Teamwork Makes the Dreamwork

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Jan 22^nd,

This morning started out with a nursing conference between our college and several colleges in the Chiang Mai area. Three of our group members were chosen to present at the conference on the selected topic of Domestic Violence. Each group did a presentation on this topic, and it gave us the opportunity to compare rates of domestic violence in Thailand versus America. The biggest take-away from the conference was understanding that a desire for power is the common denominator amongst perpetrators of domestic violence. The conference and the lunch following provided a great opportunity for us to mingle with Thai nursing students and get to know them better.

After the conference, we were given a free afternoon. We chose to spend our time at a lake. A few of my friends and I rented these paddle-bike things and biked around the lake. We tired out pretty quickly and decided to just float around and enjoy the view of the gorgeous lake at the base of a massive mountain. After our hour on the lake was up, we joined the rest of our group for some sun-bathing on the dock. It’s been so fun talking for hours with these girls and getting to know them over the last couple weeks. The 8 other girls on this trip are each so special and amazing. I feel so thankful to have gotten the opportunity to travel across the world with them. Traveling together bonds you in such a special way because you not only spend all day everyday together, but you have seen and experienced things together that no one else understands. It’s been truly and honor to talk about life, theology, and everything else under the sun (literally) with these awesome people.

After the lake, we headed back to campus for lessons on personalities and team building. By this point, we have pretty much pegged everyone’s personality down and been team building this entire trip, but it was still so much fun to talk through why people act/think the way they do. We also did a game that required communication and compromise, and it was so cool to see that we each did so much better on the task after collaborating with our group members. Teamwork really does make the dreamwork.

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