The Maltese Touch

So Nithya, my new friend, asked me to update my blog. I can see that I trashed my blog a bit, posting videos, cause it was fast. I need some consulting regarding blogs, because I don’t dare to be completely honest, keeping the audience too much in mind and not revealing what I really feel. Why have I started to blog, because I thought that it was important to report what I do, because I knew I would travel and have some exciting experiences. But then I started this journey and did not take time to reflect, I did not take time to breath and I did not take time to tell you my story. So let’s forget the filter and just start telling what’s going on in my life. What happened in the last nine months that made me the person I am today?

Picture: me, recently. Outside has not changed that much.



Malta

We’re in Malta, bitch! You should listen to that song and you’d know how my experience on Malta was: truly AWESOME!

Before I went I was nervous and excited, I didn’t think I would be able to live the experience of being able to facilitate on an international AIESEC conference. One of the coolest thing I did in AIESEC is being a trainer and working together with people who want to learn and develop. Why was I nervous? Because this year has shown me one big thing: my strengths and weaknesses. Wanna know my strengths? I am creative, innovative, inquiring, curious, organized, and open. My weakness? I lose interest very easily, I do not believe in myself, I can be messy, and I have mood swings. What I hate most right now is my insecurity.
So I was nervous, about working with a new group of people. I am always afraid to be the odd one, the one not being part of the group. I arrived in Malta and that feeling did not slip. It was a hard time to get through the pre-meeting of the conference, but it was good and important, cause I learned so much about myself. I felt a bit like an outsider, but in the long round I found out that most of that feeling was created by myself and my self doubt.
This is Malta (and my current desk top background):


So how could you not be happy on that island? The conference itself was one of the best experiences I ever had in AIESEC. It was like the perfect circle closing: my first international conference was in Belgium in 2006. There, I realized, I wanted to do certain leadership positions on a local level, do at least one national leadership role, be a facilitator and then facilitate at an international conference. Today I can say that I achieved all these goals! Also, this conference had precisely the same profile as the one I attended in Belgium 4 years ago. This fact gave me huge inspiration and motivation to perform 110%. The result was an awesome group experience with the group I coached for two entire days. Each individual made the experience crazy unique for all of us and every member of the group inspired me to strive for something real. I was also able to connect with much more people that I usually do. I was really out there, a real part of the conference and that made me very proud.

My homegroup and my faci team:


And after the conference? I saw Malta! Such a beautiful island. It has a very rich cultural heritage raging from the crusades and the knights to several occupations. Most importantly I was able to spend time with some beautiful individuals. I spent a lot of my last day with Ana from Colombia. She knew everything about the island, the history and the buildings. We had real eye opening conversations, because we are so different and so much the same at the same time. She helped me see what it is I want to do next and helped me believe in my idea. In the end of the trip I also had the chance to connect to Nithya. My insecure side made me believe that she did not like me in the beginning, but our conversations during the last night really made me change my opinion. It’s crazy how people can be so positive and lively even when life tests them. I love the kind of conversations I had with her and I hope I’ll meet you again someday dear Nithya! Other people that greatly inspired me were the Danish delegation who kept a great spirit throughout the whole conference. Thank you so much for all the energy you all gave me!

Prague

This trip was meant as team days for the national board of AIESEC Denmark. Going to Prague is always great, because after London it is one of the cities I want to return to. The city was beautiful, the sky was blue, the food was great. In order to write about the whole experience, I need to come home, really home. I will leave home to my mum tomorrow and rest for the first time in a really long period. There, I will be able to tell how Prague was. But I have a pretty picture:

So make me write and remind me to write and maybe one day I will do it without someone asking me to.

The Danish MC at AIESEC International Congress 2009

AIESEC International Congress Malaysia - first impressions!

I have a confession to make. I have never been outside Europe. I have been to the Black Sea in Romania, but that's it. I did not get more far away. Recently, AIESEC gave me the opportunity to visit another continent and I am currently writing from the Palace of the Golden Horses in Malaysia.
Together with my team I made a trip where the adventure already started during the journey as we had visa challenges, traveling through Bangkok and our team faced major frustration about the way things were managed. I realized how privileged I am as a European. I can travel wherever I want and can get a visa for some weeks just because I want.
Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia is one of the few cities I have been to that has a lot of sky scrapers. It is known for the PETRONAS Towers, some of the highest buildings in the world. I have seen them, I took a picture. I have also been to the Bantu Caves a little bit outside of KL. That's when it hit me that I am actually on another continent. The caves are host to temples, monkeys and doves. You recognize it fast by the giant statue of a god with its golden color shining in the burning sun. You climb stairs into the sky and enter the cave with extremely high walls and a glimpse of the sky in the background. Monkeys eat coconuts; monks give you prayers and mark you with dots on your forehead. The temples are Hindi from south Indian culture. And having two Indians in my team, we had extremely good guidance through the experience. Result: I want to go to India! The food, the people, the culture is something that I really want to experience closer.
Right now I am thrown into a melting pot of people from all over the world. The AIESEC International Congress has started yesterday and I am already facing a major sleep deprivation. The thing is that we had a pre-meeting before the actual congress where we prepared for what was going to happen. These 9 days are the most valid days as preparation for our year ahead, as we have the global leadership collected in one place. Here I have the chance to meet AIESEC'ers from truly all over the world. I am currently sitting in a room with over 100 nationalities. The vibrant energy in the room is slapping you in the face at times and it is fascinating to see how many of these people I actually have met before. We are all connected and if we do not know each other directly one of our friends does and that's what makes it so unique. We are all connected by a thing called AIESEC. We had a global village, open to public, where every culture was present, we had a fascinating opening ceremony with taste of Malaysian culture. Today, we started the content delivery and included over 700 virtual delegates joining us from all over the world. Right now we discuss leadership and in what way AIESEC is a leadership organization. For me AIESEC is the people and opportunities it offers. That's what makes it a leadership organization? People continue beyond their AIESEC experience to have a positive impact in society. We actually do something about the issues around us and it is incredible to see how many excellent people are gathered under the same cause.

Recruitment in Denmark