kitchen inside the common room, for necessities such as this. Once we were all ready we headed out to our classes.

My professor was still out for the day and therefore we once again had a substitute instructor. During both sessions we went over the specifics and the extent of the freedom of speech clause in the first amendment. The instructor went over the scope of what is and is not protected under the freedom of speech clause. I found this lesson particularly interesting because the instructor linked the lesson to how far we are able to go with freedom of speech in secondary schools.



Group photo with the director of the program



After the end of the evening session, we had to meet at Lewisohn Hall, which is conveniently located a few buildings away. We were supposed to meet there because we were going to meet the director of the entire high school program here at Columbia. I will admit, I was a bit nervous meeting such an important figure to my experience here at Columbia. However, I was confident in my abilities to speak to new people and especially people of such high importance. This is all thanks to the communications skills that I have gained from the ILC program.

When we went up to the directors office, we all waited until he became unoccupied. Eventually, he came out and politely invited us all in. Once there, we each took turns saying our names and giving some information about the experiences we have had so far in the program. I talked about how this program has helped me with my time management and organization skills. Also I described the amount of different cultures I have been able to learn about thanks to the many people I have met during my stay here.

After we concluded with the session, we took a group photo and then proceeded back to the front of the building where Ms. L had important information to tell us. She gave us detailed information on the plan for tomorrow and when we would need to be at the gathering point tomorrow morning. Aside from that she gave us all money to get food over the weekend and explained the cataloging process we had in order to keep track of our expenditures.

After the meeting concluded, I headed back to my dorm. Unfortunately , my suitemates had left for SoHo a bit earlier and I therefore missed the opportunity to join. In retrospect, however, I feel like even though I did not go on many excursions this past week, I did successfully manage to get ahead in my class and get closer to my suitemates. I do plan on doing absolutely as much as I can with the little time I still have left here, and will certainly be exploring New York City in much greater detail. I hope, that by the time I leave, I will have been able to fully comprehend the beauty of NYC and the rich and lush culture that lies behind it.

Me and my very diverse suitemates

I still can not believe that it has already been one full week into this adventure. It feels like only yesterday that I was waking up and heading to El Cerrito High School to await the shuttle that would take us to the airport. I have met, so far, many significant people and I feel that I am a better educated person now. I only have a small amount of time here, but I will certainly make the most of it while I still can.