In the morning, Brittney and I went down for breakfast together and got to know each other. She studies nursing at college and is in her second year. But she was kind of nervous because she is quite tall and is blonde - it pleased her greatly to hear that Sophie is the same. Breakfast was...underwhelming. I didn't touch it - Kim Chi is basically cabbage in garlic and everything else I didn't like to look of (apparently it included boiled eggs in sauce). Obviously today was just a morning to go hungry. So after Brit ate we went upstairs, I practised my speech one last time (it came in at just under 5 minutes, thank goodness) and we finished getting ready for the main event. The best part was, Brit and I were ready super early and were just lounging about in our room when an announcement was made over the PA that is connected directly to our rooms (weird) and Hannah, the Korean representative from last year who remembers me, said "please be downstairs in like....right now." Definite morning highlight.
I was nervous, but I knew they were going to select a top 20 from the day's proceedings and there were only 43 competitors - surely I would be able to at least reach the top 50% of competitors. Surely.
The next highlight of the morning occurred when Dr Kim (the co-ordinator of this year's competition who recognised me the moment he introduced himself) announced that the speaking times for the prepared speeches (we have no impromptus in the first round) was actually 3-5 minutes, with a bell at 5 minutes telling you you had one minute to wrap up your speech. I don't know why I even worried last night! I had plenty of time flexibility - unlike last year.
Because the speeches were done in alphabetical order by first name - I was up fairly early. As I had suspected, most speakers spoke either about the importance of living your dreams or a story of how they had lived your dreams. Some were a mix of both. We had been told at the start that we could choose where we could stand on the stage (in the middle or behind the lectern/podium). Prior to me, everyone had spoken behind the lectern, so as I walked out on stage and stood square in the centre, without the microphone there was a distinctive "oooooh" from the stage.
I had Sophie film that performance for posterity.
What was really amusing was that once I had spoken people started speaking out in the middle of the stage, although all used the microphone (with varying degrees of success - the mic was very temperamental)
It was a pretty relaxing rest of the day. I had nothing else to worry about - having done all that I could for the day. Sophie spoke really well, had some very interesting points about the ways you could expand your dreams and look beyond cultural barriers that influence your dreams.
When the judges came to announce it was really nerve wracking. I mean, I was happy with how I went but I was worried when the judges announced that 50% weighting was on content. My speech is slightly out of the box and if the judges didn't like my interpretation of the topic I was screwed. I shouldn't have worried though - both Sophie and I made it through. Brittney didn't though sadly, although she had said she had no preparation time and hadn't ever done public speaking competitively before. But she said she actually had a great time and would want to do it again which was a great response.
That evening, Brittney, Sophie and I went back to the Korean BBQ by ourselves (without translators). We successfully ordered beef and cooked it ourselves. That evening Brit and I watched Greys Anatomy and slept very, very well.
The next morning I felt actually very relaxed, although I clearly have a bit of an upper respiratory tract infection. It's a good thing my roommate is a nurse - she'll look after me. Actually, Sophie was feeling a bit under the weather and today she is struggling way more than I am. Looks like we actually caught something together. I blame the plane personally.
Brit and I went out to grab some breakfast, knowing what would be on offer again. The chocolate milk I purchased was delicious. By the time we reached the speech contest I still wasn't that nervous. It wasn't until I was sitting down waiting for my turn that my nerves finally kicked in. It was a funny set up - we had to perform our speech a second time and then were asked two impromptus - but every speaker was in the room for each one. It was funny, but I really noticed how people followed my lead from yesterday with most finalists taking to the centre of the stage. The questions followed the same pattern:
1. Tell us a story of a time you showed ___________
2. If you were __________ what would you be?
My questions were where I overcame a weakness and if I was a time of day. I spoke about my experiences bullying and had a bit of trouble not choking up! But I was happy with having structured and logical answers that presented the creativity and insight that they had asked for yesterday afternoon.
When it came time for the judgement, everyone had been telling me all day I was going to win. I was very happy with how I had performed, but still not convinced. There had been a couple of people who struggled with the impromptus but the vast majority had done very well - Sophie included.
I shouldn't have been so nervous cause:
I WON!
Shintya made it to the Top 8, but this year we were finally split! It was so exciting, amazing...just...I am so thrilled. The judges feedback was that the raw emotion of my impromptu tipped me over the edge and the only advice they had was to consider using a microphone because it makes it easier to understand me for ESL people - something I had never thought of because I found ESL people harder to understand over the microphone.
So I'm off next year to Romania to attend a leadership camp thanks to AUAP. The only thing I didn't get was a trophy - maybe need to ask about that. But I have a giant cardboard sign! So that's cool.
Since my speeches I have been adopted by the Philippino delegates to come speak at their university and received so many handshakes and hugs, a zillion photos. People are just calling me "the champion" which is pretty cool.
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| 1st place and a Top 20 ! |
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| The Top 8 and the judges |
Dinner was the same Korean BBQ - mix of pork and beef this time. I learnt how to say pork in Korean so we could order it (the word for meat sounds like Corgi! Haha!) and Brit and I enjoyed some raspberry sorbet and more Grey's Anatomy. We're pretty tired so are looking forward to an obligation free day tomorrow. Although for some reason our air-conditioning won't turn on.
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