Name Games, Storytelling, and Bonding

I awoke at seven this morning, thanks to Kaylyn's alarm. The first thing I noticed was the glaring sun! It gets so sunny here. My floormates told me how they awoke at 4 am due to the sun rising. I also noticed how extremely tired I was. It didn't make much sense to me because I've been in Providence for five days, and I guess the time zone difference finally dawned on me. Even though I felt like I had only gotten two hours of sleep (when I had actually gotten seven), I freshened up and got dressed.

Kaylyn, Rafjola (a girl on our floor), and I took a nice walk to a center where Rafjola and Kaylyn got new ID cards. We then went to the V-Dubb for breakfast. I had waffles (which you make...however, you are supposed to spray baking spray in the pan before putting in the batter...whoops), scrambled eggs, and cranberry juice. We then headed over to Kisa's classroom, where we would take Women and Leadership!

The bad news? We showed up thirty minutes early due to start time confusion. The good news? The girls that showed up early helped to set up the classroom. Our TA's are Laura and Tiffany, who are RA's in Harkness. After setting up, we were allowed to head to the bookstore, were I met up with the ILC Brownies. We were given our Readers, and then we headed into class.

There are 22 very powerful women in our class. At first I was a little nervous about being in a class with so many strong minded and willed girls, but as the time passed, we realized how much we have in common with one another. We played a very fun name game and did a "storytelling" session where we all went around in a circle and answered questions about each other.

After the games, we were given our journals, which we will do personal reflections in. We were also given a syllabus and a folder for a class. We will also have mandatory reading every week. It will definitely be a jam-packed two weeks. I have no idea why some people think it is an "easy breezy" class because it most definitely is not!

The morning session was where we mainly got to know each other. We had an hour and a half lunch break, so myself, the ILC Brownies, Marlyn, Cynthia (#2), Olivia, and Selena headed out to lunch at the V-Dubb. We then went to the bookstore again to relax.

During the afternoon session, we discussed more about women in society and leadership development. We first laid out ground rules for the class; what we want to see out of everyone. It was a big list!

The RA's posted pictures of quotes about leadership all over the room. We were to stand next to the quote we thought represented us the most.

I stood next to this quote because I feel like a big part of leadership is by convincing yourself that you are not always right and that sometimes you can't do the things you want to do. I was happy when Kisa agreed with my statement.

After that we did a True or False quiz about women in society. Caroline made a very good point about men and women in society in regards of men hiding depression and women being more open about it:

Caroline said that women's symbol is of a circle and a cross at the bottom, and the cross stands for a mirror, as women are more open to revealing their feelings. Men's symbol is of a circle with an arrow and a shield. Men typically get angry and shield themselves from their true feelings and use the arrow to express this anger. I immediately agreed with Caroline's testimony.

We then got in groups and discussed leadership traits we feel we have. We also talked about leaders who affect us in our community. I discussed my father, and it was easy to talk about him because I wrote about him for my essay for the CAHSEE. The girls in my group all agreed that he was a powerful leader.

After that, we got in a circle and talked about what we want to improve in us as leaders. I thought it was nice that we all got to hear what we want to improve in ourselves.

Kaylyn and I headed back to the dorm to rest for a bit. Ms. Williams sent us a text message to meet at Starbucks at 5 pm, so Kaylyn and I relaxed before I had to leave. Ava came into the room as well and we all made nice conversation.

Kaylyn (my awesome roomie) and I!

The meeting at Starbucks with Ms. Williams was quick and informative. It was nice to see her again, but it felt like we hadn't seen her for so many years! Ironically, we had seen her the day before.

After the meeting, we went to find our friend Simon, whom we had met the day before. Unfortunately, Cindy and Josie wrote on the wrong Simon's door in Keeney Hall and we got this message:

How wonderfully comical!

We then went to The Ratty, the closer dining hall to Harkness. I had pasta for dinner, a custom meal it seems at Brown. The food proved to be quite good.

After relaxing in my dorm for a bit after dinner, the Leadership Institute headed outside for a workshop. We were all split into groups by class and worked for about two hours. We talked a lot about leadership skills and what we want to work on. We also had a fun tower building exercise where we each saw each other's leadership traits. Fortunately, my group - Alli, Mariko, Selena, and McKenzie - got along well and successfully made our newspaper tower. There were posters put up in four quarters of the room - North, East, West, and South leadership "qualities" - I felt I connected the most with the "North" qualities.

Women and Leadership is such a profound class. I'm so happy that I'm in this program and with these girls.