Day 24: AUAP Speaking Competition Day 2

What a day!

Alex was freaking out this morning as I wandered onto the bus just before it left. I’d let myself sleep
in, grabbed a slice of toast for breakfast just as I got on the bus, but Alex didn’t know that. Apparently he’d been knocking on everyone’s doors looking for me when I didn’t turn up to
breakfast. He’s such a Dad.

I didn’t have to do a speech today, but I did get to watch everyone else perform. And I tell you what
– they must have used every hard and interest question they had yesterday because every single
impromptu today was like a first round Lions Youth of the Year Question like “If you could be any
animal in the world, what would you be and why?” Naturally, those who competed yesterday were
pretty annoyed, particularly the South Korean delegation – after how hard their questions were can
you blame them?

We’ve made good friends with one of the Chinese coaches – his name is Phil. He’s very
Americanised, has a great sense of humour and enjoys hanging out with us to talk about his time
living in America and Basketball. The best part about our friendship with the Chinese is we are
getting all in the inside information they are. After all the speakers had finished Phil pulled us aside
and told us that I had finished equal third and Alex in fifth. We took it with a grain of salt, but it was
exciting news to hear.

So the announcement was made first by calling out the top ten in no particular order. As Phil had
told us, both Alex and I were named in the top ten, along with one of the Chinese speakers (the one
who had done well yesterday) who we had been told had finished sixth. Instead of announcing all of
the positions in the top ten, the announcer just called out the top three.

In equal third he named Alex and one of the Indonesia girls who had spoken about Male Victims of
Domestic Violence with her impromptus “What makes an ideal hero?” and “What makes an ideal
victim?”

In second place was a girl from the Philippines. I don’t remember her prepared but her impromptus
were “Who is the most influential person in your life and why?” and “Which teacher or professor has
had the biggest influence on your life?”

The winner was a young man from Malaysia. There was a great irony with the topic being equality
for women a male should win. His prepared discussed the economic impacts of gender inequality
with his impromptus “If you could be any animal in the world what would you like to be and why?”
and “What animal would you not want to be and why?”

As the congratulations were being issued, I noticed the judges looked very confused. I had assumed
that our Chinese informants had confused the two Australians but it actually turned out that poor
Alex had not been placed equal third – I had. The host was very apologetic, but Alex did take it very
well. I also took the opportunity to thank the organisers and judges before we left the stage to get
feedback.

Judges feedback was as expected. They informed both Alex and myself that our time penalties had
cost us the competition – which didn’t surprise me. There is never much room at the top end of the
competition and any mistake can be costly. It is disappointing that my exhaustion from all my travels
cost me that performance, but given all conditions I was under, I was really proud of how I
performed. The only other feedback was “It was clear you don’t do a lot of competitive public
speaking” and let me tell you – if looks could kill.

The point of that criticism was that neither Alex nor I started with a Good Morning/Afternoon –
which is something not done in Australia. We politely informed the judges that in competitions in
Australia it’s generally seen as a waste of time (there are some exceptions) and if they included it in
the rules then we would have happily complied, we just didn’t know. The judges, Americans, were all
really nice and positive and it was all-in- all a great experience.

We went back to the sports complex to have celebratory lunch and then kind of hung around the
place, wishing we could get hold of a WiFi password. The lack of communication was starting to get
to a few of us. Alex had started a plan to escape to Bangkok and abandon me, as I had been
informed I was required to stay in Thailand until the 26 th for a formal presentation. They were also
vaguely telling me I may need to present my speech at the dinner.

Either way, we were eventually herded onto a bus and driven from the campus into town to watch
the evening performances from some of the Universities to celebrate the anniversary of the AUAP
and the SUT (the University hosting the competition). We also had the opportunity to explore the
town, which included a Buddhist shrine and some markets. The performances varied in standard,
with the Indian delegation not even known their dance (they started to practice today) and the
Chinese delegation having about four different performances that blew you away each time – it was
incredible. I found myself some food at KFC (which was heaps better than American KFC, although
they didn’t speak a word of English and I had to order by picture) and Alex and I grabbed ice creams.
Biggest challenge? Crossing the road. Thai traffic is crazy!

Alex is off to Bangkok with a couple of the other competitors tomorrow – there isn’t much else going
on from what we have been told. It’s been a big, crazy and exciting day, I’m looking forward to
getting more sleep.

Day 23: AUAP Speaking Competition Day 1

What is sleep? I don’t even know.

The flight to Thailand went exceptionally smoothly. I was out the door just as everyone was leaving
for breakfast so got quite a few happy birthdays and well wishes. Hire car driven to the airport and
through TSA without a hassle. Pittsburgh to Chicago, Chicago to Tokyo, Tokyo to Bangkok. Slept well on the flight at the right times, was feeling confident I’d be in top condition for the competition.

Until I reached Thailand.

So aside from getting totally lost within Bangkok airport – which customs exit do I take? Signage is
poor and confusing, had to ask for help about three times. The queue was long and slow and then I
had to find the AUAP pick-up that had been arranged. When I finally found them I was told that the
South Korean delegation was arriving in about an hour and we would be waiting for them – no big
deal, what’s an hour?

I regret that.

The plane was delayed and it actually took two hours for them to arrive. Then after much waiting
around we left the airport at 2am local time. It was a three hour bus trip. So I did not reach
accommodation until 5am, when we were informed that we needed to be dressed, fed and ready to
get on buses to the University at 7:30am.

Our hotel rooms itself were interesting. Mine was kind of carved out of a rock or something. Bit odd.
I attempted a 45 minute nap, already starting to feel nauseous, with zero success. My shower didn’t
have hot water either, but on the plus side there’s nothing like a freezing cold shower to wake you
up. I’m not sure how long I had been awake for at this point, but patchy plane sleep is no substitute
for a proper sleep.

At breakfast I finally caught up with Alex, the other University of Newcastle representative. He had
flown in about three hours before me so he wasn’t in the best condition either. We sat together on
the bus and tried our best to look alive.

The University campus itself is enormous, but there aren’t a lot of buildings – it is just really spread
out. Very strange, even coming from my experience of being at the University of Newcastle. There’s
not really a practical way to get around except for driving from building to building. The main area
where we were competing is also a hotel area where the delegates for the AUAP meeting itself were
staying. Bit fancier than our accommodation. It turns out there are competitors staying all over the
place, with some staying at a sport complex which includes a pool they can use after hours (the pool
at my hotel is broken sadly.)

We were sequestered in a room and given a briefing on how the day would run. We were not told an
order of speaking – it was randomly selected. Each speaker would be pulled from the room when
they were due to speak. You had a 5 minute prepared speech, then two two minute impromptu
questions. Speaking thirty seconds either side of the time limit would result in a three mark
deduction.

So that was a pain. I couldn’t take a nap anywhere because at a ten minute interval they could
potentially call my name. Or maybe they wouldn’t call me at all and I would be in one of the two
sessions tomorrow.

The day dragged on. The first session before morning tea passed without either myself or Alex
called. We bonded with a number of Thai contestants, the Chinese competitors and the South
Koreans. At morning tea we were given food bags that contained a donut and a can of coke. I stole
just about everyone’s cans, collecting about five. That caffeine and sugar was desperately needed as
I was starting to feel like throwing up I was so tired. Alex decided he’d had enough and took a nap in
the corner of the room.

We weren’t called prior to lunch either. Lunch was interesting; we sat around a table with a
selection of thai foods, mostly seafood, for us to serve ourselves. I wasn’t a fan of the food, but I ate
what I could, drank more coke and was starting to feel much better.

Almost straight after lunch Alex was called to speak and I was abandoned. It didn’t last long because
in a weird twist of random luck the two Australian’s were chosen to speak consecutively. I was glad I
was feeling better as I went up on stage. Prepared speech went off without a hitch and then my
impromptu questions were “Do you think it is possible to rehabilitate violent criminals?” and then,
because I had answered yes: “How do you think we can rehabilitate these criminals?” I answered
both questions to the best of my abilities but unfortunately I did not speak long enough on the
second question, falling three seconds short. My poor tired brain just gave up.

When I sat down with Alex things got interesting. It turns out that the impromptu questions are
different for each speaker. Alex was asked about the changing role of technology in society. He also
told me that his prepared speech ran too long and as such, we were in the same boat on deductions.
The rest of the day was very relaxing. I posted on Facebook my collection of coke cans, which piled
up further during afternoon tea when we received more doughnuts and drinks in bags. We watched
the other speakers from up the back. Some of them were amazing; one that stood out was from
Thailand. She sadly did not perform well on stage, stumbling through her prepared and then not
really saying anything in the impromptus but when I went up to speak with her she admitted she had
only been speaking English for three months. Needless to say Alex and I were blown away (because
neither of us can speak anything other than Aussie).

It’s hard to know where we sit in terms of the competition. Because this is the first time it has been
run, aside from the disorganisation, you don’t know what the judges are looking for. Plus Alex and I
have seen the same speakers, so we don’t know anything more than the other. What was most
shocking was there was no apparent matchup for the difficulty of the impromptu questions. One of
the Chinese girls spoke today and had a very strong prepared, but she struggled to answer her
impromptu on how television has changed in the past 50 years. We saw an Iranian woman who also
did an excellent job and she was asked whether tablets should replace textbooks. The two South
Korean competitors had excellent prepared but were hit with difficult impromptus on euthanasia,
and suicide and genetic engineering.


It’s been a long day and tomorrow is potentially a final round – no one really knows. All we know for
certain is that there are still more people to speak. I’m skipping breakfast tomorrow and just getting
some beloved sleep.

Day 22: Hesselbein Global Leadership Academy Day 3

Today was an interesting day, where the groups were taken to their case study locations to complete a leadership activity. Our group, having being assigned to the American Red Cross, were taken to their headquarters. After receiving a tour where we met workers from the different aspects of the facility – including crisis management, community engagement and volunteer management we were briefed on the challenge. The American Red Cross is looking to reduce the number of physical sites they have, without reducing their community engagement. The biggest challenge is that for the towns that have a Red Cross centre, they feel a strong sense of connectedness with the Red Cross and should the organisation close its physical location in these areas, they will feel shafted and as if the group has abandoned them. Our job was to develop strategies that could assist in ensuring these communities were still engaged and felt like the Red Cross was still working in the communities despite the lack of a physical presence. The challenges included: varying community demographics, technological literacy, and emergency response capacity.

The biggest problem with trying to make a team out of five leaders is that everyone wants to be in charge and no one is a particularly good follower. It’s not in their instinct. And with different problem solving methods, it was difficult to find a group dynamic that worked. The Nigerian Engineer tried to take charge again and apply his usual leadership style, which was frustrating for the rest of us as he was not as consultative as we would have liked. In the end, Sam (the Commanding Officer Cadet from Virginia Tech) ended up running the brainstorm session, which worked well for almost everyone. Unfortunately, our Nigerian friend did not like not being in charge and despite our best efforts to engage him, went off and did his own thing for the rest of the day.

As a team we broke the problem down into different elements, the key goals required to achieve the greatest success. We looked at community engagement, emergency responsiveness, volunteers and technology. As a team we put forward every idea we could come up with and then went as individuals to develop more detailed plans to meet these goals. Breaking for lunch meant more adventure as we ended up wandering around an area of Pittsburgh without many food places trying to find some lunch. Eventually we found a little take-away shop that did amazing burgers to your own specifications (which worked really well for me – being such a fussy eater).

Upon our return to the American Red Cross Centre, we presented our solution. It was excellent to receive such positive feedback, with our ideas either being already in progress or new angles they had not considered. Upon returning to the bus, we met up with one of the other Hesselbein groups who had been working with the local law enforcement group and had received rave reviews for their work. Hopefully our efforts today will be utilised by the organisations we have been working with.

We returned to our accommodation to get ready for the main event. Unfortunately this would be my last event at Hesselbein as I am leaving early tomorrow morning to fly to Thailand! It was our formal lecture from Francis Hesselbein herself. As Francis is unwell, she was unable to fly from New York City to give the lecture. So she skyped in the talk to us about her life, her experiences and the role we had as the next generation of leaders. It was a very motivating discussion and afterwards, we were treated to dinner with alumni and it was during that time that Toshiko (my mentor) gave me a pin from Francis Hesselbein with her best known saying "to serve is to live." That was pretty special and made my night. We got photos with our groups. My group looked fantastic, particularly with Sam in her formal military attire. 

We went down to the college bar against. It was there the organisers remembered that tomorrow was my birthday (they admitted to forgetting). So they rounded up everyone and they sung Happy Birthday to me. It was super embarrassing, but we had a lot of fun for the evening with karaoke (although I didn't sing) and just chatting all evening before the bar closed and we skulked back to the accommodation. 

The rest of the night was pretty quiet - everyone stayed up late and talked. I showed off my Wonder Woman shirt I bought in DC (and was obviously the best dressed there) and packed for the morning. I also said most of my goodbyes as I was leaving before breakfast and thus probably wouldn't see anyone again. As the clock struck midnight I celebrated my 21st birthday re-reading my speech, before a few drunken stragglers came back late and brought me a traditional 21st birthday present from the bar - a viking hat - although I'm not 100% sure why.

So with my body clock successfully adjusted so I will be at my best for the public speaking competition in Thailand, it is time to go to sleep before I celebrate the rest of my 21st birthday on American Airlines. What a fun way to party! Next time I post I will be in Thailand. Thanks America- it's been awesome! I promise I'll be back one day.

Day 21: Hesselbein Global Leadership Academy Day 2

I managed not to get lost on my way down to breakfast. It was a bit confusing - American Universities aren't as distinct from the cities in which they reside as Australian Universities. I'm terrified I will wander the wrong direction and get lost in Pittsburgh. The trip down is a very steep downhill so it's pretty hard in heels to walk quickly.

The first presentation of the day was by Ms Laurie Kelley and focused upon listening. Listening is a key part of leadership - people will not be keen to follow and contribute to a dream of someone who does not engage with them. We were paired up and tasked with talking about our favourite holiday and what we want to achieve in the future. This was a fantastic opportunity for me to get to know Sam, the other female in my group. We bonded over exaggerating listening techniques and laughing at one another - I am sure we will remain quite close friends over the course of this academy.

The next presentation was a panel discussion on creating a culture of excellence - presented by Dr Jim Earle and Ms. Deborah Walker. This was a great talk, particularly from Deborah Walker, about the importance of integrity throughout your entire life, whether you are currently in a position of leadership or not. From there, we discussed about ways we can motivate others and recruit a team of individuals who will help achieve the goals of the organisation. Ms Walker spoke from personal experience working with Pittsburgh Government and Law Enforcement to improve moral and how important personal integrity was to building that culture. This workshop was particularly useful for me reflecting on NUWiE and how best to build its success and passion within the society.

Tony Fountain had us participate in a fun activity that tested our problem solving skills. In two groups, we were tasked to find our way across an invisible maze. It was a race between the two teams to get the most across. I was the first across for my team - for me, the maze was easy because I was observing both teams actions and could quickly memorise the safe squares. Unfortunately, we lost as the rest of the team was unable to make the same observations and memorise the path. It was also another demonstration of the importance of followers and leaders in a team - with everyone trying to direct no one observed and directions were frantic and confusing.  The important takeaway message from this activity was to do with responding to challenges and failure - the essential steps of observation and analysis to avoid the repetition of mistakes. To fail to learn from history dooms you to repeat the error again, as demonstrated by the number of people failing to clear the maze the exact same way every time.

After lunch we were put into smaller groups mixed across the participants and given a project. We were hypothetically put in charge of a tour company that was running a tour adventure overseas. As a management team we had to make decisions on behalf of the company in order to maximise profit and customer satisfaction. Our team got off to a shaky start - the challenge of so many leaders wanting to take charge was again plaguing the group. Furthermore, it was hard for everyone to hear the options, the challenges and thus contribute. Initially our decisions cost the company a lot of money and didn't please our customers. However, after assessing our group's decision making process we focused on sharing the leader role around the group, ensured that everyone understood and could contribute and found ourselves with better team morale and making choices that maximised customer satisfaction and profit. In the end, we had the happiest customers out of all the teams, although we were still a little low on cash.

I was particularly chuffed when one of my group members came up to me later and said that they felt I was a natural leader because I focused on engaging everyone and she really admired that about it. Pretty much made my day.

Our final presentation was from Rear Admiral James Helis. We discussed what our values and ethics were and how we stay true to them throughout our professional life. He also discussed the role of leadership in providing ethical direction and instilling a sense of service in an organisation and how a different leadership can affect the direction of a company. It was certainly an important lesson for those of us who aspired to leadership in business.

The evening events were a lot of fun. Our first stop was dinner with a notable person in the Pittsburgh area. For our group, given that our civic engagement site visit was to the American Red Cross Centre, we had dinner with Patricia Waldinger, CEO of the American Red Cross Southwestern Pennsylvania chapter, at her house. And what a house! She is also an amazing cook - her parents were restaurant chefs and she made the most amazing roast and there was a brilliant cake for dessert. We were truly spoilt that evening. Over dinner we discussed our backgrounds, learning more about the other members of our group, as well as what Patricia thought we should know about the American Red Cross so we could engage with our civic project tomorrow. 

Our group with Patricia in her entrance hall (the house was huge and had amazing views)

After dinner the entire Academy regrouped to catch a cruise along the river. Pittsburgh is so beautiful by night and it is very much like Newcastle - a history of steel manufacturing which has turned into a successful engineering, innovation hub with a tourism economy. The best part of the cruise was the girl from Palestine. She had never been on a boat in her life and her childish glee was infectious. I took many photos for her, she was running around videoing and sending her friends back home snapchats of her on the boat. It really put some perspective on how lucky I am that I have had so many experiences in my lifetime.

One of the Pittsburgh Bridges - it did rain on the cruise, briefly.

After the cruise we got on some vintage tram-style buses to catch the cable car up Mount Washington to watch the sunset over Pittsburgh. It was absolutely stunning. Pittsburgh is beautiful and has such great history. It's so much like Newcastle, it kind of feels like home.

The view of Pittsburgh with a fence coming out of my head!

This academy is rushing by and I can't believe that tomorrow is my last day. Still stressing out over this speech but thankfully Kelsey (my roommate) is super supportive and has been putting up with my angst. Hopefully I'll have this nailed by the time I hit Thailand! 

Day 20: Hesselbein Global Leadership Academy Day 1

The day started with bagels. I went with some of the Pittsburgh students to buy a pile of bagels for all of us for breakfast. So I got my morning excise climbing Cardiac Hill (named for either the workout it gives or the resulting medical problems from attempting to climb it.) I helped carry and then, naturally, eat breakfast. Then a few hours later, headed down to the William Pitt Union building. This used to be a hotel and as such, is huge and gorgeous. Because of the adaptation of the building from hotel to student services building it has a few quirks, like a staircase to no where that was created when the elevator is installed.

Our first presentation was my Major General Randal Fullhart, where he discussed the four main characters of the Wizard of Oz and what leadership lessons we can learn from them. In a short summary, to be a good leader you need to have intellect (Scarecrow's Brain), passion (Tin Man's Heart), Courage (Duh.) and strong character (Dorothy's helpfulness and kindness). He also noted that during one of the parts of "Off to see the Wizard" where they note that the Wizard needs to be a Wizard who will serve. One of Frances Hesselbein's famous quotes is"to serve is to live" - the idea that as a leader we should also serve the community around us and our team, to build up others not just ourselves.

After dinner, my mentor Ms Toshiko Inoue, told us of her journey from Japanese small town to New York City Financial Adviser, including meeting Frances Hesselbein through the Girl Scouts Movement. Afterwards, we split into our mentoring groups and discussed moments in our lives that have guided us on the path we now find ourselves on. My group has five individuals with amazing stories - a Nigerian Mechanical Engineering student who despite having both parents die and not starting school until his was eight, start his own engineering company and now study his Masters of Pipeline Engineering in Canada; an Indonesia Civil Engineering Student who's mother works in Saudi Arabia, forcing him to look after himself from a very young age; the Commanding Officer Cadet from Virginia Tech who has worked her way up the ranks and now has a full scholarship through college and a Pittsburgh Neurology and Anthropology student who works within his University and Community to support and empower LGBTI+ youth.

Our final presentation was from Ms Joan Kuhl, who discussed the way young people interact with the current job market and made us reevaluate our definition of success. She looked at the five questions developed by Peter F. Drucker and highlighted disparities in demographics in leadership, For instance, she noted that whilst females had twice as many mentors as males, they had only a third of the number of sponsors (on average) and that was one of the key reasons why young women struggled to develop their careers. She certainly provided some serious food for thought.

We concluded the day with a dessert room - strawberries dipped in chocolate! - and some chilling in the social lounge where I demonstrated my complete lack of skills at Pool. With only two days left I'm already excited, yet feeling a growing sense of inadequacy. These young people are so accomplished and I have discovered that I really have so much to do and learn. Hopefully I can take what I discover here and apply it back home.

Day 19: Megabus trip indeed

So today I was kind of nervous to miss my bus. I snuck out of my accommodation at 5:30am to catch the bus and two metros to make sure I made it to the bus stop to leave with plenty of time. I grabbed breakfast and was proud of myself for basically using up all my spare cash before entering Pittsburgh. This would later come back to bite me.

I got on the bus at 7am, ten minutes before we were scheduled to leave. I had been there since 6:30am, but boarding only started at 7am. No big deal, although I noticed that it took a long time to get everyone on the bus and by the time to doors shut we were already 10 minutes late. No big deal, I was tired, so I took a nap.

When I woke up half an hour later, we still hadn't moved. No one knew why. I napped on and off again for the next hour and a half and still nothing. At 9:35am, we were told to get off the bus because it wasn't working and we hopped onto another bus. Unfortunately, this other bus didn't have a working wifi connection (although I was later told that that it is totally normal for Megabus) so I spent most of my time on the bus staring out the window, or catching up on some sleep.

Other than that, the bus trip was pretty uneventful. I made a new friend, a girl from Brazil who was studying in the US. When she got off she gave me some Brazillian sweets which was really kind of her. When I arrived in Pittsburgh though, I realised I was about 25 cents short of a bus fare to the University. So I spent about half an hour finding an atm, then a place to crack a $20 note into smaller, usable amounts and then finally, finding a bus stop to catch the right bus. All of this to then walk up a reasonable hill, lugging my luggage (which weighs a lot more than it did when I started this trip.)

The room though, is AMAZING. This is a dorm room for the University of Pittsburgh, but it is huge. And my roommate is amazing. Her name is Kelsey and she actually interns at the Department of Defense at the Pentagon. But, more importantly, she brought lollies. And she's a public speaker herself, so she's volunteered to listen to my speech. Here's hoping I know it!

Tomorrow is day one, but it doesn't start till 1pm, so we stayed up late talking and meeting everyone who arrived early. This group is really diverse - from Russia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, South Africa...the list goes on. I'm so excited to see what tomorrow brings!

Biggest problem - my razor blade is blunt. So, unclassily, I will have to do a morning dash to the pharmacy to find either a disposable razor package, or blades that fit my handle. Pressure is on, tomorrow is the big first day and I have to make a good impression!

Day 18: They Wanna Ban Us on Capitol Hill

Final Day in DC! I took the opportunity to finally see Capitol Hill and walk the track around the Tidal Basin. Good opportunity to work off those kilos I'm sure I've put on from all the (not-so-good-for-you) food I've been eating.

Capitol Hill was very busy. There was a protest going on outside the front against the Chinese Government - mostly to do with suppression of free speech and forced disappearance. Combined with it being summer, there were a lot of school kids about on summer camp being taken around DC. The building itself is impressive to see - it would look better if the dome was on display instead of being renovated. There were a few statues and fountains around - particularly the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial right in front of Capitol Building - that were also being renovate. It's kind of odd, to be doing this work during tourist high season, but I suspect in winter they may struggle with the weather instead.

I walked from the Smithsonian Metro up to Capitol Hill - takes about 30 minutes

The space of American Government - pretty impressive

My next stop was half way around the Basin at the Jefferson Memorial. It's a very impressive space - big, open, marble (maybe actually granite - not sure) space with a massive statue. Surrounding are quotations and famous speeches (a running theme I soon saw). From just about anywhere on the Basin you can see the Washington Monument, but the view out across the water from here was especially spectacular. The best part was actually the lower floor, which was a small museum that explained Jefferson's contributions to the United States Really well done and something not everyone came and saw.

The walk up the many stairs to the Jefferson Memorial

The man - Thomas Jefferson

Some context to the space

This is the view from the Memorial. 

On my way around the Basin I saw many other memorials - including the Franklin Roosevelt and the Martin Luther King Jnr. The Roosevelt memorial I found incredibly inspiring - it was quite expansive, full of pathways to explore with inspirational quotations about politics, the role of government and the responsibility of people. I thought it was quite ironic the number of quotes about the responsibility of a nation to assist the poorest rather than build up the wealth of the richest in the land of the 1% based government. But that's politics for you. The MLK memorial was, by comparison, quite unimpressive - although the carving of MLK from the stone was incredible. I think I just expected from the memorial than what was there.

The view from the bridge across the basin outlet - Jefferson Memorial on the right, Washington Monument in the centre

The Franklin Roosevelt Memorial (one section of it)

A memorial for Eleanor Roosevelt and her work with the UN

Martin Luther King Jnr. Memorial

MLK carved in stone

It was pretty hot today, so by this stage I was quite dehydrated. It took my a long time to find water though - the signs would claim they pointed to a refreshments stand, but they never did. It wasn't until I reached the final stop on my journey - the Lincoln Memorial - that I found a place to buy water. It was pricey, but worth it. Along the way to the Lincoln Memorial I also saw the Korean Veterans Memorial and later saw the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, but they were both very busy so I didn't stop to look.

The Lincoln Memorial is imposing. It is also PACKED. This place is a big deal. Lincoln's statue stares out over the reflecting pool straight at the Washington Monument and the walls read his famous Gettysburg Address. The steps are full of people, seated and resting, whilst children slide down the smooth granite at the edges of the steps. The actual souvenir shop, whilst underwhelming, is packed so tight you can't really move around to look at things. It's an amazing space - similar to the Jefferson Memorial - and if it were quiet, like the sign asks you to be, it would be truly a great space to reflect on the achievements of the first assassinated President of the United States.

This was just the outside of the Memorial - the interior was even busier

Abraham Lincoln himself

Part of the Gettysburg Address

The final stop of my day was the Supreme Court, but as I was leaving I saw one of the sights I thought I wouldn't have the opportunity to go see. Outside the Department of Science is a fantastic statue of Albert Einstein and I was actually about to get a #photowithAlbert thanks to a lovely American couple that were taking pictures of their children. I was so happy!

Quotations of Albert around the statue

My #photowithalbert - the hashtag is used so the Department can see your photos for use at their annual general meeting

Last stop on the DC tour was the Supreme Court. I got the view of the other side of the Capitol Building and the absolutely gorgeous Library of Congress. The Supreme Court itself was incredibly glarey - the light coloured stone reflected the late afternoon sun right into my eyes. It was still impressive to look at, and exciting to think that only a few weeks ago the journalist interns had sprinted across those stones to inform the public that marriage in the United States was a fundamental right to members of the LGBTI+ community.

The Library of Congress - looks like it was ripped straight from Florence

The other side of the Capitol Building

The famous Supreme Court of the United States

So ends my tourism. Tomorrow I will be up at 5am to catch a bus to Pittsburgh for the start of the Hesselbein Global Leadership Summit. I'm excited. Unfortunately, that also means the end of my song titles (mostly because I don't know many about Pittsburgh). But I cannot wait to dive headfirst into this new experience. Only a few days left in the USA before Thailand too!