Last weekend, I got to spend some quality time with my newly made truly international friend circle. We were invited by a girl called Julia in Lausanne. It happens to be in the French speaking part of Switzerland and is very near to Geneva and France.
She is an AIESEC trainee and lives in a place called Renens VD (this is pronounced as Renau……just the way you would pronounce Renault (car makers)). This is unbelievable. And it came as no surprise to me when someone told that the person who actually designed spellings and one who architectured the language, were two different people....(just kidding !!)
This AIESEC seems to be a great concept. It mainly facilitates the student exchange in various countries. Most of them get a chance of doing 2 internships in different countries. I think it is a great platform for anyone who wants to have a share of different cultural experiences. Also, I must confess here that I did not know of this organization when I was doing my graduation in India. Though they say that it is pretty big in home and there is a lot of competition for getting an internship abroad.
You might not get all the strategic work during your internship that you always aspire for. (Especially for us poor souls who are in this league of doing engineering and then MBA from some good school and setting more and more expectations from work). But concept here is not of getting a good job in foreign. Concept is to learn different cultures, meet different people, make new friends, learn new customs and become really culturally and socially rich. But then what work you get and do?? It could be something extremely interesting (you just might pull a cracker of a project) or if you are one amongst the unlucky very few (as law of averages will always be applicable) clerical, secretarial….aber das ist mir egal (I hardly care….).As long as it has dignity!!
Ok….I am not getting paid by AIESEC for writing this one and anyways that was not the focus…….
Focus was to see how youth can enjoy after getting into these kinds of global partnerships. So as I started, we were invited by a girl called Julia in Lausanne and we gratefully accepted it. We did not have a clue about the wonderful weekend that awaited us. There were something like close to 15 people and many of them were meeting for the first time thanks to Julia and Emira. Our hosts.
It is difficult for me to describe what followed in those 2 days because we did so many things. I had a taste of some variety of food and drinks; we danced like animals, roamed like ardent travelers, got friends as if we knew each other for years and total chaos!! 2 days, 10 people, new places and unbelievable fun!! (In these 2 days we also visited France without having a passport and visa with us……that was some daring, in spite being told by the Swiss authorities not to step on French soil!!)
A week later as we approach the next weekend, we have plans of meeting in Zurich……continue the good things as they say and we being such good students, are taking them for their word.
It is good to see so many students getting such a wonderful exposure and making most out of it. One of my expectations from life was to get an opportunity to see great many places. Pack a bag, leave your home, travel, work and earn as you travel and travel more. Let me be very candid here…..I have not yet had a courage to do that…….but good to see that so many people are doing it……well not exactly as I wrote, but through these internships, working for a year or so and then moving on…….without caring for type of work, without caring for money, as long as it is enough to take u on…….
Working towards gathering that courage and waiting for my turn to come…..
Vote of thanks:
Thank you guys for all the wonderful time and Julia and Emira for being such wonderful hosts. Had it not been for you people (Andre, Patrick, Mike, Nataliyas, Niharika, Julia, Emira, Unna, Sandra….and I am sorry if I have missed anyone here….), I probably would have missed such a fantastic and daring aspect of life.
P.S. I also have penned down my experiences from beginning on this foreign soil and will publish them soon. (For those who care to read :))
She is an AIESEC trainee and lives in a place called Renens VD (this is pronounced as Renau……just the way you would pronounce Renault (car makers)). This is unbelievable. And it came as no surprise to me when someone told that the person who actually designed spellings and one who architectured the language, were two different people....(just kidding !!)
This AIESEC seems to be a great concept. It mainly facilitates the student exchange in various countries. Most of them get a chance of doing 2 internships in different countries. I think it is a great platform for anyone who wants to have a share of different cultural experiences. Also, I must confess here that I did not know of this organization when I was doing my graduation in India. Though they say that it is pretty big in home and there is a lot of competition for getting an internship abroad.
You might not get all the strategic work during your internship that you always aspire for. (Especially for us poor souls who are in this league of doing engineering and then MBA from some good school and setting more and more expectations from work). But concept here is not of getting a good job in foreign. Concept is to learn different cultures, meet different people, make new friends, learn new customs and become really culturally and socially rich. But then what work you get and do?? It could be something extremely interesting (you just might pull a cracker of a project) or if you are one amongst the unlucky very few (as law of averages will always be applicable) clerical, secretarial….aber das ist mir egal (I hardly care….).As long as it has dignity!!
Ok….I am not getting paid by AIESEC for writing this one and anyways that was not the focus…….
Focus was to see how youth can enjoy after getting into these kinds of global partnerships. So as I started, we were invited by a girl called Julia in Lausanne and we gratefully accepted it. We did not have a clue about the wonderful weekend that awaited us. There were something like close to 15 people and many of them were meeting for the first time thanks to Julia and Emira. Our hosts.
It is difficult for me to describe what followed in those 2 days because we did so many things. I had a taste of some variety of food and drinks; we danced like animals, roamed like ardent travelers, got friends as if we knew each other for years and total chaos!! 2 days, 10 people, new places and unbelievable fun!! (In these 2 days we also visited France without having a passport and visa with us……that was some daring, in spite being told by the Swiss authorities not to step on French soil!!)
A week later as we approach the next weekend, we have plans of meeting in Zurich……continue the good things as they say and we being such good students, are taking them for their word.
It is good to see so many students getting such a wonderful exposure and making most out of it. One of my expectations from life was to get an opportunity to see great many places. Pack a bag, leave your home, travel, work and earn as you travel and travel more. Let me be very candid here…..I have not yet had a courage to do that…….but good to see that so many people are doing it……well not exactly as I wrote, but through these internships, working for a year or so and then moving on…….without caring for type of work, without caring for money, as long as it is enough to take u on…….
Working towards gathering that courage and waiting for my turn to come…..
Vote of thanks:
Thank you guys for all the wonderful time and Julia and Emira for being such wonderful hosts. Had it not been for you people (Andre, Patrick, Mike, Nataliyas, Niharika, Julia, Emira, Unna, Sandra….and I am sorry if I have missed anyone here….), I probably would have missed such a fantastic and daring aspect of life.
P.S. I also have penned down my experiences from beginning on this foreign soil and will publish them soon. (For those who care to read :))
5 comments:
:) Am glad you are having such a good time..and its never too late to be an AIESEC convert ;)
But, there are many more weekends to look forward to so I hope to see more postings soon!!! You should definitely keep writing...
I guess I can now share a favorite quote that I try to live by (which might be apt for you and this post!)
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
-Mark Twain
Enjoy!!
Niharika
@Niharika
I liked that quote.....i guess its the same outlook we share....just tht u r a lil fast at implementing it !!
Though I want to correct one thing and clarify (as a live example) that the work is not clerical!!
Organizations work with AIESEC because they value the talent that it provides them with (globally diverse, leadership qualities, exposure etc), so the projects are interesting and the traineeship is both a rewarding personal (as you have seen) and professional experience.
As is the law of averages some are not as great as the others-but I think I can definitely be confident in saying that most traineeships offer immense learning.
Just wanted to point that out :) because I guess it hits too close to home...atleast the Zurich trainees are having a blast at work :D
niharika
@Niharika and all AIESEC trainees....
Appologies for that mistake......be assured that it will be taken care of.
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