Hey guys,
I've been trying to blog for the past two days but limited internet access has kept me from doing so. I just got back from a weekend up at Yale University were I attended a student summit held by Global Zero, a non-profit working for nuclear non-proliferation and eventually the removal of nuclear weapons from the world's arsenals. I left Friday afternoon and the closing ceremony was today. Here's a recap:
Friday we left from DC up to New Haven; unfortunately we left right as rush hour was getting bad which made getting out of DC and making any headway out of the metro area a nightmare. It took us two hours just to get to Baltimore. Global Zero had chartered two buses for my school's chapter as well as the other DC chapters and for schools like William and Mary and Davidson College. I ended up napping most of the ride or listening to music. I sat next to my good friend Allie on the way up and we chatted about what events were planned during the two-day summit. After a pit stop in Delaware we finally reached New Haven around 10:30 and the hotel at 11PM. Can I just say, New Haven is the most sketchy ass place in the world, especially at night. The area where we were staying, literally a few blocks from campus, was run down and I heard police sirens every 20 minutes. I guess I'm just used to having my school be in a nice area but hot damn, we were only a few blocks from campus and I thought I was going to get robbed on the walk from the bus to the hotel lobby.
Luckily, the hotel itself was nice; I was rooming with two freshmen who were both really cool and chill. Since we were told that we may need to smush into rooms, they had both brought sleeping bags just in case. Since I was the last to enter, they gave me the whole King bed to myself which shocked me but was something I would never think of turning down after my dorm bed.
Around midnight we were getting hungry so we were all getting hungry so we ventured out to the gas station food shop across the street. There were two men arguing with the cashier who was behind a layer of glass, metal grating, and metal bars. The whole tense atmosphere and terrible food selection made me and the others get out of there in 10 seconds. We ended up getting food from the Popeye's next door which tasted like heaven after eating a granola bar since 6 that night. After eating, we all went to bed since we would have to be up early the next morning. I slept like a baby sprawled out on so much space.
On Saturday, we all met in the lobby to walk over to Yale for the opening ceremony at 8:30. Of course people were late and Allie was freaking out about this since she was one of the main organizers of this trip. We ended up getting there on time and we took our seats in the auditorium. The first day nded up being really cool with a number of really good panel discussions with some really fascinating speakers like Dr. Hans Blix, Retired General Jack Sheehan, multiple former ambassadors, many high-ranking current and past government officials, and experts in the nuclear field. They discussed topics such as removing nuclear weapons out of Europe, the cost of maintaining our current nuclear arms arsenal, and in a discussion with Iran's former ambassador to Germany Amb. Mousavian, how to reduce and hopefully end tensions with Iran and its nuclear program. I really enjoyed the broad mix of views they provided on the topic of working towards a world with no nuclear weapons as well as how they answered a variety of questions from the attendees of the summit. There was a large delegation from my school and from DC in general but also schools like MIT, Boston College, Stanford, UC Irvine, and Yale itself, as well as a big delegation from Europe and abroad with France, England, Germany, Pakistan, and Turkey all represented.
During the break period, me and a few other people did some exploring of the Yale campus. It's actually a very pretty campus; there was nice architecture and the central quad was pretty. They made us take what I thought was a rather silly picture where we had to spell out words by standing in the form of letters which was not fun since it was kind of cold. The payoff for that though was that Allie and I were asked to appear in one of the promotional videos highlighting the summit so it would be cool to see if we make it into the final cut.
After the panels were done that evening, there was a reception held where many of the panelists were speaking to the students and such. I spoke with Dr. Blix and even shook hands with him which was awesome as well as have a lengthy talk with Dr. Lawrence Korb who is a former Assistant Secretary of Defense. We chatted about the role of China in the nuclear world as well as things like the Superbowl, Linsanity, and sports in general. I also got to mingle with many of the other college students there and met some pretty cool people though seeing as I would probably never see them again, I didn't do any solid networking. That night I ended up relaxing in the room and trying and failing to study for some midterms I have coming up.
On Sunday, we met up again in the lobby to get to campus early to hear Valerie Plame Wilson, the former CIA operations officer outed by the government about nine years ago, speak and take questions from the students. She provided some very interesting views on the situation of nuclear weapons in the modern world as well as telling a condensed version of her story to us. Allie and one of her friends even got a photo with her which was really exciting for her. After two more speakers, we finally broke up into campaign workshops where we basically meet with other local chapters and discuss strategies to spead the word about Global Zero and what they are trying to do. There I met the president of the George Mason University chapter and my lord he was one good looking guy. Given he goes to school near where I live, I'm totally doing some creepin (just kidding). Speaking of, there were some very good looking guys at the conference and at Yale in general. Yale guys seem to have this strange hipster-preppy mix which is actually pretty cool. Anyways, i'm really looking forward to working with the people from the other chapters in DC. Finally, after closing remarks around 2, we headed back to the hotel and got ready to board the bus around 3.
The bus ride back was very quick since there was no traffic so instead of taking 8 hours it only took around 5 and a half. I ended up just studying for my Marketing midterm on the way back. It was cold raining when we got back to DC but thankfully it hadn't iced over or anything. Overall, it was a fantastic trip. I wish I had a little more time to explore campus a bit more in-depth but just being able to see and hear all the amazing speakers and meeting so many bright and motivated people made the trip worth it. What made this trip even more worth it though was that I paid abosolutely nothing for it. Yup, I was able to go on a two day trip up to Yale and not pay a cent for registration, transport, or hotel. The only money I spent on this trip was for late night food and coffee during the day. The fact that I was able to pull off this feat without breaking any rules or doing anything reprehensible makes me so happy. Really, it was a quirk of working the system they had in place by getting a bunch of fees waived. I'm pretty sure this is why I'm in the business school.
Alright, I'm going ot go back to doing work but I hope you guys enjoy the remainder of your President's Day weekend if you're in the US. If not, I hope you have a good week.
All the best,
JP
