Last week I participated in the Maryland Library Leadership Institute held at the Riverfront Conference Center on the Donaldson Brown Estate in Port Deposit, Maryland.
I was unsure of what the whole week would be like- there wasn’t too much communication beforehand about what to expect and every time I asked a previous participant about it, I always got the same comment, “the food is fantastic.” I had to figure that there was more to it than the food because who’d be willing to pay to put me up in a place like the Donaldson Brown estate for a whole week and just feed me?
Well, the week is over and I can say that the food was indeed amazing- and no matter what time of day, never far away. They were even kind enough to dig up some whole fruit when we commented on the glaring oversight… and more than happy to let me forage through the fridge at 11pm for another slice of pumpkin pie (one of my weaknesses).
Beyond the quality and quantity of the food though, this week was a profound experience for me- the bulk of which hasn’t even totally solidified in my head yet.
I learned about myself, how I interact with others, and a path on which to figure out where I want to be in terms of leadership. I plan to take this week to take care of myself and give myself the space and time to mull all this over before diving back in to things full force.
I will post on a few of my personal learnings, but will remain mostly amorphous (like those previous participants who only ever told me about the food) on the whole thing as to make sure future participants can get what they need out of this experience, not what people told them to get. :-)
In the meantime, check out the Flickr pool created for the Oct MLLI.