My Quest for a Real Georgia Peach

My internship at the Open World Leadership Center allowed me to take a site visit to Atlanta, GA and observe one of our programs.  We bring delegations from countries in Eurasia, mostly from the former Soviet Union, to participate in ten-day programs in the U.S.  I followed a group of five Ukrainian legislators and their facilitator around to several professional meetings during my time in the Peach State.  Upon arrival at the world's largest airport (in number of people flying through per day), I was picked up by my host family and taken for a "Frozen O," a staple among Georgia Tech college students.  I was later treated to a fantastic homemade dinner at my host family's place.  On the second day of my trip, I went to a meeting with a Georgia State professor and visited the Atlanta City Hall and City Council Chambers.  We had lunch in the Atlanta Underground, a rather sketchy shopping area where I couldn't cling too tight to my purse. To my greatest surprise, I watched the men of the delegation dig into cheesy fries from Johnny Rockets.  During this time I also attempted to have a conversation with them in Russian.  On the next day we visited one of the Atlanta's most affluent suburbs, including a tour of their high school, city hall, and police department.  Here's the delegation before we stepped in to meet with the mayor (right) and our welcome to the high school (left):

Unfortunately (and luckily), I don't have any pictures of myself from the trip.  I do, however, have proof that even though this was a professional exchange, we also had some characters among the group who got excited about the police cruiser:

On the last day I was there (the delegation had several more days), we visited the Georgia State House.  We sat in on a session of both the House and Senate, and we were all able to shake hands with Governor Nathan Deal.  The delegates were welcomed as guests in front of the entire House, and had their picture taken with the Speaker.  Here is the delegation speaking to one of the Congressmen, and also their picture with the governor:

The trip to Atlanta was a great experience for me, and in case you were wondering, I did find a real Georgia peach.  My host had frozen peaches from last year's harvest (not unlike my family freezes Ohio corn for the winter) so I was able to enjoy a real peach, from Georgia, in Georgia.  But besides peaches, I also made friends with the delegates and was able to experience our programming firsthand.  I'm very grateful for the opportunities I've had at the Open World Leadership Center and am sad to leave this week.  Look for my next blog later this week to see how I wrap up my time in Washington.

JS