Rotary Ambassadorial Scholars Conference in London

Whoo hoo, it's true! I just got back from a weekend trip to London, thanks to another great opportunity provided by Rotary International. About two months ago, I received an email from a Rotarian of Harrow, England (only a 20-25 minute train ride into London) inviting any Rotary Ambassadorial Scholars to come to a conference in London for the weekend of January 23-24th. At the time, I was so overwhelmed with school work that I couldn't even think about flying out of the country! However, about a two weeks ago, I was talking to the other Rotary scholars living very close to me in Spain (Sarah Molbert from Lafayette, Louisiana- also in Salamanca, and Caitlin Matyas from New Jersey- in Valladolid) who told me they were going! At that point, I had finally finished up my first semester and I think I was in shock about not having any work to do, ha ha! In the end, they convinced me to come with them, and all it took was them saying "We think you'll regret it if you don't!" and I believe they were right.

Since Valladolid has an airport, Caitlin was able to fly from her city, but Sarah decided to fly through Madrid. Even though we didn't book our flights at the same time, I was lucky enough to be able to fly on the same flight as Sarah. During our wait in the Madrid Airport we found the Rotary donation box seen above! It had money in it from all over the world- very neat to see!

Sarah and I arrived to London on Friday evening and headed to our hotel in Harrow, suggested by the Harrow Rotary Club, as it is where they used to have their meetings and they were able to get us a good deal (because staying in London is definitely not cheap!) It was a very nice place and even better because all of the other scholars were staying there, too, although many of them didn't arrive until Saturday morning. Friday night all the scholars that had arrived went out to dinner for fish and chips. It was a bit of culture shock for me having come straight from Spain because we arrived at the restaurant at 8:40pm and they told us we had to hurry up and order because they would be closing the kitchen by 9pm! Ha ha- in Spain, restaurants don't even open for dinner until 9pm!!

Caitlin and Sarah

Me with Chantel (from New Orleans, Louisiana, studying in Paris)

Saturday morning we all woke up and had the continental breakfast at the hotel together, then we met up with Gary, the Rotary member from Harrow who sent us the email, and his wife Valerie, and they went with all of us into London on the train. They took us straight to the District 1130 Headquarters, located very close to Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, where the conference was going to be held. Since we had a bit of time before lunch, he told us that we could go take a walk around Regent's Park, also very close by. It really was a beautiful park with lots of birds, swans, ducks and squirrels. Also a lot of people out for a run or a walk. I wished it would have been spring because we were told it has over 400 species of rose bushes, of which none were in bloom :( but I bet they are beautiful when they are!

Pictured above from left to right: Sarah, Chantel, Damien (from South Africa, studying in Sweden), Anna (from Louisiana, studying in Turkey), Caitlin and me

Two very noticeable sights in London: the red telephone booths and the old fashioned model taxis (they are not normally green, the black one behind it is more normal)

At about 1pm all of the scholars had arrived and we all had lunch together at the District Headquarters. From there, the Rotary Club of Harrow had arranged a guided tour of London for us which was so great. We started off at the beautiful St. Paul's Cathedral, where Princess Diana and Prince Charles got married, then we went to the Millennium Bridge (both pictured above) where we got a nice view of the Thames River and the famous Tower Bridge. On our walk back across, we all passed a caramel roasted peanut stand, which a few of us just couldn't resist! It was a little chilly out so they were the perfect warm snack :) One of the coolest parts of the tour was when they took us to a pub built in 1667 called Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. I could tell it was definitely more of a "locals" pub because I don't think there is any way I could have ever found it on my own. When you walk in it looks so small, but there are 2 levels below it! They served beers and cider from Samuel Smith's Brewing Company. Very worth the visit!

Cheers! Enjoying our drinks from the more than 400 year old pub!

(Pictured from left to right): Anna, Sarah, Chantel, me and Alexia (from Boston, Massachusetts studying in Denmark)

Our tour guide Sandra and John (Harrow Rotary Club member)

After the pub, we headed to famous Trafalgar Square and then to Piccadilly Circus. All in all, Saturday was an awesome day! To top it all off, we all went to dinner at a really good pizza place called Pizza Express. It was neat because they specialize in what they call Pizza Leggera (Light Pizza) which they cut out a circle in the middle section of the pizza and replace it with a green salad. It was so yummy because it was just enough pizza and a nice salad! Also it was Sarah's 23rd birthday, so we surprised her with a chocolate cake with candles for everyone to share. After dinner, all of the scholars and a the counselors that came headed back to the hotel in Harrow, and talked over some drinks in the lobby.

That night I realized just how weird it was for me to be completely surrounded by English! Although I do speak English with Brendan and every once and a while I run into English speakers in Spain, I am never able to communicate in it in public, like in bus stations and stores, for example. It took me all of Friday and Saturday to get used to not having to approach people speaking in Spanish! And then I had to flip the switch back on Monday already, ha ha! Oh well! I guess it's a good thing that I am automatically thinking in Spanish :)

I also noticed a big cultural difference between Spain and the U.S. other countries like the U.K. that I now have complete proof of: the importance of the engagement ring. All of the sudden, people were noticing my engagement ring and asking me, "Are you engaged?". I almost couldn't believe it! Two of the Rotarians noticed and three of the scholars! This has never happened to me in Spain, not once! The truth is, I have learned that engagements in Spain are not at all like they are in the UK, United States and Canada (and perhaps other countries). I remember my roommates being so surprised when I told them the news- they thought it only happened in American movies, not in real life. They also explained to me that in Spain, a man does not traditionally buy a diamond ring, get down on one knee and do a formal proposal. Most of the time, it is just a decision that is made one day between a couple, and then they go talk to their parents, tell them the news and celebrate with a party. Sometimes, they couple will give a gift, something like a bracelet, necklace or watch. Needless to say, it was very exciting to feel back in my own "culture" and actually feel the excitement of being engaged!! I still can't believe that none of my family members or best friends from home have been able to share the excitement with Brendan and I in person-- I really can't wait! :)

Anyways, back to the reason for my trip to London: the conference! The actual conference took place on Sunday from 11am until 5pm. People who attended were scholars studying in Europe and the Middle East from the U.S.A., Canada, Australia, Denmark, Antigua, South Africa, Japan, and Germany. A few counselors came and also many members of Rotary Clubs in England.

Above is a picture of Gary starting off the day with a PowerPoint slideshow. We started off with small group discussions, in which all of the scholars were split into groups with Rotary members and we talked about how our scholarship experience was going so far, taking note of positives and what could be improved. Throughout the day we had a few guest speakers:

1) Esha Chhabra, a fellow Rotary Scholar from California, studying in London who talked about her involvement in eradicating Polio. She is a very impressive scholar, as she is very dedicated to the cause. Currently Polio only exists in 4 countries of the world: Nigeria, India, Afghanistan and Pakistan. She was born in India and her family moved to California when she was very small. Since she speaks the language, she has traveled to India with her local Rotary members more than a few times to distribute vaccines.

2) Ghazala Chapman, a Rotary member from Reading, England who was born in Afghanistan and talked about the history of Afghanistan.

3) Eve Conway: A former Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar in the U.S. and now current Rotary member and future 2012 District Governor.

4) Professor John Russell, University of Bradford Peace Studies Department who talked about the resurgence of Russia in international relations.

In the middle of the day we stopped and had a great lunch and took a group photo (which I hope to get soon through email from Gary). To end the day we had one more breakout session in our small groups and discussed how we can continue to make the most of our time as a scholar in our study country and how we can be sure to achieve the goal of the scholarship.

(Pictured above): London District Governor, Martin Gudde

Attendees of the conference

More attendees of the conference

Saying goodbye!

I really am so glad I went to the conference this past weekend. Not only did I get to see London and have a great time, but it was also so great to get to know other scholars from all over the world and to hear all about their experiences in their host study countries. Based on what I heard, as would be expected, it seems like Rotary clubs are run a little different from country to country but the scholarship itself has been a great experience so far for all of us! And one thing's for sure, the Rotary Members of the London area are so wonderful! I am so thankful that they are willing to go through all of the hard work to sponsor this weekend every year because it has helped me to understand even more about my scholarship and how to make the best of it :)