NATCO 2006

This past weekend was spent in Fayed attending NATCO 2006 with my fellow aiesecers. As always, the conference was loads of fun. I got to spend alot of quality time with the newies whom I had just gotten to know a few months before in NLDS. It was great to hear about what they've been up to since NLDS and it was so nice when they'd come up to me and ask for advice about where to go from here. Plus it was great to hang out with my own friends in aiesec and support them. The conference went into details on how we can improve aiesec within our own functional teams which was great because it meant we got down to business. Alot of the newies loved the fact that now they could see real concrete things that they could contribute to their LCs and I felt the same way since it was my first NATCO as well. In the closing planery, we all got a little emotional as the MC shared with us their dream of getting the cup of excellence for this year. As the cup was passed around I had a lot of thoughts to share to the aiesecers but as the cup got closer I became so overwhelmed with emotions that I was scared to speak...so I just passed on the cup and kept my thoughts to myself. I was so moved by the whole scene...seeing everyone so moved, seeing my friends in the MC wanting this cup so much, realizing that many of my friends in aiesec were in this aiesec conference with me for the last time...it just became so real for me that I was speechless. I will remember that closing planary for a long long time.