FUEL

After my great adventure in the USA Embassy, I came back home to receive an email from the conference. It talked about the registration process and the GYLC facebook page. I did the mandatory pre-registration that needed to be filled 4 weeks before the conference. It was really long and it had many steps but at least I could do all the process while sitting down in my own computer. At the end I printed the confirmation paper and I was finally done. 

Afterward my mom and I joined the facebook web page and joined the group. I started scheming up and down their wall and noticed the amount of kids I would meet form the 25th of July to the 3rd of August of 2011. I saw kids with different names and from different parts of the world. The excitement that fulfill me to see the new people I  will be meeting and the places where they came from was the most wonderful feeling I have ever experienced.

After writing the dates I was going to attend on the wall, I changed to my mail tag while I waited for someone to like my comment. I still had the GYLC mail on and I read it completely. I noticed some kind of homework that we had to do. The FUEL was some kind of survey five peers and five mentors had to fill in about me. I sounded kind of fun for my friends to grade me on different characteristics and my teachers normally do that so they would have no problem. I sent the survey to 7 of my friends through facebook and then I sent it to 7 of my teachers (including our dear high school director Mrs. Kaun). After the week had gone by all my friends had answered the survey and I knew they did because I received an email every time they answered. After two weeks only Mrs. Kaun had answered for my teachers and I thought it was normal, maybe the teachers had a to much to do and they would answer it when they where more comfortable. 

As weeks went by I noticed that no teacher answered it so I started to panic. I then realized I had sent it to the wrong group of teachers so I started sending them to family friends and members and to other teachers, kind of hopeless. No one answered it and my nerves where starting to freak out Until a miracle happened, two teachers had seen their email and they answered it! My joy was coming back. Both my parents answered the Survey too and I was finally done with the stress. I was again on my way towards GYLC and I am sure I am going to rock at it.

FILL YOUR LIFE WITH FUEL

Gabby

The Embassy

When you get something new your attitude goes through a complete change. Not only your attitude but also the way that you see life. It usually starts with a harmless need to brag about that new boyfriend or that new cellphone to all your friends. Although they can´t absolutely care less about it, they are there saying how beautiful and great it is. This is then followed by moments of gladness in which you simply can´t stop using that new shirt or bracelet because you feel powerful for having it. Finally it just becomes another cool thing in your closet or in your group of friends.

The scholarship was not the exception. The first weeks the only thing I did was brag about the scholarship and how I would spend some amazing weeks in the states with other 100 leaders from all around the world. I told my friends, my classmates, my teachers, the High School principal and I even told the cleaning lady. My happiness has no limits in this case. Once again even though my friends where not very interested they where there for telling me how great it is.  Yes. my friends are indeed the best. 

Feeling powerful about my scholarship I started doing all the paperwork, no matter what, I will always hate paperwork. The thing was that doing all of this for something as special as the GYLC conference made me forget all about it. After I was properly registered I revised my USA Visa. Apparently it would become invalid in October meaning that I would have to change it sooner or later. My mom and I have this thing in which if things are not done it is really hard to do anything else, even if they have nothing to do with that. We decided thats sooner would be best and the meeting at the embassy was next week at 11:30 AM. We arrived there an 1/2 an hour earlier to find three really long lines. We then discovered they where the different lines for the different meeting hours. 

It took us that 1/2 an hour to finally start moving and other 1/2 an hour to finally get to the main gate. I felt like in an airport, they checked my bag, my shoes and I had to go through the metal detector.  At first I thought I would tae about an hour to do the whole process but when I got in there I saw the longest line I have ever seen in my entire life. Apparently it was a process of four steps, the first one was a simple data update. It took us about four hours to be able to get to the checkpoint. Longest line in my life! I tell you I haven't been so tired of standing up since I went to disneyland, and it was not that bad. When we finally passed the first step we went to the line for the second step, Finger prints. No offense but why do we have to do 2 lines to do something we could do in only one? Another hour and 1/2 passed in that line, and I saw a girl from the basketball team and got a chance to say hello. I was then finished with step 2 my mom and I went to the line of step three, which was a line of five minutes that was for a waiting room. Sitting down was the best thing that happened to me that day. 

It was really late by then and my mom and I where really hungry so, thin king it would take an hour to get to the interview I went and bought a pizza. My mom was not hungry she decided to wait. I came back happily with my pizza when I realized my mom was calling me from the interview window. Sadly I had to swallow my pizza in one bite and my mom had to take all the little bread crumbs from my face seconds before the interview. FUNNIEST THING EVER!. The interview was alright and they sent me to stage 4 meaning that I got my visa. I thought, if step 3 was so quick then step 4 must be really quick too. Another hour passed by until I was finally done. I finally had my USA visa. 

As an MUN member I know that the visa has been a really huge deal for many countries and as a global citizen I know that the hardest visa to get is the USA visa. While I was in the car I thought of the Schengen. It is a treaty that provides a unique visa for all the countries in the European Union. Maybe North, central and south America can have one. My mom then told me about visas in Brazil (pd my family is brazilian). They have a policy of you do it to me I do it to you, so they started giving visas to the Americans. Brazilians have 10 year visas while other South American countries receive a 5 year visa. I then asked myself maybe the world would be better if we permitted people to fly and move freely around the world. The security became and issue and a whole debate was created in my head. 

At least I have my visa and everything will be alright. Any way now that I am done with the three steps of getting a new thing people may ask are you going to forget all about this one day? well let me tell you that I am sure that this scholarship is not going to be a simple thing left in the closet of my mind but a memory that I would cherish forever. 

Still troubled with the visa debate

Gabby

The Calling

As any other teenager in my school I go around all day writing, sending, calling and all other sort of things through my BlackBerry. It is amazing how this little so called Smart Phone can affect the life of a simple teenager like me. Every minute of every day waiting for someone to send you a BBM instead of paying  attention to the teacher. I don´t know anyone at CNG (my school) that goes around the school hallways without their BB in their hand. 

Many people believe that when your parents give you a BB you become some sort of zombie that is trapped by the forces of technology. Well thats not my case, I am the type of girl that leaves her cellphone on her backpack and takes it out in break. That day was the amazing exception, I remember I was on AP Macroeconomics class listening to a very interesting lesson on the union between Fiscal and Monetary policy when my BB vibrated on my pocket. Trying to hide it from the teachers I used a book to cover it while I read the BBM my mother sent me. "You got a scholarship for the conference!" said the message and my mind started to trouble. 

At first my mind troubled trying to find out the conference she was talking about. As a Model United Nations former Academic director and present secretary General I thought she was talking about an international MUN conference. I sent her another BB while we where working on the workbooks asking  the name of the conference. "Global Young Leaders Conference remember?". For a second I had a flashback and saw myself one year ago. 

It was a dark night after a Model United Nations conference when I received a packet. It had a golden stamp on the right corner. My whole family was there when I opened it in the kitchen. We read the letter inviting me to the Global Young Leaders Conference. My mom and my dad where really proud and my sister was kind of indifferent to the whole situation. It was a very joyful moment for all of us until  saw the price of the conference. It was kind of expensive so I applied to get a scholarship. At that time I was not able to earn it so I couldn't go. I still remember my mother calling me during a leadership retreat to ask me for an essay and I remember I had to write quickly before I left to an activity. 

After that momentary flashback I got really excited and so happy it was almost unbelievable. I wrote to my dad and he got as excited as my mom and I, then I wrote to my sister, she remained indifferent but more enthusiastic than last time. I told all my friends, my teachers and the cleaning lady, I think that day was the best day of my life.

This was the first step towards a conference I am sure to never forget.

Gabby