To begin with, I would like to say "Happy Birthday!" to ICMA. It is my great honor to be able to join all of you in the 100th year of the great organization. I believe this year is bound to be special for both you and me.

Just a little piece of self-introduction: My name is Yalan Qin. I am now a second-year graduate student seeking the Master of Science on Public Policy and Management degree in Carnegie Mellon University. The MS-DC program I enroll in is the same as what our two lovely ladies in the office-- Berna and Katherine were involved in before. We need to take a one-year long apprenticeship in DC. I love this program and even excited to have the opportunity to be here in ICMA!

I originally came from the northern part of China, but spent my college life, majoring in International Relations in the very south, including one year in Paris as an exchange student. Everything related to international development and foreign relations cheers me up. Very luckily, I got accepted by the International Center of ICMA last April. Even though this is only at the beginning of my fourth week in the office, I have a strong feeling that I am doing what I love and ready to start from here!

It is time to review my work of the passing three weeks in retrospect…

The main topic of my first week here was orientation. It was nice that I met and talked with Erin, David, Judit, Lisa, Berna, Lily and Joyce during the first morning. Erin showed me around the office-- got quite confused with the circling structure, and Berna introduced me to almost all the staff here. Frankly speaking, I might not able to remember all your names at once, but your smiling faces and warm welcome just made me feel at home. After the first orientation day, it was time to start work! I decided to kick off from the Chinese contacts database. Thanks to this work, I gradually came to know the programs on which China Center is focusing and the scope of contacts of each of the program. Definitely, there was a sense of achievement and responsibility seeing all the blanks in the spreadsheet filled out!

Compared with the first week, the following one was far busier. Since everyone was occupied with preparation for Charlotte Annual Conference, I was not involved into specific programs. However, I did cherish this experience to be part of the whole team and made my own contributions, even through trivias such as printing and piling the meeting materials. The feeling of people getting together and moving towards the same goal offered me a strong sense belonging to the big group of ICMA. On the Thursday this week, I assisted the China team in welcoming our guests from Beijing Green Building Alliances. It was nice to meet a bunch of Chinese people in the office and share with them my experience here in Mandarin. 

For the third week, the office was quite as most of you are on spot for the annual conference. Erin has been so nice in organizing series of fun activities and yummy food just to prevent us from missing you too much. Lisa and I were also able to sit down and have some previous materials reorganized under the knowledge network.

Cupcakes for "left behind" staff

Monday morning is usually the busiest time in the office. After coming up with a new to-do list, I know a brand new week has just started. If the passing three weeks was a warm-up, everything is moving onto the regular path now. I am looking forward to getting more involved into programs and different types of work here.

It is always hard to start, but I am enjoying this process. I know that opportunities and challenges will go hand in hand in the coming nine months, hopefully longer. Just as John A. Flaherty, the Director of CMU-DC program said, every young person in the city is smart and hard-working. Starting from here, I am honored and ready to be part of you!