AIESEC in NUS Blog

Quick Update

2008-05-24T18:58:00.003+08:00

Nabeel Khalid | Year 2 NUS | Year 2 AIESEC | NUS Branding & Communications Coordinator

I thought I'd make just a quick update... Yesterday we held a welcome dinner (thanks to Cathy for organizing it) for the new trainees that had arrived - one through an NUS and the other through an NTU account. A bunch of us were there to finally meet up with Anna and Aiina (I don't think I spelt that right!).

A lot has been going on within the various executive committees. Asia Pacific Regional Transition, MC Transition and of course, LC Transition. Now we'll have the upcoming National Planning Conference 2008 (NatPlanCon08) over the course of two weekends as most of us have internships or jobs (that means both Saturday and Sunday also busy, yes). We're also having departmental trainings and meetings - a lot of them this weekend in fact.

There should be some pictures appearing somewhere with a link in an email or on Facebook, and as soon as I get them I'll post them up here. So check back soon!

36th Annual General Meeting 2007-08

2008-03-31T23:22:00.005+08:00

Nabeel Khalid | Year 2 NUS | Year 2 AIESEC | NUS Branding & Communications Coordinator

AIESEC in NUS has been alive since 36 years? What!?

You know, some faculty members dropped by GV and they said they remembered AIESEC from when they were students at NUS - and these faculty members were quite advanced.

Okay coming back to AGM (Annual General Meeting) - what was it about?

In a nutshell, it is a formal event (everyone wears coats and ties!) where the successes of the past year are celebrated in the presence of all the stakeholders of AIESEC in NUS. People such as Dr William Koh, a professor in the NUS School of Business, who is our teacher advisor was also present there, along with people from the MC team. There is always a speech from the incoming and outgoing president. The outgoing executive board (EBs) are bid farewell and the incoming EBs are welcomed.

This year, after Imran's introduction, it started with Mayas Singh's speech introducing AIESEC Singapore.(FYI, Imran was last year's President of AIESEC in NUS and Mayas is the incoming president of AIESEC Singapore). LCP Shubhangi Faujdar talked about some of the major accomplishments that were made by members in the past year, followed by department updates from the Incoming Exchange and Outgoing Exchange LCVPs Ashwin and Song Jie, respectively.

Jiuyu who had recently returned from a conference in Japan called APXLDS had a lot of things to share, as she made her brilliant speech. It was followed by Adrian's brief on the Finance Workshop where he clearly identified the reasons why "Strategic Investment: A Practitioner's Approach" was such a cool name for the Finance Workshop. He went on to further introduce the prominent figures of Singapore that were involved in the workshop by showing some pictures from the events.

Snigdha then spoke about the PBoX (Project Based on Exchange) that she and Vasudha have been working on and shared some of the things each and everyone of us can do to save the environment. It was followed by my slideshow presentation about GV and I suppose you can read the previous post to know more about it and see more pictures too.

Henri came on stage as Honorary General Secretary to announce awards for the members. Dr William Koh, our guest of honour, was invited to give them out. Adrian (our incoming Finance VP for 2008-09) bagged two awards, while ICX bagged the best department award. There were no nominations for the best dancer award among new members so no award was given out (I think Shubhangi's superior dancing skills overshadow potentially good dancers).

Here are the details of the Rewards and Recognition (R&R) 2007/2008:

LC Best Department Award
Incoming Exchange

LC Leadership Award
Chang Siew Yik

LC Member Excellence Award
Justine Lim Shi Wan

LC Best New Member Award
Zhou Jiuyu

LC Best Team Player Award
Adrian Ong Liang Kiat

OGX Department Excellence Award
Teo Kah Ming

ICX Department Excellence Award
Meet Shroff

ER Department Excellence Award
Tan Yanling

Finance Department Excellence Award
Adrian Ong Liang Kiat

PD Department Excellence Award
Hanna Khalid

Service Department Excellence Award
Tye Mei Peng

LC Mr. Candor Award
Nabeel Khalid

LC Best Dancer (Seniors) Award
Shubhangi Faujdar

LC Most Enthu (Seniors) Award
Cathy Chan

LC Most Enthu (New Members) Award
Wenny Natalia

The outgoing EBs held a special introduction ceremony for the new EBs who are a crazy bunch of people (myself included - in both categories!). It must have been quite a sight for the audience to see the entire leadership of AIESEC in NUS for two years on stage.

Siew Yik had some words to share about what his focus as next year's LCP would be. Imran did the closing after which everyone ~~ran~~ headed out to eat and drink (and be merry). Some people were surprised there were no curry puffs, which is like, tradition for such events because of budget constraints, but the food was really expensive tasting (that means it was good). Most members didn't bother coming, which is okay because we had a lot to eat that way. Haha!

Unfortunately, we didn't take many pictures but you can see the pictures that we did take by clicking here.

First Global Village by @ NUS

2008-03-31T17:58:00.007+08:00

Nabeel Khalid | Year 2 NUS | Year 2 AIESEC | NUS Branding & Communications Coordinator

GV (Global Village) was a first-of-its-kind event for AIESEC Singapore and let me explain why before you say anything. I mean sure, we always have a GV at every AIESEC conference and it is always more spectacular than before. But AIESEC conferences are attended by AIESECers only, and people outside of AIESEC never get a chance to witness GV. So the GV event at NUS was an attempt to try to give that same feeling to non-AIESECers (and perhaps, draw them towards AIESEC).

It was held at the Central Forum at NUS (right below the Central Library) which is one of the busiest spots in NUS, enjoying a traffic of thousands of students. I was the project's director and I had an amazing Organizing Committee (OCP and OCVPs - all brilliant). We had a good idea of what we wanted to do and what we wanted to see happen at the Central Forum. Unfortunately we could only do so much in 1.5 months. Nevertheless, the event can be best described as having mixed success.

We had Indian, Malaysian, Pakistani, Sikh and Thai cultural stalls, apart from the stalls put up by AIESECers, which included a display of different hats from around the world and AIESEC T-shirts from different countries and conferences. I may have some bias when I say it was a fascinating display that was put up by all the stalls.

While some stalls gave out brochures and other published materials about their countries, others displayed teachings or items depicting their culture. My favourite stall was the Pakistani stall put up by PakNUS (bias alert! bias alert!). They had free bangles to give away and they were also applying henna (mehndi, a.k.a. temporary tattoo) for FREE! (I got the star and moon from the Pakistani flag on one hand and the Ashoka Chakra (wheel) from the Indian flag on the other, as you can see in the first picture above.)

But I think the most popular stall was the one with the hats from around the world - it was empty most of the time - because everyone would steal the hats to camera whore! It was quite a sight, really, as you can judge from some of the pictures.

Coincidently BTMICE (sector of Business Travel, Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions) and the Services Communications department of the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) were organizing an overseas media familiarization trip for international journalists in conjunction with the upcoming Singapore Education (SE) Awards 2008.

The 5 media finalists nominated for "SE Awards Best Media Coverage" [Print and Broadcast] were to visit NUS on the 27th of March - the same day as GV, and one of the highlights was a campus tour - so how could they miss the Central Forum! (Especially since one of the reasons for NUS to invite them over was: "The NUS student community comprises a cosmopolitan mix of over 32,000 students from 88 countries, contributing to a vibrant and thriving campus life." How much more relevant could GV be?)

For your information, by the way, NUS is a nominee for ‘Best Host for International Students Studying in Singapore (Schools)' for SE Awards 2008, so NUS surely must have benefitted from GV. When they came over, they had an entire camera crew that took pictures of the people present, as well as videos of a couple of AIESEC dances ("It's the time to disco!").

Some scandalous pictures:

Public displays of affection girls? Get a room!

Moochie moochie

Domestic violence!

Uh-oh! Here we go again...

To view the entire album, please click here.

The Longest Post Ever!

2008-03-06T09:30:00.002+08:00

News News News!
Nabeel Khalid | Year 2 NUS | Year 2 AIESEC | NUS Branding & Communications Coordinator

More pictures below!

As dead as this blog may be, for your kind information, a lot goes on in @ in NUS. For starters, we already have some of our EB elects and LCP elect. Presenting the @ in NUS Executive Board for 2008-09:

LCP: Chang Siew Yik
LC VP Finance: Adrian Ong Lian Kiat
LC VP In-coming Exchange: Vasudha Ram
LC In-coming Exchange Executive: Audrey Wong
LC VP Business Development: Shonit Suri
LC Business Developement Executive: Wenny Natalia Tango
LC VP Talent Management: Muhammad Usman Aslam Mahar
LC VP Information Management: Nabeel Khalid
LC Honorary General Secretary: Yap Hui Ying

We're having another round of applications for the remaining positions available and the deadline to apply is 25th March, 2008! So hurry here (Right-click and open in new window/tab):
LC VP Out-going Exchange
LC VP Communications
LC Out-going Exchange Executive

Maybe I should share with you my personal experience in going through the unique evaluation process our LCPe Siew Yik made us all go through. But first, let me *warn* you guys about what's coming up next in AIESEC in NUS...

If you like free lunches, and if any of your answers to the following questions is 'yes', then you should come to the "Living with HIV" CSR programme by Standard Chartered Bank:

Do you want to know about Standard Chartered Bank's CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) strategy?
Do you want to hear about the live story from the regional director of Standard Chartered Bank?
Do you want to have networking launch with the professionals from Standard Chartered Bank?

Click here for more on this.
(Right-click to open in new window/tab.)

Or maybe these corporate events aren't your thing, or there's a clash with a class or date or something? What if you have a thing for six-course dinners? Not to mention delicious coffee, food and learning! Answer 'yes' to any of these questions and then click the link below:

Wondering what to do on a Saturday evening with the one you love?
Do you want to have a hesitant-free conversation about safe sex with your loved one?

Click here to learn more about "Coffee with Love @ Geek Terminal".
(Right-click to open in new window/tab.)

Or fine. You don't have sex and you're saving yourself for marriage or whatever! What if finance is your thing? You know, Strategic Investing and what not. This event builds on the success of last year's Finance Workshop that received very positive feedback.
Take a look at this event by clicking here.
(Right-click to open in new window/tab.)

Too many blocks of text have been starting with 'Or' in this post. I wanna try something new here now. Have you heard about the "Global Village" event held at most AIESEC conferences? Some of us decided to share that event with the ENTIRE NUS community! For real!

AIESEC in NUS is holding Global Village on the 27th of March and the entire OC has been working really hard to make this event possible. All an AIESECer needs to do is to show up at the Central Forum (the big area below Central Library in NUS), wear an AIESEC t-shirt that we have designed and check out all the different cultures NUS has to offer and see them merge under AIESEC! (Psst, there would be cultural performances between 1 pm and 2 pm so you better leave early or the traffic could be really bad then - since so many people will be on their way to the event!)

Oh, did I mention it's on the 27th of March? I guess I did, but did I say it's a Thursday? From 10 am to 6 pm! (We need volunteers for the day and we have our eye on you... tee hee. You will, come, yes?)

About 0.0005% of you who are still reading this and wondering why I still haven't talked about what I promised long ago - here is the story of how we got selected for EB!:

First of all there was this annoyingly long form we filled out that was full of personal questions. Well, it wasn't a bad form but I'm sure you've been through times when you try to think about your future or your past and it gives you headaches - you know what I mean?! (Okay maybe it's just me who gets headaches when I do self-reflections.)

We submitted our forms right before the witching-hour ( deadline 11:59 pm) on a Tuesday night (19th February) - smack in the middle of the week when I had another assignment due at the SAME time. Tsk tsk... Shouldn't leave out stuff to do at the last minute!

Submission on time was one challenge but next up we had to go through the first round of assessment. All the EB applicants were given a task that they would complete and as they would make progress, they would be judged! What a sad world we live in - a brother judging another brother eh, Siew Yik? Just kidding...

Our assessment task was to plan and execute an event involving the whole LC (about 100 odd members). We had a budget of $100 and four days to do it. The goal of the event was to get the members to interact with each other.

Did I mention there were 17 applicants applying for 8 positions in the executive board? Talk about stressful situations!

But it wasn't so stressful really. I mean, sure, we did have a 2.5 hour discussion (17 people trying to agree on one thing) to finalize exactly WHAT we would do on that fine Sunday evening. We decided on a costume party of some sort, which changed into a theme party over extended email conversations later on. We split ourselves into departments like Programs, Logistics, Publicity and Finance. Finance was also given the charge to overlook the progress of all the 'departments' in the 'OC'.

The theme we decided upon (at an "emergency meeting" held on the following Friday) was Retro/'60s/'70s. Bow ties, baggy trousers, tight shirts and the like (I think!). Despite booking limitations on Sundays in NUS, we managed to book a function room in PGPR and we managed to prepare food for 50+ people within a $100 bucks.

Feat? Yes.

Turnout?

Not so good. It turned out that despite literally CALLING EACH MEMBER we still weren't able to get members down for our spectacular event on such short notice.

But the event itself was quite a success if I may pass my own (biased) judgment. Because we got people to have fun, eat good food (bias - it was South Asian-ish food), and interact with each other (bias again - I was emceeing =P).

Later that night, the evil LCPe sent out the results of the first round of evaluation. We had to see 4 of our team members be removed from our team, despite all the hard work they had put in and despite all the amazing things they were able to offer by being part of our team. It was sad and also a tad bit demotivating for the rest of us who progressed on to the second round.

I would like to call the second round the "grilling" round. No, they didn't test our barbecue skills. Quite the contrary. They barbecued us! They cooked us! They baked us! They fried our brains!

They were members from the current MC team, the MC elects, the current LCP and the LCPe. They asked us questions that challenged us to the extent that we started doubting ourselves. It was intense to say the least. What were our plans? How were we going to measure our success? What numbers can we predict? Questions asked with past performance in mind and questions about future performance...

But as we understood later, it was because there was a difference in their expectations of us and our expectations of ourselves. They wanted us to be more pro-active than we could imagine; to step out of our comfort zones more than we thought we could; to create a difference and create more positive impact on our society than we thought we could.

Out of the 13 remaining applicants wanting to fill in 8 VP positions, (plus some Executive positions) only those listed in the beginning of this post were able to make it.

It has been an intense yet fun experience that most of us found strangely stimulating and motivating.

Now we return to our mid-terms and normal school life for a while before we start assuming our new positions in AIESEC and start a new phase in the LR stage (leadership role). Do wish us luck for our term!

Food station - cooks and helpers!

Random scene from the event.

Posers!

And more posers!

Check out ALL the pictures by clicking here.
Or click here to view the Facebook album.

Executive Board Applications 2008-09 Open!

2008-02-11T13:30:00.000+08:00

Chang Siew Yik | Year 2 NUS | Year 2 AIESEC | NUS Vice President of People Development

Hey AIESEC!!

How have your involvement in AIESEC so far?
How have your past 6 months of AIESEC Experience been?
Are you ready to go on to the next stage?
Are you willing to take up the challenge?
Are you looking up for further opportunities?

NUS EB 0809 applications are now open !!
For further information, please visit the link below
http://myaiesec.net/content/viewwiki.do?contentid=10004965#

Deadline: 19^th February 2008, 23:59hrs

Also, fill up the Senior member progression questionnaire to tell us how YOU would like to be involved and how the EB team of 0809 can support your learning and development !

Download the Senior Progression Questionnaire via the following link.
http://myaiesec.net/content/viewfile.do?contentid=10004956

Send your EB application or senior member progression questionnaire to chang86yik@gmail.com.

For any queries, kindly contact chang86yik@gmail.com or shubhangifaujdar@gmail.com for more information.

ICX & ER Mid Term Report

2008-02-05T13:32:00.000+08:00

Hi all,

Please find the AIESEC Singapore 2007/2008 Incoming Exchange and External Relations Mid term Report below:

http://www.myaiesec.net/content/adminfile.do?contentid=10005027

Cheers!

Imran

Life of a Singaporean in Pakistan

2008-02-02T03:10:00.000+08:00

Zafirah Mohamed was MCP of Singapore in the term 2005-2006 and she is a graduate of NUS. Here, she shares her experience of living in Pakistan as an AIESEC trainee five months on.

Hey everyone!

Hope you're all doing well. Here in Pakistan it's business as usual. I "visited" Singapore last week for a wedding, and have now returned to Karachi. It's a long email here, recapping thoughts and sharing experiences. So read on only if you have time!

It's been eventful in the past 5 months, and having it peaceful like now, it's quite strange I must say. In Karachi we've had the floods in July/August, the first Benazir assasination attempt, the Karachi Express train derailed, the state of emergency imposed by Musharraf, the assasination of Benazir, post Benazir fiasco, and now upcoming elections. Quite exciting times indeed!

Truth be told, I can now understand why most Pakistani's have become numb to political developments in the country. I still remember when the state of emergency was declared. Us interns were so worried, yet the Pakistani AIESECers shrugged it off as no big deal. Today, we read the newspapers and nothing surprises us anymore. The worst seems to have already happened, one of Pakistan's most influential political leader was killed and no particular group has been identified as being responsible for her death.

And now with elections around the corner, everyone is looking forward for it to be OVER. It doesn't matter who wins, as long as there is somebody! Because then there is certainty and with certainty, whether good or bad will bring stability because people know what to expect and how to deal with the circumstances.

Anyway, politics aside...

I was once asked about how women are treated here in Pakistan. And I am being totally frank here, (albeit with a bit of humour) the women are loved, respected, but sometimes overprotected. Being a woman I am entitled to priviledges that men never enjoy. For example:

1) in bargaining for the rickshaw, all I need is a tilt of the head and pleading eyes and the drivers just sigh..... and give in to my asking price! :)

2) If I were driving, I would always get my way on the roads. ALWAYS, no questions asked!

3) If in the elevator, men would squeeze themselves like sardines into the corners to allow me to get on, and even then still give me lots of breathing room!

Generally, living alone in Pakistan as a woman is really quite safe. However in career development, it is still evolving. Mindsets are being challenged within less educated families as it is not accepted for a daughter to be working, what more developing a career? Making an independent, individualistic choice by the daughter is virtually unheard of. From my interactions with young ladies here who have finished their education, from both better-off families and poor families, these ladies have limited options. This is because what they want to do in their own future is determined by their family's approval. e.g. getting married, starting a family.

Of course there are ladies who are given the opportunity to develop their own talents, pursue their chosen careers, and not protected from making their own mistakes and learning from them. However these cases are rare, from what I observe, looking at the number of women entrusted with top management positions.

As a trainee, we can observe, question and hopefully inspire positive change in this environment we are in. Through daily interactions, conversations, and leading by example. Which brings me to my point! (Yes, this long email has a purpose, especially for those that might be considering but haven't decided on exchange yet!)

Through the AIESEC experience, we hope to develop change agents with entrepreneurial, socially responsible, active learner, etc.. characteristics. Which seems like a lot of fluff for me when I was a new member! And I never really understood how effective it really is, until NOW! Exchange is and should remain the most integral part, because it just makes everything fall into place.

Being here in Pakistan has challenged me, changed me, made me realise even more what I am capable of, what I need to do, what my life purposes are, and how I can get there.

For those that are applying for exchange I wish you all the best and may you realise your potential even more!

For those that are still thinking about going for exchange.... I'd say just go for it! Don't let the opportunity pass because there may not be a next time later on...

For those undecided where to go for exchange.... Come to Pakistan! What you see on TV is just a tiny fraction of life events here, and if I can survive for this long, so can you. I believe we have a few development traineeships and management traineeships available. If you're interested, drop me a mail :)

All the best!

Zafirah Mohamed

AIESEC Singapore Member Committee 2008/2009

2008-02-01T12:30:00.001+08:00

Hi all,

Proudly presenting the finalized Member Committee 2008/2009 of AIESEC Singapore -

Director of Programme – Incoming Exchange : Ashwin Subramaniam
Director of Programme – Outgoing Exchange : Yuan Tian
MCVP Business Development : Lucia Deng Lu
MCVP Projects : Grace Chen
MCVP Talent Management : Shubhangi Faujdar
MCVP Communications : Cheryl Chen
MCVP Information Management : Li Jun
MCVP Finance : Esviyola Debrila
MC Honorary General Secretary : Cathy Chan
MC President : Mayas Singh

It is also my great pleasure to announce that for the first time in many many years, we have a full team, where all the portfolios in the MC are represented.

I would like to give my heartiest *congratulations* to the MC candidates who bravely went through the elections and the selection interviews and finally made it into the MC!! :)

Best Regards,
Mayas

AIESEC Singapore 2007 Exchange Results

2008-01-12T15:33:00.000+08:00

Hey AIESEC!

I am pleased to inform you that for the calendar year of 2007, AIESEC Singapore has realized 70 exchanges! This is a 50% increase from 2006, of 46 exchanges!!

There were 47 incoming exchanges, from 36 in 2006, and 23 incoming exchanges, from 12 in 2006! Our incoming and outgoing numbers are 4 and 3 times those of 2004.

Thanks to the hard work of the members, leadership teams, and the legacies and advice of alumni, interns and supporters, AIESEC Singapore continues its commitment to realize even more life-changing exchange experiences! We really look forward to even more exchanges and engagement of all our members, alumni, interns and partners, because you lift us to where we are now.

We can definitely improve, in fact of our raised internships and interns, less than 50% in 2007 were realized. Therefore improving our processes by just 50% will make us reach 100 exchanges in 2008! The AIESEC Singapore Member Committee is definitely committed to make sure we constantly improve and if you have any ideas how we can, do let us know!

Wish you all the best in your endeavours, and keep in touch!

Kind regards,
--
Mohamad Imran
Vice President External Relations
AIESEC Singapore 2007/2008

70 Stamford Road, #B1-48
Li Ka Shing Library Building
Singapore 178901

Email: mohamad.imran@aiesec.net
Office: +65 63385308
Mobile: +65 96925144
www.aiesec.org.sg

“Powering Forward”

-----------------------------

Exchange Partners:
ABN Amro
DHL
Electrolux
UBS

Event Partners:
PricewaterhouseCoopers
DHL
TPS Corporate Services

Official Pen:
Pilot Pen

Meet The People Session!

2008-01-10T12:45:00.000+08:00

Hey AIESEC,

A very happy New Year to you all!

We will have the Meet the People session in our LC on the 14th January at 7:30 pm in LT 18, NUS Business School! *Woo Hoo*

So, what is a Meet the People Session?

Well, its your opportunity to know the candidates running for MCP, MC, LCP and NST! Now is your chance to ask them the things you want to know about them. (Opportunity to grill them...hehe)! Your questions can be anything from funny ice breaking questions (like- which fruit you would want to be) to technical AIESEC questions (like- what will you do to improve the 5 sub systems in AIESEC)! This is your golden opportunity to also prepare yourselves about your leadership roles in future! To think about the organisation deeply and to hear from these people what they feel about various things in life.

I am really happy to announce that for the post of LCP, AIESEC in NUS we have 2 candidates:
1. Chang Siew Yik
2. Ruby Nguyen

For MC there are 3 candidates from AIESEC NUS:
1. Cathy Chan
2. Ashwin Subramaniam
3. Shubhangi Faujdar

For National Support Team, NUS has 1 candidate:
1. Mohamad Imran

And there are more people from other LCs running for the leadership team.

Help create the future of AIESEC Singapore by making the right choice, by knowing the people who are running. Come down for the Meet The People Session!

Looking forward to seeing you all!
Shub
You can call me at 97340672 for any further enquiries about the Meet The People Session!

NLDS Registration Form

2007-11-22T17:10:00.000+08:00

Nabeel Khalid | Year 2 NUS | Year 2 AIESEC | NUS Branding & Communications Coordinator

Guys, solely for your convenience, I've uploaded the registration form for NLDS here.
(Opens a page that has a link to download the .xls file. If the link doesn't work for some reason, you can also try clicking here.)

The deadline is November 25th, 2359 hours, so act fast!
(The form is a very simple Excel sheet to fill out that shouldn't take more than 3 minutes to fill.)

Some more details about the conference

Main Conference Venue: NUS
Gala Dinner Venue: SMU

NLDS Website: Click here

Delegate Fee

90 SGD for local delegates
110 SGD for international delegates

ONLY FOR NUS - Delegates staying on-campus in NUS will get a $20 refund after the conference!

Conference Fee Includes

Four days of conference, accommodation, and food
Gala Dinner cum Rewards & Recognition Night - a formal dinner gathering all delegates, alumni, interns and stakeholders of AIESEC Singapore
Global Village - an evening of diversity and celebration of cultures
Developing Leaders Day - a full day of workshops by externals around Leadership

To Sign-up
Send the application form to singapore@aiesec.net
(Or fill in the survey on aiesec.net Singapore community - requires login)

NLDS Promo

[YouTube link]

AIESEC Videos!

2007-10-15T19:43:00.000+08:00

Nabeel Khalid | Year 2 NUS | Year 2 AIESEC | NUS Branding & Communications Coordinator

Guys, I have great news for all AIESECers!

I know many of us have had trouble finding AIESEC videos on youtube and elsewhere. Now all you need to do is go here:

http://aiesec.magnify.net/
OR
http://aiesecvideos.com/

You can even make a playlist and I think this is a great platform that is now available to us all. It is time to connect better and share more with each other!

So jump in, create a profile, upload stuff, make a playlist and lets get it started!

PS. Don't get carried away!

The Leadership Soft Skill Seminar

2007-10-07T22:36:00.000+08:00

Are you tired of studying the same old books?

Are you tired of going to classes that don't teach you anything?

Do you fear you do not possess the skills you need?

Do you think you need to unleash the leader inside of you?

Well, wait no more!

AIESEC in NUS brings to you the Leadership Soft-skill seminar!

Yes that's right! Our very own professor William Koh from NUS will be coming over to share ideas and facts about leadership and working in groups. And he is coming especially for us AIESECers!

(Psst, Prof Koh is this really cheerful and passionate guy who also has a great sense of humour. He knows a lot about past and present leaders and knows what makes them so unique .)

When?
Friday October 12, 2007
6:00 pm to 9:00 pm

Where?
NUS Business School, LT 18

Who can come?
Any AIESECer from any LC who wants to get out of their comfort zone on a Friday evening to learn something. Just drop a mail to Shubhangi!!!

Do I Pay anything?

Just your Attention!!!!

See you all in NUS this Friday :) AIESEC Rocks the house!!!!!

Tata Crucible International - Business Quiz

2007-10-03T03:11:00.000+08:00

Liana Tirta | Year 3 NUS | Year 2 AIESEC | NUS Vice-President ER

Dear NUS AIESECers,

Rev up your think tanks, The Ultimate Business Quiz is here! The first ever Tata Crucible International storms into Singapore on 24th October 2007!

Not only will the Business Quiz receive wide media coverage (Channel News Asia), Dr Vivian Balakrishnan (Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports & Second Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts) will also be gracing the event as the Guest of Honour.

Why you must participate

Fantastic prizes to be won:

Winning team will get cash prize of S$7000
First runner up team gets cash prize of S$3000
Second runner up team gets cash prize of S$2000

Entry is free, so hurry register now!

http://www.tatacrucible.com/intl/

To help you prepare!

There will be a briefing session exclusively for NUS AIESEC members on Monday, 8^th Oct 2007 at 6pm at NUS Business School (exact venue TBC)

You could also email me Lianna@nus.edu.sg to borrow a copy of Tata Crucible quiz book and VCD.

You could also come by the Business School Career Resource Library to browse through the copy of the Tata Crucible quiz book and view the VCD of the National Finals in India.

http://www.tatacrucible.com/intl/

We look forward to your active participation!

What is Tata?

The TATA Group is one of India's largest and most respected business conglomerates comprising of 96 operating companies in seven business sectors: information systems and communications; engineering; materials; services; energy; consumer products; and chemicals). It has operations in more than 85 countries across six continents, and its companies export products and services to 80 countries. Its annual revenue is estimated to be about US$ 28.8 billion (for 2006/07), and about US$ 49 billion inclusive of Corus, UK (acquired by Tata Steel).

History of Tata Crucible - The Business Quiz in India
Tata Crucible was launched in India in 2004 for young corporates across 8 cities, followed by a contest for campus students focused on Business schools and Engineering colleges, since they aspire to a career in business. Besides huge participation, the quiz in India has become famous for its sheer quality, and a commissioned research found that students of participating colleges rated the Campus Quiz the highest amongst all ground level quizzes.

‘Tata Crucible International - Business Quiz' seeks to bring together the sharpest young minds in

Singapore

to take on the heat of a very challenging business quiz. It is a quiz with multiple visual and audio-visual rounds of questions from the world of business administered to the participants (in teams of two) at a common venue. Post the initial rounds, the top 8 teams battle for the honours on stage in front of the rest of the participating teams.

National Sales Training

2007-10-01T11:38:00.000+08:00

Jainita Dadlani | Year 4 NUS | Year 1 AIESEC | @ Department: ER

"I feel like Chee Soon Juan," quipped Imran, much to my amusement, in his opening lines on Saturday 29th September at the National Sales Training held in SMU. For those of you who are unaware, Chee Soon Juan is an ex NUS psychology professor who is (in)famous in his capacity as Secretary-General of the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), for orchestrating rallies in public.

So why the reference to a political dissenter? Because believe it or not, our training session was held on the steps of some random empty space in the middle of SMU, after having been caught trying to sneak non-SMU AIESECers up the lift to the seminar room. After all this drama, we traipsed about in search of alternative space, but not before grabbing some breakfast along the way from this place that sells cheap and yummy tea drinks and toast. With our food and drink in tow, we all got comfy on the steps. Despite the unconventional setting and the lack of technological aid, the training session was a rather fruitful one. Presenters who had spent hours preparing elaborate powerpoint slides, had to suddenly change tactic to find ways to keep us engaged. This struck me as an interesting attestation to the AIESECer spirit and ability to think on our feet.

We started off by getting acquainted through a round of a “speed-dating” icebreaker game, which helped loosen up the atmosphere and got everyone somewhat acquainted with all the new faces. My head was still reeling from all the new names and faces when a bunch of handouts with information about AIESEC was passed around. I braced myself for more information overload, haha.

Imran, as the key speaker for the day, led the training session, equipping us with the best ways to sell AIESEC, how to be intuitive and read the signs during a meeting with big scary corporate people, the right questions to ask and the various ways in which AIESEC products, with their features, benefits and advantages, can be packaged to convince potential investors to give us a chance.

To make things interesting, Imran interspersed his “speech” (no powerpoint remember) with inspiring quotes. One quote that I can remember off the top of my head is, “You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions.” This was meant to encourage us to create a 2-way process of communication through effective dialogue between AIESEC and various business corporations. To give us a feel of this dialogue process, we took turns to role play as Managers and AIESECers. I think the line, “AIESEC is the international platform for young people to discover and develop their potential,” is ingrained on my mind forever because of the number of times I repeated it during our role-playing. This raised questions about how to avoid coming across as sounding scripted and mechanical. In response, Imran cited experience as the best way for being able to mean what you say.

We also went through the dry but important legal aspects of contracts and agreements. This was followed by pizza for lunch (yum!). After lunch, we had a quick session on branding and communications. (Everyone was quite restless by then!) We ended off with a requisite cam-whoring session! Fun! For those of you who couldn’t make it, you missed a great training session!

NUS @ers at National Sales Training

NTU @ers at National Sales Training

SMU @ers at National Sales Training

Cool stuff!!!

2007-09-17T05:59:00.000+08:00

Hey AIESEC!

AIESEC Corporate Video

AIESEC Students Video

AIESEC Expansion Story

Watch, and be inspired!

Visit the Creatures of the Night - Night Safari!

2007-09-16T21:42:00.000+08:00

Below is the experience of Carlo Antonio Dottore, the NUS CEEDer from Italy, when he went for the Night Safari trip organized by AIESEC in NTU:

Great organization for the visit to the Night Safari of Singapore by the guys of AIESEC in NTU. A small group of 7 people spent 3 and half hours wondering about the shows offered by night creatures such as Flying Squirrels, Malayan Tigers and Leopards.

Arrived at the NS at 8:30 we started going around in the zoo, shocked and confused by the tribal dancers’ bongos. A quick look at the Bridge of Suspense, to strange kinds of bearded pigs, cute striped deers and huge buffaloes and then straight to the “Creatures of the Night Show”. The Show was really entertaining with the exhibitions of owls flying through the crowd, jumping Pumas and Big Pitons just under the seats, and a very funny girl joking with the crowd, with children and with her assistants.

After the show, back to the trail to enjoy other animals.

We went through a small area where bats could fly just above our heads… Seems that bats are friendly animals as long as you don’t provoke them… Anyhow, nobody expected to see 70 cm big bats. The NS was about to close and we just had the chance to catch the last tram taking us to an area not accessible by foot, where you could see huge Elephants and other creatures.

Thanks to Alvin, LCP of AIESEC in NTU for organizing such an interesting, funny and marvellous trip.

Distinguished CSR Lecture with Mr. Muthuraman

2007-09-15T08:31:00.000+08:00

Below is the post written by Weizi Lim who is a senior member of AIESEC in NUS!!! Weizi is one of the Sales Executive in NUS now and a very charming person :)...

The Fullerton Hotel with its opulent settings was the venue for the Singapore Compact Distinguished Lecture by Mr. B. Muthuraman, Managing Director of Tata Steel, titled “The Real Purpose of Industrial Organizations”.

Mr. Muthuraman Addressing the Crowd!!

Mr. Muthuraman elaborated in great detail about Tata Steel and its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) projects in India, particularly in the city of Jamshedpur, where the company is based. With wide ranging projects from sports academies to rural outreach programs to HIV/AIDS initiatives, Tata Steel channels 6 to 7 percent of its yearly profits back to the community. In this material world where profits regularly take centre stage, it is indeed refreshing to hear about the benevolence of a multinational company such as Tata.

But many may be wondering why Tata is contributing so much of their money to CSR programs. Why not use this money to expand and establish the company? An interesting point raised by Mr. Muthuraman was the fact that no individual or organization had the right to corner a substantial part of the economy or wealth for themselves. Wealth, as he so eloquently puts it, comes from nature and not individuals. Therefore, every citizen of the world has the right to a piece of this cake. But what happens when the cake is not evenly distributed? We live in a world where there is a widening social and economic gap; where there are families struggling to feed their young while certain individuals dine and wine in luxurious restaurants. How then do we close this gap? The answer, says Mr. Muthuraman, lies in creating equal opportunities for all irrespective of race, gender or background. Governments, NGOs and MNCs should not only be actively involved in the development of a nation’s economy but also in the development of its citizens. In his own words, CSR is not about charity but about the empowerment of citizens everywhere.

Tata Group of Industries are very closely associated with AIESEC and AIESEC in India, in particular. Mr. Muthuraman also asked organizations like AIESEC to create more awareness among the youth!!

The AIESECers in the HOUSE!!!!

A great afternoon of Learning, Fun and Networking!!

All in all, it was a great afternoon of learning, fun and also networking. With so many companies in attendance, it was heartening to see that beneath their cool, corporate exterior lie a social conscience to contribute back to the community. At the end of the day the question we have to genuinely ask ourselves is: What are our responsibilities to the people and the world around us?

P.S. This event was attended by 4 people from AIESEC in NUS: Weizi Lim, Zhou Mingru, Tiang Ker Ying and Shubhangi Faujdar!!

Imran's Turkey Experience

2007-09-06T12:47:00.000+08:00

Its been a pretty long hiatus in Turkey.

I left Singapore on the night of the 13th of August, returned on the night of 1st of September. I've missed a lot and school wise, AIESEC wise, sleep wise, I have lots to catch up on.Still, I had a great time in Turkey!

Who was I with?

For the first 5 days: Pam, Sharon, Shubby, Cheryl, Ker Ying, William
Mayas and Alvin joined us at the Asia Pacific Growth Network Premeeting & then Vi, quite a bit later on the 24th.

What did we do?

The first day in Turkey, we explored the public transport, taking a subway then a tram from the airport to a hostel in Sultanahmet, a district in Istanbul. (www.cordialhouse.com if anyone wants to know, they're accessible and the guy in charge is helpful)There, we were persuaded to go to Capadoccia(Kapadokya), which was a good thing. Cos its BE-YOU-TIFUL. We went up mountains & cliffs, hiked in thousands of years old valleys, visited cave houses dug into the cliffs, underground cities, chapels, and even went horse riding :)

Thus if anyone wants to go to Turkey and for 3 days wants to have a great time I would suggest Kapadokya, and definitely go with a group, its a really fun experience. Really felt I got to know the rest(especially Cheryl and William whom I am acquainted with the least amongst the 7 of us) a lot more personally, and see other sides of them apart from the 'AIESEC' side, ha.

When we were in Istanbul for our first day, we basically visited all the touristy spots, which isn't bad at all. The Aya Sofia and the Blue Mosque are really stunning, and we visited the Basilica Cistern which was used to store water back in the day, that was really beautiful as well. You can literally imagine history unfolding before your eyes as you walk up and down Istanbuls cultural heritage area. The whole of Turkey, from what I heard, and saw, in fact, is littered with icons and memories of the past. Very interesting. We took the overnight bus from Istanbul to Kapadokya and you basically know the story from there.

A typical breakfast(I say typical cos its the same breakfast regardless you're on the plane, in a hostel or at a university campus) consists of bread, hard boiled egg, cheddar cheese, cottage cheese, cucumber, tomato and olives. Every single day. Other meals get a bit more varied though. Turkish food is really not bad at all, even on the campus, but it has lots, I mean LOTS of yogurt and cream. And there's NO chilli sauce, no sambal, nothing, only chilli flakes which in Singapore you would only find in pizza places and the like. But that's ok, we still enjoyed the Doner Kebaps, Adana Kebaps, Urfa Kebaps, Iskender Kebaps, the Pides and all the various other stuff we didn't know the names of. For desserts there are stuff like the famous baklava, kunefe(I like this), also rice pudding, chocolate pudding, etc.

How was International Congress?

I have to say that probably as a 'veteran', this being my 2nd IC, it didn't have half as much of a 'rah-rah' effect on me as last year's IC in Poland had.At the same time, it was a great event, I went in with quite a number of objectives, which I'm glad to say were mostly fulfilled.

I had to take care of negotiations with the MENA(Middle East & North Africa) region to secure exchange partnerships with the countries, so I basically addressed them(with Sharon) at their pre-meeting, and also had individual country meetings with them(Jordan, Bahrain, Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, UAE, Qatar) and basically secured a supply of over 20 EPs (Exchange Participants, or interns, previously known as SNs) to Singapore for our Middle East project.At the same time we(myself, Alvin, Ker Ying, Sharon, William) had meetings with people like ING, ABN Amro, Standard Chartered Bank, Tata Consultancy Group, and interacted with people from other prominent companies and partners of AIESEC, like Electrolux, DHL, UBS, HP and Microsoft.

As 'jaded' as you can get at an IC that's not your first, nonetheless 650 delegates from 100 countries, plus externals, alumni, facilitators and AIESEC International really add to become a really huge and diverse crowd which you cannot ignore.

IC would be basically 13 days of non-stop roll calls, dancing, meeting people, discussing AIESEC, socialising, networking, and partying. Quite an experience.And no IC is the same. Turkey this year was worlds apart from the one in Poland last year, and characteristic of this IC, as someone said at our closing plenary, you are part of IC 2007 if 'your idea of having a good time is partying on a tennis court and making out in the forest after'. Which connected to all of us cos the parties WERE in a tennis court converted to a 'party area' and there were no mixed dorms, strictly single-sex ones and thus when people were feeling touchy they had to go to the forest-y park nearby on the benches and make out.

Never a dull moment.

Its interesting to observe as well, that with 650 people plus, around you all the time, its surprisingly easy to feel very alone as well. I guess that is just part of the great paradox that is life. Also, it does take energy to be able to interact with everyone, all the time. You have to think of things to say, you have to be attentive, you have to decipher the different accents(eg Latin American, African, North American, Western Europe(can be broken down to Italian, French, English), Eastern Europe, south Asian, southeast Asian, east Asian) which is tiring in itself.

I met a number of old friends which made me happy:Koreans(Patrick, John), Indonesians(Aidy, David, Indah), Indians(Vijit, Ankit), Thai(Goff, Nueng, Sine, Pui), Swiss(Gaudi), Australians(Alex), Kiwis(David Benjamin), Malaysians(James, Sandy, Anthony, Anisha Lah, Geralynn, Renee, Fadli) [forgive me if i didn't add you on this list, there are alot of people haha]

And I found that I really wanted to spend more time talking to them and in fact, my team mates even, to really build the relationships that I had, than to spend time getting superficially acquainted with others. Which is not to say I didn't make new friends, cos I did, but I valued the short time that we had to see each other.I also valued this 'break' which my team had to really just fool around(despite having meetings and attending sessions) and bond, before we headed back to Singapore and all Hell breaks loose.

I could go on and on I suppose, but I won't. IC was a good experience, and all good experience comes with good and bad, which IC had. Still, I valued the time I spent with my friends, and those that are important to me. I can only wish that you reading, if you have not had that opportunity, have that chance to experience it as well.

Here's to you guys :)

Psst... we are number one!

2007-08-19T09:32:00.000+08:00

AIESEC Singapore is constituted of three Local Committees (or LCs) out of which LC NUS is one. This year at the Annual General Meeting (AGM), after some five years or so, AIESEC in NUS has been awarded with the LC of the Year award.

This milestone achieved speaks for the leaders from the previous year's local committee who were so passionate about AIESEC and have made a significant impact. On behalf of the new local committee (dubbed as The Vikings) we thank our predecessors for giving us such a solid foundation to work on. Thank you so much! Congratulations AIESEC in NUS!

Another major milestone achieved at this year's AGM was pronouncing AIESEC in SMU as a "full LC", which means it does not need to operate under AIESEC in NUS anymore. They have their own account at AIESEC.net now and they are also eligible to run for the Best LC Award now onwards. Congratulations AIESEC in SMU!

After many years, the AIESEC Singapore Constitution was also ammended at the AGM, alongwith Rewards & Recognition 2006-07:

LC of the Year: NUS

Best MC Leadership: Sharon Tan (MCP of AIESEC Singapore)

Best LC Leadership - NTU: Alvin Hong (Now LCP of AIESEC in NTU)
Best LC Leadership - NUS: Tiang Ker Ying (Now Honorary General Secretary of AIESEC Singapore)
Best LC Leadership - SMU: Pamela Su (Now LCP of AIESEC in SMU)

New Member Excellence - NTU: Grace Chen
New Member Excellence - NUS: Chang Ciew Yik
New Member Excellence - SMU: Yuan Tian

Exchanger of the year - ICX: Pamela Su
Exchanger of the year - OGX: Mayas Singh

Congratulations to Ker Ying and Siew Yik from NUS and everyone else!

Currently all the LCPs, together with the MC team and National Support Team are in Turkey for the International Conference 2007. They will be returning in early September just in time for the AIESEC Singapore induction conference JumpStart! 2007.

AIESEC Singapore AGM in NUS

2007-08-03T15:24:00.000+08:00

Hey all,

AIESEC in Singapore is having its AGM on 4th August from 1 pm to 5pm and then a BBQ at PGP!

The venue for the AGM is LT 18, NUS Business school!!!

And this is going to be a historical AGM as LC SMU will be passed as a Full LC and AIESEC in Singapore's constitution will be amended after a loooooooooooooong time!!!

So do not miss the opportunity to be a part of the HISTORICAL moment!!!!
Also, the various awards for BEST LC, New Member Excellence and LC as well as MC leadership will be given out.....

There will be a nominal fee for the BBQ and the dress code for the event is CASUALs...

Also, tomorrow will be the opportunity for all of you to meet our very handsome CEEDer Carlo, who is from Italy!!!!!!

So reply to me if you are coming!! I need to submit your names to Sharon by 8 am tomorrow, so please reply!!!

If you get lost or some Death Eaters (the Harry Potter fans will understand ;)) attack you, then give me "Shub" a call at 97340672!

Cheers to NUS OGX!!!

2007-07-31T23:58:00.000+08:00

Congratulations AIESEC in NUS!
Two of our EPs (previously known as SNs) have been matched in the past few days!

The first one is Sophia Tan who has been matched to Nike CSC, AIESEC in Limburg, Belgium ! Congratulations to Sophia! She'll be leaving for this one-year internship in August. Congratulations to Ashwin (VP ICX, AIESEC in NUS and her EP manager)!

The second one is Lloyd Ong who has been matched to BP, AIESEC in Bangalore, India ! Congatulations to Lloyd as well! His internship starts from 15th August and ends on 15th January. Congratulations to Daniel (Senior member, AIESEC in NUS and his EP manager)

All the best to the EPs! We are sure that you will make all of us proud and will learn a lot from your internships!

Cheers to the EP managers as well for their hard work!

Cheers to Phoebe(MC DOPO 06/07) and Justina(VP OGX, AIESEC in NUS 06/07) for their effective leadership, hardwork and the results! [Both of you, have fun in Hong Kong! We'll miss you a lot!!! :) ]

Cheers to Mayas(MC DOPO 07/08) and Song Jie(VP OGX, AIESEC in NUS 07/08) for the hard work and the results!

Cheers to AIESEC in NUS OGX Team for their efforts!

Cheers to AIESEC in NUS!

OGX rocks!

Family Extended!!!

2007-07-29T15:00:00.000+08:00

Hi Guys!!!! Most of you know that I call Imran "my Daddy"..... Some days back my family got extended... I got a brother too... Below are some family pics :)

Daddy "Imran" , Mummy "Pamela" and bro "Jayden"..
(Awww... Cho chweet)

The family photo with me in...
What a wonderful family :D

p.s. Jayden is one of the AIESEC babies (son of an ex-MCP and his HGS.... they are married now :)... ahem ahem, HGS and MCP!!! Sharon and Ker Ying???...haha!!)

Like, wassup?

2007-07-05T00:11:00.000+08:00

More than half the vacations are through by now - Western and Asian nations have agreed to end 'green imperialism' together after accusing each other for the alarming change in climate the world over, Gaza journalist Alan Johnston was released after being kidnapped for 114 days, some Mexican Mr Slim managed to get a wallet fatter than Bill Gates', Apple released the first generation of the new iPhone, and smoking was banned in clubs in Singapore and UK - but where is AIESEC? Is AIESEC dead?

No! It's alive! It's very, very alive. Things have been happening. Plans have been made. Actions have been taken. Lists have been made. People have been contacted. Things are in motion. Things are happening.

Wait, what are you even talking about?

Okay, so the vacations began somewhere around May 7, 2007. That is when AIESEC in NUS started having its LC Transition...

Err, what is "LC transition"?

Local Committee transition. AIESEC in NUS is a local committee of AIESEC Singapore, which is a member of AIESEC International. The two levels of hierarchy here are the Member Committee (the national team) and the Local Committee (the local team within the university). LC Transition happens every year when a new team comes in and takes over the previous team's achievements. It involves sharing experiences, passing on important information and statistics, and a whole lot of learning.

The old team... (They had black and white cameras back then!)

Are we clear on the transition part? What followed next was LC Planning. The learning continued as the entire team went through the process of planning activities and events for the next year. Each department head analyzed the previous year's plan, recognizing strengths and weaknesses in their implementation, and making other observations before making their own plans.

Trying to get a picture after LC Planning at NUS Biz without the lamp ruining the picture.

Both these activities occurred over a period of two weeks, taking up as much as every evening of the week as well as entire weekends. On occasion, we had an external or two over to train us. It sounds hectic, but it had been a great learning experience, and also a lot of fun!

It might be noted here that similar activities were taking place in AIESEC Singapore's other LCs - namely NTU and SMU.

That was like, local or LC work... what about activities on the national level?

I was coming to that. But let me first mention here that the national team (MC team) went to Malaysia to attend the first ever AP MC Transition. "AP" is short for Asia Pacific, and this is the first time there was a regional event concerned with regional planning, coordination and strategy.

Our MC team in Malaysia chilling with other MCs from all over Asia Pacific.

So that was the international level. On the national level we had what has been dubbed as "NatPlanCon07" or National Planning Conference 2007. It has been recurring every year as AIESECers in leadership positions map out the national plan to be implemented in the upcoming year. Each department in the LC liaises with, and takes direction from a member of the national team throughout the year, so whatever plans one has within an LC need to take place in coordination with the national plans. The event or conference aims to jump-start that process over a period of two successive weekends. This year it took place at NTU's Student Activity Centre (SAC), and the national team graciously sponsored the stay for all the EBs in NTU halls through these two weekends.

The MC team members had explored Singapore from different perspectives, and they shared their learnings with everyone during the early sessions in their presentations. It helped everyone know how AIESEC is relevant to Singapore and to understand local realities. The most amazing thing we learnt was that AIESEC is relevant to almost each and every industrial classification in Singapore!

Sharon talking about past year's goals.

Various workshops and sessions were held throughout NatPlanCon07, each aimed at a different aspect. There were LC presentations for everyone to understand LC realities. There were departmental presentations for everyone to understand what the various departments had planned to do for the next year.

The most fun part of the conference - and this, I believe, would be unanimously agreed upon - was the gossip box.

The gossip box?

A box containing random squabbles from random people, about random stuff. At the end of the conference an R&R (Rewards and Recognition) was held, and Siew Yik (AIESEC in NUS Vice President People Development) was presented with the "Most Scandalous" award. There was quite a lot of shocking stuff written about him - love affairs with girls and even guys! (Disclaimer: The word "gossip" entails that the content is not factual.)

Anything else?

JumpStart 2007 is also a national conference that will be taking place in September to induct new AIESEC members in Singapore, and the marketing team has been working really hard to get sponsors, as other departments also carry on their good work. Do click here to check out what's new on JumpStart 2007.

The JumpStart 2007 team at NatPlanCon07.

Alvin, LCP of AIESEC in NTU reveals his true feelings for our ex-LCP!

The hunger...

Put your face in there, birthday girl!

Indian greeting or AIESEC dance step?

AIESEC in NUS at NatPlanCon07 (call us The Vikings!)

Note: To view these and other selected pictures, please click here.

From Novosibirsk with Love!!

2007-06-28T11:20:00.000+08:00

Hi AIESEC Singapore!!!

Greetings from Russia!

It has been quite long since I am able to access TraineeSG…
It has been quite long since I am able to post something too:D.
I miss Singapore sooo much:)!

As there are a lot of historical events happening in @ Singapore these weeks (E.g. National Planning), there have been a lot of things happened in my internship too!

Few highlights:

-Seeing SNOW for the first time in my life :D. In the summer season!!!!!
-My solo backpacking trip to the largest, deepest, and oldest freshwater lake in the world (Lake BAIKAL) which is 66-hours away by train from my city Novosibirsk.
-Having a 94 HOURS total of Trans-Siberian train trips
-Flying on a GLIDER! (http://en.wikipedia .org/wiki/ Glider) My dream come true!!!
-Representing my company to do a SPEECH in the convocation dinner of a local university.
-Becoming a JUDGE for a business plan competition. (Conducted in Russian Language)
-Meeting an old friend ANDREY Kokulenko (NLDS 06 Faci) during my trip around 8 Russian cities
-Doing country presentations to local students for MORE than 16 times
-Etc

Those are just few, out of many experiences that I had in the past few weeks.
If I have to continue the list, it will be more than 50 more things :D.

Of course I can share those things above long-windedly, but I would save the time by sharing one thing that is relevant with what's happening in @ Singapore now:

"Conquering Natural Challenges with AIESEC Spirit"

*Natural Challenge #1: geography

Having lived in Indonesia and Singapore, it is not a rocket science to see one of the biggest differences between AIESEC in these two countries: The distance between LCs.

In Indonesia, it takes many many hours to travel between LCs that are located in different islands.
In Singapore, it takes less than 1 hour and 20 minutes to travel between LCs.

But in Russia…. EBs in many LCs need to travel for more than 60 HOURS (one way) to attend the national planning. Not to mention the duration of the planning itself and the return trip!Nevertheless, EB teams from all LCs attended the planning. Complete EB teams.

This fact has made me think a lot about the significant benefit that AIESEC Singapore has: shorter traveling distance and therefore, longer working time.

Then I started to think about myself in the past:
- I always complained about the time that I had to spend in attending national planning
- I always complained about the tiredness of going to AIESEC events in city area or other LCs

Surprisingly, AIESECers here don't perceive 60 hours traveling time as a reason of not going for national planning or to attend conferences in other cities.

AIESECers here conquer the natural challenges with AIESEC spirit.

*Natural challenge #2: weather

Winter in Siberia can be as cold as -43 degree Celcius.
Warm weather, which allows Siberian to live normally like in other places, only happens 3 months in a year. To cut it short, weather here are always shitty.

Moreover, traveling time from members' house to meeting venues can be as far as two hours. And of course, going out in such shitty weather equals to a lot of sufferings!

However, AIESEC members here are very very very eager to attend AIESEC events.
Somehow they don't see bad weather as a reason for not attending @ events such as weekly LC gathering, Insight XP training, or welcome parties.

(FYI, AIESECers here conducted InsightXP training with blackboard and chalk! They don't have the pleasure of using projectors like @ Singapore, therefore they have to spend a lot of time drawing the menus instead of using a "print screen")

Then I started to think again about myself in the past:
- I always complained about how uncomfortable it is to go out and attend @ meetings
- I always complained about how hot it is to go out and attend a company meeting

Despite of the natural challenges here in Siberia, LC NSU (my hosting LC) was crowned as the second top LC in the world in a TN-raising competition, just second after LC Bucharest.
Despite of the natural challenges here, LC NSU is one of the most aggressive LCs in the world.

AIESECers here conquer the natural challenges with AIESEC spirit.

After comparing my situation back then in @ Singapore with what @ers here face, I started to think:
- Was I really that lazy just due to the traveling time? (1 hour and 20 minutes in Singapore is nothing compare to 70 hours in Russia)
- Was I really that weak that I didn't want to go to many events just because of the bad weather? (sunny Singapore is not as bad as -43 degree celcius)
- Or was I just too lazy to realize that the real challenge lies in my head, not in the environment?

Now I have clearly seen that the challenges actually lie in my head.
And that is why I share these things with you. I believe that it is quite inspiring to see an extreme case from an LC in Siberia. A very very good LC from Siberia. And then to be grateful of the advantages & privileges that we have in Singapore.

Firstly I thought that these phenomenons happen due to the different educational culture in the two countries: Russians can skip more tutorials / classes than AIESECers in Singapore.

But, believe me!
Russians have the same pressure as us in Singapore to complete bachelor degrees with perfect grades!
As a growing market, it is impossible for Russian students to get jobs with average marks. They have to spend lots of time studying and hell a lot of time attending classes too.

The real challenges are not in the environment. It's in my head.

That is just one thing that has been circulating in my mind for the past few weeks.

Now I feel much better after sharing this with @ers in Singapore.

--

Having lived in a country where 1.5 litres of beer costs the same as 0.5 litre of coke, it is quite interesting to see many things that don't exist in any part of the world.
However, I would like to save these unique things for my next postings. :).

I'm sorry that I can't post any photos this time.
It is quite impossible for me to upload files, due to the slow internet connection.

Do wait for more updates from Siberia!
Have fun, everyone in Singapore!

All the best for the ongoing national planning!

Best Regards,
-dei-
23/06/07