BEANS!

Just back from an thoroughly fun AIESEC conference in Belfast. Er, actually, when I say "just" it was Monday but the week's gone by fairly quick with all this late night coursework.

For anyone who doesn't know what this thing is that I am becoming increasingly drawn into, AIESEC is a massive student organisation that sets up exchanges for students to work abroad. It is the world's largest student-run organisation with a presence in around 90 countries. They're the ones who looked after me in California :-) The vision is that by giving people the opportunity to work abroad, people understand more about different cultures and turn into lovely well-rounded individuals with all the neccessary skills for today's global marketplace. These are the people who are going to shape tomorrow's world so by increasing their understanding of the world we hope to gradually make it a better place.

Yes, it's quite idealistic but I think it is a great concept and you get to meet loads of people, develop professional skills and learn about all sorts of different cultures. It was our regional conference and my first AIESEC conference in Britain last weekend, and my first trip to Northern Ireland. Naturally, I loved it. I've come away from it really inspired and motivated to do great things in AIESEC. There were some absolutely amazing people there - incredibly enthusiastic people who have done huge things in the organization and passed on a wealth of knowledge and experience to us.

There was also a great deal of dancing (AIESEC has a thing about dancing), an amazing concept called Instant Theatre (Mermaids marrying Aardvarks in the Underwater Kingdom of Hull) and many silly costumes (very silly in some cases, like mine!) Presentations will never be the same again, unless water pistols, dances, role-play and jokes about Hull are included in sufficient quantities!

So - coming away with an increased passion for AIESEC, loads of confidence in what I'm doing in the organization (raising some traineeships in Edinburgh!), a greater feeling of integration wtihin the region and some excellent skills to apply. Fantastic.