Sun Kissed

Well...right now I am sitting on my bed in the Grand Hotel Besty (it's so grand) in Miraflores, Peru with my roomie, and a headache and a potato stick sandwich. Trust me...I'm just as confused as ya'll right now. I mean who puts potato sticks in a sandwich??

Ok, for those of ya'll not in the know I am currently a member of the APEC Voices of the Future along with 90 other student delegates from China, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, USA, and Vietnam. One of my favorite questions I have been repeatedly asked in my 24 hours of existence here has been: So, Brett what year are you in school? To which I respond: 2 years post senior or yeah, I am not. Thus arises the follow-up...why are you here?

If ya'll are asking yourselves the same questions...3 months ago I fell in love at first event with the World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth. Fast forward a few weeks of working with said council and I applied for a position on the UNT delegation for the 2008 Asia Pacific Economic Corporation Summit. Let's do the time warp again and...I am sitting on my bed in the Grand Hotel Betsy...and we don't need to go through that again.

Let's debrief shall we?? The starting line-up of the UNT and Hanoi University delegation:

Alex Roark (opinion columnist): Tall, dark and handsome with a strange latin accent. Ok, this is not a personal ad. Alex is the only male delegate from UNT. Lucky him. He is currently living and working in Manzanillo, Mexico and is a former intern at the WAC.

Jessica Moulden (photographer): Jessica is studying international development at UNT and is applying to law school. I would say she is the model of the group...check the pics if you don't believe me. We had a not so pleasant occurrence with the Peruvian sun. See follow up posting.

Ashli White (tell it realist): Majoring in merchandising at UNT. She is a senior and will graduate in May. Ashli rocks...and likes to say, "Yeah man!" She would also love to dedicate her life to learning Spanish (and Brett will help her) and to that she says, "Thanks man!" Ashli had a brief, strong obsession with Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy (just fyi).

Sarah Chincarini (the kinkster): Sarah is in her final stretch at UNT, graduating in May with a degree in Operation and Supply Chain Management. She will be taking an amazing position at TI upon completion. Sarah is super cool and enjoys country music and dancing and skittles.

Kandace Sheperd (the quotist): My ROOMIE! She currently interns for Mary Kay and graduates from UNT in May (ha, poet...didn't even know it). Kandace almost fell off of the pyramid we visited yesterday. We were very tired....Also, she is famous for being "holla'd at" by old Latin men.

Chi: Is a member of our delegation, representing Hanoi University and Vietnam. Chi is the cutest person I've ever met and I kinda want to make her in doll version to keep in my pocket. She is currently studying International Relations and her favorite actor is Adam Sandler.

Tung: Also representing Hanoi University and Vietnam. Tung is our media guru and is helping with the Voices video blog (posted on You Tube every night). His English is amazing and is a hell of a singer.

Tam: 3rd Hanoi University member and representing Vietnam. Tam is very sweet and is on the verge of being fluent in English. She has a knack for learning Spanish and doesn't leave home without her Spanish notes notebook.

Cliff's Notes of our first APEC days: Arrived 5 am on Saturday, November 16th. Waiting on Tung's lost bag. Bag not found...we shuttled to the Grand Hotel Betsy where we dumped our belongings and bee-lined for the first coffee joint in sight (which happened to be Starbucks). Later we met up with the delegation from Loyola Merrymount in Los Angeles. From there we grouped to the Huaca Pullana ruins. Learned some disturbing facts about past human sacrifices and made friends with the famous Peruvian hairless dogs (with red afros). Lunched. Explored. Felt like zombies after not having slept for a long period of time. Met and befriended various other APEC student delegates. And finally literally fell into bed.

The next morning I woke up with a migraine! Sweet. Breakfasted. In the afternoon Kandace, Ashli and I met up with Rocio (a Peruvian chica who was a WAC delegate not too long ago). At 4:00pm we cozied into a very cozy bus and headed to the venue of the APEC Summit. There had a tour of the media center and the location of the ABAC Leader's Summit while feeling throughly honored to be a part of this experience. I mean seriously...we have more clearance than the Associate Press. Beginning tomorrow we will be meeting, interviewing and shmoozing with officials from the 21 APEC economies. I end today's blog with no doubt that the following days are to be filled with nothing but eye opening, knowledge-filled and culturally exchanging opportunities.