State Conference…a full circle in AIESEC...

Coming out of Queensland’s State Conference I feel I have a little more confidence in myself as a leader. Having been a team ‘witch doctor’ for the weekend I was approached by new members for advice and guidance during sessions. Having said that, the weekend was so much fun as well. I honestly can’t remember the last time I had this much fun.

The theme of the conference was ‘Survivor’ and each team had to ‘kill off’ the others by completing tasks that involved getting another group’s member to do something that seemed unlikely to fool another teams’ member when you first look at it, like getting someone to eat a feather, do a handstand in the party room. Just after a team building exercise where a few people, including myself were blindfolded and guided through an obstacle course, as soon as I took the blind fold off and was still adjusting to all the gym lights, Odette and Aleks S. came up to me and said ‘hi’, with suspicious grins on their faces. Within a second Sasha, came form behind and popped a water bomb on my lower back which ran down my pants, and as I was freaking out, Odette shoved a ladle and fork into my hand, which I clenched, being in the disorientated state I was, effectively killing off my team. It was so funny though. And as we were leaving the gym, we were ambushed by the others throwing water bombs at us, which luckily for me just bounced off.

I’m so excited about the year to come. I’m going into OGX and am the OC Finance Responsible for July Conference. During the conference I found out what’s involved in OGX and what kind of things an OC does at conferences. This really helped to get me excited about my role in AIESEC this year.

APXLDS2006 in the Philippines - Reflections

It's been well over 2 weeks now since I've come back from attending the AIESEC AP conference in the Philippines. It was my first time overseas so as you can imagine there were a lot of shocks! Some of these include how on the first day, me and 3 other Aussies: Jess, Nikki and Azz, we all went together to Ayala shopping mall in Cebu and we felt so uncomfortable because everyone was staring at us like were were aliens from another planet! It seems foreigners are not a common site in Cebu as they are back here in Australia. I had no idea to expect this because I hadn't, and neither of us had prepared for what the Philippines would be like. However we did prepare for the conference itself.

Speaking of the conference itself, it was fantastic! I learnt so much about myself and other cultures. During one of the PBoX simulations sessions I was the team leader for the day and had my first team management experience. It was 'Awesome'. One of the other sessions that sticks out in my mind is the one that Hui Lin ran about "leadership styles" It was this amazingly intense activity that ran for 3 hours where two teams had to compete against each other with various tasks. There was also strict rules such as you are not allowed to smile or laugh, nor look into the eyes of the "fate" who was the one facilitating the activity or you'll 'die' and you had to "die with honour and integrity". It may sound a little abstract, but you just had to be there.

It was hard for me to adjust to and accommodate some of the cultural differences I experienced. The most notable one was of people smoking near the delegates food. I personally found it disgusting and inconsiderate but thought that it was probably part of this particular girls culture to smoke around food.

For the first few days when I came back to Australia, I did get the post conference withdrawal symptoms . And the fact that I had an exam on the day I got back didn't help either. I didn't want to talk to my family, I tried to tell them about my amazing experience but they just weren't interested and didn't understand. For a few days I kept looking over photos when I should have been trying to catch up on 2 weeks of missed uni work.

The whole experience has really challenged my world view and opened my eyes to issues, people and places that exist out side of Australia. One of the things I realised when I came back was that this was the first time I ever met anyone who had never been to Australia....as crazy at it might sound. I remember telling someone at AP that "My parents are from Serbia but I was born here." Then I had to correct myself when I realised that I wasn't "here" - in Australia, anymore I was in the Philippines, in a whole other country - that's when that fact really hit me. If any AIESECer reading this ever gets the chance to go to an AP conference...definately go! A-P-Hot-to-go-H-o-t-t-o-g-o!

Self awareness, the start of my journey...

To anyone reading about me in my first post, I want just want to let you know that while I was writing this I kept deliberating if I' m ready for a blog. But then I asked myself why do I want a blog? What is my motivation behind it? Is it because I am a private person who seldom shares her feelings? Is this something I can use to get over that and let people know about me, the real me? The answer is Yes. I'm also starting to blog my experiences because I am not a very "self aware" person either. This is one of my weaknesses that I will be working on changing. Writing what I'm feeling and getting it out there will hopefully help me.

Using this blog as the platform, I'll reflect on learnings, experiences and people that have impacted on me and taught me about myself, the world or have inspired me in some way. I'll be blogging my experiences in AIESEC, travels, and my personal development as I progress through life...