A Rotary-filled week

4 events within 6 days!

The first was last Thursday, when I attended a Westwood Village Rotary Club meeting. I usually can't make it because of class, but lecture was canceled this week! Gordon, my counselor, is actually the WVRC President and it was the first that I've attended a meeting that he's led. Anyways, I made a short speech about myself and my plans for the future with the Scholarship to the club. It's a bit disconcerting when you're presenting to people who are eating, because I never know if they're actually listening or not. It's definitely a bigger mistake to assume they're not listening when they actually are, though. At least I have plenty of experience from CBE 104A & B when everybody in the class is doing homework and a few people are listening keenly to my presentation.

The next event was SCOTS in Palos Verdes, which was orientation and training for outbound scholars. There were 4 inbound Scholars (Ikumi from Japan, Ari from Korea, Rahel from Zurich, and Marco from Bologna), 3 outbound Ambassadorial Scholars (Dave from USC going to Cambridge, Amber from Smith College going to Zimbabwe, and me; the fourth girl couldn't make it), and 1 Peace Scholar (Pani going to Brisbane). We all made a short speech about ourselves, and it was really great to hear about everyone and their great plans for the future. Especially the outbound scholars were all very international- volunteering in places like India and Honduras, and studying in places like Argentina. Pani works a lot with Nobel Peace Laureates through her job at a non-profit, and even mentioned the advice that Archbishop Tutu gave her! Anyways, various members of the Committee went over parts of the Scholar Handbook and we even had a quiz.

Main components of my pre-departure year (i.e. 2010-2011):
*Make 8 short talks introducing myself to the clubs of District 5280
*Attend various Rotary events and functions, like District Breakfasts and the District Conference
*Submit monthly progress reports to my counselor (Gordon) and the Ambassadorial Committee Chair (Dave)
*Obtain admission to my assigned institution
*Arrange my visa, bank account, housing
*Contact my host counselor in Valencia

The third event was the Paul Harris Foundation Celebration. There were over 500 attendees to this event, which serves to raise money for the Rotary Foundation projects. There was a silent auction and raffle, and of course music, drinks, and food. Unfortunately, it was a bit loud to hold long conversations, but I still talked to Miloni about her experiences in Singapore which was great.

This morning was the District Breakfast. There's always short announcements promoting the next Conference (either International or District), and a distinguished speaker, Father Boyle. At first my mind kept wandering during his talk, but when he used more humor and real anecdotes from his work with former gang members (Homeboy Industries is his organization's name) it really caught everybody's attention.