IC 2006! Hey! IC 2006! Hey! Polska Polska!

So finally, after over 2 years in AIESEC, I attend my first international conference, and its not just any conference, its IC!! I got the opportunity to go to IC where AI gives the sessions, where many of our partner companies give trainings, and where only MCP, and LCPs are allowed to attend. I had the golden opportunity to attend IC while being neither and MCP nor an LCP. I attended as an observer which means I am basically there to see the CC in action plus take notes to help me with my job as CCVP DS for IPM 2007. I filled my days with the following: helping the CC out when I could, met up with many of the members to ask them questions, attended CC meetings, attended some of the sessions/trainings as a delegate, attended some of the parties and events to get to know new people, and also met up with my fellow IPM observers to discuss all that we observed. Overall it was an awesome experience, for me personally and for me as an AIESECer. It renewed my need to have an ambition in life, it renewed my belief in taking risks, and it renewed my love of getting to know new people from all over the world. Can you imagine being in a room with over 600 people all of which come from 95+ different countries?? Its just amazing! I was planning to blog every day there coz the days were just packed with new experiences that I wanted to share but of course I didnt do that coz any spare moment I had was spent dozing off due to lack of sleep! So let me try now to recapture the key moments that I had there. I arrived there early in the morning and was greeted by Laura from the UK, was sooo happy to see her coz it marked the beginning of my experience. I get to the venue, which was a university campus, and I meet Lukas and another girl, both from Slovakia, and we check-in together. Little did I know that I would leave IC with Lukas as a really good friend. So I check in and realize I have a whole room to myself but that I share a bathroom with 3 other rooms which should mean a total of 10 people sharing one bathroom! So I unpack then hear some activity in the bathroom so I stay in my room, but my curiosity gets the better of me and I open the door to find Abdo shaving hahaha turns out he's in the room in front of me all by himself as well and he had been looking for me all morning. IC was full of moments of "wow its a small world". I sat to talk with Andries from Belgium and turns out he was in Egypt for quite some time and he was the one Martha and Hazem were always talking about before I came to IC. I then met Claude and Jennifer whom I met in Egypt before as well. Then bumped into a guy from Bangladesh who works in Banglalink which is part of Orascom Telecom. Arthur, the chair of NLDS in Cairo last year, came by to say hi towards the end of the conference which was very cool! One guy also turned out to be in the same New Years Dahab trip that I was in last December as well! Ok, so what about the events of the conference. I was wowed by the opening planery, it was so cool seeing all the countries get up there and do their role calls. It was hilariously funny as well. What amazed me too were how we all danced the AIESEC dances together...everyone all over the world had them memorized! Even though I knew this in theory, seeing it in action was still breathtaking! The opening ceremony was nice as well but a little long I must say. We got there an hour early so what happened was we had a GN role call competition in the stands. Having the Africans sing ONE AFRICANO, then having AAAAA AA PPPP, then MENA MENA MENA, then Yea yea we got spirit, yea yea we got what what what what what what, then who rocks the house CEE rocks the house and up and down and all the way around, and it just kept going on and on which was loads of fun! The ceremony itself was made up of speeches by the CCP, PAI, and Polish Politicians some of which are AIESEC Alumni. Global Village was the best! Partly because it was very well advertized so many Polish people and their families were there. Imagine having AIESEC dances in the middle of a major square in downtown Warsaw with everyone joining in...its like a scene out of the sound of music or moulin rouge! So cool! I enjoyed that very much. The parties we had in the venue itself every night were ok, got a little dancing going :) one of the nights' themes was having guys wear as girls, and girls as guys so that was a little freaky hehe. We also had a bowling night were we Egyptians played the Africans. We had Polish night as well which was really nice. Lukas and I went around the different Polish cities booths trying out all the food and learning a bit more about Poland. Then we had a night of dancing!! Before the last day of the conference we had our official dinner which was held in the opera. The show included the UBS awards plus a pianist who was just hilarious, he was pretending to be the different musicians, then they had modern dancers. A big highlight of the conference was that the MENA GN got approved in legislation!!! We are official now plus Bahrain and Qatar became official AIESEC member countries as well. So IC was a big push forward for the ME region which was excellent! That's a short version of what happened in all the events. We then have the sessions. I attended some workshops and sessions which were interesting. It was cool to see trainers from Cadbury and ABN Emro telling us that they were so amazed by our energy and that they don't regret coming to train us. Alot of them were just told by managers to come and train these students in AIESEC so it was a chore really...but they ended up really enjoying the experience and realized they were dealing with people who had opinions and loads of curiosity, plus too much energy with all the dances and role calls hahaha! As for the CC work, which was a big bulk of what I was doing there, it was very hectic but loads of fun. I used to make it a point to always help out with lunch and dinner, whether its to check people's badges as they come into the tent or to serve the food to the delegates. It was the time I used to mingle with the delegates the most. I loved it. I helped out with wake ups once, with preparing welcome packs, DLD packs, Microsoft giveaways, etc. Whenever I had some free time I'd help out so would do odd jobs here and there. Seeing them in action gave me the opportunity to observe as well. Overall, the experience was unbelievable and I wanted to mention a few people who I'll never forget:

Magda and Bruna, you girls made me feel at home soooo quickly. I love you! I had so much fun with you and miss you already. I will be sure to visit you girls when you both move to London. Till then, enjoy India Magda! And enjoy Spain Bruna! Don't forget to visit Egypt at some point too. You know you always have a place to stay in Cairo ;)

Ferro, you are the man! The way you used to keep coming up with new ideas to keep the delegates happy just blew me away, especially how modest you were about your ideas too. very time someone would tell you, good job Ferruccio, you'd say "stop guys, it was a group effort". You did a great job and I will miss you!

Prateek, you were just so much fun my friend. So sweet as well. Keep smiling always and thanks for all your support. You were one of the few who really got to know all 3 of us (Observers) which we all appreciated.

Stanley! You made me feel welcomed all the time and as part of the team. Your constant complements kept me blushing half the time there! So for all times sake here's another "cut it out Stanley!!"

Kate and Caroline, thanks girls for including me in all your meetings, and activities. Without you, I wouldnt have felt like I was part of the CC. You girls are awesome and I hope we are able to do as good as a job as you have done in IPM. I will take all your advice to heart and will keep them in mind always.

Lukas!!! My personal favourite :) Most of my fond memories in IC included you so a big HUGE thank you for that. I will miss copying you as you danced haha but I will never forget how copying you in Polish night started that huge group of copiers! That was loads of fun! Keep smiling and I hope to see you soon somewhere in the world! Good luck with your AIESEC plans!

Abdou! My roomie! What can I say about you which you don't already know coz I say it ALL the time. You are FUN FUN FUN! I'm so glad you were with me in IC. You were always so supportive, so funny, and above all a great friend. Here's to more nights of gossiping, more days of me reminding you of your badge, keys, and everything else, and more days of working together as a team.

Sherif ya Dessouky! The guy who made fun of my dancing, my job, and everything else hahaha. It was fun having you with me and thanks so much for being so understanding when I was sooo frustrated sometimes. You were like a big brother to me on this trip and such a team player! Here's to more trips with the 3 of us...the CANCER team!

Egyptian delegation, at last I went to an international conference with you guys! As usual, had the most laughs with you guys! Teaching people to belly dance, singing Arabic songs in the bus with everyone staring, ordering pizza late at night, going to the gas station at 3am with our gallabiyyas to grab a bite, etc. all of it was just FUN! I got a chance to get to know Asmaa, Adham, Geet, and Dalia more which was so nice coz you guys are the bomb. Plus got to spend IC with my favourite Mayooya in the world! Plus Tamer, Fawzy, and Sami, you guys were always dear to me so its great to have shared this with you. And congrats to all of you on your success which led you to be in IC 2006!

Rest of the CC, you guys were soooo cool! I have never seen people work so hard yet always have smiles on their faces! Thanks for including us in all your activities and for allowing us to leave IC with you guys as friends. Big hug and kisses all around!