April 2nd, 2011
I did the unthinkable today. I shook Bill Clinton’s hand! WAIT WAIT WHAT?! Let’s backtrack the whole day to how I reached this inevitable point.
I woke up slightly late, and went to the first Plenary Session in the morning at Rimac hill – “The Urban Planet: Solutions for a Crowded World”. It was slightly interesting, but I also slightly zoned in and out of my short attention span due to the earliness of the event (9 AM!). Afterwards, I headed on over to Center Hall to a Skill Session: “Creating Buzz: Using Social Media to Market your Cause”. This was definitely more interesting, with Alexis Ohnist (found of Reddit), and Ben (founder of Change.org) there to talk about the benefits of using social marketing skills. Alexis in particular was very entertaining and amiable as he answered the questions of the entire audience. I should mention too that during the entire day I would network with various strangers from a variety of different schools, whose names I have all forgotten. Heh. Afterwards was LUNCH Time at Price Center – which had pretty terrible sandwiches – I ate with the two friends I met at Spain the day before, before heading to the Student Center for the Guardian interview. In an interview that was supposed to last an hour, it only lasted 10 minutes. I would say that’s pretty unprofessional of them, but of course they knew I was doing a joke campaign, so I really can’t say anything too bad. Then, I went back to Rimac for another Plenary on Financial Aid: Innovation for Affordability. I snapped a picture of Bill Clinton, as his daughter hosted a panel which did not do its best to keep me paying attention. It was very dry. Next, I went back to Center for a skill session called “The Next Step: Moving from Idea to Action”. On the way I saw Kat Tarasova and we caught up for a bit (I did not know she was attending the conference until I saw her yesterday). It was also a good networking experience, and gave me some insight as to how to get funding for my causes. Next, I went back to Rimac for the closing plenary session – with Bill Clinton talking to Kenneyd Odele and Sean Penn. This plenary was slightly more bearable because Clinton did most of the talking. After it was over, it was time for a CLASS PICTURE!. We all got seated, and Bill Clinton sat two rows in front of me. I was able to shake his hand before he sat down!. It’s funny, because the person in front of him had an Iphone that could take pictures backwards, and subsequently did so. VERY cool. I saw Vishist at this point in my conference attendance, sitting 2 seats away from him. Next, I went back to Price Center to eat some Mexican dinner -_-. I talked to two Japanese students from the Japanese club here on campus, who raised 20,000 for relief efforts to Japan. Bravo for them.
So in summary here’s the walking I did today: Warren –> Rimac –> Center Hall –> Price Center –> Student Services –> Rimac –> Center –> Rimac –> Price Center. FUN!
The conference was technically over – I wasn’t really planning on going to the community serviceevent the day after. I went to Geetha’s place and we hung out for a bit, before we ultimately met up with Rashika at Earl’s, and played Scrabble with her (everyone eventually forfeited). We eventually headed back to my place to talk to Amul about a plethora of topics, including American history. Amul fell asleep, and I was super drowsy and kept faling asleep in and out of the conversation. Inevitably I just gave up and collapsed in my room.
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| On April 2nd 1917, President Woodrow Wilson tells Congress “The world must be made safe for democracy.” asking Congress for a declaration of war and to send U.S. troops into battle against Germany in World War I . And protect the world, he did. |
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| Former President Bill Clinton opened a weekend long ”ideas-to-action” conference at UC San Diego Friday night, urging students to alleviate suffering worldwide, especially by finding new and better ways to exploit technologies as different as cellphones and DNA sequencers. The plea came during the opening of the Clinton Global Initiative University, which has drawn 1,100 ‘delegate’ students from about 90 countries to San Diego to brain storm on how to deal with problems as fresh as the homelessness caused by the recent earthquake in Japan, and political instability in north Africa and the Middle East. “This is the first time we have met in California. We chose UC San Diego because of its on-going, consistent commitment to community service,” said Clinton, speaking to a crowd of 4,000 students and visitors at RIMAC Arena. |
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