It is amazing to think how quick this quarter has flown right by and how amazing that I have been with CLP for over a month now. To be honest, it feels at times that CLP is not just an internship, but a full-time job at times. I cannot recall how many meetings I have had to rush to in the last two weeks and how often my mind has been filled with CLP-related thoughts. A lot of this has to be due to the fact that the application for SU2I were handed out earlier and concerns about fund-raising for India. However, despite the stress, it has definitely been a great learning experience and I slowly feel as though I am getting into the hang of CLP (whether that is actually true remains to be seen). Right now, I am truly worried about CGI U and the application, as it is an experience that I truly would love to have and working on the application has me a bit worried. Since I am new to CLP, the language is still a bit difficult for me to grasp, as I am unaccustomed to it. I am hopeful that over time (and much more exposure to the language) I will be more comfortable with the vocabulary and style.
Thinking about the next few months for CLP is a bit strange, as I will possibly be in India in seven months. However, there is a lot of work to be done with SU2I, as we are hoping to have applicants chosen by the end of January. After choosing the candidates, we will then be in full swing of trying to prepare the youth for India, including programming. We are planning to have five SU2I specific trainings for the youth (in addition to their regular CLP-NoVi training) before we leave to India. Right now, I only have vague ideas about what programming I think would be beneficial to the youth and what activities we can do. Thankfully I have the support of Serkadis as well as the rest of the CLP family to assist me, so it should go well. We have also been brainstorming on ideas for fund-raising, which is a bit daunting since I have never truly fund-raised before. The next few months will see CLP putting on quite a few fundraisers, so I hope that I am prepared for it
Also, I am considering turning my internship with CLP into an upper division Honors project, since it is already work I am doing and could help me further develop my specific interests. I never thought of combining CLP and Honors, but if it is possible, I would definitely love the opportunity.
Overall, I am envisioning Winter 2011 to be a time of truly getting in touch with CLP and working out the kinks. We are slowly counting down to India in the summer, which is both exciting and frightening. I truly cannot wait to see what the next few months has in store for me individually and CLP as an organization!
