REFLECTIN'

What did you expect? 
I honestly have no idea what I expected. The two or three weeks leading up the festival I actually sort of stopped thinking about it, if only because I knew I would freak myself out tremendously. There gets to a point where you literally cannot prepare enough. But, I guess I expected that it would just generally be harder, more complicated, and way more hectic. I totally did not expect that I would be able to actually enjoy most of the festival and the work that that class did together to make it possible. 


What surprised you? 
How smoothly everything went!! Everything ended up way exceeding my expectations. In particular the conferences, having to attended that many, I wasn't sure what to expect, but everything scholar was super engaging and the audience was very engaged. There was slightly more diversity in the audience than I expected, and I was surprised when people would only show up for one or two things, or leave in the middle. There were, by no means, very many that did that, but the few that did surprised me. Who would spend money and not participate in the entire event?!? Kiva was amazing, hands down. 
Oh! Something that did surprise me a lot: When Shannon went up at the very beginning of the day to introduce the event and got all the Visions staff to stand, I totally got a little overwhelmed and teared up some. Way to go Shannon! 
Also! How appreciative everyone was! That made me feel so great, all the compliments from all the different people.


What would you differently?
There were a few things that I thought of during the festival, but of course I was too distracted to remember to write them down.....
Personally, I wish that I had been more involved in the set up, I feel like I could have helped more with that sort of stuff, but at the same time, it didn't seem like anyone was scrambling or seeking out extra help. I also wish that I had mingled more, I definitely made sure to say hi to everyone that I knew, but again, I was distracted by enjoying the event that I kind of forgot to actively put myself out there socially. I also wish there were more pictures, but I understand that there wasn't the best lighting etc. 


What would you do the same? 
The dinner in the courtyard was AWESOMEE!! We definitely should do that again, and invite me plzzz. So was the after party so were the filmmakers/scholars so was the class so was pretty much freakin everything. 

<3 you guys.