Emily: Judging Day

Sunday, March 24^t

Today was judging! I woke up again naturally at 5:30 in the morning, which is something that only happens when I’m jetlagged. After a light breakfast, we walked to the judging hall. The morning judging session was four hours long, which is a long period of time to be on your feet! I only had three judges in the morning, whom I talked to in a mix of Chinese and English. I think they all understood the main idea of my project and seemed to like the concept. During my free time, I walked around and talked to students from other countries, including from Israel, Russia and Turkey! The Israelis even gave me some of their special chocolate, which has pop rocks inside. The convention center was freezing, so it was nice to take a walk back to the convention center in the sun for lunch. After lunch, we headed back for another three and a half hours of judging. I had no judges during this session, so I ended up presenting my project to other students and visiting their booths. I met a really nice girl from Australia who gave me a cute koala keychain! Judging ended after 5 pm – I was able to squeeze in a quick nap before the welcome banquet.

There were cultural music performances during the banquet, which was a nice added touch. During dinner, we were able to walk around and talk to more students and get to know them better – meeting incredible peers from around the world has definitely been one of my favorite parts of this trip! We also all received a beautiful painted mug as a gift which I’ll have to squeeze into my suitcase. After dinner, some of the other delegations invited me to grab coffee with them but I was exhausted and wanted to sleep as early as possible. Today was definitely the most stressful day of the trip, so I’m glad it went well!