PEN International- Day 1

My Student ambassador partner, Jason Anderson, slept in this morning. I wanted to but the excitement of being here kept me awake. To wake Jason I had to go and get security to break down the door to wake him up. It was a very crazy start to the morning.

After we arrived at the Castle for our first meeting/ conference, we were given a tour of the castle. We were given an explanation of the rules about the property and so on as well. The tour was so amazing. We were shown the dungeon and a tunnel. We went into the tunnel which have been dung about 300 meters away from the Castle to outside of the Castle but underground. A Castle this old is a very fitting place to have a legacy of ghost tales and this castle had its share. There are many ghost stories which have been told not only about the castle but at the dorm where we were staying as well. If a ghost came to my room last night I did not notice as I was “dead to the world” so to speak because I was so tired. Anyway- The castle dates back to the 12th century, according to the earliest record which has been found. The dorms were believed to have been built on a missal silo which was used during World War 2.

After lunch, we had an activity to break the ice which encourages us to meet with other students from Russia, Japan, and China. We were to partner up with three other students from other countries. (Except that there are 6 Americans, so two groups had two Americans). This experience was a real challenge but I learned so much about how to communicate with other students without using English or American Sign Language. I loved the experiences I had with the other participants during this exercise. We drew pictures and used gestures. We were to tell each other 5 things about ourselves to help us get to know each other better. We then present each other in front of everyone. The presentations were amazing. It was very interesting seeing all of the groups presenting with each other without the use of a common language. It was such a challenge and to be successful everyone in the group had to cooperate in order to complete the task at “hand”. I believe that because we had to work so hard together it was the impetus which pulled us together. We really became good friends that time. I didn’t expect it to happen that fast but it did.

After dinner, we did our group presentations about Leadership. The Americans picked Richard Pimental as our Leader in America. He is the man who wrote/ contributed to the American with Disabilities Act. We had our chosen leader and the participants from the other countries picked people who they felt were leaders in their countries as well. Even though we were from different countries and we had chosen different people whom we felt were leaders they all had something in common. Each different leader was a Deaf Leader. All of the groups chose leaders who were highly respected and valued in their country. We Americans picked Pimental because of how important the ADA Law is. China chose their leader because of Art/ Dance ability. Japan chose someone who was seen as a leader in their country because of their Individual with support from society. Russia picked their leader because of their contribution to the fields of science and technology.