My experience in the “International Visitor Leadership Program”

The International Visitor Leadership Program is administered by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and its Office of International Visitors. The program seeks to build understanding between the United States and people of other countries through carefully designed visits that reflect the visitor’s professional interests and support the foreign policy goals of the U.S. Department State and U.S. embassies abroad. Participants are established or potential foreign leaders in government, politics, media, education, arts, NGOs, business, labour relations, public policy and other key fields. They are selected by American embassy officials in over 120 countries to visit the US to meet and confer with their professional counterparts, and to experience U.S. politics, society and cultural firsthand.

 

Over the years, hundreds of former participants under the International Visitor Leadership Program have risen to important positions in their countries. Among the alumni are over two hundred current and former Heads of Government or Chiefs of State.

 

Some of them are:

· Tony Blair, British Prime Minister

· Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India

· Hamid Karzai, President of Afganistan

· Ricardo Lagos, President of Chile

 

My stay in Washington, D.C.

National Mall

The National Mall (officially the National Mall & Memorial Parks) is an open-area national park in downtown Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. However, the term commonly includes the areas that are officially part of West Potomac Park and Constitution Gardens to the west, and often is taken to refer to the entire area between the Lincoln Memorial and the Capitol, with the Washington Monument providing a division slightly west of the center.

Facing east across the Mall in front of the Lincoln Memorial. The Reflecting Pool, National World War II Memorial, Washington Monument, and United States Capitol are visible in the background.

The US Capitol

The United States Capitol is the capitol building that serves as the seat of government for the United States Congress, the legislative branch of the U.S. federal government. It is located in Washington, D.C., on top of Capitol Hill at the east end of the National Mall. Although not in the geographic center of the District of Columbia, the Capitol is the focus by which the quadrants of the district are divided. Officially, the east and west sides of the Capitol are referred to as “fronts.” Historically, however, the east front was initially the side of the building intended for the arrival of visitors and dignitaries.

The White House

The White House is the oldest public building in the Disctrict of Columbia, and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is the most famous address in the United States. There every President, except George Washington, has conducted the government of the Nation. Since 1792, The White House has become symbolic of the American Presidency throughout the world. While the Capitol represents the freedom and ideals of the Nation, the White House stands for the power and statesmanship of the chief executive.

 

Washington Memorial

The Washington Monument is a large, tall white-colored obelisk at the west end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. It is a United States Presidential Memorial constructed to commemorate George Washington.

 

Lincoln Memorial

The Lincoln Memorial, is located in the National Mall in Washington, D.C. It is a United States Presidential memorial built to honor the 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. The building is in the form of a Greek Doric temple and contains a large seated sculpture of Abraham Lincoln and inscriptions of two well-known speeches by Lincoln. The memorial has been the site of many famous speeches, including Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, delivered on August 28, 1963, during the rally at the end of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Other monuments on the National Mall are the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, and National World War II Memorial.

 

National Air and Space Museum

The National Air and Space Museum (NASM) of the Smithsonian Institution is the most popular of the Smithsonian museums. It maintains the largest collection of aircraft and spacecraft in the world. It is also a vital center for research into the history, science, and technology of aviation and spaceflight, as well as planetary science and terrestrial geology and geophysics. Almost all space and aircraft on display are originals or backup crafts to the originals. The National Air and Space Museum is widely considered one of Washington’s most significant works of modern architecture. Because of the museum site’s close proximity to the United States Capitol, the Smithsonian Institution wanted a building that would be architecturally impressive but would not stand out too boldly against the Capitol Building.

 

U.S. Department of Education

Mission Statement

“The Department of Education’s Mission is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access”.

 

Structure of the U.S. Education

Funding

 

My stay in New York, New York

Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty (Statue de la Liberté), was presented to the United States by the people of France in 1886. It stands at Liberty Island (part of New York but physically on the New Jersey side of the New York Harbor) as a welcome to all visitors, immigrants, and returning Americans.

The statue is of a robed woman holding a lit flame, and is made of a sheeting of pure copper, hung on a framework of steel (originally puddled iron) with the exception of the flame of the torch, which is coated in gold leaf (originally made of stained glass and lit from the inside.)

Worldwide, the Statue of Liberty is one of the most recognizable icons of the United States and, more generally, represents liberty and escape from oppression. The Statue of Liberty was, from 1886 until the jet age, often one of the first glimpses of the United States for millions of immigrants after ocean voyages from Europe.

 

Chinatown

The Chinatown neighborhood of Manhattan is an ethnic enclave with a large population of Chinese immigrants, similar to other Chinatown districts in American cities.

By the 1980s, it had surpassed San Francisco’s Chinatown to become the largest enclave of Chinese immigrants in the Western Hemisphere.

 

 

Central Park

Central Park is a large public, urban park (843 acres, in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. With about twenty-five million visitors annually, Central Park is the most visited city park in The United States.

While much of the park looks natural, it is in fact almost entirely landscaped. It contains several natural-looking lakes and ponds, extensive walking tracks, two ice-skating rinks, the Central Park Zoo, the Central Park Conservatory Garden, a wildlife sanctuary, a large area of natural woods, a reservoir with an encircling running track, and an outdoor amphitheater called the Delecorte Theater which hosts the “Shakespeare in the Park” summer festivals. Indoor attractions include Belvedere Castle with its nature center, the Swedish Cottage Marionette Theatre, and the historic Carousel. In addition there are numerous major and minor grassy areas, some of which are used for informal or team sports, some are set aside as quiet areas, and there are a number of enclosed playgrounds for children.

 

 

View of Manhattan fron the Empire State Building

The Empire State Building is a 102-story art deco skyscraper in New York City, New York at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street.

The Empire State Building has been named by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World.

The Empire State Building remained the tallest skyscraper in the world for 41 years, and stood as the world’s tallest man-made structure for 23 years. It was surpassed by the North Tower of the World Trade Center in 1972. With the destruction of the World Trade Center in the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Empire State Building again became the tallest building in New York City, and the second-tallest building in the United States.

 

Wall Street

Wall Street is a street in lower Manhattan island, New York City, USA. It runs east from Broadway downhill to South Street on the East River, through the historical center of the Financial District. Wall Street was the first permanent home of the New York Stock Exchange, over time Wall Street became the name of the surrounding geographic neighborhood.