Week 3 of CSC Canada 1 experience! <Late publication>
Disclaimer: I started penning this down at the beginning of week 4 of my CSC deployment, but never got around to finishing and therefore publishing it. I refined and fine tuned and ended up putting it up on the board days after I returned (I have been back home for 2 days now). It starts how I started writing it and finishes how I wanted it to.
I started gathering my thoughts on all that we did in week 3 of our #CSCCAN1. In my last post, I had alluded to the fact that there was going to be a lot of activity in our week 3 (especially on the weekend that was to follow) — and it was a truer version of that truth. All 15 of us from CSC Canada 1 team were trying to find enough hours in the day!
The NSCC Life in Week 3
After finishing Week 2 buzzing on a lot of activity, we landed into Week 3, armed with our tools (read: Laptops, Notebooks, Information researched for and Interview Notes) in one hand and Blinders in the other. The CSC sub team 2 (Ana, Martin and I) took our findings from Two design thinking workshops we conducted our NSCC project working group, and notes from several interviews with several NSCC parties, and started giving structure to our final report.
During the course of our work week, we had a chance to visit two of the other NSCC campuses in Halifax other than the one we are based out of (IT Campus). We toured and met with Faculty at the Ivany Campus, located on the Halifax Waterfront. This was followed by a visit to the Akerley campus to see the Trade Schools and Courses for School of Access — and a lunch at the very famous Fresh 21 restaurant —where the service is conducted as a class, with teachers guiding the students pursuing the courses in hospitality, tourism, culinary and pastry arts. A fine understudy of ‘fine-dining’ experience! Whoever’s in Halifax, must make reservations at the Fresh 21 restaurant.
Now to the IBM CSC Life: Oh it was an eventful week — both outdoors and on location. Read on:
It was perhaps the busiest and most special week that we had — our group of 15 individuals from all around the world covered a million figurative miles to become a family. This was the week that we actually bonded with strongest adhesive there is — mutual admiration and liking for each other. Of course, impromptu and planned soirees peppered across the week helped that cause. Safe to say ice cream and fun and jokes remained constants in these get-togethers.
- Monday: we ate the home baked Blueberry pie (Courtesy Roz’s dinner party) and ice cream
- Wednesday: We met for another dessert — Coffee cake bought from NSCC Akerley Campus and Ice cream. Again.
- The mid-week dessert meet snowballed into a potluck for full blown dinner on Saturday, followed by all of us gathering in one of the rooms to continue the fun, making everyone dance to tunes of our country’s music. Such a fun night full of jokes and photos and gifs and laughter videos. No words will ever be enough to convey what it meant to all of us. The mere memory brings out smiles and sometimes giggles three weeks after that evening!
Our weekend was happily packed. Special thanks to Liesl Mulholland of DOT for making sure we have a fulfilling stay in Halifax. Our calendars had activities enough to keep us happily occupied.
Saturday: We had our Community Service Day for the youth of Hope Blooms organization at the Mi’kmaw Friendship. The event started off with prayer and smudging ceremony by Elder Marlene of the Mi’kmaw community — it was extremely emotional, touching and empowering at the same time, making all the attendees reflect on our blessed lives and give thanks. It was a good reinforcement that all prayers and energies we send out to the universe are the same, just the words change!
We then hosted a design thinking workshop for the Hope Blooms Youth — giving them the tools to assess their current situations, and work on exploring alternatives that await them — for them to have clarity and empowerment to make informed decision and lead a fulfilling life. This was followed by a lunch with the kids at the Hope Blooms centre. Some of us had the chance of buying the salad dressings the kids made.
Sunday: Nova Scotia Business Inc. (NSBI) was kind and generous to take the CSC team on a tour of Nova Scotia on the following day. We left early Sunday morning in a bus (giving very picnic-ey vibes) to tour some of most amazing places across Nova Scotia. We visited Peggy’s Cove, Lunenberg, Lightfoot & Wolfville Vineyards and Bay of Fundy coming back to our hotel late that evening — exhausted and at the same time all charged up for our last week of the assignment.
The Halifax life: It snowed that week — okay not a full blown snowing event, but cold enough for us to see flurries. For someone who doesn’t get to see snow in her city, I (and other non-snow getters) was super excited. CSC is all about new experiences, eh?
Our week 4 was emotional. I am going to pen down all my thoughts using my own and my phone’s memory. Stay tuned!
