CCC Mid-Year Retreat: From Lake Powell to Grand Canyon

Evening World, 

How are you doing guys? 

Hopefully you all are doing well. 

I cannot wait to tell you my story what I have been doing this week. 

Guess what??? I had a retreat with all the students from Community College Consortium in 3 different sites!!! YAY!!!! 

I am gonna talk about what we did  in the retreat :)

On Thursday, my group (Scottsdale Community College, 18 students) left Scottsdale for Lake Powell. We were supposed to meet the rest of CCC students from Virginia, San Francisco and Miami in Lake Powell. We left our apartments around 10 AM because the driving from Scottsdale to the Lake Powell would take 5 hours. 

During our way to Lake Powell, we stopped at the Flagstaff Park for Lunch. When we were in Flagstaff, I saw more snow and it was my second times to see snow :D We had a small snow fight although the snow was frozen LOL

Here are some of our picts when we were in Flagstaff for lunch 

Playing snowball with Ryan but the Snow was frozen already LOL

We spent about 30 minutes there and then we continued our journey to the Lake Powell. 

We arrived in our hotel around 4 PM. The students from Virginia, Miami and San Francisco arrived in the hotel at 5.30. 

At 6 PM, 71 students had dinner together. It was one of my best nights because I met new friends from Turkey, Africa, Pakistan, India, Brazil, and Costa Rica. They were really friendly. 

After dinner, We had an activity which was really interesting. The goal of the activity was to let us to get to know each other. Well the activity worked very well because from that night, I can remember for almost all the 7 students that I talked to, Including Davi (Brazilian) and Martha (Africa). After that, we all went to our bed (I wish we could spend time together, but most of them are tired may be because they had a really long journey, 5 hours flight and 6 hours bus ride)

The next day our session was an activity where we wrote in a paper what do we concern and how would we make change for something that we are concerned about. After that, some of students are asked to present their concerns in front of us. I was so glad to know that most of us have the same goal which is "Making a Difference for our community." 

After that, we had a group activity "Tour Boat Cruise". The tour was to go around Lake Powell which is 299 km2 long and wide 40km2. This lake is located between the border of Arizona and Utah. The view was really magnificent. I wish I could live near this lake, not only because of the view but also the silence in this place. It was really a quiet place. 

Boarding to the Cruise

The Beauty of Lake Powell

Me, Tahira and Ryan

Tahira (Pakistan)

Allison (Our, SCC Project Coordinator) and Yermi (Costa Rica)

The tour was from 1:00 PM to 3:00. At night we had a presentation from each school. 

We presented our activities in our colleges and some presented about the States where they live. 

In the morning we all had to leave Lake Powell and heading to Grand Canyon. But when everybody was still sleeping, I woke up to see sunrises in Lake Powell. Here are some picts I took early morning. 

The sun comes up

 So we left our hotel at Lake Powell around 8.30 AM. But before heading to Grand Canyon we had a Hike Tour in Antelope Canyon.

Here are some of my pictures in Antelope Canyon :)

 Aduh, I feel so tired haha :D now I think I should get rest, InshAllah I will continue my story next two days whenever I get free from my internship interview at the Embassy Suites Hotel :) 

So I will see you guys with the story of the Mid-Year Retreat, Grand Canyon and Sedona stories are still left  :)

Nite Nite, 

From Arizona with Love, 

Nur