The arrival of students that is. I think three are actually here now, but the other 148 come in over the next two days. I volunteered to pick some up at the airport. Tomorrow morning I leave the apartment heading to the Abu Dhabi airport to meet two young men, one from India, Madhav Vaidyanathan and one from Pakistan, Usama Sami. Who's decision it was to have me pick up both of them and put them in the same car, I do not know, but I'll try to keep the conversation neutral?
Tuesday morning I'll be meeting 4 more, Thomas Taylor from Australia, Xiaomei Wu and Yingwei Zhao, China and Usama Hussain from Pakistan. All I do is meet them and make sure the porter at the airport gets all their baggage into the buses and then we all get driven back to Sama Tower, their home for the next 4 yrs. Once we're back here I just turn them over to the Dean of Student Life.
All this week we'll be seeing the students coming through the Fitness Center and then we'll conduct their sports orientation on Saturday. The fitness center is up and ready to go and it is possibly the best work-out facility I've ever been in. Truly unbelievable with top of the line equipment from Life Fitness.
Everyone here is pumped because after all the work and all the planning and all the development the kids finally show up and classes start next Sunday. This planning has been going on for about 2 years now and it's coming to fruition. It's exciting to be part of this even if I did only get here 5 weeks ago.
As a side note there are 3 students from MI, one from Portage Northern, one from Lansing Catholic and one from Lenawee Christian.
Stay cool, it's still stifling hot here.
Wayne
So how was the car ride back with Usama and Madva- what did y'all talk about? I love the fact that NYU AD is so multi-culti (as they say in the EU- "multiple cultures"). That kind of environment can really help to breakdown the cultural and religious barriers. I'm just really in awe of where you are, what you're doing and the endless possibilities before you. Way to go, WEY.
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