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!