Conference Withdrawal... or Capturing Learning?

I've been to five international conferences in my AIESEC career so far. As far as Germany, Poland, India, the Netherlands and most recently Egypt. Although conferences are only one part of our work... it can be one of the most powerful learning environments we provide - the impact of having such a large network of individuals in one place.

Now that I am almost coming to the end of my formal AIESEC leadership stage...I am reminicing about my international conference experiences. I'm getting flashbacks of faces, events and emotions from conferences. The music, the presentations, the thoughtful conversations. These are experiences worth far more than the $3000 debt I have in my bank account right now. Far more. I would never trade anything in the world for my network of friends, my memories of internationalism and the insights into different cultures. The knowledge that AIESEC does make such a difference to people's lives.

• Out of all my international conferences... ICs are the most breath-taking in its magnitude and IPMs (presidents meeting) are the most intimate and personal. Both create lasting friendships with people from all over the world. Would you believe my room mate from IC 2005 became the MCP of Canada and I ended up seeing her at IPM 06, IC 06 and finally IPM 07 again? She is now the newly selected Director of AP on AIESEC International. (What are the chances?)
• I discovered for myself the true power of the AIESEC network and the worth that we have internationally. I learnt how organisations such as PwC and HP valued AIESEC talent; I learnt that exchange and conferences have the power to connect the most distant people together again and again!
• Each time I go, I gain new insight into who I am as a person - while in these foreign lands, surrounded by hundreds of youth from all over the world, leading my own delegation - challenging the way I think.
• Roll calls and AIESEC dances from all over the world. Enough said!
• It's something that is difficult to put down. Your whole year's work could start or culminate with a conference. The energy that comes from all the people around you is electrifying (that's what keeps you awake!). I'm not sick of them yet... what's next? Facilitator, OC, chair, global co-ordinator? Give me more.
• Once you've experienced a couple of international conferences/experiences you would do anything you can to continue and get more - you would/should do anything to keep going back.

Putting these experiences into the context of my journey through life - I've had lots of time to think on the 18 hour plane rides to Europe and North Africa - AIESEC is definitely something that only happens once. Once I start my life in the workforce, I would never be able to go back... to experience the energy of AIESEC events in the same way ever again. To take 3 weeks off every 6 months to make new friends and experience another slice of the world.

How the experiences change you as a person can be summed up in the words of one of our alumni, Jochen Wiegand, president of AIESEC Alumni International "AIESEC is a spirit. It never goes away". I have to know that my work is helping hundreds of individuals who are recruited after me to have the same great experience.

New Zealand is such a closed off place. I feel sorry for those who have never stepped further than Australia... but I also feel I haven't been living up to my responsibilities of ensuring that more members know and understand what it is to be part of an international organisation and the opportunities that they have.

Everyone should have at least ONE international experience in AIESEC.