Rockstars

If you ever wondered how cool those people in the MC are and were not even able to grasp how cool it must be to live a whole year of AIESEC at its fullest - well... here is another evidence to showcase the fact HOW cool it is and what special experiences AIESEC in Austria provides its MC-members.

Just pay special attention to the guy in the green pullover from minute 1:32 on (yeah, the one kissing the singer later on).

Ah - and if this is not enough evidence that everybody should and can live a high-quality AIESEC experience in Austria, you can also have a closer look at our efforts to improve the Exchange Experience from minute 2:43 on.

Enjoy!

(Thanks to Sascha Divischek by the way for having become once again an enabler of coolness)

Where is MC?

if you were wondering the other days, where your MC is...what we have been doing...where the hack was Karoline during Future or Julia last week or Amit and Vlad this week...

well, we all had, have and gonna have very exciting times...at diverse destinations and sometimes at our MC office :-) (hehe, which I must admit is really cosy to work at :-)))

So, since I am the one who is blogging lately (about my latest experiences), I decided to do my team 'a favor' and update the country what we have been lately up to...

Let's start with Karoline...who following her passion for Finance went to Poland for a Finance Summit of CEE exactly when we had Future. When I asked Karoline how was the gathering of financers, she answered in a short and meaningful way "cool" and "useful (of course)" :-) the rest of the discussion continued about the CEE b**s :-)
Today we enjoyed schoko-fundue at my place, eating a lot of healthy stuff (fruit) with less healthy melted chocolate (but who cares, it was soooo delicious). Was great to catch up on the latest news, gossips and drink sekt...having a belayed celebration of Karo's B-Day!
Although tutoring me on tax law (I have on Thursday THE exam) was less successful than eating fundue, thanx, dear, for the moral support ;-)

As for Amit - he is in Warsaw now, as a faci at WinCo...(seems like CEE and Poland especially are beloved destinations in our team :-) no wonder...yesterday on the phone I couldn't not hear or not notice very very loud female laughter (of assuming faci pre-meeting :-) thanx dude, for delegating me getting the ogx data I needed at 22:00 from the LCs (whicht was hardly an option), but I am extremely glad you are having good time in Warsaw...looking forward to your stories...(however better for evidence - pictures, videos, etc!!!)

Our Mr. Seller - Vlad is currently at the WENA/CEE ER Meeting (summit, gathering - whatever these international meetings are called in the network...) in Budapest...no news from that corner...what about sending us an update on our MC Blog???? :-) or do the girls at the summit keep you too busy? ;-)

Last but not least, Bene is busy with a decent amount of projects, Solution conference preparation, NK1 and is going to chair a regional conference in Germany this weekend...The conf. has a cute name - Mambo (hope I remembered right) and the description of the conf. was also cute: it's like a Newie conference but for EBs :P
Enjoy the experience and the real 'German style' :-)

As for me...I had time off last week, a break for the first time since IC. I have truly enjoyed the time on my own and with some close friends...Was awesome to have this time, to reflect on the intense past experiences, to enjoy the feeling of the FUTURE success...and simply to rest/sleep/read/do nothing and re-charge my batteries for the upcoming months of the MC term. I am back and it feels great :-) a lot of work ahead, quite some destinations...looking very much forward to all that!!!

Stay tuned for more news and (who knows :-) maybe some surprises from your MC!
and keep on shining and smiling!!!

@ly yours, Julia

NSB LC Graz visit

Hier regiert das LC Graz!!!!!!!!!!!

Definitely!!! :-)

I must say that I am very impressed by LC Graz, who is really really really rocking…

The reason of visiting Graz was the Selling training.

LC Graz has for sure THE nicest office in AIESEC Austria. Its just WOW…

After the training I got a present from the LC with all the typical Styrian food… & then some of us made choco-fondue in the office (as LC Graz is having such a privilege to even have a kitchen next to the office).
Over choco-fondue Becca was getting a bit of insight into the European way of living. I must say that she had very interesting questions. :-)

And then Lizi, Dora, Raluca, Becca and me went out…. It was Beccas first time to visit a club (and what a xp!!!).
First we went to some club with electro music & then moved to another mainstream club. The highlight were of course AIESEC songs, especially “Lets get it started”... So we were partying until about 6 in the morning…

Thanks alot, LC Graz,

for a wonderful weekend!!!!!

AIESEC Linz Local Induction - 4th November

Few days before the Local Induction in Linz , Julia, Linz LC coach, has phoned me up and asked can I visit Linz instead of her and take over her sessions for the Induction (as she was doing all the preparation for the “Future” conference)...
So, I had a nice opportunity to visit Linz and have a NSB meeting with Michael. :-)

The atmosphere at the Induction was very nice… Newies in Linz were highly motivated & they all were even participating in AIESEC dances... :-)

SUPA Linza

After the Induction, I finally had the chance to see the AIESEC Linz office for the first time & do some NSB work.

All in all it was a nice weekend in Linz!

AIESEC Innsbruck LC-visit update

Coaching AIESEC Innsbruck is always fun. See how motivated the LC is after its last recruitment-infoevening!

Can your LC top that committment and motivation?

Answer to an unasked question!

This post was never meant to be a post.

Two months ago I have sent this as an e-mail to all the EB members of AIESEC in Austria as expression of the thoughts that I had after START.

Now, two months later it was send back to me as an answer to a question that I have never asked to one of my best friends.

Thank you for reminding what I stand for!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hi everybody,

In the last weeks so many things happened and so many decisions had to be made.

And for each decisions the same questions came up; questions like why doing that? What will happen? Can we do it? Do we have members? Is it too ambitious? Will we succeed? What if we fail? What? Who? Why? Etc.

For all the questions that were raised, all kind of scenarios we're made: optimistic, pessimistic, realistic and more. All of them being possible and all of them having valid points and we kept on going and going and trying to find new answers.

And every time the same question surfaced. What will make everything move? What will have make things happen?

While trying to answer these questions we asked ourselves some other questions as well:

· What is leadership for AIESEC in Austria?

· Where is AIESEC in Austria going?

· What is our duty as leaders of AIESEC in Austria?

· Are we growing or surviving?

· Are we the captains of a great ship, or the last survivors on a sinking wooden boat?

· What will be our legacy?

We (VPs, LCPs, MC VPs, MCP) are all at the start of our term and we can all choose. Our options are many and here are some of them:

· We do recruitment to patch our membership or develop leaders

· We offer our members tasks to do or we offer them meaningful experiences

· We hope for people to apply for EBs or grow, prepare and inspire our successors

· We are members of a student association or strive for being the leading youth leadership development organization

· We come to the office to do tasks or come to the office to build, manage, lead

· We say that it is not going to work or start make it work

· We survive or revive, grow, shine, succeed

Nobody can make this choices for us, we have to do it ourselves and do it every day.

A friend once told me: In history remain those who fight with the giants. And we have a lot of giants to fight. Where others see problems we have to see another opportunity to fight with giants and win.

I've made my choice. I am going to fight these giants and going to win.

What is your choice? What is your answer?

None of us have to say it loud, because talking will not make things happen; acting, doing, walking the talk will. And we will give an answer every day, by the way we act and the way we are.

And in the end my answer to What will have make things happen? is…

…us, we will."

The Austrian IC roll call

Finally and directly on your favourite MC-blog: The most famous Austrian rollcall (thankfully filmed by our Swiss colleagues).

Enjoy!

This week in the MC office ;)

So the winner quotes of the week in the MC office are...

place nr. 1: Oh My God! :)

place nr. 2: What the F***! :)

The long discussions that we held were about the Ambition in the country, the key measures of success for our term (once again), and X, X, X :-) (at least between me and Amit :)

Nice things that happened: finally we have got new comfortable chairs/whiteboard/flipchart holder and a new table for Amit :)...so guys, soon is the office-warming party!!!! u-la-la :)
it took *just* a few hours for Amit to build up the table :-)
Quote: "That's the most complicated thing I have ever seen!" :-)

I wish like I were in the office now with the guys, but we cannot open the toilet....hahahaha
I sincerely hope for a common sense solution to that issue next week :)))))

Thinking back of the week and everything that happened, I am still smiling cas some situations were really really funny and I'd say then - OMG! (which is so me, as Kaisa correctly pointed out :)

wish you all a nice weekend!

Creativity and the educational system

Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining (and profoundly moving) case for creating an education system that nurtures creativity, rather than undermining it. With ample anecdotes and witty asides, Robinson points out the many ways our schools fail to recognize - much less cultivate - the talents of many brilliant people.

Some Quotes:
"We are educating people out of their creativity"

"Children are not afraid to be wrong. Allow me to say that being wrong is the same as being creative. What we do know is that if you are not prepared to be wrong you will never come up with something original. By the time children become adults they are frightened to be wrong"

"All educational systems came into being to meet the need of industrialism"

"Many highly talented, brilliant highly creative people think they are not. Because they think what they were good at at school wasn't valued or was actually stigmatised. And I think we can't afford to go on that way"

RE: AMBITION

Sitting here in our all new MC office and listening to "Hero of the day" I can only say that....

"I am looking for a lot of men here who have an infinite capacity to not know what can't be done"

Cheers!!
Your MC Team 07/08 - The Heroes

AMBITION

I came across this wonderful quote, which I would like to share with all of you, since today was the day under the tag 'AMBITION'...

''Ambition is an uncomfortable companion many times. He creates a discontent with present surroundings and achievements; he is never satisfied but always pressing forward to better things in the future. Restless, energetic, purposeful, it is ambition that makes of the creature a real man.''
by Lyndon B. Johnson

...I see and feel ambition in some people and some places in AIESEC in Austria, but I am looking forward to have it in EVERYONE and EVERYWHERE. What about you?

"Our actions are driven by passion, commitment and ambition"
Extract from the MC 07-08 Vision Statement

TtT and TM/PD NSB ROCKKKKKK!

These two days have been really exciting for me, especially after having met my dear National Support Team- Martin and Robert and having talked to the TtT delegates :-)

I am truly proud, of you, guys and my Lady, Martina! Great job! Incredible commitment and drive. I am very impressed by the way you worked together, created and delivered a great learning experience for the delegates.

It's awesome to see, feel, hear and read the excitement and joy of everyone who has been involved and present at this TtT!

I couldn't be happier for your SUCCESS! Enjoy it!

I wish you many more great experiences and successes!

Hugs and LOVE,

Julia (a very proud TM :)


P.S. the world should know the HEROES :0!!!

The Power of ONE is the power of TEAM...

My favorite shining faces looking at you...(or not :-)

Enjoy the SUNSHINE!

MC Team Building, July 2007

IC 2007, Turkey (Vlad's B-Day :-)

How is it - MC Life?

Hey all,

feels like a good time for sharing, opening up, letting you know...

The reason: I got many questions from diverse people about how the MC life is...how I 'survive', if I have any free time, why I work on weekends, why I tend to talk about AIESEC like 150% of the time and why is it hard for me to think about other things in life, other ways, other people, other destinations...? Tricky questions, maybe some answers might seem scary…however, there are for sure people who understand what I mean really well.

And the answer is - the life I live now is incomparable to any other experiences before. AIESEC is MY life this year (more than anything else has ever been). I have chosen this life and I think that is one of the best things that has ever happened to me!

SO you still wonder how is it???

It is so intense that sometimes the head (or the brain :) wants to explode, the heart wants to jump out of the chest, the soul is between fire&ice, water&wind most of the time...I find myself thinking tons of thoughts, juggling lots of tasks, reacting in diverse ways and everything at the same time...and every day. It is like being all the time ‘in the eye of the hurricane’...

I think my friend described the MC xp and feelings attached really good: „gibt soviel Energie und Wissen, nimmt gleichzeitig auch wieder Energie und Wissen, man wird gepusht und puscht andere, der Körper hat die ganze Zeit nur Adrenalin im Blut“...

„happy und unsagbar traurig, etwas enttäuscht und sehr sehr zufrieden, mit einem strahlenden Lächeln und Tränen in den Augen“.

Scary, ha? It might seem…on the other hand.

My life is very colorful-full of impressions, energetic, 'always on the move' or on the road or on the phone...meeting after meeting, discussion after discussion, reading, creating, working long hours (like all night through) with the feeling of being tired but not able to stop or to sleep (some call it being passionate about the work you do ;) ...and never stop thinking, reflecting, searching for the truth, for a better solution, for how to drive this positive change and questioning...questioning a lot if what is being done IS THE MEANING or THE PURPOSE and yes…often thinking a few steps ahead.

This tempo and life style is actually kind of a paradise for such active and driven people as I am: the faster and more - the better!

I feel like I learn a lot EVERY DAY!!! Can you imagine what kind of a powerful learning it will be after 365 days? :) (let's see!)

I learn from my team, from my VPs, from the ‘fucked-up’ situations and small successes, from the tasks I have never ever done before, from the things I already know but have a chance to improve (and thus deepen my knowledge). And I learn so much about myself and the people I work with – the incredible bright individuals, who are for sure ‘the gems of a person’ (as one of them says ;), and without whom my MC experience would be far not as cool as it is! Thank you guys&girl, for all the unforgettable moments together, LONG discussions, feedbacks, smiles, hugs, random times, understanding, inspiration, your courage (and finally renovated office :-) – I feel honored to be part of our team!!! And even though the hurricane is blowing hard (like now), luckily I find power to stay still for some moments - take a deep breath, take a close and far-reaching look at myself, at my work, at my life...at what matters and what maybe not.

What matters is that I feel as alive as never, as full of fire as one only can be...I realize that these moments are precious, that this year I will never forget, that this experience will change me for ever and will also leave impact on people who are close to me.

The power of the AIESEC experience for me is in its intensity. It is like standing in the center of a circle and passing on the ball to the people surrounding you, and getting it back but from all possible directions…the speed increases, the number of balls and people as well. And…

it might get scary, overwhelming or breathtaking…maybe even a bit dangerous...

But exactly in this lies the real beauty of the experience, of what we know as self-discovery, transformation, connecting to true self, to the deep roots of cause embedded in heart and soul. This is how it feels. This is what it is. This is why it is incredibly worth living, worth getting up every day, smiling, and when not feeling like smiling saying to yourself: “I am strong and I can make it. I see the meaning for myself, I see the cause… and I stay true to it".

Again and again, AIESEC proves that giving in a lot you get out as much or more. Change is not possible through just SOME efforts or random actions…Putting in whole heart & soul, all thoughts and hard work (till feeling the pain), taking the hard road, striving for 200%, believing that ANYTHING is possible is what leads to real transformation, deep learning and self-discovery…

no short-cuts, nothing superficial, nothing fake or irrelevant …

And that’s been just 2,5 months ;-) and I am looking forward certainly to the rest of the precious months/days/minutes/seconds I will live as an AIESECer creating my own experience and shaping some bits of similar experiences around me.

Thanks to all my friends who are at any time there for me! Thanks for your care and support and believing in me...and standing still with me.

Proud to be. Proud to feel. Proud to care & reveal… (and it even rhymes...hehe)

What about your experience and its intensity?

Are you living to its most?

Day 7

IC Day 8 (2007-08-28) (and 7 and 6 :-)

Yes, I know that I didn’t write lately (and by the way I already apologize for all the mistakes I will make in this text cause I’m not used to the Turkish keyboard) but there’s so much going on that I hardly find time for doing so (not even to sleep :-).

But let’s go back. My last entry was from the 25th of August, therefore I’ll continue with the 26th.

As I partied hard on the 25th, I just came to my room at 07h00 in the morning, waking up my worried roommate. No wonder therefore, that I didn’t manage to get up at 08h00, as I planned. I missed breakfast (what a pity), I missed the morning plenary (well that was no pity :-) and just arrived late for the Microsoft Partnership Launch session. As they closed the door to keep the latecomers outside, I decided to go to the HP Café to check my emails and then went back to the dormitories to have another hour of sleep. So they didn’t really hurt me with not letting me in but helped me catch up with some sleep :-)


The 26th was our History and / or Alumni day. Coming back to the session at 12h00 I had a very interesting session with some alumni from 1960 – 1979. Among others, Martin Bean, ex PAI and now Senior Vice President Education of Microsoft. Wow, they were really cool. Hearing how AIESEC came into existence in the UK, went on to the US and then expanded to all of South America was amazing. Just imagine a world without all of our digital devices. Imagine how they were “printing” letters that they sent to companies. Incredible. No mobile phones, no Internet. However, they managed to communicate. In the session about 1989 – 1999 there were some other great guys telling about the problems AIESEC had because of being in South Africa. As the South African apartheid regime was isolated, AIESEC faced problems because African countries wanted to close down AIESEC as it was still in South Africa. AIESEC stayed hard, explained their mission well and managed not to be closed down in African countries even though they stayed in South Africa.

It’s amazing to see how history always comes back. Right now, AIESEC faces the same problem. As it wants to expand to Israel, many countries in the Middle East region put pressure on AIESEC and threat it with being closed down in these countries. We’ll see if AIESEC manages such a situation another time.

After a discussion round with 2 ex PAI and 1 director of a growth network of the years between 2000 and 2006, the history / alumni day closed with the Engagement and Leadership awards as well with the Alumni Engagement awards.Finally, in big ceremony seven alumni became members of the alumni hall of fame.

Day 7

Day 7 had a focus on Learning Networks. First I thought it might be just a boring day but in the end … wow, I must admit I really learned something and specially: I got some good ideas out of it. I had some nice input about things that could as well be done in Innsbruck.

I was in the Learning Network track about Information and Communication Technology. Finding out that there’s a large need for interns with a technical background in the major IT companies all over the world (namely Microsoft, HP, Alcatel-Lucent etc) showed me that our idea of recruiting technical students this year in Innsbruck was a quite clever idea :-)

But the most amazing moment of the day was the big wrap up session in the evening when all the people met in the big aula and all the facilitators gave a summary of their sessions. I felt really touched when a young guest speaker, about my age, stood up, declaring that since 5 years he is HIV positive. The insight into his live, not so much being afraid of dying but being afraid of becoming lonely was incredible. Explaining that he can’t get a live insurance in the US because of his being positive and that he can’t talk about his illness, not even to his family (!!) made me understand him better. His message was that it can happen to everyone, no matter if you are well informed about it or not. Being drunk one time, he explained how he didn’t care anymore about the warnings and that HIV can live in the same house, just the next door.

Benjamin

Infamously famous Roll Call

no commet.
enjoy, the best roll call of IC 2007.


http://viennaeba.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=11673545220&auth_token=4e61513dafd5fe4e335297081e196e7d&installed=1


martina

Positive impact?

There were two highlights of today:

1. I finnaly managed to meet Paul! MCP of Uganda, and exLCP of Makerere, the LC Vienna is cooperating regarding Global Development. It was wonderfull after 1,5 years of virtual, phone, chat communication to meet again personally.

2. "Cadburry Schweppes is proud to sponsor as a gift in the name of AIESEC the building of a well in GHANA in 2008" very emotional, powerfull moment, as they announced it during an evening session.

martina

International Congress officially started

Yesterday the pre meetings have ended. The Austrian delegation had a country meeting with India at dinner.Today the official start came.

You enter the big plenary for the first time… you are being slowly pushed in with the crowd, already inside people shouting the different growth networks shouts… it is hard to describe, but I am sure there will be soon videos on you tube.In the opening plenary we went through the roll calls of all present countries, you must imagine that means almost 100 countries presenting itself in 1 minute… 2 hours only roll calls… and in that big crowd, guess what. Guess who had the best roll call in the last 2 years of ICs? You guessed it right. Austria. And it was not “Once an Austrian…” roll call ;-D Presentations upon request available…

Some emotional moments occurred, especially when official extensions presented themselves, like Qatar, Bahrain, Rwanda, Kazakhstan… How proud people were to be for the first time present at IC as official member, with full membership status.

After that we went by bus to the European part of Istanbul for global village, which we had together with You Can delegates.I do not know if you have ever been to Istanbul, but to “walk” through that city, which I would almost call a small state, you will need weeks.

I must admit, I do not know what was the last time I have put so much strange stuff into my mouth like I did today. Not knowing what to expect. Things that looked like candy, in the end I figured out were lakritze with salt. SALT! Then candy, on the outside full with crystal sugar, were spicy. SPICY! And I could go on like that.. Eating fish from Iceland, right next to swiss chocolate, and some sweet “caramel like stuff” from Ecuador.You could see African people running around with german flags on their cheeks, or having their hair sprayed by Belgian in the Belgian colours of their national flag.

Many speeches were said and heard today. ”One for all, all for the Future”, is the main slogan for IC 2007. Words you got do hear today way too often. I hope we can cope with that for the next 10 days. We already started using the time here for intense discussions, pushing things forward, outside of the agenda, using our free time to discuss topics that need improvement, things we are stuck in, and look for a different perspective.You walk through the halls and see people sitting outside the cafeteria, on the floor, working. Running delegates from one meeting with an country, or MC to another, for sharing knowledge. Everyday we are setting up meetings and soaking up new thoughts. This is the one time in a year where you get the chance to compare, improve, have a “wow” moment, but most of all work, instead of only talking, doing instead of sitting there and absorbing input.

Martina

Ps. I love this one: AP, hot to go, H O T TO GO! A uh hot to go! A uh hot to go!

Second day of Pre meetings

Second day of pre meetings is slowly coming to an end. It is interesting to see how different the Growth Networks behave.You have CEE, with their typical shouts, going crazy, having a bit “hard core” punishments, roll calls…Then there is Africa GN, very proud of where they come from, showing their roll calls with all their passion…Spanish Speaking Growth Network (SSGN) loud as can be…WENA (western Europe, north America) rather conservative, you could almost say a bit cold, where everything is taken rather seriously.And then there is AP… well AP (Asia Pacific) I swear, they could be going for one hour morning plenary doing only roll calls, shouts, dances… Like today, we are half way through our first session after morning plenary and they are shouting…Then you hear something bouncing… then shouting.. clapping hands… 15 minutes more or less quiet…And then it starts again, it seems like at every, whatsoever little, occasion they find an excuse to shout. And you can feel it! You feel that they are connected to each other, to the conference, to the spirit…

The Austrian delegation has split into two GNs, as we are present in CEE and WENA.Until now it seems like we have become more part of CEE than WENA, as the described conservative mood, is something rather new to us, being used to people saying things randomly now and then, demanding chair roll calls.. waiting time on stuff like this, WENA is a rather concentrated group, punctual, focused. For a change it is interesting to see that there are differences in working styles, although we almost forgot that.


Martina


Ps> Spirit, yeah , yeah we got spirit… yeah yeah we got what, what , what , what what, what what, what, what… spirit!!!

Yeditepe

Yeditepe
14 days
3 day pre meeting
800 delegates
98 countries
1 campus
2 separate dorms for girls and boys
1 swimming pool
35C degrees outside
No coffee….

We have arrived14: 15, Airport of Ataturk, Istanbul. That’s where it all started, I met Martin, who is currently on MC Southern Cone, after he run three times past me…After 2 hours waiting a yellow shuttle bus of the Yeditepe University came to pick us up and drive to the Campus, where IC takes place.We had to drive over a bridge where we entered the Asian part of Istanbul. My first shock came after we got off the bus. A beautiful square and in the middle of the square lying like dead, were 6 dogs. First I thought they are dead… then I suddenly realized that there are another 8 lying on the grass…


Yeditepe University is a private university with an amazing campus. Currently we are in the asia part of Istanbul, but for the Global Village we will travel to the European part, where we will have the Global Village together with the You Can delegates.

As the campus slowly got more crowded on Friday with all the delegates arriving, every time a new bus arrived you could hear loud cheers of people seeing each other after few months, even years. I am still waiting for my big meeting, with Paul, who was LCP when I met him at AfroExpro last year, and is currently MCP of AIESEC Uganda.So stay tuned for more news, as we are only starting….

Martina


Ps. One of the WENA Shouts…When I say WE you say NA! WE NA WE NAWhen I say Number you say ONE! Number ! One! Number OneWENA NUMBER 1! WENA NUMBER 1!

MC Boys in IBK

So this is the start of one of the most amusing, entertaining and relaxing time the MC (boys) had in the last weeks!

Disclaimer 1: The entry is completely from my perspective and how I saw these 2 days in IBK! ;)

The story starts long back from my MC elections time, when I applied for MC in Austria. I am sure LCPs remember that I sent an email to all the LCPs asking some questions about LC realities (ofcourse to impress them ;)). And the only people who replied were Niki and Sonja. (ahh I was so angry at tht time..tht the others did not...grrr). and ofcourse due to good email signatures of Sonja I could get her msn id, which was good enough to start some virtual talks about Austria (ofcourse, again to impress LCPs ;)...hhahaha! ) So officially, Sonja was one of the first person I got to know well in AIESEC Austria.

Now where does that lead to?.....This leads to official invitation to come to IBK for a weekend when I arrived in Austria!! Yippeeee!! So coool...aaa?? ;). Now, I am this super-excited guy who is all set to go to IBK for a weekend to party and see the snow and skiing and rafting and do every sport of my life there (This came from my day dreams and information I had about Innsbruk ;) ).

And ofcourse this excitement is difficult to hide in front of other people. So when in 2 days we were going to MC planning, I am talking to Vlad "Damn Man, this so cooool....I am going to IBK...it will be so muchh fun"
Vlad (with weird look on his face) "Ahh..very good! I should come with u as well"
Me "Umm...ohhh yesss...tht will be even fun" :)

I was not expecting him to be so direct and quick in asking!! That is against the picture I have of Europeans!! ;).but I guess he is CEE!! hehe

So Vlad is onboard!

Ofcourse the excitement was double now and Bene was soon informed about it. So Bene after trying unsuccessfully many times for AI transition party asked me "Amit what do u think, if all three of us go to IBK? Won't it be fun? haa?? say say? "
Me "Yoooo mannnn tht will be sooo muchh fun" :)

(This time I was excited somehow J )

Before Bene gets onboard, I had this question at the back of my mind "Sonja invited me and I am inviting Vlad and then inviting Bene..hmn...does not look tht nice...ahh bt shud be fine" :) So after some emails and confirmation from Sonja...

Bene was onboard :)

Apparently, next day when Julia heard the news..."Amit, why not the whole MC goes and rock the floor in IBK??"
Me (thinking) "Oops...hmn...ye why not...I hope we have enough space on the floor in Sonja's room ;)…hehe"
So, this time it seemed pretty impossible to board more people on our trip to IBK (after talking to Sonja) :(...Sry girls!!...hehe

SOooooo...Here is the band "MC BOYS" on the train to IBK!!!

Wait a min...So the train & Vlad were on time and somehow Bene too (weird)...but I missed it by 30 secs! :( ...The most ironic thing was I though bene and Vlad will miss the train for me...but these mean guys!!! blahh

Then I took this next train after 2 hours and reached to IBK. Surprisingly to make up their fault, Bene and Vlad were there to receive me (atleast) ;)...tht was sweet!! hehe

After all this mess, we were sitting in this cool garden outside Sonja's dorm and preparing for the Barbeque!! Voila...my first BBQ infact! (In India BBQ does not exist!! ;))..Bene was the griller (Infact we named him..BENE GRILLER )...(I hope Niki its fine to have a brother ;)) and Vlad was the cleaner (he loves cleaning dishes..hehe)...VLAD THE CLEANER! and me? I don't remember if I did anything significant other than breaking the 6 bottles of Beer in one GO!!!!!!! Wow...was so astonishing… the sound! ;)...almost everybody came in the kitchen to look at my embarrassed face and ofcourse to laugh!!..so guess wat was I doing for next 2 hours?? Cleaning the house!! So basically, AMIT WAS CLEANING THE HOUSE!

It was really interesting and ofcourse annoying to use all these European tools to clean the floor!!...hehe! ;) Cleaning is not my favourite past time!! :(..


After the cleaning and BBQ (food, AIESEC Taiwan roll call and MC roll call), the next was rafting!!! Again, first time in my life..infact Vlad too..and I guess Bene too? Eh?

Before we begin Rafting..another mess...I forgot my swimming pants..ahh..how can I do that??--infact I did not know that I have to bring them! ;)...bt no worries there is always a solution...tho weird at time. Klarissa offered me these HOT JAZZ girls pants ...and truly..they were not tht bad!! hahah ;)

Before rafting, we tried some swings and volley ball. Mind you guys, me and vlad can beat any one with our special Indian and Romanian ways of playing volleyball!!! ahaha


So we get into all these cool suits for rafting ...feels like fish!! and all set for the first ever rafting experience ...


Rafting was amazingly awesome...all those attempts of me, bene and vlad to conquer other boats (to take people from other boat out in the water) were miserably failed! And everytime we tried it..not them..but three of us were in the water!!! It did not happen once?..bt damn 3 times!! (tho in 3rd one I learned we cant do it..so I did not try..and result..this time bene and vlad were in water and not me ;)..hahah ). I made this up by falling in the water..when our boat hit a rock..and I falled off the boat after 5 seconds of the hitting (was very late reaction somehow)…which bene still makes fun of!! :(

So, then rafting came to the end after 3 hours of exercise in the water and some failed conquering efforts. We came back home, where the expert cook Sonja showed her greattt cooking skill and impressed MC Boys..haa?..whats the motive? ;)

But in the end, thanks a lot to Sonja and IBK for being the best hosts ever!! We loved this experience and cherish it as a great memory!!

Cheers

Amit

Introduction - Benedikt

I am...
for now just Bene.

In many mythologies and old tales the name of a person or an entity carries so much of its essence that it even can grant power over its bearer. So far in different groups I was given or gave myself the names Ben, Beni, Benny, Benedikt, Benoit but also more out of the box names like Saint Peter, Messiah, Mr. G , Shadow Prophet, Idol, KoG, Blatzl, Joker, Emperor, Hermes, Soziomorph.

For now I’m just Bene.

23 years old, born and grown up in a small and quite boring town called “Burglengenfeld” located in the outback of Bavaria in Germany. Blue eyes, blondish hair, a bit smaller than the average and a lot of ideas and energy to spread out and share - though they do not always fit into the agendas of absolute determination.

I love to explore new things and quickly adapt to new situations and environments. I believe that everything in life contains at least a bit of a deeper truth and that every perspective can bring me nearer to the core of it. I know that serious issues needs a bit playfullness and games need seriousness.

People describe me as...
Crazy, philosophical, out-of-the-box, tenacious, diverse, versatile, extreme, creative, sociable, visionary, energetic, surprising

I value...
Meaning, independence, freedom, energy, openness, faith, crazyness, determination, the new, friends, challenges, freaks, playfulness, mysteries, technology, adventures, justice, love, ...

My goals...
are for this term to challenge and inspire people and touch something deeper in them, because I believe without this a deep personal development will not sustain a less safe environment. And of course I want to do my best to have an awesome team-experience.

In a longer perspective I want to make a change in the world. Not next to my work, but as my work. I have some ideas and established a small basis, but I’m still in search of my true calling. You’ll never know how I’ll end up.

My birthday...
Is on the 30th of January (this is the age of Aquarius)

My favourite food...
Different from my childhood I developed a taste for more than just 4 different meals, so basically you can serve me anything – however my favourite meals are goose roast, duck roast and traditional Bavarian pig roast with Knödel.

My hobbies are...
Exploring new ideas; searching, finding and applying information & knowledge (however I don’t like compiling it), developing satires, observing, reading, expressing ideas (writing, music, theater, photography), trying out new things, ...

If I was a movie character, I would be...
Lassie - nobody understands him, but everbody follows his lead

Latest favourite quote...

"All combat takes place at night, in the rain and at the junction of four map segments"

" What ought one to say then as each hardship comes? I was practicing for this, I was training for this."

Karolines first blog entry

How I came to writing on this Blog… Just one and a half years ago, when I was a young recruit of AIESEC in Graz, I was offered the possibility of taking the financial destiny of the Local Committee into my hands, and I took it, with great hopes that I would finally have enough money to head for the Dutch Antilles, but as you see… I’m still here… and therefore I think it’s time that I tell you a little bit about myself…



who am I: Karoline 22, the laziest girl in the world, who will work her ass off if she finds something that is worth it.

how am I: maybe I’m like a potted plant, you can put me wherever you want, if you give me water and a few nice words, I will grow and give my best to make this place a better and nicer one and I’m easy to move from one place to another… I am foldable, flappable but sometimes a little bit bulky due to my long legs…

what are my goals: my goal is definitely the road, because every moment should be worth celebrating, not only the one when you’re looking back at what you’ve done… (and I want four children)

my favourite food is: the dessert after a four-course-meal what

I wear at night: depending on the season… everything from underwear to woollen socks and a scarf… who would I be

if I was a movie character: some people say Allie McBeal, some say Panic… one of the little devils in Disney’s Hercules…

Vlad is on-line, finnaly :)

Dear reader of this blog,

It took me a while to get to write my first post but here it is. As it says in the Subject I finally did it. I say finally because this is my first post on a blog for over an year now, so I could say that it is a new experience for me as well.

I will return from this blog from time to time to put my thoughts and experiences from the MC term on-line for you to see it and for me to remember it.

First is first, so let's start with a short get to know each other.



I am...

I am Vlad Isac. I was born in Baia Mare, Romania (a small city near the border with Hungary). I lived in Baia Mare for 18 years and afterwards I moved to Bucharest for my studies. After 3 years in Bucharest, I decided that a change is needed, so here I am in Vienna. (the process was somehow more complex, but anyway...the result is the same :)).

Whenever somebody asks me who I am I start thinking of how others see me as friend, acquittance, colleague, or simply John Doe. (interesting trait of humanity to be able to define itself in relationship with other individuals and communities). Therefore I would say that I am a pragmatic - down to earth person, determined, ambitious and funny in his own way. I have many passions which I usually follow and I do not get scared by obstacles.

What I treasure...

...I treasure friends and friendships, I treasure reason, I treasure good common sense, I treasure meaning, I treasure honesty, I treasure success, I treasure natural light, I treasure...

My goals...

...On long term I want to have my own global business and through my actions to have a global impact.

...On short term I want to have an enjoyable and successful term in AIESEC Austria, I want to learn a little bit of German and learn Financial Markets.

Favorite food...

I love European food, but if it's free I do not refuse any kind of food. :)

Hobbies...

Long meaningful discussions with my friends, coffee, reading history and politics, playing pool and...

A movie/cartoon character...

If I was not upon this stage, I guess I'd rather be...; if i was not upon this stage...Bat Man...I would be. And you would hear me all day long singing out my song :).

Of course now comes the question why. Because I like how he works, he is fighting for good to prevail, he does not have special powers, rather a high motivation and determination to help humanity. He is the proof that any of us can be a hero.

Favorite book...

Atlas Shrugged - by Ayn Rand

My only recommendation - read it!

Latest favorite quote

Common sense makes sense! (Vlad Isac :))

This would be it for the moment. See you soon!

Julia's first post

Good evening, dear all!

I AM finally blogging and still cannot believe it! After numerous reminders and discussions, I follow the spirit of my team-mates, who do like blogging and consider it a good entertainment etc. :)

I'm for sure curious how the blogging XP in MC blog will be for me, but I am much more curious and excited about the real MC experience…So far, so good – intense, colorful, exciting, full of laughter…and randomness, many hours of work, less hours of sleep, full of joy!
The journey has started…

And it is a good time for continuing getting to know each other…

So who am I ?

An unusual Ukrainan girl, born in the city of Vinnitsa (known practically to noone as I discovered...;)), who has lived in many places, had diverse experiences...someone who has never stopped going ahead, even if the road was rocky...always curious what is lying behind the next big mountain.
This is how I landed in Austria :)

One would recognize me hearing my loud laughter, lots of talking or some sarcasitic comments. One would also distinguish me because of my smile, thoughtful grey-green eyes, blond hair and...femininity...:) and for sure my last name, which is hard to remember and forget – Slobodyanyuk (a typical Ukrainian surname). I dont know how many different interpretations of it I’ve heard during the 7 years I live abroad, but very often I had to smile a lot and say „You can simply call me Julia!“

What I treasure...
My family and close friends, success, love, development…and knowing that I am doing something, what matters...

My goals…
For now a mind-blowing, incredible and sustainable MC term and an unforgettable team experience :)
For later a successful career in international context, ultimately my own business, travelling all around the world and a happy family at some point of time!

My favorite food…
Sushi, fish, salads, fruit, russian pelmeni, ukrainian food and drinks, Austrian pastry and Swiss chocolate!

Hobbies…
Travelling, psychology, long coffee talks with friends, dancing, playing piano when I am at home…lately packing/unpacking and cleaning…haha


A movie character I would have loved to be…
Scarlett O'Hara from "Gone with the wind"...I love the fire inside of her, her passion, determination, strong character, wit, her beauty and magic appeal...
and yes-would be cool to be spoiled by someone like Rett Batler from time to time :)

Latest favorite quote...

"Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them" (David Hume)

MC Introduction - Amit

Whooo rocksss the Houssseee!!

Well !! MC does ;)

hehe


Guys here is my small introduction for you all! I have tried to put here some random things, but if you have more random things then just ask me anytime, anywhere... ;)




Me: My name is Amit Kumar Agarwal. Born on 19th August, I am 22 years, has lived in India since born!! Graduated in Computer Engineering and got into AIESEC in the year 2004.

Status: Single! AN sent to many have been rejected :( ..looking for more forms now ;-)


My traits: LEO ;-)

Enthusiastic, Ambitious, loves working with people, can't live without friends!!

Lazy, Bossy, intolerant, emotional.



My philosophy of Life: Live for Today, Plan for Tomorrow, Party toniteee!!


Goals in Life: Build my own entrepreneurial venture!! ..any partners out there??? ;-)

To help people grow and realize their potentials.

Favorite movies: Eurotrip, American Pies, Memento, Fight Club.


Hobbies: Playing squash, Cards and randomizing ;)


Favourite Quote: Well done is better than Well said...anytime! :)

- Amit

A new season

The unfolding of the year
for now this season is near
all the balances are clear
now that our time is here
in our perfect present tense
through our wildrose-tinted lens
when the words have all been said -
will we still have learned it?

How quickly did time fly by...?
Another year has passed.

Was it a year of sorrow? Was it a year of love?
Was it a year of anxiety? Was it a year of courage?
Was it a year of challenge? Was it a year of settlement?

Vivid memories...
How often did we wake up looking at a different ceiling than the one of the place we call our home?
How often did we realize it's worth to keep on going? How often forget?
How often did we sit with friends and laugh about ourselves making fun of each other?
How many sunsets and sunrises did we watch with peace and content in our heart?
How often did we think "I can't do it!" and said "I will do it!"?
How often did we fail and hide our grim face from the others as we weeped away a silent tear? How often did we think we could take on the whole world at a day of success?
It has passed by.


Another chapter has closed.
A new chapter is to write.

This is the beginning of our term.
In this beginning lies discovery. The first signs of contingent change.
AIESEC is about discovering and developing our potential to change something - in our life, in the life of somebody else, in the lives of many others.
This is why we are here.
This is why I am here.
And this is, what we will never forget throughout our term.
Seasons will change. Old lives may be undone and left behind. Strange faces be made familiar. New friendships be crafted. And we will stay true to what brought us to this moment.
This is, what we will stand for.

I am confident it will be an intense year, no matter what will happen.
Wherever you are, whoever you are, whatever you are - this journey shall be shared with all of you.
I invite you to accompany us on our way to experience the change of seasons together.

IPM - update

Short update about what happened so far during IPM:

- in the WENA-premeeting we discussed about the structure of our GN-board (do we want a fulltime ER-responsible, which we would have to fund somehow?) and if and how we want to expand our WENA-initiatives (e.g. EUnity, a fund for EU-related projects) and what we expect from the GN-board for the next year (strong coaching and enabling, not much top-down, mucdh bottom-up, LC-empowerment)

- PAI & Director election/Vote of Confidence

- IS longterm-plan: very cool! If “aiesec.skynet” (as I for myself named the planned future aiesec.net) really will look like they are planning it right now, AIESEC will evolve to an incredibly innovative organisational level! The system that will be launched at International Congress in 2008, will however be more like a core system than the finished “skynet”. Let’s see, how this will work out with the sustainability. I spoke with Hinnerk, if we could apply for the test-phase. Would be for sure a very interesting opportunity to implement the future of AIESEC already a bit earlier (and attract IS-people at the recruitment)

- MCP elect -development: up to now some reflections, some discussions (some very interesting ideas popped up about leading a MC team) and an incredibly intense Simulation called “Samurai Game”

(MCP elect for the term 2007-2008)

- Very cool session about the history of AIESEC in which we analysed the AI-plans of the last 15 years

- We had reports from the Supervisory Group and the internal auditors

- We created drafts for the international focus areas (don’t ask, what methodology we used for that – there’s again a new one ;-)

The new President of AIESEC International

These four extraordinary persons, all already taking leadership positions in AIESEC International, decided to contribute to our amazing organization for one more year and took decision of their lives to run for PAI 2007-2008:

Gabriela Albescu - AIESEC International Vice President People Development
Jarda Dokoupil - AIESEC International Director of Central & East Europe Growth Network
Edyson Dos Santos - President of AIESEC International
Ryan Sheppard- AIESEC International Director of Asia Pacific Growth Network

You can access their speeches here (I hope you can get at least a glimpse of the incredible intense atmosphere of these moments):
http://live.myaiesec.net/videos

THE NEW PRESIDENT OF AIESEC INTERNATIONAL IS:

GABITZA

What a great feeling to witness such a moment!!!

International Presidents Meeting 2007 - Introduction

What is IPM?

IPM is the conference were all current and elected MCPs plus all members of the AIESEC International Leadership-Team gather to

- build AIESECs international spirit

- support the MCPs in their personal development

- elect the new President of AIESEC International and the rest of the international leadership team

- and to decide on global strategies and initiatives that will be carried out in our almost 100 member-countries and extensions.

Where is IPM?

IPM is taking place near Kairo at the Palmera Beach Ressort (awesome!).

The regional pre-meetings took place at the technical university of Kairo.

Agenda

Day 1+2 (or actually Day -2 and -1 as the actual IPM starts later) - PREMEETINGS
- Growth Network Pre-meetings (“growth networks” (GNs) are the regions AIESEC is divided into, Austria is – as an exception due to our historical and geographical state – both in the GN Western Europe and Northern America (WENA) and in the GN Central Eastern Europe(CEE))

Day 3 - INTRO
- opening of IPM
- big global village at the national opera of Egypt

Day 4 – PAI part 1
- Introduction to Agenda and Concept
- President of AIESEC International (PAI) candidate speeches and discussion round with the applicants

Day 5 – DIRECTORS + PAI part 2
- Director applicants speeches (Directors are the leaders of the separate Growth Networks)
- Director applicants Question and Answer session
- PAI candidates Q&A
- Voting for PAI and Annoucment of results
- Vote of confidence (they are not elected directly but only elected into a pool out of which a selection panel and the PAI choose the final directors) for director candidates

Day 6 – SKILLS
- how to become a sucessful MCP and How to host a successful team for elected MCPs, “Using my potential for the future” sessions for MCP current

Day 7 – SKILLS part 2
- personal development (“Samurai game” – whatever that is...)

Day 8 – 11 – Global direction & legislation
- discussions about and development of global strategies, initiatives, concepts
- legislating these things

Day 12 & 13
- GN-meetings

Day 14
- hopefully getting to the pyramid and riding a camel