Global Young Leaders Conference: GYLC
Day 1 Sunday
Arrived at Baltimore/Washington International, rode shuttle bus to GYLC site, at George Washington University at Mount Vernon Campus, Washington DC
At sign up, met Emily from Australia, who was in my country group; France. Each person was sent into one of twelve or so country groups to meet in. These groups were: France (the best group, of course), USA (second best, because they were on bus 4 with us), Russia, China, Nigeria, India, Syria, South Africa, Turkey, Israel, Egypt, Japan, United Kingdom, and Cuba. The divisions were apparently random. France group consisted of:
Thomas, a New Yorker
Justina, a Canadian Ecuadorian
Nav (short for Navraj), an Indian Canadian, also one of my closest friends
Emily, from Sydney Australia
Adil, from Ethiopia
Creig, from South Africa
Sylvia, from Saudi Arabia
Faryn, from South Africa
Libby, from Australia
Shannon, from Los Angeles
Jonathan, from New Jersey
Neta, from Israel
Elizabeth, from USA (not sure where)
Brad, from South Carolina
Cat, from Australia
Katherina, from Germany
Lindsey, from UK
Vi-vi, a Paraguinian United Kingdomer
Chad, from Wyoming
Stacey, from South Africa
Laura, from Australia
Allison, from Brooklyn, the FA (Faculty Advisor)
And myself
At the first Leadership Group Meeting, LGM, we first played the name game, where you say your name and an animal starting with that letter. Going down the list from above we had Turtle, Jaguar, Narwhale (he got that as a nickname because of that), Emu, Alligator, Cat, not sure what Sylvia’s was since she was the last to go, Fox, Lion, Squirrel, not sure what Jonathan’s was, second to last to go, Newt, Elephant, Bear, Crocodile, Kangaroo, Leopard, Viper, Caterpillar, Snake, Lyrebird, Antelope, and Spider. We started to get to know each other, and talked about what we’d be doing over the next twelve days, and talked about our first simulation, a WTO meeting over a trade dispute over Australia refusing to import Canadian salmon as Australia has disease free waters. Met Nav during that LGM, during a WTO conversation. The first day we also had some orientation type meetings and things like that which aren’t very interesting to describe. At the end of the day, 9:45 until about 10:30 (room check was at 11 every night) there was a social, but I only stayed there a few minutes as there were way too many people for me to be at all comfortable.
Day 2 Monday
At the first LGM that day we went over some more things, and started learning about France.
Ate lunch in Georgetown, which had a big mall, and lots of shops. Spent the time with Emily and Laura, and had a fairly good time. Next was a speaker, Dr. Gary Weaver on Cross Cultural Communication. Was very interesting, and had good delivery on his speech. I rank him second in our list of speakers. Back at GW, the next LGM was a debriefing of Dr. Weaver’s speech, and some more WTO preparation. That night, we had our best (or second best, to some) speaker, Mr. Kimmy Weeks. He was very inspiring, and has done amazing things, though he is only a few years older than we are, 22 years old. Extremely good speech and delivery, and received a long standing ovation. It’s impossible to describe how amazing it was. After the speech, we visited the Korean, Vietnam, and Lincoln memorials, with a good photo opportunity for the Washington Monument, though my pictures did not come out well as I have no night mode on my camera.
Day 3 Tuesday
First was a LGM on an embassy visit. By this time, we were pretty good friends in France group (day one and two, we had sat by gender and country, respectively, day 3 we were randomly distributed), and were enjoying all the LGMs, and worked as a team. France group went to the Turkish embassy, and had probably the best experience of the entire GYLC. Not only did we get doughnuts and cokes, but we simply enjoyed the visit, and learned a lot from the diplomats.
Lunch was at Union Station, where I spent time with Nav and Ben, from Norway. Very interesting conversation, and had fun walking around together. While we were eating, a (supposedly) homeless man came up trying to get money out of us. Ben offered to buy him food, which he finally agreed to. Nav and I, however, were wary of him, and fanned out following Ben and the man (who had very clean breath for a homeless man, good clothes considering, also) until the meal was bought. We then left the floor, and Nav made sure we were not followed, while I stayed with Ben off to the side in a bookstore.
After lunch, we saw the WW2 memorial and had a photo op at the white house. Spent this time again with Nav, who I was already good friends with. After the debriefing LGM, we had a Cultural Exchange LGM. We shared things from our culture, and just had fun talking with each other. During this time, I mentioned that I loved the diversity there, and having all the people, and really didn’t want to leave at all (evidently, I had reverse culture shock). Vi-Vi, when I was getting some food out of a vending machine later (well, trying to, it didn’t like my money) ran into me and asked if I meant what I’d said. She found out where I live, and said that she’d lived in Baton Rouge for six months, so she knew what the people were like, and was really sympathetic when I said “yeah, trying being gay down there” since she knew that it could be hell down there if you’re gay.
After dinner, we had the WTO simulation. I was a Tasmanian salmon farmer, as was Nav, but since nobody asked us questions much, we just talked most of the time. My side did win however. Next, we had a LGM on the next simulation, about a conflict in the future about TDR (trans-distner republic (can’t spell that)) wanting to become independent from Moldova, and some complications involved there. Afterwards, there was another social, which I ended up spending some time with Nav, as I did not want to return to my room, where I had no roommates (which was nice at first, but got lonely there).
Day 4 Wednesday
First was a briefing on the World Bank speech we were about to go to, which turned out to be very dull, and many slept through it as we were all starting to feel the effects of lack of sleep. The Bank people, however, were very impressed, and asked us for all the questions we had asked, as well as those we were going to, but hadn’t the time to ask. Lunch in Old Town Alexandria was pretty fun, which I spent with Emily, Nav, Adil, Thomas, and Brad wandering around, and eating ice cream together.
Next was the Holocaust Memorial Museum, which was very intense. It was meaningful to everyone, not just the Jews and Germans present. It was simply indescribable, and is something everyone should take time out to visit, and spend more time there than we had available to us. It would take a full day to see everything there, and even then you could not read everything there was to read.
After visiting the FDR memorial, which I walked through with Nav mostly, there was a BBQ dinner, which was pretty good. Ate with Nav, his friend from Canada: Nadir (originally from Pakistan), and Vi-Vi. Had fun talking about different things, and joking around. Next was a debriefing LGM, then a part of the Moldova simulation where we wrote out our proposals, then another cultural exchange.
Day 5 Thursday
On the fifth day, we had our most official speech yet; at the US Department of State. GYLC made it through the security checks in about half an hour, which was very fast for a group our size. The speech went well, and was very informative, as well as entertaining. The speaker had a good attitude, and did not treat us like young or ignorant children, and had a good sense of humor. While she obviously couldn’t answer every question at fully as some would have liked, she did a very good job at it, and only evaded one or two questions at all.
Lunch was at the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City, a four story mall. The total area was around twice that of the Mall of Louisiana, and contained more stores than I’ve heard of, even with the other malls we had been to so far. What surprised me most, other than the four-story Macy’s, was that some of the stores had more than one location inside the mall. I noticed one pretzel place in particular on two different floors. Bathrooms, however, were difficult to find. I ate a Hawaiian wrap for lunch, which had a spinach tortilla with rice, pineapple, and I believe some ham in it. It was surprisingly good. I also had yet another flavor of Snapple drink, which I’d never had before GYLC, but is very common in DC and NYC as they have a price incentive to drink healthier things. Water is cheapest, followed by juices such as Snapple (the most common), followed by soft drinks. Mostly, I walked around with Emily, as Nav was off with some other friends, and I wasn’t on my normal bus.
Next, which is why we were on different busses, we had a variety of sites we could visit, depending on which you wanted and what you got assigned. My bus visited the CATO institute. Personally, I found the entire experience rather revolting. Imagine a group of people, whose views are that almost anything the government does is wrong, that it does not matter if something is unhealthy, it should be legal, and, in some cases, hypocritical. One such instance was that the government does not allow complete free trade, and then later that the government did not do enough to protect against things such as mad cow disease. According to the CATO institute, drugs such as marijuana and cocaine should be legal, so that people do not use them as much. While there is a point to this, and a valid point at that, there is a reason the drugs are illegal. They’re dangerous. Personally, I think he was on drugs, but I could be mistaken and have no real grounds to say that other than what could just be signs of (extreme) nervousness. I asked him two questions myself, the second of which made him start panicking somewhat. The first was how they get fresh viewpoints so their ideas do not grow stale, which he says they get new professors in constantly. Somehow, I do not believe it is as constant as he implied. The second question, as he said CATO supports individual rights, was about their position on gay marriage and abortion. At any hot topic, CATO suddenly had no position officially. He said that they do not have any current discussions on those topics, as they don’t currently have any (paraphrasing, of course) personal interest in them, which I don’t quite believe, but that he personally supports them both. It was entertaining, however, to see just how much one person can sweat from a relatively small group of people asking questions. The thing that bothered me most about the setup though, was how, compared to the other speeches where the speaker was (by arrangement) the head of the discussion, but part of the group (the only other similar to CATO’s setup were the world bank, which was more open, and the US Department of State, which was also much more open). The CATO setup, however, was a descending auditorium with chairs, like a movie theater, then, set back from the rest of the room, set apart by lights as well as paint colors and a border like a large doorway, the stage for the speaker(s). If this had been a lecture, then I might not have minded, but for some reason, the setup bothered me.
After we returned, we had the third and final stage of the Moldova simulation. In my Security Council meeting (there were 8 altogether), as was the case in most meetings, the majority of the country groups had similar proposals. In mine, the US and the UK made a joint proposal, to which all countries but Russia, who abstained, agreed. France got nearly everything we wanted into the final proposal, which was mostly in there as it was, partly because the leaders of the neighboring groups (UK, Israel, and, to an extent, Egypt) were girls, and (the UK girl started it) I was able to get them to agree to certain conditions by flirting with them. Wrong, probably. Manipulative, sure. But, hey, it worked and they tried the same thing on me.
After dinner, there were two LGMs, one a debriefing on the visits that day, and the other preparation for the Global Summit. We broke down into 8 commissions, with two or three people per commission. These were Environmental (my group), Development, International Law, Health, Human Rights, Peace and Security, Political, and Trade. Each commission had four subcommissions. Environmental had water management, population strategies, sustainable energy (my subcommission), and global warming.
Day 6 Friday
This day started with a LGM on the Human Rights and International Law Panel we were to attend. The topic of this speech was Genocide. While the four speakers were informative, only one was interesting to most of us. The topic was good, as was the information, but they were not quite enough to keep 360 sleep deprived teenagers’ attention very well. The first speaker was decent enough, though he did get into a small debate (which was cut short by applause) with a person from Turkey (much like a Russian who also got into a debate at CATO, where the speaker had another man, who wasn’t even on the stage answer, who told the Russian that he pretty much knew more than the him because he is older and went to Russia once) over the Armenian “genocide” (quotes, as I do not know if it actually was one or not). The second speaker was the most interesting one, who focused more on the moral side of the issue. The third was a high pitched (I thought the woman was talking at first, and jumped some when I saw that the guy was talking) military lawyer, who was, all in all, fairly uninformative. The fourth was the second most interesting, a woman who had been involved in some trials in Africa, I believe (I can’t remember where, exactly) and would’ve been better if she’d gotten more time to answer questions in without the first speaker cutting her off.
After this, we went to the Smithsonian. Lindsey, Vi-Vi, Emily, Shannon and I (I don’t know how I got stuck with all girls again this time) went first to the air and space museum, which would’ve been more educational if I had gotten to spend more time looking, and less trying to find or chase Vi-Vi, who had had way too much caffeine and was even more hyper than usual. But, I will admit that I enjoyed spending time with them, and had more fun than if they, especially Vi-Vi, weren’t there. Weird, I liked having someone to watch after. Don’t’ know why… Maybe it’s some guy thing, don’t know. Did get new sunglasses, however, since it seems my old ones were accidentally thrown away with a packet of information from CATO, which had been in the same pocket as my glasses. But, at least the new ones were better made, so they’ll hold up better. After the Air and Space museum, we went to the Natural History museum to see the Hope Diamond, then the American History to see, among other things, the ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz. They’re not in very good shape. There, I couldn’t resist and got a stovepipe hat for Ben, who we kept saying looks like Abe Lincoln, and was only missing the hat. He didn’t keep it, but Lindsey took it (and it actually didn’t look bad on her) later.
After visiting the Jefferson Memorial briefly, and a LGM briefing us on the Diplomatic Reception we were going to and debriefing us on that day’s events, we went to the reception. On the way there, Nav decided that he was going to find me a girlfriend. Or, as he put it, a “wife.” He didn’t have much luck, not that I was very helpful. He did try hard though. The food there was, at the least, fancy. Most of it was decent enough, though I didn’t eat much of it as I’m used to (what I call) real food, and hadn’t much of an appetite up there anyway. Spent a good bit of time with Nav, Katherina, and her friend, Stephanie (I believe).
After the reception, we went to our rooms to start packing for New York, then had a LGM on travel preparations, and briefing us on what all we would be doing.
Day 7 Saturday
After delivering our luggage to the busses, which were late, we had a short LGM on what we would be doing that day, as well as a “Washington DC debriefing.” Mostly we talked about what would be happening that day and turned in our $25 keys (and for most, their $35 key cards, but Pelham, where I stayed, had no key cards). The buses left at about 9:10, and arrived at about 12:45 (late, due to bus 4, our bus, breaking down) in Philadelphia. On the way, we slept part of the time, played cards after a while, and talked. A little over halfway there, while Ben was out of the seat he was sitting in with Nav (I was by myself, and Ben had been talking to someone farther up) started flipping a coin deciding whether or not to tell Nav about me. I’d already decided, but it’s a convenient way to stall. Eventually, after he got curious enough, told him that I figured I should go ahead and tell him why he wasn’t finding any girls that I was interested in, and that there was something he didn’t know about the German (he already knew that I’d been unsure of whether or not this German, who he assumed was female, had been flirting with me or was being friendly. Decided he was just being friendly). After a lot of “umms” and “ahhs” said that the German isn’t a girl, then turned to the window and started commenting on the existence of the plants on the side of the road (a.k.a. “Hey, look, a plant!” so I didn’t see his expression but for a second when it was just really surprised. He was cool with it, and suddenly, so many things made sense to him. Shortly after that, he decided (although I’m not sure that he told me this then, or later) that he was going to find me a guy, or try to at least.
In Philly, since we were late, we didn’t have much time. Ate at a mall (that didn’t look like a mall from the outside), I think all three of us (Nav, his friend Nader, or Nadir, however you spell it, and I) had Philly Cheese Steaks (at least one of them got a Super Philly, but close enough) which was good. After a short time shopping, in which I found a copy of the declaration of independence for both me and a friend Nav had mentioned that liked political stuff (I have a strange memory for that kind of thing, and will remember the weird little things like that for a while, sometimes for years), then we went and (tried) to see the Liberty Bell. When we saw how long the line inside the building was, we had to hurry to the exit shortly due to time constraints. We did get to glimpse it though. After the buses had left (we made some time up here, and weren’t way too late to Manhattan college) we watched “Scary Movie 3” which someone had bought for the bus, along with “Independence Day” with 50 cents from everyone on the bus. During the movie, our bus broke down again, and we had to switch to the supply bus, Bus 9. Shortly after the movie was over, we got our first glimpse of New York City, a ways off. My first impression was of how industrial the surrounding country was. Also, soon enough, of how unhealthy the plant life was. After a short break refilling the busses, we made our way into the city, and to Manhattan College, the NYC GYLC base. We drove up to the 8th floor entrance (almost an hour late, so everything was pushed back), which most people said “Whoa, there’s an 8th floor entrance?!” to. We were told our luggage was down at the first floor entrance, so we had to go downstairs (the elevators were used for luggage only for that time period) to get it. Thomas and my luggage, however, since we had gone to the LGM room early and not seen our luggage personally onto our bus, was on bus 9, back on the 8th floor. So, we had to go back up 8 flights of stairs. Luckily, by this time, my calves were in the best shape they’d ever been, so it wasn’t too bad, just dizzying. I had a room on the 8th floor, but the way it was set up, the 840 combination, and 841, did not work to get into the room. The other two rooms in our section, 801 and 802, did work, so they had to let us in and give us the correct combination. After a few minutes of unpacking (speeded up by the fact that almost all of my clothing was in a bag for laundry as I hadn’t done any yet) my first roommate came in. He was Thomas from Japan, but originally from Texas. I’d already claimed the normal bed, leaving him a choice of top or bottom on the bunk bed. After that I went to find dinner, which was over a bridge, down more stairs, and into a room. It had a good set up, if slightly confusing at first glance, and good food. The only problem was every dinner had the same options, and all the breakfasts were the same way. But it still wasn’t bad. After dinner, went back up to my room and soon found out that we did indeed have a third roommate, fortunately it was Ben who I already knew and got along with. The only problem was, he had no closet space. So, we ended up moving a closet thing that was in the study room (you walked in, and in front of you was the study room, to either side was a pair of rooms with a bathroom. I was on the right side at the end of the short hall) into ours, so he had room for his clothes. After finding where the quad was (down more stairs, but it was a kind of nice quad, GW’s was better), where you couldn’t go in the grass with shoes on, we had a brief orientation after a “National Delegations Rally” where we basically yelled our country cheers. France’s cheer, which was added to very quickly when we saw ours was too short, was basically one person said “How strong are we?” everyone else “Too strong, that again, but louder, “What kind of power do we have?” “Soul power” and again, louder, then ran to the middle, then did our main cheer. Forming a semi circle we (basing off of a South African chant) had a person in the middle, Brad, who yelled “Unity” and we put our arms on eachother’s sholders, “Freedom” and we bowed down, then he yelled “Liberte” (Liberty) and we stood up straight, yelling “France!” then bowing down, the same with “Gallite” (honor, I believe it was) and then “Fraternite” (Brotherhood, and I slaughtered the French spellings, by the way) and we stood up yelling “Vive la France!” (pretty much long live France). At the short LGM, we talked about what all we would be doing, then had a Global Summit Commission Meeting 2. We had to work on our proposals, which had to be finished that night. My group got a good start, as I pretty much told them (well, wrote down. I’d lost almost all of my voice over the day) what to do, then started to crash and let them finish it up, which let it get really vague, but it was still good enough). Since we were running late, there was no social that night as was scheduled. We were tired enough not to care. Back in my room I met Tony, who was across the hall in 801 or 2, who lives in the Bahamas. I’d know he was in the building because he always came in singing (he was pretty good, too). We all stayed up talking, and I was tired enough that I was being really strange when I did talk. Me and Tony had been in our room for a minute or two alone, since the others were off doing whatever, and started cracking up as I’d heard what he said wrong and both of us (being very tired) found the concept of “toothpaste socks” (he’d said the toothpaste sucks, since they’d given us free toothpaste and stuff) incredibly funny. Ben just looked at us oddly and went to sleep. Well, it might have been the next night or two, but I think it was that one, the date’s not important though.
Day 8 Sunday
The morning started out with a LGM discussing the Summit Commission meetings from the previous night. It seems that my group was the most successful, although one of our members had been absent due to illness. Next, my bus (the others went to one of two other sites) went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We’re just good, so we left first, and got there earlier than they expected, they weren’t even open yet. After waiting to get the name badges and browsing in the gift shop, Nav, Tass (a German, but not that one German, which Nav later checked to make sure), and I wandered around. We saw the Greek displays, which were good, and Medieval, which was also interesting. Next was the Egyptian display, which was very detailed, and we wished we had more time to look around, especially as the Medieval armory opened at 11, and we, although there at the time, didn’t have enough time to go look. At a glance though, it was very impressive. After the Egyptians, we went upstairs, Nav to the musical section, and Tass and I went to the paintings. They were good, although I found the displays we’d been to earlier much more interesting. Next, however, was the highlight of the weekend; the Mets v. Yankees at Shae Stadium.
Our bus, being, of course, the best bus, got there earlier than the others (we were also known by now as the singing bus, as we would spontaneously start singing various songs) and we walked in just in time for the National Anthem. We were in the nose bleed section, but it was still a fun experience. Since I was sitting in the midst of a Mets group, and I didn’t follow baseball, I rooted for the Mets. By the time the game was even half over, we were all cheering for the Mets (I believe most GYLCers were, partly as we got little bobble-head Mets pins from our FAs. Though some did wear the pins with their Yankees hats, of course). The most common chat by the end of the game was “Let’s go Yankees” followed by a (quieter, but still loud) “Yankees suck.” When it was time to leave (the game wasn’t over yet, in the 8th inning I believe, right when the game was heating up), we started chanting first “We wanna stay” then, after the second try “Hell no, we wont’ go” (very mature, but we were having a blast). The FA (well, he was an Ops Team member, who’s behind the scenes, not a country group leader) kept on laughing, and so did the others we passed on the way down. The agreed with us, but we still had to go. The best part, and most ironic, for me was that I finally found what I’d been looking for at the game. Peace with myself, about who and what I am.
After dinner and a LGM on the coming proposal debate for the Global Summit, we met in our Commissions and voted on both two proposals to pass on to the summit (mine, of course, was passed through) and nominees for the Summit Chairperson. While I was nominated, I did not (and don’t know how close the vote was, if it was close) get the nomination. However, Nav and Creig did, and Nav went on to become Vice Chairperson. Afterwards, there was another LGM on what had happened in the commissions, then we (of course) stayed up in our rooms talking again. I believe that night’s discussion started off with the topic of gay marriage, as I was curious what it was like in their countries. Neither allows marriage per say, though Ben did say that Oslo is fairly open to them, although, of course, the smaller towns, like where he comes from, it’s not common to have openly gay people. But, he did also say that gays are allowed in the military, and that his father served under a gay officer, who everyone respected and liked. A much different viewpoint than can be found in most parts of America. Thomas, though, went on to say (when the conversation had shifted some (it shifted to another topic later) to gays in Norway talking to an anti-gay official and being treated well, and invited in) that if that had happened in America, gays showing up somewhere on a bus, they wouldn’t get in as they would be.. “busy” on the lawn. That comment almost made me hurt him, but by this time I’d recovered my patience (severely tried from before GYLC) and just laid back down and didn’t say anything much for a few minutes. Although, now that I think about it, I think that was also the first night. That night, or day or sometime, I’d been talking with Ben, and told him about myself. He was surprised and fine with it (as it turns out, he’s bi, but I didn’t’ find that out until after the conference, so it’s no surprise he was fine with it in retrospect), and we talked for a while on that.
Day 9 Monday
By this time, it seemed like both more than a week, as the days were long, and much less, as the days flew by, despite their length.
The first LGM was on a Financial World briefing. This speech went well, and was fairly high in the list of speakers by how much we liked them. This is probably due to it being a single speaker, which tends (not in CATO’s case, though) to go over well. While we did not all agree with him, in fact I think more disagreed, we did learn much from the speech, and got to have a debate afterwards, which we had done on occasion.
The lunch that day was at South Street Seaport, where I spent time with Sylvia and Emily, mostly wandering around after lunch, where we also sat with Nav, Thomas, and Adil. I might have talked more with Nav, but he had his interview for his Chair nomination (he wasn’t’ yet vice chair, but would be soon enough). Early on in Sylvia, Emily, and my conversation, it was brought up that the girls had already listed who they thought was attractive in the LGM or something like that, and they suggested that I do the same with the girls. By this time, I was starting to get good at my set up and delivery for this, and told them about myself. Emily, however, wouldn’t believe me. Partly, it turns out, because she tends to be gullible and thought I was joking though I insisted I wasn’t, and partly because early on she had had a crush on me.
After lunch, there were two more LGMs, a debriefing and a Coalition Building preparation meeting, getting ready to manipulate people into doing our bidding. It was confusing, but we got a good bit done. Although, we did have some trouble with Russia not telling us what they were doing, as we’d almost made a deal with them to get them to sign off on something it turns out they were going to anyway. A girl from the Norway group, who I’d met at breakfast in GW once, who liked me, kept trying to get me to do what she wanted by flirting with me. Turnaround’s fair play, I suppose. Of course, I manipulated back, and in the end I’m not sure that either one of us got what we wanted, but I think we did. During this time, Faryn, who we had elected leader for the coalition building, and then made leader for the rest of the time in the group, did an excellent job, both in managing us and in negotiations. Especially as she had to do that, and at least a dozen other things, at the same time. Anyway, that was the night that Nav had intended for me to meet the Summit reporter he knew (and thought was gay), but their meeting went on too long, and didn’t get to that day.
We had a debriefing LGM, then another Cultural Exchange where we played children’s games outside (there was actually a purpose there, though it was fun to just goof off for a while). Then of course, the nightly talk (actually I think this was the toothpaste sock incident, the nights kind of run together when you’re that tired).
Day 10 Tuesday
Today, the first event was our first trip to the UN. We, after a very long wait getting through security, met in the room we would use the next day for the Global Summit. After a speech, and some brief orientation, we went to Rockefeller Center for lunch. It was fun, but would’ve been much better had we had more free time there. But afterwards, (we were on different busses again, but Nav, Ben, and Tass were on my bus, as well as Nadir and a few other people I know) my bus went to the lower Manhattan walking tour. It was fairly interesting, even if I didn’t trust the tour guide much for some reason. After dinner, there were three LGMs. The first was a UN debriefing, followed by a Global Summit preparation meeting, and lastly a Cultural Exchange, the best kind of LGM. For this one, we were outside again, and played different kinds of games. Afterwards, there was a “Working Social” where we were supposed to finalize deals for the Summit. I, and several other of my French group, refused to work, as we all needed a break and I was there to have fun. It wasn’t too much fun, but it was still fun. And, once again, was supposed to meet Nav’s reporter guy, but didn’t get to due to another meeting he had. I would meet him the next day, however. After the “working” social where I didn’t do any work, there was the usual nightly talk in the rooms (our room had become the unofficial meeting place for the others who wanted to talk, but mainly it was us three and Tony, occasionally with a guy from Nepal, forgot his name). This time, it was just rambling talk, mostly with me, Ben, Tony, and the Nepal guy, as Thomas was still sick, as he had been since we got to NY, and was pretty out of it. Mostly, we just talked about the places we’d gone that day, and things related to that. Plus a discussion on Ben’s mouth harp (it’s really pretty cool. It’s a strip of metal, folded back so it’s in a roughly key-hole shape, with a little prong sticking out. You hold the narrow part in your mouth, and pluck the prong, changing your breathing to make different notes).
Day 11 Wednesday
At breakfast, saw Nav, and he, finally, introduced me to the guy he’d told me about. Nav, however, has horrible taste in guys (which is a good thing for him). The guy was very feminine, very… closed body language, really tight personality it seemed, long blond hair (personally don’t like long hair on guys, or blondes for that matter), and, frankly, kind of rat faced. I think Nav was rather happy that I said he has bad taste in guys, though. But hey, he tried, and I appreciated it.
The Global Summit took place that day, and went fairly smoothly. Every proposal France had an official position on, we got our way on. We would’ve liked more time to debate things, but it wasn’t allowed. Each proposal was brought up, with one minute to speak for, then another minute (able to be split between two countries if there was more than 20 seconds left) against, then a repeat of that. Voting followed, with an official count if requested; otherwise it was a simple show of hands, see who wins vote. The original decision, when challenged, was correct each time. The sixteen proposals, two from each commission, went by quickly enough, and my proposal was passed, despite being vaguer than I liked. Luckily, the odd proposal by the United States (who then spoke against it, at the Summit, due partly to France’s prodding on the bus about the issue) that all nuclear weapons be divided among all nations equally was not passed. Countries only abstained or voted against. No single person voted in support of the proposal. Only one other proposal was similar in results, when about 3 people voted against one of the proposals (I do not remember which one, however).
Afterwards, and after a tour of the UN and time in the gift shop (where I had to buy a shirt, among other things, in order to have anything relatively clean to wear the next day) was lunch in Times Square. This went well, until I got sick. After eating some dessert, a blacova I think it was called, I got very dizzy, and my chest started to feel tight. After leaving the restaurant (I was with Nav, Ben, Emily, and “Sunshine” (some guy I didn’t know well, but from the USA group so I recognized him at least)) I soon was unable to continue and had to call someone for help (an Ops team member) as I was too dizzy, weak, and nauseous (as well as trouble controlling my breathing, trouble speaking, and a high pulse rate) to keep going. Managed to make it to the bus, slowly (85,000 cabs in the city, and it seems none were on duty), which was, luckily, late. After curling up on my bed for 5 or 10 minutes, I got up, took three Advil, a decongestant, and a Pepcid AC (we missed the scheduled LGM, as we were very late from traffic where it took an hour and a half at least to make it what usually took 20 minutes). Then it was time for the cruise. By that time, the medicine had kicked in and I’d finally woken up from it, so I got to enjoy it. The view was incredible, and the food wasn’t bad either. Got lots of pictures, although the ones of things off the boat didn’t turn out. After a while, and after Thomas gave up trying to get me to dance (I know how to, which he didn’t know, but I don’t like to unless I have a date or something), and went down to the lower deck. Talked to Vi-Vi there, who I hadn’t expected to run into, who understood why I was sad that I had to go back to the south. People up there, especially GYLCers, but also, from general attitudes I saw and from talking to other people, are much more tolerant, and I’d finally found a place where, in my eyes, I could be happy. I could find someone I like there, and not have to be worried about people finding out, the wrong people, which I have to worry about any time I leave the house down here. Makes it hard to leave. The thing that made me feel really accepted though, was not their attitudes, but Vi-Vi saying that if she had an older brother, or any brother really (from what I understood), that she’d want him to be like me, and not mind chasing her down in the Air and Space museum, which had meant a lot to her, she said. Really felt like I belonged there, which is rare for me. Tore my heart out knowing I had to leave the next day, and it still does when I think about it, but not as much. I’d made some really good friends, and loved every minute of GYLC. It’s not that I didn’t’ want to see friends and family down here again. I didn’t want to leave my friends and extended family up there to come back down here, where I have to hide myself from almost everyone. That night, I did not take part in the discussion, which didn’t last very long. Most of us felt the same way, to varying degrees. I think the only one of us who was very happy to go home was Thomas, who had done nothing but complain about GYLC’s busy schedule.
Day 12 Thursday
After breakfast, and putting our luggage where it goes, we had our last LGM. It was, as they say, bitter-sweet, and for me nerve racking. At the end of it, with emotional support from Nav and Vi-Vi who knew what I was planning, said “I just wanted to thank ya’ll for accepting me. I’m gay, and since I live in the south, I’m used to not being accepted. So, yeah, thanks, it’s meant a lot to me.” After a brief, shocked pause (I can still see Lindsey, out of the corner of my eye, with a shocked look on her face, that had I only told her, would’ve been fun to watch, but I didn’t make any eye contact when I said the entire little thing) they applauded, and we went on to take our group photos in front of the building. I avoided talking to everyone after some short goodbyes, to make sure I didn’t cry or anything, as almost everyone there did, guys and girls alike. It was just too hard to say goodbye out there. Couldn’t do it, since it hurt so much to leave. I am very glad that I have their, or some of their email addresses, because I don’t know what I would do without their support and friendship. GYLC changed me in ways I can’t explain, and that people who did not experience it cannot understand completely. I’ve changed so much, I’m not who I used to be, although I still have parts, and the same core as before, only strengthened and improved upon. I loved it there, and think at least part of me will always miss it, and the friends I made there. It’s simply indescribable.
Miscellaneous Memories
While some of us, Nav, Vi-Vi, and some others, were sitting out on the grass at GW after dinner, Nav was watching Chad sitting under a tree. Now, the thing about Chad was that he was always with a group of girls, flirting and what not. Anywhere from one girl to 4 or 5. Not always the same ones, either. Anyway, this one time, Chad was by himself. Nav, with his odd sense of humor, started talking in his nature channel guy voice. “And the beta male, rejected by the alpha females, waits beneath a near-by tree, hoping to a passing beta female will allow him to implant his seed.” After that, you had to be careful about sitting under a tree (in the shade at least), and Nav started, at GW at least, commenting on whatever Chad was doing when he happened to see him during the day, using that voice and the terms beta and alpha male/female.
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