The whole Brown II cohort and I spent our last Sunday in Brown at Sachuest Beach with Jackie. It felt good to be in a her huge white whip since we've walked probably enough miles to take us from LA to NYC all weekend. The beach was a lot better than the beach we went to yesterday. This time, I was able to waddle around in the water without red algae sticking to my skin.
After a couple hours of swimming and tanning, all of us, even Jackie, pulled out some sort of material to work with. I only brought my course book to read from. I wasn't going to let hours pass by without finishing some work. I felt better about my productivity today compared to yesterday because I was actually able to read consistently the whole trip. I also got tanner... A lot tanner. I accidentally fell asleep while laying on my back, and consequently, my face is currently sun burnt. How fun!
We got back to Perkins Hall with a little bit of time before the dining halls open for dinner. I decided to catch up on some TV shows I've abandoned since my trip here and also organize my closet. It's sad to think that in a few days, I'll be packing all of the clothes I carefully folded earlier. I met up with some of the girls and we walked to the closest dining hall, the Ratty. Tonight's evening activity was Community Time with the Leadership Institute's RAs. We walked to Solomon Hall before 7 PM to start the program. Right when we entered the building, a huge crowd of people flocked the doors that lead to the auditorium. I immediately ran to some of my friends that I haven't seen all weekend. Then we sat inside the auditorium and listened carefully to the panel of 4 RAs.
The panel's main purpose was to support us with our Action Plans. All 4 of them have been through the Action Plan process one way or another. They gave us a lot of insight on the process and the aftermath of the effort they put in, like how they chose their plans to how they implemented it. I found it interesting how simple they made it seem, yet they went through so many things to make their plans work. I want to someday be in that panel because I realized how relevant my Action Plan is to what they did tonight.
After a quick Q&A session with the whole audience, we were told to go to our floor RA for the next activity. I quickly found Elsa, the 2nd floor RA. We headed to a room in the building adjacent to Solomon where we formed a circle for the activity. All we really did was discuss what challenges we faced this week, what we hope to accomplish, and what will help us become better leaders. The only challenge I really had was balancing my school work with my social life here. Sure, it is exciting to mingle and pass the time with new friends, but the assignments should always come first... unless you're willing to throw away some hours of sleep... Anyway, I hope to really finish my Action Plan idea so I can write it out without hesitation. As for being a better leader, I wrote that I can become a better leader by letting my guard down even more. Trust is inevitable if I really want my team to achieve some progress.
It was sprinkling by the time I stepped out of the building. I spotted little Abigail in the dark and walked up to her. The feel of the rain touching my skin made me miss the days my cousins and I would play in the rain. I somehow felt nostalgic and homesick. I have to make the best of it, I thought as Abigail and I walked to Perkins Hall to end the long day.
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