Global Citizens, It's Been Real
And so this remarkable, exhilarating Global Citizen journey finally reached its last day. We spent our last day in Milan at the Summit, in which some of our Global Citizens who were Summit Interns kicked off the day by interviewing keynote speakers Anthony Bourdain and Raj Patel in a press conference. Both speakers were extremely insightful and eye-opening with their answers, and it was definitely an experience the Interns will treasure forever!
The Summit then continued with creative and engaging leadership workshops for students to attend, and then afterwards we broke off into our teams of 10 to continue designing our prototypes. The process was certainly stressful and challenging at some points, but also extremely rewarding when we created the finished product and built even closer bonds with people we had only met 2 days previously! Each team presented their prototype to their "color", in which the team with the most votes per color would make it to the finals and present on the main stage.
Out of us Global Citizens, it was super exciting to see that two of us, Josh and I (Francesca), made it to the finals! Each finalist team had to present on the spot in front of 2000 people, which was certainly terrifying, but at the same time exhilarating. I remember right before my team went on stage, we were all trembling, but I reminded them that on stage the most important thing is to have a ton of energy and have fun up there. When we were up there, we performed a skit and gave it all we had, and hearing laughter from the audience reassured us that we kept the crowd engaged. But perhaps the craziest moment of it all was when the Nobel Museum representatives went up on stage and announced that our team had won. I vividly remember the 10 of us running up to the stage and hugging and crying and cheering all at the same time, all of it feeling like a dream.
Looking back, I would have never imagined that out of 114 teams I would be part of the winning team, but ultimately what I believed led to our success wasn't necessarily our idea (many of the finalists had very impressive prototypes) but rather the charisma and energy we had as a group when presenting. None of us were necessarily geniuses or experienced presenters, but what I've learned is that having passion and the right mindset in a group is very contagious and goes a long way. It's certainly a lesson I will cherish forever.
To conclude the Summit, Global Citizen's very own Tari flawlessly introduced Anthony Bourdain as the final speaker for the night. After we heard Bourdain impart his words of wisdom on us, all of the Summit attendees headed off to what would be the perfect end to the perfect week: a party at an Italian villa! The villa itself was absolutely magnificent, and we spent our last night in Italy having the time of our lives dancing, laughing, and of course, treating our taste buds to one last taste of authentic Italian food. It was certainly a night to remember, dancing the night away with our newly formed family.
And so it was a very bittersweet drive back to the hotel, where we reflected on the incredible trip we had and packed for the next day's worth of travels. We opened our memory jar and looked back on the incredible memories we had made over the past week, making us all realize how many extraordinary things we experienced as a group in such little time. As we all shared our final reflections, one thing remained clear: what we had as a group was something truly special, bonded together forever by our passion for making the world a better place. Going back to our hometown and applying all that we learned would be a tough transition, but as Global Citizens and ambassadors within our communities, we were chosen for a reason and have a duty to take on. And of course, throughout this entire journey we'll have a family of 19 other like-minded individuals cheering us on, all experiencing the same thing.
Several hours later we headed to the Milan airport, knowing we would sadly go our separate ways once we landed in Boston. (Don't be fooled by our smiles in the picture below, we were very heartbroken to be leaving each other after becoming so close in Italy.)
It's a little cheesy, but whenever I'm faced with bittersweet endings like this, I remind myself of the classic Dr. Seuss quote: "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." We were all so incredibly lucky to have experienced a trip like this, opening our minds up to so many new perspectives, people, cultures, and tastes. To Jordan, Maggie, Niki, Calvin, and Ele-- we cannot thank you enough for this amazing opportunity that we will certainly cherish forever. And I know for sure, July 10th was not the end--it was only the beginning for our Global Citizen family. I cannot wait for what's in store for all of us, knowing that there are certainly remarkable things that lie ahead.
The Summit then continued with creative and engaging leadership workshops for students to attend, and then afterwards we broke off into our teams of 10 to continue designing our prototypes. The process was certainly stressful and challenging at some points, but also extremely rewarding when we created the finished product and built even closer bonds with people we had only met 2 days previously! Each team presented their prototype to their "color", in which the team with the most votes per color would make it to the finals and present on the main stage.
Out of us Global Citizens, it was super exciting to see that two of us, Josh and I (Francesca), made it to the finals! Each finalist team had to present on the spot in front of 2000 people, which was certainly terrifying, but at the same time exhilarating. I remember right before my team went on stage, we were all trembling, but I reminded them that on stage the most important thing is to have a ton of energy and have fun up there. When we were up there, we performed a skit and gave it all we had, and hearing laughter from the audience reassured us that we kept the crowd engaged. But perhaps the craziest moment of it all was when the Nobel Museum representatives went up on stage and announced that our team had won. I vividly remember the 10 of us running up to the stage and hugging and crying and cheering all at the same time, all of it feeling like a dream.
Looking back, I would have never imagined that out of 114 teams I would be part of the winning team, but ultimately what I believed led to our success wasn't necessarily our idea (many of the finalists had very impressive prototypes) but rather the charisma and energy we had as a group when presenting. None of us were necessarily geniuses or experienced presenters, but what I've learned is that having passion and the right mindset in a group is very contagious and goes a long way. It's certainly a lesson I will cherish forever.
To conclude the Summit, Global Citizen's very own Tari flawlessly introduced Anthony Bourdain as the final speaker for the night. After we heard Bourdain impart his words of wisdom on us, all of the Summit attendees headed off to what would be the perfect end to the perfect week: a party at an Italian villa! The villa itself was absolutely magnificent, and we spent our last night in Italy having the time of our lives dancing, laughing, and of course, treating our taste buds to one last taste of authentic Italian food. It was certainly a night to remember, dancing the night away with our newly formed family.
And so it was a very bittersweet drive back to the hotel, where we reflected on the incredible trip we had and packed for the next day's worth of travels. We opened our memory jar and looked back on the incredible memories we had made over the past week, making us all realize how many extraordinary things we experienced as a group in such little time. As we all shared our final reflections, one thing remained clear: what we had as a group was something truly special, bonded together forever by our passion for making the world a better place. Going back to our hometown and applying all that we learned would be a tough transition, but as Global Citizens and ambassadors within our communities, we were chosen for a reason and have a duty to take on. And of course, throughout this entire journey we'll have a family of 19 other like-minded individuals cheering us on, all experiencing the same thing.
Several hours later we headed to the Milan airport, knowing we would sadly go our separate ways once we landed in Boston. (Don't be fooled by our smiles in the picture below, we were very heartbroken to be leaving each other after becoming so close in Italy.)
It's a little cheesy, but whenever I'm faced with bittersweet endings like this, I remind myself of the classic Dr. Seuss quote: "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." We were all so incredibly lucky to have experienced a trip like this, opening our minds up to so many new perspectives, people, cultures, and tastes. To Jordan, Maggie, Niki, Calvin, and Ele-- we cannot thank you enough for this amazing opportunity that we will certainly cherish forever. And I know for sure, July 10th was not the end--it was only the beginning for our Global Citizen family. I cannot wait for what's in store for all of us, knowing that there are certainly remarkable things that lie ahead.
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