The much awaited Atlas Corps Fellowship program finally began with a week long informative orientation session where I met and interacted with fellows from more than eight countries across the globe. My fellow friends and the Atlas Corps family are my home away from home! USA is one of the farthest countries away from my home country India and leaving home is never easy. I have been in the US for a week and during this one week I have made so many friends and met so many new people that my fellow friends and the Atlas Corps family has become my second home away from my home country India.
The week long orientation began with a presentation on US safety and logistics. The Class 38 fellow dinner at Nooshi was a wonderful opportunity for all the fellows to get to know each other. Country presentation by my fellow colleagues was the highlight of the orientation as it inculcated a sense of belongingness in each one of us towards a larger global goal to serve the world. A lecture on U.S. Culture and Cross Cultural Adaptation by American University professor Mr. Shawn Bates was a much needed lesson for each one of us before the commencement of the fellowship program. The orientation ended with a fun-filled monuments tour to White House, Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial with Atlas Corps founder Mr. Scott Beale. It wasn’t just a monuments tour but an insightful talk about the U.S. culture and ways of living.
