How to fit the world into one room - EuroXpro 2010 Congress in Istanbul

  

15th of March, in front of Sabançı University, Istanbul, Turkey: around 50 tables are built up there, each of them having a small piece of paper attached. These pieces say Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Estonia, Germany, India, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Romania, Taiwan, the Netherlands, and many many more country names; many European countries, but all the other continents are present with at least one country either. On the tables you can see flags, pictures, food or other specialties from 52 countries. Around the tables you can see 180 students representing their country, trying food from other booths, getting to know each other, asking questions about other countries, laughing and joking together.
 

Still 15th of March, now in an auditorium of Sabançı University: the president of this university is welcoming these students, telling them he had been badly informed. He thought he would be talking to young leaders wearing suits and looking very busy. He says he was relieved to see he was wrong.
The people he is talking to are actually members of different AIESEC entities. Most of them are working on a national level in their country, others on a local level, but all of them have one thing in common: yes, they are young leaders, but wearing students’ clothes and looking very happy. They meet in Istanbul in order to attend a one week conference there, where they will be given input for their daily and their long-term strategic work. They will learn about new international developments. About leadership, about how to be strong, fast, smart, savvy in their respective role. And besides all that, they will learn about international friendship.
19th of March, at the conference venue near Istanbul, Turkey: like every morning, our conference chair is calling every country present at the conference. There is only one delegate originally from Tunisia, Aziz, and he has lost his voice after some days of intense talks. The people next to him, coming from Canada, Australia and Morocco, step up on stage with Aziz, who had planned to do a little performance, perform with him and use their voice for “translating” what Aziz is whispering.
21st of March, still at the conference venue, some delegations have already gone due to early flights back home. Those delegates who are still there are sitting on their chairs, sharing addresses, having last talks to those delegates and conference team members who really had an impact on them.
People who had an impact on others… I start thinking about those who had an impact on me on this conference. What is it that made them so special to me? There are trainers who have delivered excellent sessions. Who have shown us topics from different perspective, and have given us input which is relevant to all the present entities, a very difficult task when you have delegates from the founding AIESEC countries, developing their processes since 60 years, and delegates from AIESEC countries that had their first exchanges last year. But also delegates had a huge impact on me. There are the LCPs from Poland, Czech Republic, Russia and Estonia, with whom I had long discussions on what Exchange means to them and how they deliver it which brought me lots of new ideas. Their willingness to help us, to provide us with support based on their experience was overwhelming for me. There is Hege, the only Norwegian delegate, giving me deep insights into what leadership means to her, and making me feel very well understood in every second we’ve been talking to each other, inviting me to Oslo for summer. There is also the German delegation, 10 people who managed to feel as one delegation without sticking together all the time. 10 people who learned a lot, shared a lot, laughed a lot, gathered input on different topics in order to put it all together back in Germany, 10 people who enjoyed a great time, making new friendships within and without the delegation, learning not only about AIESEC but also about other cultures.

Today I had a look at the pictures I took in Istanbul. We are back in Germany for two weeks already, but looking at the pictures I still feel as if it were only two days. I’m still carrying this atmosphere of 52 countries in one room, sharing, learning, discussing, supporting each other inside my head. This conference was my first international one, and I feel very privileged having lived this experience. The functional input was extraordinary, the network we established will help us a lot throughout our work in the next months, the people we met will stay our friends, the fun we had will still make us smile when we’ll think back from time to time.
Especially the moments when we had small group discussions and when the smaller delegations were supported by delegates from other countries in their shouts or dances, have shown me how gifted we all are to be part of an organisation which has the power to bring so many nationalities together in such an exceptional atmosphere of true international friendship.
Irina