love ze germans! romax rocked:)
Just returned last night from the 3rd of my amazing weekends- chairing the AIESEC - Roman region conference in Bacharach, Germany (called Romax). All I can say is- what an experience....being an avid and intense member way back in the years 2002-2004 (AIESEC DI), i remember being quite curious about exactly how the germans manage to do as bloody well as they do....with the kind of university environment that is much more challenging and complete to students than in countries like India ..how did they create so many exchange opportunities and experiences? What was the driving factor?
well i got all my answers and more....
the conference tem was fantastic. Germany carries with it an impeccable and fool proof process of training it's trainers with a professional detail both worthy of respect and a thrill to watch (I myself am considering attending a TTT- train the trainers) . I have personally never seen a more comprehensive xchange preparation seminar- from well planned 'albatross' simulations to a structured learning process for the delegates embarking on an international internship - this place was like a smooth german factory with the fun thrown in.
It was interesting to note that german aiesec members go through an intense and rigorous local committee tenure with international experiences and leadership thrown in, but what really pushes people to preparation for leadership futures is that of the regional support role - wherein which you're heading off the coordination of approximately 9-15 LCs at a time- comparable as I realized to member committees of many countries in terms of the intensity and detailed responsibilities (from conferences to finance to arranged linkages to other parts of the country).....the german ambition is sky high with projects being spearheaded by the MC in collaborations with the LC on further extensions !(they already have 57 Local chapters!) and repeating the brilliance of the afghanistan project for Israel...watch this space for more details on this awesome initiative!
One of the coolest things about this conference was the venue :)...check out the view from right outside the plenary! killer!. The venue was actually a castle utop a decently high hill in Bacharach and had been converted to a youth hostel, winding dungeon style stairways would actually lead to well hidden loos and workshop rooms were a blast getting to:)..., but now I can officially say that I've lived in a castle- modernized as it was....
chairing is always fun, you get to speak to a lot of the delegates as theres a lot of free time and the perspective of 100 + people over 3 days is rewarding to say the least....I was amazed at myself because I realized for the first time that I was exhibiting a fine balance between both my indian and swiss exposure....and it pleased me immensely to hear that I was many a time more Swiss than Indian:) - 'swindian' is what I like to call it actually.....:)...structured 'energy and chaos' :),.....
The global village and boat race competition happened outside in the freezing cold- but as it turned out- nothing some good hot wine couldnt cure...
anyway, just a huge huge huge thanks to the brilliant german facis and hajo who have helped me raise the standard of what to expect in terms of delivery at a conference....met some very interesting people and wonderfully enough- reinstated to myself the exciting plunge i'm going to take....
and as a closing tribute to this last weekend ...John Mayer rightly put it:
Someday I'll fly
Someday I'll soar
Someday I'll be so damn much more
Cause I'm bigger than my body gives me credit for
roman region! hurrah!
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