As promised, here is a post on the bittersweet end of the 2-week GHC training! I will probably add more photos soon from the very last night, but decided to post this now.
The end of training was much more emotional for me than I anticipated, and I found myself throughout the training to be in a very in-between, strange space. I had just left a fairly stressful, chaotic space in Illinois and I had not quite left the states yet. Meanwhile, I was meeting a ton of new, intelligible, and fun people. I was so pleasantly exhausted by the end and I couldn't believe we were almost done. Overall, great success. I loved getting to know many of the other 127 fellows well and grow and explore concepts of global health with them.
Near the end of the training, we started to get into more practical advice that would be pertinent to all of our jobs. We heard a speaker who discussed a book called The First 90 Days, giving advice on how to make the best impact in a new workplace when you first begin and suggestions on how to streamline the learning process to be able to assimilate more efficiently, how to make a good impression, etc... We also made felt flags that expressed our vision statement in words and/or images and all hung them on a clothesline for all to see. It was quite spectacular.
On one of the last nights, we had a talent show/fellow showcase which was filled with traditional dances from every country that was represented by GHC (see below), even America, which was a hilarious smash up of songs ranging from Electric Slide to Stanky Leg. I even got up the nerves (after a beer) to sing a rendition of Ella Fitzgerald's
Misty for everyone to enjoy at the end of the night. After that, the dance party unfurled and
On our last night, we enjoyed an open bar, dinner, and dessert at the Omni Hotel in New Haven and had a blast. We shared a candle lighting ceremony, which has been a GHC tradition since the beginning. Everyone stood in a circle with an unlit candle and then the staff lit their candles. The staff with lit candles then went to someone they wanted to thank/say how this person had affected their lives, and then light their candle. The night progressed like this until everyone had a lit candle, and many candles were relit many times. It was as really creative way to say goodbye to all on that last night.
Stepping off the plane in Entebbe was wild to say the least.
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| Vision flags |
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| Can you guess which one mine is? |
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| All of the visions for this year |
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| Sam and Heather, Ugandan co-fellows |
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| Fancy night at the Omni hotel |
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| Cool New Haven alleyway |
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| Future Dr. Ashley and me |
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| Staff and fellows |
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| What I will be dreaming about in Uganda |
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| Ashley with her wine |
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| The guy who I thought was my co-fellow when I arrived and ran up to greet him (we joked around the whole time and called each other co-fellow throughout the training) |
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| Ugandan fellows! |
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| Crazy on one of the Yale quads! |
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| Sunset |
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| Ugandan pride meets New Haven sunset |
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| My roommate Jen, regional director "Mama B", and others with the Ugandan flag and the national crane I mentioned in a previous blog post! |
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| Reading a poem during the talent show |
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| Strutting her stuff |
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| African style |
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| Uncle Shema, Rwandan coordinator |
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| American crew |
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| American dancing |
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| Harlem shake GHC style. |
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| Melissa explaining about her new idea |
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| Melissa's project |
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| More traditional dancing |
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| Dance party as the fellows offer their hands to other fellows in the audience to join them on the dance floor |
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| Fife? |
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| Belly dancing |
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| Burundi fellows |
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| Barbara dancing with the Burundi fellows |
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| Chad demonstrating luau-Hawaiian dance |
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| Ugandan fellows (I am there with the flag in the back) |
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| Salsa dancing with Colombian fellows |
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| Shisha after the talent show |
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| Robyn |
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| Robyn and Bryan, 2 of my favorite fellows |
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| Sharing about readings with Barbara |
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| Group conversations on our last day |
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