Hitting the Road

Rolling hills, sheep, and the occasional lake serve as the setting for this blog post as I write from the bus heading from Derry to Galway. Our experience in Belfast broke the group down into small teams where high intensity and focus drove success for each project. The last day and a half has been about the full group coming back together and forming again, this time much closer than before. We’ve managed to come together and form close relationships thanks in large part to the environment cultivated by Jan. There has been enough structure to guide the group, enough freedom to challenge us to come together on our own, and an element of stress to force us out of comfort zones. These elements have made the trip a constant source of learning experiences on leadership and group dynamics.

It’s been fun to come together as a group in a stronger way and as a more complete unit. The team enjoyed a great dinner out together last night and the experience stands out as one of the more memorable ones of the trip. We went to an Indian Restaurant where three students on our trip who are from India, Ranjit, Divya, and Roop, ordered for all twelve of us. We laughed about how Americans all eat Tikka Masala and their ordering for us probably saved us all from ordering just that. We had some Tikka Masala but thanks to Ranjit, Divya, and Roop we all tried a bunch of new things that were delicious. My favorite, Chicken Mahni, a dish from Southern India where Divya and Ranjit are from. The food was great but perhaps the most enjoyable part of dinner was seeing Ranjit, Divya, and Roop take charge. Roop made sure we never had a shortage of Naan, Divya ensured South Indian good was well represented, and Ranjit made sure we had a variety of meat besides chicken. Food aside, it was enjoyable watching them each rise up and lead thanks to an environment of comfort and expertise. 

During our bus trip, we all went around to talk about our takeaways this far. A point brought up by Eric resonated with me and seemed applicable to our dinner last night. Eric talked about how there are many different types of leaders with different skill levels in different areas and that these skillsets are on a pendulum rather than fixed. Looking back at our dinner and throughout the experiences on this trip, I can see how different leaders have emerged based on different circumstances, how different leaders have their own strengths and weaknesses and how we can all continue to grow as leaders.

The last few days have been about people. Our 4-hour bus ride brought back great memories of past road trips and served as another bonding experience with a great group of people. The picture for our upcoming album is below. Now just to learn how to play the music.