Short Random Update

2 exams are over, 3 are yet to come (next week), paper is finished, presentation on Friday, selection interviews for Egypt have been postponed to the first week of march, my Internet at home broke down, I'm still pretty stressed out, Snow is fantastic at the moment (in Saas Fee) and my archive in the side bar is broken.
Which reminds me: Can anyone help me with that archive thing? I would really hate to loose all my posts I ever made. Please help me if you know how...

Multidirectional Thinking

I'm thinking about...

Exams, Papers, Speeches, Presentations, Elections, Egypt, my Past, my Future, my Dreams, my Love...



I stumbled upon this picture, when I was (again) staring at the screen for hours, not knowing what to write in my political-participation-paper, looking at the random pictures coming up in my screen saver. It expresses exactly how I feel at the moment.

Looking back to Norway

I returned form Norway on Monday, after a quite annoying flight, with long delays. Nothing could darken my spirit though, since I just came back from a good conference, in a beautiful country, with amazing people and a perfect atmosphere.

I think back to my expectation I set for this conference.

My only facilitation experience I had before was in Thailand. My key learning point then was that I truly enjoy session creation (the creativity it bears, and the curiosity if people will like it) and facilitation. It proved to be a real challenge for me (especially since facilitation in Thailand is not the easiest thing (for a European). What I enjoyed most about facilitation is to see, how others get motivated, how others are ready to go out there and get started and to see how they are enjoying this feeling. I knew, I found something new that I like and that I want to work on as soon as I would get the chance to.
So this was my starting point.

From there, my expectations for this conference were pretty much about improving my delivery style, getting new inputs how to do sessions, and not least to try out facilitating in the European culture.

These expectations were met, to some extend. I believe people quite liked my sessions, I got good and constructive feedback, I made mistakes I learned from, I saw good facilitation and I saw bad facilitation.

But then, what impacted me much more at this conference, where the people I met, the discussions I had, the inspiration I got. Delegates welcomed me in a warm way and were very open, good spirited people. As it always turns out in conferences, you just don’t have enough time to spend with them, and you whish you could have talked to them longer. I’m grateful to the delegates, who energized this conference so much, and to the MC of AIESEC in Norway, who gave me the chance to be part of this.
But some very special thanks I want to give out to two individuals who made my conference (and possibly more than this J):

Viktor, for all the fun that we had, for your contagious laugh, for being down on the earth, and at the same time encouraging, and just simply for being so natural and open. I’m happy I found someone like you. There are not many around.

Børge, for stirring up many of my views, on how I have been leading my life, on how I want to work on it and for making me think much further (and much harder). I want to thank you for creating major “click-moments” in me and for showing me a direction of thinking, which has been on my mind all the time since I got back. I’m looking forward to working out my pieces to add.

Thank you Norway, you were good!

Trondheim

It’s a cold place. Windy. Only 3 hours of sunlight, long dawns and endless nights. Snowy. Small. But believe me: It has its charm. Lot’s of it.

The biggest step

I'm running for the Members Committee of AIESEC in Egypt 2007 - 2008.

A term in the members committee (which is the national committee) lasts one year, and is a payed full time job. That means, if I get selected for this, I will take a break from my studies and leave Switzerland in the end of July for more than a year.

Why AIESEC in Egypt? My work in Thailand (which was also in the MC) has showed me, that I truly enjoy working for this organisation full time, I enjoy being part of an international team and I can't resist the challenge of having to adapt to a foreign environment.
Secondly, I have for a long time been interested in the Arabic culture. This interest has grown rapidly since I took up my studies of Islam and the Arabic language. I felt more and more drawn to this part of the world and in the past weeks, I started to realise that I want to go there and experience it. It feels right to combine these two things: AIESEC and the Arab world.


It is a big step. Possibly the biggest step I ever took. Of course you could name other big steps: Like that in my very wild times as a 14 year old, I decided not to fall into drugs and drop out of school maybe. Or that I took up a university education. Or that I went to the United States for a year when I was 16.
But these steps, I feel, I never actively took. I always new I wanted them, since a time when I wasn't even conscious of that. And when the time came to do it, I just did it.
This is different. I didn't always know that I would like to go to live and work in Egypt, a country that is geographically, but especially culturally so far away from everything I live in and am comfortable with. I didn't always know that I would love to challenge myself so much, that it's not only a completely foreign country, but also I team I don't know yet and a job that will not always be easy .
You might argue, that it's not the biggest step I took in my live so far. But one thing I know for sure: It is the scariest. Scary in a good way.

Today was the application deadline. I send in my 10 pages application along with my CV and endorsement letters form Switzerland and Thailand (Thank you again Aida and Rob). The elections will take place in Egypt on the 30st of January. Since I will not be able to attend, I will send in a video speech in the upcoming weeks and do my interviews per telephone conference.
After the 30st I will know what my nearer future will look like.

Oslo is not cold

I got up at 7:30 today, after a night with about 5 minutes of actual sleeping time, since so many thoughts were flying around my head that they just wouldn't give me a second to relax. I made my way to the bus in Lorraine at 9:15, and arrived in Oslo, train station, tiger statue at 20:00. Funny, I wonder why I always though Norway is so close by...

One thing I was right about: Oslo is absolutely beautiful. Even though it was actually only like a 10 minutes walk from the tiger statue to the MC office, it was enough to reassure my impression I gained of Oslo one and a half years ago. Sometimes you remember things in a more beautiful way than they actually were. Not the case with Oslo.
:-)

Two things I was wrong about: It's not cold. It's warmer than in Bern I'm sure. And they don't use the same plugs! :-((( OK, that makes 1 hour and 34 minutes of battery left on my laptop and probably quite a long night of finishing sessions... let's see how that's gonna work.

And one thing I forgot about: It is very hard to withdraw money form an ATM machine that only excepts 4 digit pin code cards. Nora and me should remember that problem form last time... hm. Luckily, also this time, strangers jump up from nowhere and help you out.

Conclusion: It's nice being back here.

Holidays in Saas Almagell

You always know: At some point it will be over. Christmas Break. Although technically, it's not over, since my university doesn't start until next Monday (and at that point I will go to Norway for a week) so some might say that I still have a long time to be on the break, and enjoy my time. But in reality, it's different. Because today I left the beloved mountains and returned to Bern to study and focus (until the weekend comes:-) )

Christmas Break was great. Beginning with Christmas Eve that we spend the whole family in Visp, together with my grandparents and my aunt's family. (I got an iron... "but mum... the few clothes I want to have ironed, I always give to you..." "Yes, see, now you have your own! Isn't this cool?")
After that we hit it off to our mountain cabin, where the whole Kalbermatten-clan (my mums family) was reunited. It was blissful! The mountains, good weather, awesome food, good people... always the same and always good. Unfortunately the snow was not overwhelming. But this let me to try skiing again. I got inspired by my cousins and parents who tried it again, and where great at it even after all these years of snowboarding. So I thought, ha, I will be great at it too. I was great when I was last on my skis (when I was 12 years old) so how could it be any different now? Hmmm... I guess you could say I was pretty mistaken on that one. But that's good, since it turns out to be a new challenge. I'm very determined now to become a good skier!

On the first day at our cabin, my cousin Florian and me got my uncle's camera. I forgot mine in Bern :(
Videotaping is fun. Next time I will bring my own camera. And now, please enjoy our beautiful little movie! I hope this will make some people out there in India, Belgium, USA, Thailand, Kenya and where ever want to come to Saas very very hard...

(Flo is the one in the red jacket and black pants, I'm the white one with blue pants)