feeling the magic for the (twenty)first time

well i guess when your dad tells you that you should update your blog, you realise that you really have been slack in the blogging department! and i guess i am guilty as charged

so first thing main thing that happened since i moved into my new apartment was going to spain. i spent the first couple of days in madrid - where thanks to Gerardo and Alex i got to see quite a few nice sites in Madrid and Tolledo - thanks guys :) Madrid struck me as a city with a really strong masculine energy - lots of big, bold buildings, compared to Amsterdam, which is much more of a feminine city - with canals and smaller, cuter buildings.

for one week afterwards i was in the south of spain, near Malaga, chairing the WENA Newies Conference (WNC). for the non-AIESEC readers, WNC is a leadership development conference for around 240 new AIESEC members from Western Europe and North America - their first international conference, chance to "feel the magic" of AIESEC for the first time - internationalism, leadership, friendship, fun, skills etc

for me, it was my 21st international conference - but it was still magical...as a chair you are not just a piece of furniture :P but for a week you get a great chance to practice your public speaking, time management, crisis management, communication, negotiation, conflict resolution, team building, facilitation, coaching & mentorship skills as the connection point between delegates, facilitators and Organising Committee...all on 3 hours sleep per night :)

it was very tiring but definitely inspiring!

inspiring to work with an absolutely amazing group of facis who gave so much to the delegates, challenged themselves, were 100% reliable & really became a team of friends who also had a great time!!

inspiring to work with an organising committee that was so dedicated and committed to the complete goals of the conference and had such a great attitude, always willing to make something happen.

inspiring to observe the delegates, their energy, creativity & diversity... and how much they changed and grew over those 5 days...learning from the facis, each other and themselves... feeling the magic for the first time

during the conference was the one year anniversary of the bombing attack in the madrid subway...it was quite a poignant reminder for all of us that the world needs AIESEC and the individuals within it to take all they learnt and felt at the conference and bring it their communities, their families and friends, every day

following posts are some photos from the conference...thanks to everyone in AIESEC in Spain, the facis and delegates for a tiring but inspiring 10 days!