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November 29, 2005
Director Visits Continue
Hello all,
Just wanted to give an update of my movements… As with all the other directors I have been on the move through the Growth Networks. Last week I was in Spain & in Portugal with the MC and LCPs there where we had a really productive time.
Probably the coolest part was explaining to the Portuguese BoA what AIESEC 2010 was about and then hearing their CEO of BP Portugal tell us what he personally connected to the most in the statement… After that they committed to driving the MC towards the statement for the next 5 years as part of their role… Really cool.
Anyways, am slowly making my way home. Caught the train from Lisbon overnight to Paris and now I am here with the MC working on the Country Development Model with them.
Am set to return on Friday night for a wonderful ‘Sint Nicolaus’ on the weekend with my family. Should be good. Although, looking at the picture of Tom with the garbage bag on him makes me want to re-think coming back to the Netherlands… Should I come home?!?!?!
Taco.
Just wanted to give an update of my movements… As with all the other directors I have been on the move through the Growth Networks. Last week I was in Spain & in Portugal with the MC and LCPs there where we had a really productive time.
Probably the coolest part was explaining to the Portuguese BoA what AIESEC 2010 was about and then hearing their CEO of BP Portugal tell us what he personally connected to the most in the statement… After that they committed to driving the MC towards the statement for the next 5 years as part of their role… Really cool.
Anyways, am slowly making my way home. Caught the train from Lisbon overnight to Paris and now I am here with the MC working on the Country Development Model with them.
Am set to return on Friday night for a wonderful ‘Sint Nicolaus’ on the weekend with my family. Should be good. Although, looking at the picture of Tom with the garbage bag on him makes me want to re-think coming back to the Netherlands… Should I come home?!?!?!
Taco.
Posted by Taco_Bosman at 17:41 | 0 comments
November 25, 2005
Weather stories, continued
Tom left to fight his way back home (it doesn't matter that it's just 4 minutes walk)
Weather in Rotterdam is "a little bit" scarry
Weather in Rotterdam is "a little bit" scarry
Posted by Romas Mažeika at 17:50 | 0 comments
Theres a storm a-coming.....
Freaky weather has hit Rotterdam in a big way, and Australian-Egyptians like me are freaking out. I don't know how to deal with this crazy weather - places are not meant to be this cold, humans are meant to bask in sunlight, not shudder in the cold.....
I say its time to relocate the AI office to Jeddah or Adelaide....
I say its time to relocate the AI office to Jeddah or Adelaide....
Posted by Tom Gara at 17:26 | 0 comments
We've been busy with..
WENA ER and IS Strategy meetings
Meeting with AI Supervisory Group
And there is Steering Team coming soon too.
UPDATE: SG output is already release on Global MCPs community, IS Strategy Meeting output will be available in couple weeks
Meeting with AI Supervisory Group
And there is Steering Team coming soon too.
UPDATE: SG output is already release on Global MCPs community, IS Strategy Meeting output will be available in couple weeks
Posted by Romas Mažeika at 10:55 | 0 comments
November 18, 2005
Happy Birthday to Vero and Mike!
THE STARS OF THIS WEEK!
Posted by Cliff, Yang Li at 23:35 | 0 comments
Closing the World Summit
Well, it is almost over now. I have just got back from the Youth Caucus closing event - really awesome to see the energy and committment of some really great young people here at the conference. I felt like one of the "old people" there, because there was some amazingly successful and visionary people there many years younger than me. Makes you realise how much of a powerful force the energy and optimism of youth can be.
Not I am sitting in the main plenary, with President Bin Ali of Tunisia giving his closing speech of the conerence. Lives notes as they come:
He is quoting over 30,000 delegates. Wow, that sure is a lot, and it felt like it at times (especially when trying to use the bathrooms or pay phones)
"This is a major step for humanity.....trying to create a fairer world where all peoples will have access to knowledge and be able to make good use of it...."
"The Tunis Committment represents the strong political will of nations to break down the digital divide....."
And so it ends. Summit closed, and I'm going to go and sleep for a few million years.....
Not I am sitting in the main plenary, with President Bin Ali of Tunisia giving his closing speech of the conerence. Lives notes as they come:
He is quoting over 30,000 delegates. Wow, that sure is a lot, and it felt like it at times (especially when trying to use the bathrooms or pay phones)
"This is a major step for humanity.....trying to create a fairer world where all peoples will have access to knowledge and be able to make good use of it...."
"The Tunis Committment represents the strong political will of nations to break down the digital divide....."
And so it ends. Summit closed, and I'm going to go and sleep for a few million years.....
Posted by Tom Gara at 18:42 | 0 comments
I want one, so, so badly....
I just went to the launch of the famous MIT Media Lab "100 Dollar Laptop". Just wonderful.
I want one more than you can imagine. Even though it is designed and developed for the worlds poorest children, it has some features that are wonderful, regardless of economic status.
First, you charge the battery of the thing by winding up the bright yellow crank handle on the side. 10 minutes of winding up gets you 1 hour of battery. Anyone who has experienced a flat laptop battery with no option for charging - on trains and planes, in cafes and parks, wherever you were that day when you forgot to bring your charger....You all will understand just how awesome being able to hand charge the laptop would be.
Second, it uses flash memory for a hard drive, rather than the typical magnetic storage disk. This means that the thing loads up instantly, rather than slowly booting up. It also makes the computer ridiculously light - it feels like it is just a plastic case with nothing inside.
Third, it is "ruggedised" on the outside, designed to be totally unbreakable and waterproof. You can throw this thing in a river and then run over it with a speedboat and your game of Solitaire would still be going when you fished it out and dried it off. For someone like me who slowly destroys everything he owns through accidental dropping, knocking over, saturating or sitting on, this is a gift from above.
Finally, it is bright green, with a bright yellow crabk handle. Finally, someone makes a colourful laptop! Seriously, why is electronic stuff always grey, white or black? I want a pretty laptop, and this thing delivers.
I seriously would have bought one of these things right there and then, if they were for sale. For 100 dollars, it is too good to be true. The fact that by 2010, hundreds of millions of the worlds poor children will have one is truly inspirational, and fills me with hope (and a tiny bit of jealousy....)
I want one more than you can imagine. Even though it is designed and developed for the worlds poorest children, it has some features that are wonderful, regardless of economic status.
First, you charge the battery of the thing by winding up the bright yellow crank handle on the side. 10 minutes of winding up gets you 1 hour of battery. Anyone who has experienced a flat laptop battery with no option for charging - on trains and planes, in cafes and parks, wherever you were that day when you forgot to bring your charger....You all will understand just how awesome being able to hand charge the laptop would be.
Second, it uses flash memory for a hard drive, rather than the typical magnetic storage disk. This means that the thing loads up instantly, rather than slowly booting up. It also makes the computer ridiculously light - it feels like it is just a plastic case with nothing inside.
Third, it is "ruggedised" on the outside, designed to be totally unbreakable and waterproof. You can throw this thing in a river and then run over it with a speedboat and your game of Solitaire would still be going when you fished it out and dried it off. For someone like me who slowly destroys everything he owns through accidental dropping, knocking over, saturating or sitting on, this is a gift from above.
Finally, it is bright green, with a bright yellow crabk handle. Finally, someone makes a colourful laptop! Seriously, why is electronic stuff always grey, white or black? I want a pretty laptop, and this thing delivers.
I seriously would have bought one of these things right there and then, if they were for sale. For 100 dollars, it is too good to be true. The fact that by 2010, hundreds of millions of the worlds poor children will have one is truly inspirational, and fills me with hope (and a tiny bit of jealousy....)
Posted by Tom Gara at 14:36 | 0 comments
November 17, 2005
Nobody say it was easy, no one ever said it would be that hard ....
Yes, I know.
I know I promised to write at least on post from each country I was visiting in this round of country visits. But simply has not been posible, and this does not mean that die with all my heart to at some point have the time to sit down, and share with you all these full pages with sleepy handwritting that I have packed with all the wonderful impresions I am getting in this: the most intense AIESEC, PERSONAL as well LATIN AMERICAN experience of my life. I do not even try to start to write a post to talk about each country, cause I simply know time won't be enough to share all my emotions and pictures towards each of them.
I even feel bad to use my so limited time to sit aand write this post, since I know I can use it to answer at least a couple of all emails that are waiting to be answered, but I just feel "unplugging for some minutes". And yes, I miss blogging.
One hour of peace ...
Last monday 14.11 I was in the beach in the Dominican Republic. For one hour. It was simply on the way to the airport, where I was suposed to take my next flight. Flight to the 5th country I am visiting since 01.10, Puerto Rico (where I am right now)
Even if the 2 MC members that were with me most probably did not notice it (we even still had a very considerable amount of the time still talking about AIESEC), this was the first time in my whole visit round that I had time FOR ME, to sit somewhere, and just look at the sea and re-load myself.For sure was not enough. But was enough to had some reflections that give me the strenght to wake up every day and do my job the best way posible!
Key facts:
1. I have visited 5 countries: Colombia, Bolivia, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and if some logistical issues allow me, soon Panama. ANy of them (besides Colombia my home country) I have never been before. Have met over 150 people and get to know about 15 unbelivable life stories.
2. My lap top crashed. Big deal when 1. it is not yours, but AIESEC's and when the main tools to deliver your job are there
3. FEEL EXHAUSTED: of airplanes, of eating fast food 80 % of time, of higher living costs that expected, of some long parties when I just want to sleep, of some long AIESEC talks when I just wanna think in nothing, of inmigration officers not believing it is ME the one of the picture in the passport (yes, the hair style there is quite radical), of inmigration officers not understanding what I will do in each country and looking at me with the "are you a drug dealer?" face, of having HUNDREDS of relevant emails to be answered and not finding time to do so.
4. Lost 3-4 kilos. As if it would be difficult for me :) - even in normal conditions
BUT - despite all the tragic comments made before (understand, it's the so called "directors abroad sydrom") I feel SO BLESSED for what I am living. WHEN WILL I DO THIS AGAIN? When I think of that, is like heaven. I feel happy and satisfied, happy to see teams daring to change attitudes, happy to see people discovering the the difference between ordinary and extraordinary is this little "extra" that is not even difficult to give, happy to have clear that if there is CONTINUITY in place from country but specially AI level in terms of country development, things can change. It is HARD. It is just a start. It is posible though.
BUT - despite all the tragic comments made before (understand, it's the so called "directors abroad sydrom") I feel SO BLESSED for what I am living. WHEN WILL I DO THIS AGAIN? When I think of that, is like heaven. I feel happy and satisfied, happy to see teams daring to change attitudes, happy to see people discovering the the difference between ordinary and extraordinary is this little "extra" that is not even difficult to give, happy to have clear that if there is CONTINUITY in place from country but specially AI level in terms of country development, things can change. It is HARD. It is just a start. It is posible though.
Thanks to all of you that are sending me your energies. I feel them.But more that that, thanks for your tremendous patience, professionally and personally to understand my delays getting in touch with you and well, some of my random reactions. Love you all and look fwd to very soon over a wine, a cup of coffee, and ice-cream and just a walk, share with you all this unique experiences that life is allowing me to have. Thanks AIESEC.
Posted by Oriana Torres at 23:59 | 0 comments
Summit Blogging part 4
(notes from last night....)
Just heard Mahmoud Abbas give a speech. It was OK, but suffered from two things - first, he didn't say anything new or interesting - just rolling through pretty standard Palestinian talking points...."recognition of the rights of the Palestinian people is a condition for lasting peace"....
Not bad, and cool to hear, but nothing amazing. The other problem is that the translation was awful. Abbas is speaking in Arabic and the translation coming into everyones headphones was shockingly bad - I had taxi drivers in Cairo who were more fluent than this. The translator was literally losing entire sentences, mumbling and umming and ahhing, talking totally broken English. How can this happen at a flagship UN conference? I can think of 5 people off the top of my head who could translate better than this, and they'd be cheaper as well I imagine....
Next speaker....
Wow. That was special. Silvan Shalom just gave a fantastic speech. Here's my notes as they were scribbled at the time....
"For me it is a special occasion - I was born in this country...my return here is an emotional moment that I have looked forward for a long time. I arrived here on the first ever commercial flight from Israel to Tunisia....
Today Israel is a prosperous country, a world leader in technology. In 57 years we have come a long way....Israel is a centre for research and decelopment in programming ,communications, engineering, optics, astronomy...
There is no reason why our countries should not help each other. Collaboration in research and learning should serve as the foundation for connection between peace loving people across the world......
Ooh its getting emotional now. Hes really getting into it. "Tunisia is a beautiful and prosperous country that i look forward to establishing relations with. I hope this is the first of many visits.
Did he just call Tunisia his homeland? It sounded like it...Whatever, he is clearly upping the emotions...
Oh, that was amazing. He finished the speech beautifully. "We have a saying in Tunisia....and I will say it first in Arabic"....He says it, and you hear a collective sigh and smile break out among the Tunisians and Arabic speakers in the room. He drops it in English, and it is a beauty:
"Time goes by as fast as the sunlight slips through your fingers"
This leads to his finishing lines...
"We have an opportunity to make a change but let us not lose this moment....It has been slipping through out fingers for too long and let us not wait a moment more to change the lives of our people and change the history of our region...."
Wow. That was wonderful. Why didn't everyone else talk like that today, authentic and heartfelt, instead of crapping on about how committed Gabon is to seeing progression toward the Millenium Development Goals in line with its commitment to transparent development objectives in a multi stakeholder empowerment-focussed grassroots project....Seriously I have heard the same 15 words about 15,000 times today by these hacks - Shalom just raised the bar and I hope it stays there for a while.
Just heard Mahmoud Abbas give a speech. It was OK, but suffered from two things - first, he didn't say anything new or interesting - just rolling through pretty standard Palestinian talking points...."recognition of the rights of the Palestinian people is a condition for lasting peace"....
Not bad, and cool to hear, but nothing amazing. The other problem is that the translation was awful. Abbas is speaking in Arabic and the translation coming into everyones headphones was shockingly bad - I had taxi drivers in Cairo who were more fluent than this. The translator was literally losing entire sentences, mumbling and umming and ahhing, talking totally broken English. How can this happen at a flagship UN conference? I can think of 5 people off the top of my head who could translate better than this, and they'd be cheaper as well I imagine....
Next speaker....
Wow. That was special. Silvan Shalom just gave a fantastic speech. Here's my notes as they were scribbled at the time....
"For me it is a special occasion - I was born in this country...my return here is an emotional moment that I have looked forward for a long time. I arrived here on the first ever commercial flight from Israel to Tunisia....
Today Israel is a prosperous country, a world leader in technology. In 57 years we have come a long way....Israel is a centre for research and decelopment in programming ,communications, engineering, optics, astronomy...
There is no reason why our countries should not help each other. Collaboration in research and learning should serve as the foundation for connection between peace loving people across the world......
Ooh its getting emotional now. Hes really getting into it. "Tunisia is a beautiful and prosperous country that i look forward to establishing relations with. I hope this is the first of many visits.
Did he just call Tunisia his homeland? It sounded like it...Whatever, he is clearly upping the emotions...
Oh, that was amazing. He finished the speech beautifully. "We have a saying in Tunisia....and I will say it first in Arabic"....He says it, and you hear a collective sigh and smile break out among the Tunisians and Arabic speakers in the room. He drops it in English, and it is a beauty:
"Time goes by as fast as the sunlight slips through your fingers"
This leads to his finishing lines...
"We have an opportunity to make a change but let us not lose this moment....It has been slipping through out fingers for too long and let us not wait a moment more to change the lives of our people and change the history of our region...."
Wow. That was wonderful. Why didn't everyone else talk like that today, authentic and heartfelt, instead of crapping on about how committed Gabon is to seeing progression toward the Millenium Development Goals in line with its commitment to transparent development objectives in a multi stakeholder empowerment-focussed grassroots project....Seriously I have heard the same 15 words about 15,000 times today by these hacks - Shalom just raised the bar and I hope it stays there for a while.
Posted by Tom Gara at 10:49 | 3 comments
November 16, 2005
The summit continues
Just came out of an awesome session profiling the work being done on e-Learning - lots of very smart people trying out some really amazing models of learning and teaching using technology. The session was led by Cisco, who are themselves heavily into this stuff, supporting some great initiatives around the world.
Something I got to talk about a bit with a few of the people running it was the Jordan Education Initiative (JEI), being run by Cisco in partnership with the World Economic Forum. Check it out, seriously cool stuff.
On other fronts:
I just saw a speech by The King of Nepal!
HM King Bir Bikram Shah Gyanendra, King of Nepal:
First off, he is wearing an incredibly weird hat. Think of a remix of sailors cap, 80's hypercolour shirt and a beanbag. There is guys all around me wearing them, so it looks like the Nepalese are representing big time here...
"We believe that the internet...can be truly beneficial to humankind...IF a multi stakeholder partnership that is transparent and inclusive can be developed"
He says the UN needs to pay extra close special attention to "developing, mountainous, landlocked countries" - I wonder which ones he could be talking about?
Two big ones left for today. First, in about 15 minutes, there will be back-to-back speeches by Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, and Silvan Shalom, foreign minister of Israel. Sure to be interesting. Second, is the launch of the MIT Media Lab's incredible 100 Dollar Laptop project - which is getting loads of attention at the summit. Kofi Annan will be there with Nicholas Negropone (head of MIT media lab) to launch it, if that is any indication of how well it is being hyped....
Something I got to talk about a bit with a few of the people running it was the Jordan Education Initiative (JEI), being run by Cisco in partnership with the World Economic Forum. Check it out, seriously cool stuff.
On other fronts:
I just saw a speech by The King of Nepal!
HM King Bir Bikram Shah Gyanendra, King of Nepal:
First off, he is wearing an incredibly weird hat. Think of a remix of sailors cap, 80's hypercolour shirt and a beanbag. There is guys all around me wearing them, so it looks like the Nepalese are representing big time here...
"We believe that the internet...can be truly beneficial to humankind...IF a multi stakeholder partnership that is transparent and inclusive can be developed"
He says the UN needs to pay extra close special attention to "developing, mountainous, landlocked countries" - I wonder which ones he could be talking about?
Two big ones left for today. First, in about 15 minutes, there will be back-to-back speeches by Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, and Silvan Shalom, foreign minister of Israel. Sure to be interesting. Second, is the launch of the MIT Media Lab's incredible 100 Dollar Laptop project - which is getting loads of attention at the summit. Kofi Annan will be there with Nicholas Negropone (head of MIT media lab) to launch it, if that is any indication of how well it is being hyped....
Posted by Tom Gara at 17:17 | 2 comments
More summit blogging
Back in Plenary now, the "debate" has stopped for a while and they have opened the floor to some business and civil society speeches.
Serge Tchuruk, Chairman and CEO Alcatel:
Ooh, he opened strong....."There is no limit to the creative spirit of man, wherever it is found..."
He is talking some pretty cool figures. Today 2 billion people across the world have mobile phone access - 1 billion more than 3 years ago. Impressive growth...And now he's talking about projections for adding another billion users by 2010. Amazing.
He is saying that although the gap between first world and third world has shrunk dramatically in terms of mobile communications, it has increaded in relation to broadband access. Except for some exceptions in Latin America and China, the trend seems to be that fixed line access is not growing significantly.
Some of this is because mobile communications is improving - and a combination of mobile telephones, satellite TV, radio and communications, and the new "WiMax" longe range wireless internet is making fixed line redundant. Mr Tchuruk is warning that all countries still need to beef up their fixed line networks - although the CEO of a fixed line network infrastucture company would be expected to say something like that I suppose.
Ohh, this is interesting. He is talking about the quality of online applications and services (I'm guessing he means stuff like flickr, google maps etc). They are free, and they are better than anything that was available at premium prices just a couple of years ago. Now these kind of incredible applications and services are available to everyone, free, anywhere. Sweet.
OK thats Serge Tchuruk, CEO of Alcatel finished. Did I mention that Alcatel are a global partner of AIESEC? Sorry, coudnt resist.
More updates soon...
P.S Hahaha thats a funny one - just as I was posting this I looked up and saw the current speaker, President of Congo, Renate Bloem. Hmmm, I thought, she seems very white (and her name very Dutch) to be president of Congo. I looked at my documents and realised, its not Congo the country, she is President of the UN Conference of Non-Government Organisations - acronym CONGO. I was wondering why they were writing the country name in capitals, among other things.......
Serge Tchuruk, Chairman and CEO Alcatel:
Ooh, he opened strong....."There is no limit to the creative spirit of man, wherever it is found..."
He is talking some pretty cool figures. Today 2 billion people across the world have mobile phone access - 1 billion more than 3 years ago. Impressive growth...And now he's talking about projections for adding another billion users by 2010. Amazing.
He is saying that although the gap between first world and third world has shrunk dramatically in terms of mobile communications, it has increaded in relation to broadband access. Except for some exceptions in Latin America and China, the trend seems to be that fixed line access is not growing significantly.
Some of this is because mobile communications is improving - and a combination of mobile telephones, satellite TV, radio and communications, and the new "WiMax" longe range wireless internet is making fixed line redundant. Mr Tchuruk is warning that all countries still need to beef up their fixed line networks - although the CEO of a fixed line network infrastucture company would be expected to say something like that I suppose.
Ohh, this is interesting. He is talking about the quality of online applications and services (I'm guessing he means stuff like flickr, google maps etc). They are free, and they are better than anything that was available at premium prices just a couple of years ago. Now these kind of incredible applications and services are available to everyone, free, anywhere. Sweet.
OK thats Serge Tchuruk, CEO of Alcatel finished. Did I mention that Alcatel are a global partner of AIESEC? Sorry, coudnt resist.
More updates soon...
P.S Hahaha thats a funny one - just as I was posting this I looked up and saw the current speaker, President of Congo, Renate Bloem. Hmmm, I thought, she seems very white (and her name very Dutch) to be president of Congo. I looked at my documents and realised, its not Congo the country, she is President of the UN Conference of Non-Government Organisations - acronym CONGO. I was wondering why they were writing the country name in capitals, among other things.......
Posted by Tom Gara at 14:35 | 0 comments
World Summit for the Information Society....
I am at the World Summit for the Information Society in Tunsia
Liveblogging from the opening ceremony - Kofi Annan is speaking right now and he seems subdued but determined....
"....lets make this a summit of solutions....."
Opening finished, now it is "general debate" time. Ministers and heads of state taking it one at a time to deliver speeches.....boring ones too - for a five minute speech, I think at least 3 minutes is taken up with introduction...."ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, Mr Chair, first I would like to thank several individuals and organisations....." and they all go on to thank the UN, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the Government of Tunisia, the Organisers....and it goes on.
There is 175 countries represented here and all of them get a speech - I sure am happy that AIESEC isnt in the intergovernmental side of this conference. Not sure how I would handle 3 long days of non stop thank yous....
I just finished a very interesting panel session with people from the Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP). Very interesting stuff, and something we should definitely be involved with. Their work on Youth Social Entrepreneurship is especially up our alley.
On a ten minute break now.....Next thing will be with the UN Regional Commissions, who are talking about successful regional level partnership projects. Stay tuned....
Liveblogging from the opening ceremony - Kofi Annan is speaking right now and he seems subdued but determined....
"....lets make this a summit of solutions....."
Opening finished, now it is "general debate" time. Ministers and heads of state taking it one at a time to deliver speeches.....boring ones too - for a five minute speech, I think at least 3 minutes is taken up with introduction...."ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests, Mr Chair, first I would like to thank several individuals and organisations....." and they all go on to thank the UN, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the Government of Tunisia, the Organisers....and it goes on.
There is 175 countries represented here and all of them get a speech - I sure am happy that AIESEC isnt in the intergovernmental side of this conference. Not sure how I would handle 3 long days of non stop thank yous....
I just finished a very interesting panel session with people from the Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP). Very interesting stuff, and something we should definitely be involved with. Their work on Youth Social Entrepreneurship is especially up our alley.
On a ten minute break now.....Next thing will be with the UN Regional Commissions, who are talking about successful regional level partnership projects. Stay tuned....
Posted by Tom Gara at 10:39 | 0 comments
November 15, 2005
4000!
One of many ceilings that will be broken in the coming years by AIESEC, but this is a big one, as of today we have hit 4000 exchanges realised in a year, for the first time in at decade.
Someone will post something more significant about this soon, but this is just a hot off the presses announcement. How hot off the presses? Well, here is the email from Lanchanie sent tonight...
Heres to 4000, and all that lies ahead...
Someone will post something more significant about this soon, but this is just a hot off the presses announcement. How hot off the presses? Well, here is the email from Lanchanie sent tonight...
In that three hours, some exchange became a history maker. Maybe someone can work out who?
"Hey guys!
We just reached 4004 exchanges! It's midnight now so it's somewhere between 7 and midnight that we passed 4000:)
happy Lanchanie"
Heres to 4000, and all that lies ahead...
Posted by Tom Gara at 00:10 | 1 comments
November 14, 2005
It's autumn evening outside the window
Rotterdam magic
Posted by Romas Mažeika at 17:31 | 1 comments
November 13, 2005
Another Alumni Story
One more reason for us to believe that we have a lot of Alumni around us each day and we are not aware about it.
So recently, at the Agenda Setting Conference in
After the speech I go back to my table and sit down. People at the table start congratulating me. Then out of the blue an elderly man comes up from and asks for permission to speak to me. He asked met his in a very polite way, thinking I am super-busy. I was like sure and turn around to face him. He comes close to my ear and whispers “I used to be in AIESEC”. As soon as I hear that I burst into a huge smile and get visibly excited to meet this guy, though he still feels embarrassed as if he is disturbing me. So he quickly says “I thought AIESEC would have shut down cause I used to be in AIESEC in the 60s, I had no idea you guys were still around.” Obviously I laugh it out. He adds, “You know, you should do something like what Harvard with their Alumni program”. I said “We do, its just that we are not half as good as them with it”.
But anyway, we make conversation for a little while longer but then the moment gets the better of me and we go and find out how many AIESEC’ers are actually in the room. And we start going table by table to ask people and we found 11, including the delegation of 3 that AIESEC had there.
(from left to right) Ondrej (Czech – MC, current), Rob (
When I told my team about this we had a totally random idea.
Considering most AIESEC’ers are living a very international lifestyle, every time we are at an airport we come up with an excuse to use their intercom to make an announcement to bring together all AIESEC’ers to the front desk. I am pretty sure we would end up meeting some very interesting Alumni. ;)
Posted by Abhinav Gupta at 19:48 | 1 comments
November 07, 2005
AI Dance videos
If you haven't chance to attend IC in India and see AI team dancing, or simply if you wish to see us again, here is your chance. These are the movies that every AI Director is bringing with him or her to country visits.
AI dance
Download it (85.3MB)
AI dance with comments
Download it (59.5MB)
Download AI greetings (126MB)
AI dance
Download it (85.3MB)
AI dance with comments
Download it (59.5MB)
Download AI greetings (126MB)
Posted by Romas Mažeika at 11:43 | 2 comments
November 04, 2005
Spiritual experience
Hey Gang!
While being on EuroCo, I lived through one of the most beautiful moments of my AIESEC life. During the Connection Time on spirituality, after short meditation we started sharing our experiences concerning spirituality. Out of sudden, the atmosphere in the room became so open, that everyone started crying and the emotions, that we were living through this very moment were so pure and honest, that I wanted to do nothing till the end of my life but to sit in this room and feel this moment with all my senses. It felt like all of us mentally stripped naked in front of everyone else and we enjoyed it. We enjoyed telling our stories and we enjoyed everyone else listening to them.
I don't know exactly what happened in this room, but whatever it was, it was the most intese connection I've ever felt with other people.
I saw in this room, on everyone's face, that from this moment their life will never be the same. My life will surely not be the same anymore.
Thank you Paula.
Mike
While being on EuroCo, I lived through one of the most beautiful moments of my AIESEC life. During the Connection Time on spirituality, after short meditation we started sharing our experiences concerning spirituality. Out of sudden, the atmosphere in the room became so open, that everyone started crying and the emotions, that we were living through this very moment were so pure and honest, that I wanted to do nothing till the end of my life but to sit in this room and feel this moment with all my senses. It felt like all of us mentally stripped naked in front of everyone else and we enjoyed it. We enjoyed telling our stories and we enjoyed everyone else listening to them.
I don't know exactly what happened in this room, but whatever it was, it was the most intese connection I've ever felt with other people.
I saw in this room, on everyone's face, that from this moment their life will never be the same. My life will surely not be the same anymore.
Thank you Paula.
Mike
Posted by Mike at 13:41 | 1 comments
November 03, 2005
Happy birthday Abhi
Today our favorite communications manager Abhinav is celebrating his birthday.
Loads of luck and happiness to you.
Loads of luck and happiness to you.
Posted by Romas Mažeika at 14:48 | 1 comments
When you are selected for AI...
...first thing that awaits you in office:
Warm welcomes to Laura - our new accountant who will be replacing Cliff after couple of months of intense transition.
Warm welcomes to Laura - our new accountant who will be replacing Cliff after couple of months of intense transition.
Posted by Romas Mažeika at 10:48 | 1 comments
October Team Days
One long day to review our monthly progress.
Feeling afterwards - tired, but excited.
Posted by Romas Mažeika at 10:43 | 0 comments
November 01, 2005
Taco at work
Genuine director's work. Helping AIESEC in Iceland to move forward ;) Or backwards...
Posted by Romas Mažeika at 14:41 | 2 comments
WENA Director reporting from Iceland
Well,
It’s hard to imagine what ‘89 countries’ really means until you get out to them and start seeing AIESEC on the ground.
So far I’ve been to Germany, Austria, Croatia and to Iceland… and have planned visits to Spain, Portugal, France, UK and Greece before Xmas… which means a lot of work on the road.
One thing that is absolutely fantastic about Iceland is the wireless coverage… it’s everywhere!
The people there are fantastic too I got to say… we managed to seriously cover a lot of content of their country development and they were very efficient and effective.
Anyways, that’s it from me in Iceland.
Taco.
It’s hard to imagine what ‘89 countries’ really means until you get out to them and start seeing AIESEC on the ground.
So far I’ve been to Germany, Austria, Croatia and to Iceland… and have planned visits to Spain, Portugal, France, UK and Greece before Xmas… which means a lot of work on the road.
One thing that is absolutely fantastic about Iceland is the wireless coverage… it’s everywhere!
The people there are fantastic too I got to say… we managed to seriously cover a lot of content of their country development and they were very efficient and effective.
Anyways, that’s it from me in Iceland.
Taco.
Posted by Taco_Bosman at 14:15 | 1 comments