Day Five - A Restless Quest for Purpose
Today we had the pleasure of attending Expo 2020 (now 2022) in Dubai. Imagine Disney’s EPCOT, but with a heightened focus on cultural understanding and stunning architectural design. I don’t think any of us knew what to expect but I know we all walked away from the day feeling enriched both culturally and creatively.
Our first stop was the USA pavilion and we were joined by the Minister of Youth, Shamma Al Mazrui. She spoke with a palpable passion for the rising influence of the youth in the UAE and was able to connect with us immediately, I think because we could each see a piece of ourselves in her. She closed her remarks by stating that people have “a restless quest for purpose” – which is the crux of why we’re all here on this trip. Searching for our purpose. After meeting with Her Excellency, we attended private tours of the Women’s Pavilion, Mobility Pavilion, and the Vision Pavilion. We walked through winding paths of virtual reality experiences, interactive technology, and historical and artistic presentations showing the integral part women play in society, the global connections humans have made with one another across time and space, and the vision of the UAE set forth by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. We also had the pleasure of meeting with the Senior Vice President of Political Affairs for the Expo, Maha Al Gargawi. Our conversation surrounded topics such as accessibility for people of determination (a term launched by the UAE as part of a national movement to empower people with disabilities), sustainability, and how Dubai can pass along lessons learned to future hosts of the Expo.
After the tours, we had some free time to roam additional country pavilions – including the UAE Pavilion – and listened to personal stories and experienced immersive films. One of the highlights was the end-of-day reconvention with the youth ambassadors from the USA Pavilion where we got to see Atlanta’s first professional tap dance company, The Tap Rebels, perform live. I never thought I’d see 30+ young foreign policy professionals screaming for tap dancers, but we simply could not get over how incredible they were (and I’m pretty sure now we all want to learn tap from them).
By the end of the day, we had walked over 20,000 steps and couldn’t feel our feet. As we were getting on the bus, I remember asking Emilio, one of the delegates: “How are you? You tired?” And he responded with a huge smile: “Yes, tired. But happy.”
-Becs Rogers
The travel barriers brought on by the ever-evolving COVID landscape has stifled the excitement of those seeking to explore the world and travel to new places. At least that's how I've felt in the past two years -- trips were postponed and I could only rely on daydreams and a hope that sometime I would be able to travel again. But as the world begins to slowly open back up, experiences like the World Expo serve as a much-needed source of exploration and discovery that ignites that internal fire once again and makes me immediately want to drop everything I'm doing and just travel the world.
We've been hearing such valuable insights from the speakers we've met in our sessions and each has brought a unique perspective that has added another layer of value for us as we individually do the mental exercise of placing the young country of UAE within the international order of our minds and really begin to understand its unique differentiation to other nations in the region. We've been connecting with each other in this cohort in ways where lasting friendships are emerging and bonds are being built -- and thanks to the Expo, we got to scratch the itch of cultural exploration alongside our friends as we spent time walking through dozens of country pavilions and meeting our daily step goals by 2-3x.
One of the most impactful things I learned on our Expo day was that the entire area already has a plan to exist beyond the lifecycle of the Expo. The project, named District 2020, will be reusing at least 80% of the established infrastructure for a residential and commercial district designed with sustainability and convenience in mind. We learned that this repurposed smart city will house more than 145,000 people and maintain a layout designed to be explored on foot. We didn't have any urban planners within our delegation but we all understood what a fantastic evolution this is and how meaningful this transformation will be for its future residents, business tenants, and visitors eager to stay in the area.
I knew the Expo was going to be fantastic -- I had been watching video after video of people exploring the Expo and documenting their experiences along the way. But nothing compares to getting to walk those streets for yourself, to see the colors, the bustling activity, the plethora of photo ops, and to feel the excited vibe you got from everyone around you eager to also explore this mini-world for themselves. When we got a chance to spend some free time just exploring on our own, some of us wanted to see as many countries as possible within the time limit, while others spent the majority of time only devoted to a small handful of pavilions. As I walked around with my circle of peers, I was impressed at the intentionality of the design and architecture -- everything from the recurring Expo design finding reprises through the lighting, awnings, and signage -- to the building materials used for these uniquely designed pavilion structures and making the mental connections to the cultures that these buildings were housing and representing.
There's no shortage of visual stimulation no matter where you turn. Some nations focused on displaying tangible objects and representations of cultural artifacts, while others used technology to take audiences on a totally immersive experience, using light, sound, smell, and other sensory magic to really place individuals in a narrative or storyline meaningful to the nation. Cultural diplomacy is my passion -- a platform of communication that engages people through learning, immersion, and relationship building. Seeing countries share the 'soul' of their nation with the Expo audience was inspiring -- 190+ countries sharing their stories in one place, and creating connections with people who might have never had the chance to visit some of these places in their lifetime.
Though my feet needed substantial rest at the end of just one day at the Expo, I wish we had planned out another three days to be able to explore all that the Expo had to offer. I'm left with the memory of walking to our bus and getting to pass through the massive central performance dome that was lit up so brilliantly that we all just stopped in our tracks, looked skyward and just took in the experience, smiles beaming across our faces.
-Izaak Mendoza
