Cold War

My apartment is small but cozy. The whole building consists of only 12 families, so we don’t need to queue up to use the laundry. We use it whenever we feel like to and I haven’t had any problem to get my laundry done at my convenience, except TODAY.

I’ve got back from Zurich and found my forgotten piles of clothes and a backpack of need-to-clean-now! clothes from the week in Zurich. When I got the laundry room, the machine was occupied. I waited for an hour-ish (of course, and did something else in my apartment) and came down to see the machine was empty. Hu..hu..now my turn. I shoved in my clothes and came back almost an hour and a half. I hung my clothes, went up to get another set of clothes to clean. When I came back, the machine was whirling other unidentified piles of clothes. It was just a nick of time! Seriously, my apartment is the closest room to the laundry, though they wanna beat me with the elevator!

This could be either the same person before me or a new person. If it’s the first case, s/he must had been waiting patiently after being overtaken just a nick of time. But I didn’t want to cut any more queue in case s/he had the third or forth set to do. …well, just wanna tell you there’s a sense of competition going on in this peaceful and quiet town…haha..

Non-virgin me (4.12.07)

I went to the office of LC Lugano this evening. Part of me wanted to put an end to AIESEC and move on (as I have been unsuccessfully trying for many years), but part of me was too curious to check out a non-Thai local committee in one of the wonderfully successful AIESEC countries like Switzerland.

I am a great grandmother from AIESEC Thailand, with the old world of AIESEC between year 2001-2005. Past memories flux into me quickly when I saw passion, enthusiasm and energy from both Carolina and Sara. I was them 10 thousand years ago, sitting in the office, selling AIESEC to new members, proud of our biggest student-run network, our self-discovery and leadership experiences in the international platform.

…attended the first AIESEC conference in 2001…roll calls, square dance, jingles…realized one traineeship with Taiwan…became VPICX…fixed problems with membership status…recruited new members…had an AIESEC boyfriend…became LCP…merged the LC with UTCC…earned LC profit from being the host conference…stopped counting conferences attended…went to IC 03 in Serbia & Montenegro…engaged Alumni to AIESEC…regretted the successor decision… went to APXPRO in Singapore…became MCVPER…fixed problems with stubborn LCs and AI...went to IC 04 in Germany…was a faci in Malaysia…realized National Partnerships…cried at the Hand-over session to the new MC team…

Above is what you can easily foresee if you stay AIESEC long enough, but what you will realize along the journey is…

…your life is AIESEC, it’s there when you’re awake, sleep, study, have lunch, party etc.

…you can’t explain what AIESEC is, but “It’s really good, it changes your life.”

…you can’t embrace every friendship you made (locally, nationally and internationally) because AIESEC life is too busy

…you’re always on the MSN, but you don’t have time to say hello to friends, but you do when you only need their help

…you may lost sense of getting know others personally because you just don’t have time

…the higher position you are, the less sugar cubes you send to others

…people look up to you, you are proud, but you hope you will always say something smart at all time

…somehow you lose your own identity and started to label people – that’s MC, that’s AI, that’s a**hole OC, that’s the worst LC ever from XX country…and when you’re out of AIESEC, you may associate people with the company they work for instead of looking at them as they are

…you are welcome in every country you personally visit as long as you are AIESEC member (well, once you are, you are for life)

…as a participant, your first IC is the best, but the second is not

…you remember faces, but you can’t remember their names, where they’re from, which conference you’ve met etc.

…you have AIESEC bf/ gf once or twice or for life

…you thought you are the best among average students who do nothing but study

…you are definitely, totally, wholeheartedly lost and frustrated once you step out of AIESEC, unable to let go to the next team, longing to get back for years after years, still checking Insight XP and AIESEC.net to get yourself back the AIESEC market again

Exams Prep

Exams are coming! This is the end of the semester, right after X'mas and the new year break. I am happy to shower myself with the luxury of a long holiday, but I have to pay a huge price for the final exams.

Am I ready?

You can ask the same question to other students who study for their final exams. The same answer will be, "Hell, no."

I have been trying to focus on my book, materials and trying to write good notes. However, other things distract me so much (MSNing, Facebook, news online, pantip.com, Monk series, or even sleeping etc.) Anyway, today is the day that I am SOOO productive! I studied at Starbuck's! The good old days came back. During bachelor's degree, I hardly studied at home or the library, but I often sat at a coffee shop (like Starbuck's, Gloria Jean's, Black Canyon, Ban rai, etc. at almost every branch available along Sukhumvit Road) for a day! The best part about it is that you'll never get too lonely (there're always people) and will never be disturbed (I sit til my last drop of coffee). But the best part of all, especially in Zurich is I don't understand a single word people talk, so I am not at all distracted by overhearing their conversation!

Such a wonderful afternoon!