Liv's latest adventure around the globe

Speechless! I have not much to say as to what an amazing weekend I had in Marseille, except probably for the photos you are about to see below.

Another amazing conference with people who were going on an AIESEC internship, a great experience with the crazy facilitators’ team and finally got to see Marseille.

Convenient travel with a 3-hour train ride from Paris to the South of France, you can experience a totally different weather and atmosphere from the busy life of Paris. It must be even better here during summer, where these sail boats go in the middle of the sea and you can just stay under the sun near the coastline. For the weekend, I was content with the warm weather and great view from the Basilica of the Lady Guard- overlooking the whole city of Marseille in all directions.

Spring should be coming; people are smiling; soon would even be better weather when Summer comes in. Then I would be able come back again to Marseille for a different adventure.

I once asked myself if I have somehow abused blogging as an excuse of being able to connect back with my friends back home. Assuming that people just go to this page, understand clearly what I’m going through and expect that the connection remain through this way of communication.

However, I realized there is still the quality of communication missing, whereby one form of media utilized to communicate is not enough to ensure that yes, you are still in touch with the people you barely see on a day to day living. It started when the relatives I was staying with clearly pointed out how come I haven’t called my parents on my first 3 weeks in Paris. Then I said, “ahhhh it’s ok, I was in Netherlands for the whole year last time and I always just wrote something on my blog or sent them email once in awhile.” But as they questioned me if that was enough, I realized how it was just a one-way communication I was utilizing. It was even worse with friends back home since emails were barely sent until the time I was about to come back to the Philippines.

So after a refreshing trip in Marseille for the weekend(more about that in the next entry), I decided to do more personal communication with my family and friends across the globe. Thanks to this interesting phone card where I can talk to people in Asia for 2 hours, for only 6euros. Even better I guess when I am just calling people in Europe. :) At the same time decided that emails and post cards are indeed a good way as well, then they can refer to the blog for more details but definitely not expect them to be constantly updated to my blog as if reading the daily news.

I was back in Rotterdam for the weekend. I was expecting to feel at home again to a place that almost my second home after a round of country visits, where it was almost hopping from one country to another, one house to the next.

Wrong.

It was like entering a house but no one is at home. Everything indeed seem quite familiar: memories of where I had my first lunch in Dudok, as simple as the road where I got lost the first time (or according to Femi was just exploring the roads), library where I spent my Sunday mornings, or the famous Saturday market for great deals and how it looks like when it’s empty and winds can be so cold. It brought back a lot of great memories of my experience in Rotterdam, but something was missing.

Then I realized that’s what distinguishes a house from a home. I was back in Rotterdam, even stayed with Veronica where I had my room before, but the "house was empty". The people that I experienced those great memories are not there anymore. All that was left were my 35kg luggage waiting to be transferred to Paris since it was too heavy for me to bring them all back to the Philippines at the end of my term.

So I bid Rotterdam goodbye and went back to my new home- Paris. My “family” was waiting for me here: trainees I missed to hang out for a movie, my relatives I failed to join for great Filipino meals. My “family” is indeed growing & moving, as I know that I can also feel at home in Germany, Brazil, Malaysia or Philippines who is just awaiting for my next visit.

A lot of people usually ask me how long I’ve been here, and was used to answering just a few weeks ago. So I finally got my residence card today, which would be valid only until end of December (instead of end of January). It made me start counting how long I have been here and how much time is left.

Man, time has passed by so quickly from my first week to my first month. Time is really precious at this point, when initially I was expecting to stay for 12 months and now it’s just 11 months. I guess I really have to start “living” in Paris, since the adjustments should be over. There are definitely lots of things I’d want to do, but always scared if I would ever have the time to do all these things.

Well for a start, I am sure to visit Netherlands this weekend. Yeah, need to transition my reference to Rotterdam as a home with Paris, so getting more of my luggage from Rotterdam. I have also tried my best to get involved with the AIESECers here, with chairing the national conference and having trainees around. More trainee dinners to come as we’ve had a good taste of the different food & *drinks* from Brazil, India, Korea, Poland.

I really plan to visit friends in Bonn & Brussels, where I don’t need to apply for visa and the tickets are quite affordable. Yet still on the hot list would be Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Switzerland, UK… hope the visa costs won’t be double the price for the cheap flights to get to these places. Otherwise France also awaits me in the following cities like Bordeaux, Toulouse, Marseilles, Grenoble where I really plan to reconnect with the AIESECers that I met from these wonderful cities during the French national conference.

I am not counting the days left, but just looking forward to the coming days where I would really be able to meet my objectives of being here in France. Now where does learning the language fit in? That, I am still searching for the most cost-effective solution to do amidst the traveling I intend to do.

I just felt like singing this song to express how it actually felt to be in the AI Alumni Reunion at IPM 2006 in Netherlands. So as you can see it was not just a bunch of AI alumni I got to meet, got to reconnect with the AIESECers, MCPs and new MCPs, and of course how can one forget Netherlands... a very nice weather to welcome me for that weekend!

Here are some updates and few photos to show what an amazing weekend I had.

Alumni strategies
As alumni it’s always great to be able to hear the strategies that the organization is working on for you. At the same time, being able to give feedback and see the different opinions that can come from different generations of AI teams. Some people are just then amazed or pleased that some of the developments they have started are now going into mainstream. Yet interesting to see how technology can also turn off our alumni from the older generation, such that communication would have to be focused on the simplicity of the system and not the multi-features that they still need to learn.

Networking and issues discussion
It is always vital to be able to connect back to issues that matter to you. We’ve had this kind of discussion, world café style during AIESEC sessions. Yet when you have these discussions again after some months/years of experience outside AIESEC, you begin to question the relevance of who you are and what you really believe in. Have you shaped your mindset on what the company believes in? Are you stuck in your ideal world that seems far away from where you are currently in? Is there really something that can go in between where you don’t have to compensate one over the other? The answers were all an interesting variety that I had so much to learn to really grasp what is going to my view on this.

Connecting with the IPM Delegates
I always like AIESEC conferences where you thought the last time you saw each other was really the last one and you’ll be surprised again to have that opportunity to meet. A lot of hugs, warm greetings, & endless AIESEC dances to get connected back to this lovely organization.

Connecting back with my team
What used to be a group that I worked with almost everyday, or at least longing to see again whenever I was on country visits, got to reunite in the alumni event. However, it may not be the whole team, for some are far away, some are still in the current team and very much busy with the agenda, but for me a significant number of the people that I got so much connected with were there and that made it special. I guess when you’re going through that phase of transition from one team to another, one organization to another, one country to another, it’s always best to reconnect with people who may have gone through that same transformation. It would be great to get in touch with them again, either just through mails or blogs(some prefer not to have one though :) ) but definitely best to travel again around Europe.

I have just been in France for about 5 weeks and struggling to connect with the world around me. Sometimes longing for the past, which is already history, when what could have been best was to connect the past experiences to strengthening the future and be able to live with the present.

So just like any other AIESEC conferences, even as an AI alumni, it still gives you that energy, provide you that drive, and fills you with passion of achieving exactly what you wanted regardless of other circumstances. I enjoyed the experience I had with AIESEC, and that’s probably why I am continuing that passion for the organization by being a trainee here in France.

The rest of my AIESEC experience may just be a memory, but the things I’d want to create in the trainee community in Paris is a legacy I’d want to bring for the future. It’s now starting to feel like a family, especially when you feel that you’ve missed so much of each other when you’ve just gone away for a weekend.


AI Team 0405 at IPM '06(missing Brodie, Kamil, Matt & Migz)

AI Team Dinner??