First Day of School in the Middle of Summer

I’m proud to say that I’ve survived my first day of the Summer@Brown program, and it was truly one of the best days of my whole summer.

Upon waking up at 7 in the morning, my roommate Georgia and I played music to set the energetic mood of an eventful day. After getting ready for the day, I met up with about 10 girls from the same floor as my dorm and we all ate breakfast at the closest cafeteria to Harkness, the Ratty. We met up with more people on the way there. There were so many girls wanting to eat together that we didn’t have enough room on one table for all of us, so we all had to eat on side-by-side tables. We ended up hanging waiting for one table to finish before we left. The instant bond formed between the other students and I was evident.

Class started at 9:30 AM. My fellow ILCers and I were reunited with our professor, Kisa Takesue. To my surprise, she remembered almost all of our names. It was then that I fully appreciated having the opportunity to dine with her a week ago before having entered her classroom. Kisa’s class of 22 strong women had finally arrived its starting point. We started off with introduction after introduction, and a lot of name exercises. They proved to be useful because I now remember the names of all of my classmates and I can openly say hello to them around campus.

We played games of “this or that” that involved leadership. The simplest things were used as complex metaphors that were interpreted similarly or extremely differently by each of the individuals. For example, we were asked when describing our leadership styles, “Would you see yourself as a hammer or a nail?” Although it may sound like nonsense, Kisa knew we would all interpret the question as whether we would be the leader, who initiates the productivity in a project, or as a partner, who is glad to take after the leader’s words and do what they say. This as well as many other questions were asked, and different activities were done that encouraged us to learn more about ourselves as women and as leaders.

Although today was the first day of class, the girls immediately formed a type of sisterhood in which we would selflessly support other girls who we’ve only met for less than a day. New friends of mine loaned me money when I needed to launder my clothes. More new friends accompanied Cynthia to the basement when we were scared to go alone. This immediate bond shared by the ladies in Kisa’s course is yet to blossom.