July 16th was full of strong emotions and point of views, as the international leadership program connected with Tibetans, their inner selves and other people within our group. We started our day meeting up at the Peace Cafe, from there we walked to our first yoga session, which i was late to by the way. Although I'm not flexible, i found it ease reenacting most of the positions our yoga instructor presented to us. After a 30 to 45 minutes session, we then had a chance to get more in depth with something of our interest, such as tongka paintings, tabla(drumming), cooking, medicine, Buddhism and Tibetan language. Jazzminn, Felicia and I choose medicine. Therefore, we visited a hospital facility to explore how Tibetans produce medicine and what methods were used to determine a person's illness. It was very exciting to see the different resources used to make medicine at the Tibetan Medicine Museum and the routine of a regular check up at the clinic. I also found it interesting how the museum, the clinic, the pharmacy, the university of medicine and doctor's/worker's homes was all compacted in one little area. You know i racked up on the health/beauty products! Thanks to Jazzminn, i felt more comfortable trying Tibetan medicine. Thanks to my group leaders, we had the opportunity to do service learning, which was exchanging conversation with Tibetans to build up their English. It felt wonderful knowing that one conversation can make a positive change as well as a powerful connection. And thanks to everyone in the international leadership program for opening up to each other and building a stronger connection than before. Our group council was really beneficial to our growth on trust and companionship!

Ashley

July 16th was a really great experience. We visited the Norblingka Temple in Dharamsala. It was really decorated from the entry point onto the exit. It was like a paradise there were plants and flowers all over and water falls and Tibetan decorations which are really beautiful. We saw how many things were made. For example we saw how dresses were made and also how well skilled the tonka painters were. It was a day full of culture and illuminous colors. We went to a doll museum where it told stories about ancient times and it was amazing how it was set up.

After the temple we visited the Karmapa, he is like the Dalai Lama but a lower rank. It was incredible the whole group was dressed in chupas and we all looked really nice in them. Monks were coming up to us commenting on our chupas since not alot of men wear them anymore. When we walked in to meet the Karmapa it was beautiful. Inside the temple there were tonkas and bright colors, as well as unique designs all over the walls. It was really holy to me because it was a different experience and we were going to meet someone who was known and someone that was really important and most of the people from Tibet looked up to. When we went up to him he blessed the belongings that we were carrying which I will always carry with me. He blessed my prayer beads and my amala's prayer beads as well.

After that the Karmapa took a picture with our group and he really doesn't do that because then many people will want a picture with him. It was awesome! I stil can't believe it. I'm grateful to be in India an experience worthwhile.

Peter

The home stay experience was way different than what I expected it to be. At first i was scared of participating in the home stay especially alone. I felt as if i wouldn't fit in with the family, there would be a lot of awkward moments and the greatest task would be communicating! After Deb and Bob challenged me ( basically told me i had no choice ) i agreed to participate.

The first night was a bit weird because i was in a new environment, everything was in one room, the beds were different as well as the food. After loosening up a bit i realized this would be a great experience, me and my Ama la have shared many laughs, traditions, as well as stories. She taught me more Tibetan language while i taught her more English as well as twi ( my language). This home stay experience has been great and i am glad that Bob and Deb pushed me into experiencing it. I have grown more independently as well as in culture.

Princess

Kevin

In case some of you are worried about the news of today's train crash in India, please rest assured that we are nowhere near the scene of that tragic accident--it happened near the border with Bangladesh, more than 1,000 miles from where our program is taking place.

We have been very busy here in Dharamsala--stay tuned for more blog updates soon.

Amanda

After yoga we had breakfast in the peace cafe our breakfast spot. We had to go to our classes by ten and my class was tanka painting. We had to finish our drawing of the Buddha and by the end of the class it came out really professional I was proud of my classmates and myself. We then ate lunch and I ordered chicken biriani and it was extremely spicy, but I had the best fresh fruit juice while my stay in Dharamsala.

We actually saw the Dalai Lama today as well before tanka class. It was amazing! I couldn't believe my eyes he said hello to the crowd surrounding his palace.

After lunch we did LIT which is a program the teaches Tibetan people how to speak english as well as write english. It was really cool, new people had to sing because that was a tradition in the class and so did our group since the leader requested us to sing since it was our last day. After LIT we had a speaker from the Students for Free Tibet program and it was great they had alot to say and all were peaceful resolutions. Overall it was another wonderful day in Dharamsala.

Peter

The flight back to the USA is coming up fast. Hard to believe. We're hoping to have some more photos up here very soon for your viewing pleasure.

Stay tuned for additional reflections and photos about the last days in India.

What can I say about the plane ride? First let me say it's over. Not that it was bad just very long.

I enjoyed every step away. Thanks to everyone who made this possible!

- Jazzminn

After being in India for two weeks and experiencing the life altering situations we did, coming back home was hard. Although we had many pictures to show and jokes to pass on, the one major thing we could hold on to were our stories. We had stories about the people we met, the places we went and the food we ate. But retelling these stories weren't easy.

On September 1, 2010, the Global Nerds gathered for a story-telling workshop to help us strengthen our story telling abilities. With our travel journals in hand we journeyed back through our Indian adventure. Each of us chose the person or event that touched us the most and wrote a brief statement about them.

Professional story-tellers, Elicia Berger and Emily Epstein, came in and spoke to us about how to expand our stories in order to convey what we've learned from it. They provided examples with their own stories of encounters with the tooth fairy and French self-cleaning bathrooms. Their hilarious yet insightful stories taught us how to use description and emphasis appropriately in our stories. With their help we were then able to finish and present our stories aloud to each other. We found this to be a great accomplishment, as we are now able to recount our stories to those who were not able to experience India with us and make them feel as if they were there with us.

-Manda

Kristina listening intently to the college essay process

The International Leadership Program and our experience in India has brought us all a level of wisdom that we have never achieved before. From the many people we met in Dharamsala we learned the importance of spirituality, nationalism and family. These lessons will forever follow us throughout our lives. We also learned that these lessons, as long as we describe them in the correct manner, can give others insight into ourselves. We learned how to express these lessons during an essay writing workshop held in September.

We began by reviewing the stories we told during the story-telling workshop and turned those stories into acceptable college essays. We discussed what colleges look for in an applicant and what we should be showing about ourselves in these essays characteristics such as leadership, independence, and overall well-rounded students. We then discussed the fundamentals of a personal essay, for example the main event, the details and the moral. We were then ready to begin the essay writing process. We warmed up with two "free-writes" in order to get our creative juices flowing. By the end of the workshop we all came out with rough drafts of our personal essays and the confidence of knowing that we were ready for the college process.

-Manda

Traditional Tibetan and Indian food were served while parents, students and program supporters mingled with each other. The dessert in particular brought back memories of that final night in India as we all filled ourselves up on gulab jamun, a round, doughnut-like dessert. During the ceremony we shared this dessert with our parents while watching a slideshow of pictures and telling the stories behind each one.

The ceremony began as one of the group leaders, Bob Lesser, thanked all the parents for allowing their children to initially go on the trip and recognizing all those who have helped make this program possible. He was then followed by a speech by Jazzmin, a student on the trip, who spoke about her struggle to convince her parents to allow her to experience India and how her outlook has changed due to it. Shah then reminisced about our first night in Dharamsala when he and Peter-la struggled to open a pot of momos and how that experience was a metaphor for the entire trip.

After, we were all surprised with a clip of Erika's documentary about our trip:

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Although it was only a short teaser, there was a powerful feeling involved with watching ourselves on a big screen. We are all now excited to see how the rest of the film turns out!

We were also surprised with a YouTube video of Peter-la! He spoke about how he felt the trip went, how much he missed us and how he's doing now. He was also wearing Bob's hat! He's too cool!

In the end we received certificates of completion along with the letters we wrote to ourselves on the plane ride home. It definitely was a heartfelt ceremony and a great end to the life changing program.

Kristina, Amanda, and Jazzminn register guests

Jazzminn tells how she convinced her parents to let her come on the program

Shah describes his struggle with the momos

Annette (Taccara's mom) shares the parent perspective

Guests listen to the speakers

Pictures from India being auctioned off to the highest bidder

Peter-la on the big screen!

The students receive certificates for completing the International Leadership Program

Amanda and Kristina giving a school assembly presentation to students at The Dwight School in Manhattan, sharing what they learned about India and about themselves through the International Leadership Program and encouraging the Dwight students to pursue global experiences.