“I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.”

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– Thomas Jefferson.

This quote was part of a documentary movie at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington DC, which I visited during fall break.

I don’t know exactly what it was about this quote that was so inspiring and powerful when I first heard it. It seems something so simple, especially with all of the “inspirational” quotes and self help books/websites/information available today.

I think the best thing about this quote is that it is something simple, but yet profoundly eloquently written. Not to mention, I also find it inspiring that our forefathers had such a great faith in their future and the future of the country.

Madeleine Albright

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The former first female Secretary of State Madeleine Albright graced Alma College with her presence today, and how graceful it was. Despite that I have seen Albright talk before (at a Border’s bookstore in Birmingham, MI about three years ago), I never really knew much about the Madam Secretary, but was quickly very impressed with her.

Even though I was semi interested in her ideas about current politics and previous job experience within the federal government under the Clinton Administration, I was more impressed, interested and flat out excited that she was coming to Alma – little, old, quiet Alma. Yeah, I know Senators Dole and McGovern spoke at last year’s innaugural session of the Dr. Robert Swanson Responsible Leadership Speaker Series, I was in Spain and missed the event. To see influential people like Albright, Dole and McGovern spending time with Alma students is great. These are the kind of things that make a small liberal arts school the best college experience.

Oh, and she’s voting for Hillary.

“Women must interrupt.”

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– Madeleine Albright

Today when Madeleine Albright was on campus, she met with the Center for Responsible Leadership fellows, Model UN students and Foreign Service students for an hour-long conversation.

During the conversation, she mentioned many things that were interesting, and thought-provoking, but nothing as provoking as “women must interrupt.” She followed this provocative statement explaining that due to our history of being second place, we (as women) must interrupt to have our voices heard.

While it is hard to interrupt a speaker, by waiting for somebody to finish speaking, they could take credit for the idea. Many times this has happened to me within class, organization or work meetings. Only a few times have I had to courage (or guts) to interrupt the speaker, or just jump right in without allowing somebody to speak first, to share my idea. On the global scale, women need to speak up and not wait for a man to solve a problem. We are equally capable and competent.

She also said, “there is no embarrassing question, just embarrasing answers. So ask away.”

“You can’t have a favorite place until you have seen them all.”

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(This quote was taken from an advertisement for the Intercontinental Hotels.)

You can’t have a favorite place until you have seen them all. Without being everywhere, how can you make a decision about which is your favorite? While I have done some extensive traveling on the South American, North American and European continents, I have discovered places that are quite high on my list. The cold, crisp rivers running through the high peaks of the Andes mountains, with the narrow and winding road following the base of the mountains in San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina; the aqueduct built by the Romans that divides the old city from the new – while simultaneously dividing the small town culture from the big business neighborhoods in Segovia, Spain; the winding, rambling streets and colorful homes and storefronts in the pedestrian city of Guanajuato, Mexico; and the golden red colors of the mountains and vast sky in the old west New Mexico.

These places definitely have a high rank in my list of places to return (or maybe live) because of their immense beauty, the experiences I had and the people I shared them with. But despite the love for these places that I feel, I must say that my favorite place is not because of the physical beauty that I see in it, but the people and history that have lived and has happened there. My favorite place is where my friends and family are located – they are the people that color my world and give it substance. They are the people that know me, and know my past, my present, and where I want to go in the future. While I have not seen every place, I can say that no matter what else I see, my home will always be my favorite place.

easyJet – Is it really easy?

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Yesterday I took my first flight as an easyJet passenger, from London Gatwick to Madrid’s Barajas airport. Since the rest of Alma’s CRL group was flying out of Heathrow earlier in the day, I got on a National Express bus to the Gatwick terminal. Since my flight wasn’t until later that night, I had to wait in the check in area of the terminal for a few hours, since easyJet does not allow check in until two hours prior to departure. After a couple hours of sitting on the floor (due to the severe lack of seating in Gatwick’s busy airport) I checked my 1 piece of luggage weighing less than 20kg (44lbs) and proceeded through security with my one carry on and checked the screens for my departure gate. The screen said “please wait” and since I had about an hour and a half to kill, I walked around the duty free shops of the waiting area and had something to eat. Now I suppose that this entry could have and probably should be entitled “Don’t fly out of Gatwick”, but I don’t know which experience was least pleasurable.

Around my boarding time, I checked the screens again to see what gate my plane was to be departing from. The slot still said “please wait” so I took a seat across from the screens, still in the passenger waiting area. After fifteen minutes, the screen had changed to “delayed until 20:40.” After more waiting and more delays, the flight which was supposed to depart at 7:30pm, still had yet to depart at 9pm. Finally the screen said proceed to gate 16, where I encountered a mass of Spanish teenagers returning home from vacation in the United Kingdom. We passed through the checkpoint to sit (yet again), waiting to board the plane. Since I had checked in early, I was part of boarding Group A, which meant that after the special boarding people, I was in the first group to board the plane and select our seats. Unlike other airlines, easyJet does not assign seats, but rather lets the passengers choose their own seats once aboard the plane.

Fortunately, I was one of the first passengers from Group A on the plane, which meant I was able to sit near the front next to a window. Even though we had departed late and I was exhausted from the previous week’s busy CRL sessions, I could not fall asleep – a rarity on my part.

Thanks to Bose and their noise canceling headphones, I barely heard the child crying for most of the flight two rows ahead of me, but it did not block out the constant announcements from the pilots or flight attendants. First it was drinks, then food, then easyJet shopping and finally some scratch and win lottery cards to be redeemed on future easyJet flights.

Thankfully we quickly arrived in Madrid, a full 2 hours late and I jumped into a taxi to take me to the city center to check into my hotel (which was quite nice by the way – Hotel Plaza Mayor, Calle Atocha, 2 Madrid).

So, in light of recent events, I will be avoiding all travel from Gatwick and using Heathrow instead and will opt for paying just a little bit more (than the $110 easyJet ticket) for the usual flight service. Unless, I find a stellar, ridiculously cheap deal…

Maybe it was just a bad night to be flying easyJet.