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Day 6: Birthdays and Alumni!

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By Nikita
Hey peeps! 

Its Nikita and Rania saying hello! Today was a pretty eventful day, but we’ll get into that a bit later. 
Per the usual, we all arose at 8:30 am to Tiff jamming to Bohemian Rhapsody (but we weren’t as enthusiastic to the song like we normally are). Then, we all got ready and feasted on Lucky Charms, coffee, apples, peanut butter, and granola bars. We always try to get out by 10 am, but we’re such a big group that its always impossible (we run on college student time!). A few of us got caught playing with Charlie, our resident AB pupper who is the cutest floof of fluff ever! 

Next stop: TCC! Today, we had a fun birthday party scheduled in the afternoon, but the morning was up to us. Most of us headed to the 7th floor, where we played dominoes, Spades, and other card games. To be honest, most of us have become dominoes and Spades champs at this point! We saw of a familiar faces and reunited with people we hadn’t seen since the beginning of the week! 

Then, it was time for lunch! We all munched on an array of sandwiches, chips and cookies! Sadly, none of us were able to get our favorite barbecue chips, but we persevered! During lunch time, we finished hot seat from yesterday, and put Rania, Cathy, Nidhi and Becky in the flaming chair of truth! We got to learn so many amazing and quirky things about everyone, including the fact that Nidhi had a pet beaver growing up! We also took the time to discuss current issues occurring throughout both American society and abroad that we felt strongly about. 

Finally, it was the best hour of the day! It was birthday party time! We split into two main groups, one to help set up the auditorium and the other to gather clients from the floors. We helped cut the cake, set up tables and motivate clients to participate in the activities. One big hit was Karaoke! We all jammed out to some of our favorite classics and danced the afternoon away! Gretchen showed off her awesome dance moves and Maigane showed off her beautiful pipes, serenading all of us with some Aretha Franklin! A few of the clients got really into the singing and it turned into a fun dance party. We also got treated to cake and ice cream, which was delicious and very easy to finish! During this time, we got to talk to some of the clients about their day and shared stories of their lives before coming to TCC. It was amazing to see their faces light up to the music and when they remembered certain memories. 

Afterwards, we helped clean up and take residents back to their rooms. We then headed back to the Church for some renergizing and karaoke (we weren’t finished after the party!) Then, we all got glammed up for our exciting alumni dinner at Nick’s Diner! We made the short trekk over to the restaurant and passed by different parts of old Harlem. 

At the restaurant, we met Allen, Davian, Terry, and Ariel, UMD Alumni who graciously hosted an amazing dinner for us. We munched on yummy fluffy bread, pasta, pizza and other food! We ate to our hearts content and had riveting discussions with the faculty! We asked each other random questions and learned about the best bakeries in NYC! 

Finally, it was time for reflection! We headed back to the Church, snacked on some girl scout cookies and got all snuggly warm - ready for the discussions ahead! During our reflection, we covered the current political climate, our perception of cultures and how bias can affect the way cultures evolve. It was awesome and eye opening. We hope to carry this into our future volunteer experiences! 




Now, it is time for bed, and even though we are full of yummy New York City pizza, girl scout cookies and literal food for thought, we will probably stay up till the wee hours of the morning chirping about various tidbits of our lives. Tomorrow is our last day at TCC and it is so amazing to look at how much we have grown over such a short amount of time. We have all grown so close, not just amongst each other, but with so many wonderful clients of TCC. 

Before we continue with more mushy nostalgia, its an appropriate time for us to sign off! I hope you all get a little chance to smile, treat yourself and laugh at least once today.

Signing off, 

Rania and Nikita 


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