Venturing into New Waters

Today was a great day! After a brief orientation session I attended my first self selected session this morning. I chose to brave the NYC streets and track to the Armenian Center. I love walking on city streets all alone, it feels independent and empowering to take yourself where you need to go in a new place. 

Being able to pick the session I attended allowed me to chose something in my interests. I attended the I attended the Economic Integration of Refugees and Immigrants, hosted by WoW. A non-governmental organization that seeks to enhance the access and success of women with Muslim migration background in German employment. I loved that this session was structured as a workshop. It was such a nice break from the lecture and panel style that had dominated the last 2 days to meet with women passionate about the work I am passionate about and talk about what we are experiencing in our respective organizations and work. It was nice to share my experiences and feel that they were valued by people doing the work I want to do professionally. I also got a free bag which was great because I love free stuff, and I especially love free feminist stuff.

In the afternoon was the main event, our event. I was pretty nervous for my presentation. However, once I started talking it went really well. We had a great turnout, including one of my very best friends who is from Long Island and came to support me. I felt very supported by Beth and Dr. Riemenn, the other fellows, other activists, and my friends. People responded really well to our event and came up to us after to congratulate us on our success. 

Today was a very successful day and it really got me excited for the rest of the week.