AIESEC in Spain MC 2009-2010

PM

2010-05-04T14:17:00.001-07:00

PM in Sevilla was probably my last conference as an active aiesec member. its a weird feeling, after being to over 20 conferences all over the world that i wont be going to anymore! during the conference, i was the conference manager as well as a faci. being conference manager for a conference this big was challenging, very challenging. i was doing sessions at 5am after a party challenging. i was working with a great OC team and a great faci team that made the conference easier. and the delegates were amazing, always trying to help out and being supportive. i dont feel like this experience in aiesec is coming to end... it feels like we still have so much to do. it was very sad though, the last time i will be seeing some of the amazing spanish members that i have met and gotten to know over the year.

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Sevilla

2010-05-04T14:15:00.001-07:00

After the conference, we had a free day to explore sevilla. it was beautiful. i filled up my memory card with pictures! we visited the Giralda, the Real Alcazar and went to a flamenco show. i dont have all of the pictures, but enjoy the ones below. i really enjoyed the city - it was very relaxing and amazing. also the food was cheap and fantastic (we ate like kings)

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Ferias de Sevilla

2010-05-04T13:25:00.001-07:00

Luci and I went to Sevilla early before a conference to work and enjoy the ferias! the feria of sevilla was nothing like i had seen before. i had been to a feria in valladolid and it mostly involved drinking and hanging out.. but this was different. the feria ground is covered in like 1000 "castas" which are tents. but these aren't regular white tents that you rent for a reception, they are built like little houses or restaurants with walls, picture frames, waiters, bathrooms, a bar and dancefloor. it was amazing! you can only get into the casetas if you know someone or work somewhere - they are based on tickets so its not full of tourists and stuff like that. there are a few public casetas but i was told they were ghetto.

in the tents, you drank, ate and danced sevillanas. it was amazing dancing and watching the live band and all of the women dressed up in sevillanas. the women dress up in the dress, the flower i the hair, the earings, the heels, the makeup, the earrings, everything. its amazing! doesnt matter how old you are (75 or 3)..everyone looked amazing. i really enjoyed it and im glad i went early!

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valladolid

2010-05-04T12:06:00.001-07:00

i went to valladolid for 2 days for LC visits (aiesec translation: work). its a city that is about 2 hours by train north of madrid. the people there are incredibly hospitable and nice and always wanting you to have a great time! although i was there for work, i was able to hang out with the aiesecers there and go out! something of note in valladolid is kalimotxo. i think its basque, but! i have only ever had it in valladolid. its half wine and half coke and its AWESOME! they serve it to you in a half liter cup and its only like 2 euros.

i also learned some new awesome spanish words/phrases like mola and in la leche... thanks aiesec in valladolid :)

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Fés

2010-05-04T12:02:00.001-07:00

Luci and I found cheap tickets to go to fés, morocco for April 5th - 7th on good ol ryanair. we went to print the boarding passes 3.5 hours before our flight..but we couldnt! it closes the online check in 4 hours before boarding... so we had to pay 40 euros EACH for boarding passes at the airport...ridiculous really. so that doubled the cost of our trip already.

we stayed at a hotel near the train station which was a bit sketchy at night time. we couldnt really go out when it was dark. there weren't any other women on the street and guys were just a little bit more creepy. this means we stayed in quite a bit - watching BBC and going to bed early (that part was great!)

we explored the medina (medieval city) for a day. the medina in fés is the oldest living medina in the world. we ate moroccan bread, drank mint tea and shopped. we also had fresh squeezed orange juice which was AMAZING. we went really early (like 9 am early) which was early for the medina too! nothing was really open, but it was cool to walk around. it is full of winding alleys and shops with everyone having the best things to buy. we did buy quite a bit, but we tried to bargain everything. it was funny because half of the people there thought i was from india (yelling NAMASTE in the street) or moroccan and speaking in arabic to me. a guy led us on a tour of his carpet store, showing us how the carpets were made and trying to get us to buy them (which we didnt obviously) but the guy said that i seemed like i was moroccan, from marakech!

speaking of people trying to con you into buying things, 2 boys (probably like 8 years old) who knew a LOT of different languages tried to get us to go to the a leather tannery that his father owned (but it smelt reallllly bad, so we didnt even want to go near :P) so they took us to his mother's shop where she sold spices and soaps and oils. they were very persistent.. to the point of annoyance and asked for money as well at the end (which we felt uncomfortable about and didnt pay)

we also visited the royal palace which had huge golden doors (but thats all you could look at). overall the first trip to morocco was very cool. the next time i would like to go to another city and visit people from morocco - i think that would be a very different experience and i would be able to see moroccan culture.

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Greece

2010-04-04T14:04:00.001-07:00

On the 22nd of april, i bought a flight ticket to athens, greece... for the 27th. My roomate sylvia was going anyways, and i thought, "why not?". so landing in athens on the 27th started a week long vacation in the land of feta, souvlaki and ouzo.

the 27thi arrived to athens. i went to a party straight from the airport! the music was so weird, but noticing the greek style, i felt like i fit in more in greece than in spain. everyone in greece is very laid back, stylish but more relaxed (compared to spain) and just interested in enjoying life. chara was our AMAZING host that had us in her house and took us all around the city. i dont know how we could have experienced athens the way we did without her.

the 28th
when in athens, you have to see the acropolis, and thats the first thing that we did. its free to enter on sundays, so we just walked right in to see it. even though it was crawling with tourists, the acropolis is absolutely amazing. its incredible how much history exists in one place and how it has survived throughout centuries, different rulers and different religions. the new acropolis museum was also opened across the street during the summer. it has a very complete collection of objects found at the acropolis including original statues, marble panels, vases and more. we walked down from the acropolis through thissio which is an area of athens with lots of street vendors selling jewelry and random things and lots of coffee shops and cafes as well.

in greece, the coffee culture is very strong. whatever you do, you always "take a coffee" during the day. you could be drinking a coffee with friends for hours! but it is an integral part of any greek day. what do you do in these cafes for hours? talk, read horoscopes in the free newspapers and play backgammon. they have something called a frappé. now its nothing like a frappuccino you would get at starbucks, but greek coffee with ice. the coffee itself isnt different, but the way its made is... im not sure how to describe it but! if you go to greece, try it!

that evening, we went to a typical greek tavern to try typical greek beverages including ouzo. the first drink we tried was called raki - its a very strong alcohol that is boiled and mixed with honey so the taste is smoother and its very warm when you drink it. we also tried ouzo. now, generally when i had tried ouzo in the past, it always involved a greek party or restaurant in canada with a shot glass and a bottle of ouzo. i found out this is not the best way to drink it. you mix the ouzo with ice and water and its actually quite delicious! on Eros

the 29th
we went to the cycladic art museum which had a temporary exhibit on eros - the god of love and eroticism. the exhibit was very interesting as it explored different aspects of the concept of love - from romanticism, homosexuality, bestiality, sex as well as the mythical life of eros himself. but some of the vases - it looked like porn painted on a vase! we also say the permanent exhibit which related to ancient greek life as well as pre historic artifacts from greece. from my understanding, ancient greek life, philosophy and myths are pretty well known but the prehistoric artifacts and findings are super interesting and not as well known. i was more interested in the pre historic cycladic exhibit than the greek life in antiquity exhibit!

after that, we walked around kolonaki which is the pricey shopping district and started our whorl wind eating tour of athens. we started with souvlaki, moved to another place for coffee (of course), to another place for typical greek sweets (which were AMAZING! i still feel the sugar in me from then) and then we went to a funk bar for a drink. food and beverage in greece is generally pretty cheap... except for the coffee (which is anywhere from 3-5 euros compared to spain where you can get a cup of coffee for 1.20)

the 30th
we hopped in nikos' car and drove for an hour to Sounio. our first stop was the temple of poseidon. it was beautiful - not necessarily from the temple itself but from where it is situated. the temple is on a hill which overlooks the sea. take a look at the pictures to see - the colours - the white of the marble, the green of the grass and the super blue water was amazing and created some great pictures too! we had a packed lunch on the beach and then of course had some coffee. we had it at this place called the house project. the concept of the place was that it was a house - with a library (with books), a living room (with a playstation and computers), a games room (with pool), and a patio that was on the beach but you could order coffee, food, drinks etc. it was really cool and it seemed like something out of the OC.

the 31st
Sylvia and i went off on our own towards the center and Monistraki square. we bought souvenirs and i was on a hunt for the ancient agora. i was disappointed when i saw that it was just some ruins on either side of a small road with grass growing all around it. but! there were ruins..in the middle of the city.. it was kind of exciting? we met up with konstantinos and nikos and went for shisha and to try another typical greek drink - inomelo. its red wine that is heated up and mixed with honey. you drink it like a shot and it is delicious!

the 1st
we took a ferry for an hour to the island of aegina. as soon as we got there, we went to the ticket booth to ask when the ferries were departing back to athens. the guy in the booth told us that we were in the village and needed to go the city of aegina, where the ferry departs. he said we could take a taxi or take "that" bus, pointing to a bus driving by at full speed. sylvia and i tried to wave it down, but it didnt stop. sylvia also saw a sign that said aegina town, 10 km. Syl then suggests we walk the 10 km because its not that far. so without thinking, we start walking thinking 10 km is like a 20 minute walk. as we are walking, i start calculating how long 10 km really takes to walk and am pretty sure it will take us well over an hour and a half. but when when we turned any curve, syl would optimistically say "i feel like the city is just around the corner!" we finally saw some very nice people (after 45 minutes of walking) that said that the town was another 5 kms away. at this point, we decided to look for a taxi. we quickly waved one down and drove the remaining 5 kms to aegina town. it was our very own "camino de santiago" but the "camino de carajo" in aegina - very fitting for easter. (the camino de santiago is a religious pilgrimage where you walk across spain during easter).

while on our wonderful walk, we saw some tourists on motorcycles. after this, sylvia was addicted with the thought of getting a motorcycle. so after finding out what time the ferry left, we found a place that rented motorcycles. the guy asked us if we could rive motorcycles, we said no so he gave us a quad to share. it was the best decision ever! syl and i took turns driving the quad and explored the entire island! we saw a giant church (the monastary of agios nektarios) and drove to the temple of aphaia. we then got lunch near the sea and drove around the rest of the island. it was a lot of fun.

the 2nd
we visited the national archaeological museum which has an amazing collection of greek statues and marble depictions in the world. it was in a huge building and the exhibits were fascinating. the only thing that tainted the experience was the hordes of american high school kids there for spring break and the other stereotypical american tourists there. they were loud, taking pictures with flash, hording all of the displays, walking in front of people looking at displays, calling over to friends and people - ah so aggravating!

overall the experience in greece was amazing! we relaxed, enjoyed the lifestyle, saw lots of things, had an amazing hostess and of course, ate SO MUCH FOOD! when you look at the pictures, you will see almost everything we ate. it was fantastic! tomorrow i am off to fés in morocco for a 2 day sight seeing tour!

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WENA LDS 2010

2010-03-18T12:28:00.001-07:00

Stella and I were faci's at wena lds 2010 in malta. Our faci team consisted of people from Colombia, Germany, Denmark, Malta, Belgium and Greece and us. The conference focused on leadership and not so much on AIESEC. we had a pre meeting for 2 days where we went through all the sessions, worked on new ones and played a lot of foosball. we were in a fishing village in malta so we got to see the colourful boats and walk around a bit along the water as well.

the conference itself was very interesting and very challenging. It was nice to see something new in AIESEC again. when you have been in the organization for 5 years, things start to get a little routine. the format of the conference was in homegroups. so each delegate was placed in 1 of 10 homegroups and each session was based in homegroups. you could meet and get to know 16 other people really well as you worked with them in team building activities, discussions and of course parties as well. each homegroup has its own style and bonded in its own way. it was really cool to see new aiesecers coming into the organization with such motivation, passion and excitement.

there were of course some challenges in the faci team, especially with working styles. There were two clear groups in the faci team - the mediterranean group (of 4 - greece, malta and italy) and the german group (of 3). Ana (from Colombia but on the Swedish MC) and myself were somewhere in the middle - we understood both sides. It wasn't a bad thing at all! It was just very interesting to see how each group thought and worked. Coming from Canada and now living in Spain, i could understand and defend both sides and also sometimes play the intermediary. but it was very cool to see how different people thought and worked and also to see the realization each side had. the cultural understanding showed on their faces and challenged how everyone thought. it was a very intense 5 days with people from very different cultures - it was very frustrating, very fun, very challenging but awesome at the same time.

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Malta

2010-03-18T11:57:00.001-07:00

I was selected as a facilitator for the Western Europe and North America Leadership Development Seminar (WENA LDS for short :P) which was hosted in Malta. We went a few days before the conference for touring around and for pre conference. malta itself is an interesting place. it is only 316 sq km and has around 450,000 people, so the size of a small city. you can drive across the entire country in 20 minutes but because of the traffic, its more like an hour and a half. malta has been invaded by pretty much everyone (english, italians, spanish, french, arabs) so the maltese language is half arabic and half everything else. you can also see the influences of the british in the slang the maltese use, the italians in the food and the arabs in the architecture. Usually its a balmy 20 degrees in the winter, but not when we were there. it was rainy everyday except for the last 2 days and it was REALLY cold. but the people were amazing - very warm and hospitable. they were willing to show us around, drive us around and of course brag about their food. another weird thing...each house had a name! instead of a number on the outside of the house, it was a name (one was named cockburn..i would not want to live there...)

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Málaga

2010-03-07T10:37:00.001-08:00

Continuing on the tour, i made my way to málaga. when the bus arrived to málaga, we arrived to rain. this wasn't the normal kind of drizzle rain, it was raining hard... like cats and dogs some would say. during the trip to málaga, i was in meetings, had an opportunity to actually work! and get to know the members of AIESEC there better. i even did a couple of little speeches in spanish (very proud of that!). Camby also took me on a tour of the center of Málaga! It's a cool little place with a muslim style castle (the alcazaba) and the birthplace of picasso! enjoy the pictures!

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Zaragoza

2010-03-07T09:59:00.001-08:00

I was in Zaragoza for 4 days over the weekend, continuing my whirlwind tour of Spain for work. Zaragoza isn't a huge city but it had a lot to see. The first night i was there, we went to "El Tubo" which is an area of the city that has lots of bars and restaurants. We went for tapas. Now, i was under the assumption that tapas worked the same all over Spain. Well. I was wrong. we ordered patatas brava (thick cut french fries with "hot" sauce) and croquetas - they were 9 euros each! I was not impressed. We went to a pintxos place after where they have cut pieces of bread with different toppings (ham, salmon, combinations of things) laid out along the entire counter of the bar. You picked whatever you want and at the end, they count the number of toothpicks you have and charge you 1.20 euros each. It was fantastic!

Continuing with the food theme, I ate SO MUCH that weekend. I was staying with Teresa's family for the days i was there. They were incredibly welcoming, warm and hospitable. I really did feel like i was at home. Teresa's sister works as a baker at a french bakery. Every morning when we woke up, there was a giant platter full of amazing things from the bakery. Teresa's dad loves to cook (he even wears a chef's hat when cooking) and cooked for 5 people every meal (when only 2-3 of us were eating). I don't think my plate was ever empty!

In terms of work, we went non stop the entire weekend! We had meetings, trainings, discussions - it was really great actually. I felt very productive, a little tired at the end of it all but very productive.

As a team building activity, we went to a horse stable on Sunday morning. Teresa's dad goes to this place every weekend or something, so they gave us a great deal! It was only 10 euros for 2 hours of riding and we used the place for a meal as well. The place (the Poni Club, yes Poni with an "i") is set up like a cottage with the stable attached. We learned about the horses (Spanish, English, Arab, purebred, mixed), how to clean them, about the organization. We also cooked and ate there as well - BBQ. Now it is March and winter in Spain, but the weather was perfect. It was around 22 or 23 degrees! So we sat outside, ate, took in some sun (even darkened a little :P). Actually riding the horses was awesome! They showed us how to ride properly, took us on a walk through some of the countryside which was very pretty and showed us how to take care of the horses and show our appreciation. Teresa's dad was leading my horse and showing me what to do and at one point said to me (when i wasnt understanding), "I thought you could speak spanish!" and i said, "i can! just not with horse related words!" At the end of the day, it was just us left, cleaning up and ready to lock up. Teresa and i looked up to find one of the horses just hanging out, but not in the stable. We called Teresa's dad to confirm and he said no, the horse shouldnt be out of the stable - thats right, an escapee. So Marco picked up the rope and was ready to get the horse back! Marco and Ruben jump into the pen, a dog is barking at the horse and because of all of these things, the horse gets spooked - starting to run around the pen. So i decided to be a horse whisperer and calm the horse down. Sure enough, he calmed down with my awesome technique and we could get him back to the stable.

On Monday, i went on a tour of Zaragoza. Isabel (studying tourism and doing a placement at the tourism office) took me on a very informative walk through the center of the city. Zaragoza has a lot of history - roman, muslim, christian. and they all have buildings and sites to represent them. There is also the Catedral Basilica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar - a giant church that has a pillar in it. a saint apparently saw the virgin mary over the pillar and decided to build a gigantic church! the part i liked the most was the 2 holes in the ceiling and 2 missiles on the wall. apparently during the civil war, the two missiles were lodged into the roof of the basilica, but never exploded.

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Granada

2010-02-27T11:35:00.001-08:00

I was in Granada for work (LC Visit) for three days. I was there to help coach the members and learn more about the reality of AIESEC in Granada. Of course i feasted on tapas (which are HUGE... you get a full hamburger and fries as a tapa for free with a drink for 2 euros, i still dont understand!). I also spent a lot of time on one of the campus' of the university of granada. the campus is on a hill....its a building (with one faculty), a billion stairs and then another building (with another faculty) and another billion stairs. You would for sure lose like 20 kilos if you had to climb the mountain everyday. i of course took the bus one day and walked up the mountain the other.

the members of aiesec granada were great! we eat lots of tapas, went salsa dancing and walked around the center of the city a bit. I really like Granada - a nice small city with lots of history. I didn't go to the Alhambra (as I have already been twice) but discovered newer parts like the Plaza de Torros (where all the great tapas places are) and a cafeteria in the university that has the most AMAZING view of Albaicin, the Alhambra and the entire city. I loved it!

Here is my crazy travelling scehdule for all of you to enjoy! Feb 19 - Valladolid > Feb 21 - Back to Madrid > Feb 23 - Granada > Feb 25 - Back to Madrid (for 7 hours, overnight) > Feb 26 - Zaragoza > Mar 1 - Back to Madrid (overnight only) > Mar 2 - Málaga > Mar 5 - Barcelona > Mar 7 - Madrid > Mar 9 - Malta > Mar 18 - Madrid (for how long, who knows?!)

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A very interesting birthday

2010-02-22T13:32:00.001-08:00

Yes, that’s right, February 22^nd is my birthday. Those with facebook might be wondering why they didn’t know. Its because I didn’t post it on facebook! Now that the day is almost over, I can recount a few interesting details.

We went to lunch at a Greek restaurant near the office. We had two waiters serving us – one a Spanish guy and the other an African guy. Sylvia of course tried to get something for free (like a dessert or something), but its not really a custom in Spain. But the African waiter did come over, notice we were talking in English and sang happy birthday to me. So! I’m in Spain, in a Greek restaurant with an African man singing to me in English. So international.

In our metro station (near the office), there is an array of musicians and singers (both good and bad) that perform either in the station or on the metro itself. (Our favorite is a lady that sings AWFUL karaoke every morning in an unknown language wearing the same clothes everyday). But! On the way home, there was a man playing the violin. Stella asks him to play happy birthday because of obvious reasons. He starts playing, Stella and Sylvia are singing and Kimmie is recording. At this point I am dying of laughter and embarrassment and have turned a very bright colour of red (an achievement with my skin tone). Stella at this point is telling random people “es su cumpleaños!” (It’s her birthday). Sylvia commented “Stella, stop telling the old ladies and tell the hot guys!” But alas, no boys just nice old ladies.

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Valladolid EB Retreat

2010-02-22T13:24:00.001-08:00

The EB of AIESEC Valladolid invited me to a casa rural (cottage) to chair their EB retreat. We went to a little village (pueblo) 30 minutes outside of Valladolid. It was a great cottage with lots of room, a great kitchen and an amazing patio (but it was a little too cold to use). The weekend was filled with a lot of laughs, jokes and of course drinking games. We played board games, card games (i have learnt how to play with Spanish playing cards - there are different suits and ways of counting!) and did some sessions to team build. I even tied their hands together with string and made them cook and eat lunch that way. It was very entertaining for me! I spoke so much Spanish (i.e. 95% Spanish) that I was exhausted by the end of the weekend!

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Munich

2010-02-16T14:11:00.001-08:00

Beer + Cold Weather = Canada... i mean! Germany! Sylvia and I hoped on a plane on Saturday to Munich. My friend PEC lives there right now, doing a semester abroad at the Munich Business School. This is the first time Syl or I had been to Germany. It was very cold (kind of like home) with snow and slush and a cold wind that made your face freeze. As soon as we arrived, there was a giant BMW grill in the airport - very cool. but what was even cooler was that Lufthansa has free coffee machines in the airport (the fancy ones with like hot chocolate and espresso and stuff too). After meeting up with pec and his friend xavier, we walked around to get a few drinks and catch up. the weird part was that the bars and restaurants were closing at 11:30 or 12:00 on a Saturday! but we found a couple of places to enjoy a beverage and then went to a club. The club was very interesting - loud techno and electronic music and very interesting characters. our favorites were the 2 blond german girls who couldnt dance to save their life - they just bounced around off beat, looking like they were having an epileptic seizure. they also had high top, hip hop style sneakers lining the bar - random but cool detail.

Dachau: on valentines day, syl and i headed out to Dachau, where the former Nazi concentration camp was. we knew it was going to be an intense experience going in, but it was very hard and emotionally draining. we got the audio guide which provided so much more detail and sometimes in a graphic manner. it was nonetheless very interesting to see exactly where all of the things you read in a history book actually happened. the day itself was super cold and cloudy - the perfect conditions to experience Dachau. Especially after seeing the crematorium, you feel a profound sense of loss and complete confusion - how can one person do this to another.

Bavarian Dinner: We went for a very Bavarian dinner that consisted of meat and potatoes in different forms. It was excellent and VERY German. There was a band playing at the restaurant as well, giving us a nice ambiance. We then went to the Hofbräuhaus, a beer hall that is all over Germany. A friend of mine advised me not to go there, but it was awesome! There was a band playing, 1 liter mugs of beer and very salty pretzels. It was really fun to just chill, drink beer and chat.

BMW: On the way to the BMW museum, we had to wait at the u-bahn stop, münchner freiheit. it was the coolest metro stop ever! pec described it as the star wars metro stop. whatever it was, it was awesome - electric blue columns, lime green walls and mirrors on the ceiling. while we were in Munich, it was Carnival, so the BMW museum had a bunch of things planned - one being a Brazilian carnival party and the other was a motorcycle demonstration. For the Brazilian party, they had a small capoeira demonstration, dancing, a band playing and food and drink from Brazil. There was also a guy doing tricks on his motorcycle on the stairs, it was cool. The brazilian music was a cool soundtrack to looking at the new BMW cars and motorcycles. We went to the Olympic park after (it was across the street). Nothing is open, so we just walked around. It was a little anticlimactic. Like it was cool that the Olympics were there, but we couldn't see much other than the outside of the buildings.

Carnival: In Marienplatz (the main square in Munich), the carnival celebrations were in full swing. I guess Carnival in Munich is like Halloween. Kids and adults dress up as whatever they want (take a look at the picture of the 2 guys dressed up as M&Ms). There are concerts in the main city squares and of course crazy parties. We walked around the city center in the freezing cold. Munich is a really cool city - it has a small town feel but has so much history and significance.

Party: Our last night in Munich, we went to a University party in a Roman Temple. That should sound weird right? But it was really cool! One area had a DJ, another area for drinks and in another room they had a band playing disco remixes. We had a good time dancing around in a very strange location. We then went to the Milch und Bar which was so much fun. They played 80s music all night and we just danced the night away. We made friends with 4 other Spanish people that were also studying in Munich and lived in the same building as pec. They were awesome and really fun to party with.

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vending machine - for books?

2010-02-16T13:10:00.001-08:00

when at the príncipe pío shopping mall in madrid (a very cool mall that used to be a train station!) i came across a vending machine. i know, a vending machine is not blog worthy or really worthy of any mention. but! what if it was a vending machine that sold books. thats right, i was impressed and felt it was note worthy!

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pick pocketing in madrid

2010-02-16T13:02:00.001-08:00

camera, ipod, wallet with full salary in cash and credit cards, coin purse with 1.50 euros. i was the victim of a couple of pick pocketers one february evening. but jokes on them, they only took my coin purse with 1.50 euros - suckers!

Ok, so the full story. Lupo (visiting us from Panama that week), Cynthia (Morra), Kim and I were on the metro home during rush hour. we were huddled around one pole in the middle of the train. there was this sketchy couple that were speaking russian or something (and the chick DEFINITELY had a mustache). this is what it looked like: the guy went to hug his mustached girlfriend and i felt something near my purse. i moved it and mouthed to Morra, "I think they are trying to pick pocket me". at the next stop, when people got off, they moved and sandwiched Morra. She only had dirty tupperware in her bag, so they wouldnt have gotten anything good at all. then at the next stop, they moved to kimmie. when our stop came, Morra, lupo and i started to get off the train. we noticed kimmie wasnt following us so we turn around to see that the mustached lady had opened the button on kimmie's coat to take her wallet out. When kimmie turned around (she felt something in her pocket), the mustached lady dropped the wallet and kimmie grabbed it. at this point, lupo and i are trying to reopen the metro doors so kimmie could get off and morra had jumped back on the train from the other entrance, ready to drop kick the mustached lady's ass. the pick pocketers ran down the train. Kim and morra reported them at the next station but i doubt they caught them (although i dont know how many mustached ladies ride the metro nowadays).

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Bar Hawaiano + Luci finishes her last exam

2010-02-16T12:40:00.001-08:00

On february 4th, Luci finished the last exam of her degree! So in celebration, we had cake in the office and Sebas even made Luci a graduation hat out of paper (very creative). After work, we went to Montaditos for dinner (they have mini sandwiches for like 1-2 euros, cheap drinks and overall awesomeness). We then headed to Bar Hawaiano. Its a little place that doesnt like too big of a crowd but is amazing! The place is like a cave including faux rock for the wall. You sit around and order drinks, which of course come in a VOLCANO! that has smoke too! The straws shoot out for about 2 feet (yes i nearly poked myself in the eye several times) and you share the drinks and enjoy the overly sugary Hawaiian delights. The waiter also brings all of the girls leis, a carnation and little umbrellas (and tapas of course). Super cheesy but very entertaining!

See the full gallery on posterous

Alicante - the most relaxing trip from hell

2010-02-01T10:22:00.001-08:00

our friend maria has some things: a nice camera, a car and a house on the beach near alicante. our friend stella had a birthday and a wish: to get out of madrid for the weekend. this meant that cynthia (morra), stella, maria and i piled into her car for a great trip the beach! you would think it was all rainbows and candy, but we had a few hiccups.

we planned on leaving thursday night around 10:30pm, to get to alicante by 3am or so, sleep and then have the whole day on Friday to sit at the beach. We only left Madrid at around 1am. We filled up gas and were on our way. Towards the last part of the trip (around 3:30am), I was sleeping in the back seat when i hear maria and morra cursing in the front seat. We are out of gas, the gas light is on and we have already been to 2 gas stations that were closed. we decided that waiting at a gas station for a few hours was probabaly better than running out of gas in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere. So we pulled into the next gas station we found and it was seriously out of a horror movie. Maria and i checked out the place once to see if anyone was around and nothing, just alleys with shady lighting. Then morra and maria went to look around and a car alarm went off..so of course we are freaked because we think that someone is lurking in the darkness. during the next 45 minutes or so, we are joking, morra is screaming out of the window of the car "quiero gasolinaaaaaaaa" and generally being a gong show. as we are talking and deciding what to do, we hear a man´s voice, very low like a grumble. of course we are freaked out (again), looking around everywhere, making sure the doors are locked etc etc. morra insists she doesnt hear anything. then we are quite again to see if we can hear the man again and we hear something! then morra says, "ah! thats my stomach!!" so the conclusion? morra´s tomach sounds like an angry man. next, a random truck driver comes by to pick up his trunk and we find out there is a 24 hour gas station about 20 kms away. assuming you can drive about 50kms on the gas light, and the fact that we had already driven about 35 kms on the gas light, we decided to risk it and go. so we drive REALLY slowly (like 40kms/hr on a highway with a speed limite of 120kms/hr) and we made it to the gas station!

we finally got to the house and slept for a few hours before getting groceries. the beach house is awesome! its been in maria´s family for a long time (her mom grew up there) and is across the street from the beach. literally. you walk 20 steps from her front gate and you are on sand. even though it was a bit windy and cold, we spent the good part of 3 days on the beach.

on friday (our first day on the beach), towards the end of our time there, maria and i decided to walk along the beach. at this point, it was incredibly beautiful - the rock on beach a cool red colour, the sea was really blue and there were lots of seashells. there was also these really cool rocks that you climb onto. they were generally pretty flat and close to the sand. so maria and i decided to start walking on the rocks. there was a slippery part, and i slipped, stumbled a bit and fell face first. i hit my legs, my arm and my face. (disclaimer: a little graphic & bloody, skip ahead if you need to! :P) When i stood up, i looked down to see my big toe nail on my left leg flopping in the water, it was only attached by a bit of skin. maria ran towards me asking if i was ok, i said ok and that just my toenail was gone. then we look down and a huge flood of blood came down my leg. we rolled up my pants to see lots of blood coming from below my knee and the blood pooling in the water aronund my feet. it looked like a low budget horror movie at that point.

maria got me to the beach and then ran to get stella and morra. at this point, im super light headed and try to gain my bearings. when i looked down at my leg again, i started to freak out a bit from the blood. while morra was calming me down and walking me from the beach, maria and stella ran to get the car. we jumped in the car and maria was on the phone with her dad who is a doctor. we went to pharmacy #1 and were shooed away, then we went to an ambulancia, where they wouldnt treat me because i didnt have insurance from the EU, then we went to another medical clinic and they wouldnt see me because they didnt any doctors. SO THEN! we went to another pharmacy and they finally helped. they were kind of shocked no one would help me! so she patched me up and we bought supplies (like gauze and antispetic) and we were on our way.

after getting back to the house, i felt fine after some dinner. we were playing monopoly when i looked down and saw that my bandage was completely soaked and blood was dripping down my leg. we changed the bandage only to find the 2nd one getting wet pretty quickly. we decided that going to the emergency room was the best way to go, so even if it was nothing, the doctor could tell us that (or get stiches if i needed). 2 hours in the hospital and €204 later (it only took 5 minutes of time with the doctor and the nurse and all they did was re-wrap my leg and toe), we were on our way.

in the next few days, we hung out, sylvia met up with us, we sat on the beach and went to a restaurant to have paella and celebrate stella´s bday. we also had a sweet photo shoot on the beach with maria´s awesome camera. i don´t have any pictures yet, but they will be up soon!

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Morra & Cindy's Birthday

2010-01-24T12:12:00.001-08:00

Last night, we went out for Cynthia (Morra) and Cindy's Birthday. Cindy is on AIESEC International and was in town for the weekend for her birthday celebrations. They are also both Mexican. So what did we do? Go to a Mexican restaurant for dinner! It was amazing...all of the food was spectacular. The decor? Like a piñata exploded on the walls. It was the cheesiest thing ever, but fantastic.

We went to Chapandaz (i think thats how you spell it) afterwards. Its a bar that has cool music, so works for lots of different people. The bar was FILLED with american exchange students. Apparently there are like 150 American exchange students in Barcelona and Madrid and they are taking over our spots... hhmmm although i love nafta and what not..not sure if i love this

Chapandaz has a drink that is very famous...called "Leche de Pantera" - Panther's Milk. It cost almost 10 euros but is HUGE! There is this cream liquid stuff that comes out of the ceiling, then the bartenders pour in like 4 different types of liquor and put in some cinnamon. People love this stuff! Personally I am not a huge fan of the sugary drinks, but it was an experience nonetheless.

See the full gallery on posterous

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Churros

2010-01-24T11:46:00.001-08:00

Stella and I decided that we didn't want to just sit at home and watch movies on the weekend, but instead explore the city and get to know Madrid a little bit more. So we ventured out Saturday to San Gines, a very famous churro's spot in Madrid. Its tucked behind a church on Calle Arenal, just off of Sol. It was amazing and the best thing for a chilly afternoon.We also explored Calle Fuencarral which had SO many cool stores and shops. We had only ever been there in the middle of the night on the way home from the bar, never when everything was open and it was amazing! Super crowded but at the same time, really cool.

See the full gallery on posterous

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Team Day

2010-01-24T11:18:00.001-08:00

Thanks to AIESEC, we had a team day that was pretty awesome. It consisted of three parts - bowling, dinner and ice skating

Bowling was a lot of fun. In general, we all kind of suck, with only 2 (out of 8) breaking 100 points. I must say that the bowling alleys here are way more ghetto than good ol' gateway lanes back home. They didnt even have machines at each lane so you could put in funny bowling knicknames! But still, it was fun - seeing who could lift the heaviest balls, how fast we could throw them and the bowling form of each person. It was also an accomplishment for some of us to even hit the pins. All in all, good times.

We went to a place called Chicago's for dinner. It was "American" food - so burgers, steak and greasy appetizers. Apparently "american" food restaurants are quite popular in Spain. It looked like a midwest gas station, an old general store and a planet hollywood threw up on the place. Pinned to the walls were motorcyles, old coca cola posters, an old gas pump and upside down tables!

Part 3 was ice skating. I have decided that I may be the worst canada ever - don't like cold, can't ski and definitely can't skate. But what I would like to point out is that I have potential. The potential to bean awesome canadian representative. At the beginning, Kimmie and I were hugging the boards as the Mexican, Chilean and Spaniards were skating circles around us (while doing turns on one leg!) but by the end, we could venture out on our own. One very successful point was that I didn't fall..AT ALL! even when i tried to turn around. Why yes, I AM proud of myself. The other highlight was that the very proud canadian sport of Curling is taught at this ice rink in Madrid! The curling circles and everything were painted on the ice. There was also a Zamboni - oh I love my Canadian fun facts (but I think my team is getting sick of me saying: "Fun Fact! Did you know that _____ is Canadian?!?!"). Hey! we might not have a national dance or food (other than poutine) but! we do have fun facts and I will be damned if I don't share them! I may not be the best ice skater, or a lover of cold and snow, but I do know my fun canadian facts!

See the full gallery on posterous

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NPM 2.0

2010-01-24T10:28:00.001-08:00

On the 16th, we had an extraordinary meeting for all of the LCPs in AIESEC in Spain. It was the 2nd round of MCP elections. It was the first time I had seen the members since September! It was good to reconnect and talk to them once again. It was also a great opportunity for me to reconnect with my team. Sebas and Raquel were running for MCP and Sebas won in the end.

Pretty much everyone slept over at the MC flat after the party and some even made homemade pasta after!

See the full gallery on posterous

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guess whose back...

2010-01-10T09:53:00.001-08:00

guess whose back in madrid? thats right! i arrived last to wonderful madrid.

flight over
the super long (9 hour flight) from calgary to london was fine except for the three crying babies around me. having to wake up every 30 minutes was delightful. not to mention the fact that the airline lost my bags, which was also wonderful. the flight out of calgary was also delayed almost 5 hours, but i had the chance to spend time with the walter family, which was awesome.

last 3 months
i know i haven't been posting much over the last three months, but nothing extremely excited has really happened. i was continuing my position (MCVP for the aiesecers) virtually from home. although it was fantastic to keep in touch with the position and the work i was doing, it did get lonely and frustrating working from my basement. i wouldn't recommend working from home :P other than work, i hung out with friends and family and generally relaxed.

now
so now i am sitting in the flat in madrid, looking out the window and seeing SNOW. i left edmonton to escape the freezing cold and snowstorms only to come to warm madrid at a whopping 0 degrees and light snow. now that i am back to the excitement that is europe, you can expect more pictures, posts and stories!

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My MC Experience

2009-12-08T19:24:00.000-08:00

hey everyone, i wanted to share with you my experience on the MC in Spain so far

MC Role - my role on the MC is of LC Development. In terms of the work, this was a super interesting position to take on. I am the first LCD of AIESEC in Spain - that has been very challenging (in a good way!) as I have had the opportunity to mold and shape the role. I have been working with Cris (MCP) and Kim (MCVP TM) quite a bit as the role of LCD centers on capacity building and the members. I have had the opportunity to implement measurement systems (a SONA), coach members (3 LCs and 4 expansions) and work with each functional MCVP to deliver on my plan. It is a great role if you like strategy and working with all aspects of the organization.

Personally, my favorite parts of my MC role are coaching and facilitating at conferences (and traveling to the conferences!)

Right now, I'm doing my LCD role virtually from Canada. Sometimes this is really tough, because you want to be able to gossip with the girls in the office or go for lunch with the team or just be in the office atmosphere. But i must say that it has been a learning experience, having to manage my time, projects and of course motivation being thousands of kilometers away from my team. although not the ideal MC experience, it is an experience nonetheless.

MC Life - I have only had the opportunity to live in the MC flat for 3 months, but let me tell you, it was insane! We have a huge place - 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. Sylvia (MCVP Sales) is my roommate and we have a really fun time! We like the same type of music and had good chats before going to bed. We also have the only bedroom with the attached bathroom - so that part is pretty awesome.

Stella (MCVP ER&Alumni), Cynthia (MCVP X) and I always cooked together and would share our lunches and dinners. It proved to be very multicultural, eating everything from pasta, mole and of course Indian food. Speaking of food, some weekly rituals - having team dinners and our weekly trip to El Tigre (the tapas bar near the office). Fantastic times to eat good food and spend time with good people.

Some of the girls liked running some evenings, but Cris and I would spend our evenings watching How I Met Your Mother - always a highlight. And on the weekends, we watch about 8745874 hours of movies and TV. One weekend i think we watched 3 movies and then Cris and I watched about 6 episodes of How I Met Your Mother.It was legendary.

Sebas, Cris and I also played Mario Kart (Nintendo 64!!!) frequently. Yes, an old MC member donated his N64 to the flat! If you are on the MC next year, make sure to practice because Cris and Sebas will try and beat you during transition! (I'm unfortunately not that good, but I try!)

I also really enjoyed the random walks I would take with people around the flat - walking to atocha or getting a kebab. Or sitting on the roof and talking. Its all time when you get to know your team members more on a personal level - as people instead of just AIESECers.

Meeting the members of AIESEC in Spain has been absolutely incredible. They are some of the most supportive, caring and driven people I have ever met. They have been really fun people to not only work with, but also party and chat with. They are incredibly hospitable and warm, making language barriers and any culture shock wear away quite quickly.

Reflecting on my experience over the last 6 months, it has definitely had its challenges and triumphs. But the thing that defines the MC experience is the team. the work will always be there in different forms, but its how you take advantage of the time you have with your team that will stay with you forever and provide you with a truly unique experience. Sitting in my house in Canada, I can truly say that I genuinely miss my MC team back in Spain and that they have made the past 6 months unforgettable.

if you have any questions about the MC experience (work or the life part), please let me know! nithya.ramachandran(at)aiesecinspain.org! You can also read more about my experiences on the MC on my personal blog at nithya.posterous.com.

Good luck to all those applying for the MC and if you read this just for fun, i hope it gave you some insight into the life of an MC member!

Nowhere Man (8)

2009-12-08T10:15:00.000-08:00

Después de Marruecos no volví a escribir xD. Y bueno, si que han pasado muchas cosas. No me acuerdo de todo, pero aquí un pequeño resumen.

Input Meeting – Barcelona
Este fue nuestro segundo congreso como equipo MC 0910. Esta vez en Barcelona. Yo fui como Agenda Manager (responsable de contenidos). Y nuestro chair fue Sebastián Bustamante. La Morra y yo lo queríamos invitar. Morra lo conocía de cuando era MC en México, y yo lo conocía de cuando fue MCP en Cono Sur. Y lo hizo bastante bien. El congreso se vio marcado principalmente por la participación de alumni (ex miembros de AIESEC), que nos contaron sus historias. Conocimos al fundador de AIESEC en España, por ejemplo. El congreso fue todo un éxito.

El Escorial
Un fin de semana por ahí fuimos con Sylvia al Escorial. Como nos levantamos súper tarde, al final no alcanzamos a entrar a ninguno de los lugares a los que un turista debería ir xD. Pero igual terminamos por ahí comiendo algo, y lo pasamos bien.

(Sylvia en El Escorial)

Italia
Junto a Stella y Morra fuimos a Italia. . Fue súper cool!. 4 días y tratamos de recorrer lo máximo posible. Llegamos al aeropuerto en Bergamo, y de ahí partimos a Milán. Conocimos el San Siro (estadio del Inter y del AC. Milán) y recorrimos la ciudad. En la noche salimos a comer a un lugar donde los AIESECos comen gratis. Y nos alojamos esa noche con el MC de Italia, que nos trató súper bien. A la mañana siguiente partimos a Turín. No era tan bonito como Milán, ni tan cuico, pero igual valió la pena ir a ver. Nos alojamos donde unas amigas de Stella. Al día siguiente a Venecia, mi ciudad favorita. Lo recorrimos todo. Nos alojamos en un hotel en Mestre. Y comimos súper bien, porque nos invitó el papá de Stella, que andaba por ahí con su pareja. (No se si es que comimos bien en realidad, o es que nos acostumbramos a las cosas que nos preparamos nosotros xD). Al día siguiente seguimos en Venecia, de ahí a Milán, y ahí dormimos en la estación de buses xD porque los buses al aeropuerto no partían hasta el día siguiente. Y regresamos a Madrid. No compramos muchas cosas, tratamos de que todo el viaje fuera lo más barato posible. Pero tenemos muchas fotos bakanes.

(En Milan)

(En Turin)

(Con la Morra y Stella)

ELC
Hicimos otro congreso. Esta vez uno enorme, para miembros nuevos de AIESEC. Como hicimos el reclutamiento más grande en años, conseguimos también el congreso para nuevos más grande en años: 200 delegados . Y como 200 delegados son cosa seria xD, decidí aplicar como OC (Comité organizador, es decir, quienes hacen el trabajo sucio, y ven todas las cosas logísticas). Y fui con doble rol, de facilitador (expositor) y OC. No me arrepiento, pero es algo que jamás volveré a hacer xD. Nunca había terminado tan muerto después de un congreso. Y eso que este era cortito (apenas 3 días). El congreso salió en general bien. Tuve la oportunidad de compartir con el equipo de OC (casi todos de Málaga, y uno de Sevilla), lo cual me gustó, porque fui parte de un equipo distinto al MC por unos días.

(El Congreso)

Gibraltar Al día siguiente del ELC, fuimos a Gibraltar junto a Cris, Luci, Morra y Kimmie. Gibraltar es una cosa rara :S Es territorio de Reino Unido, pero sus habitantes hablan spanglish, con un acento peor que el mío, y usan libras de moneda. Pero no son libras como las de Inglaterra, sino que tienen por un lado la cara de la reina, y por el otro, tienen a un mono xD. O cosas así. Y es que está lleno de monos :P. Como está a pocos kilómetros de África, llegaron hace como 200 años (creo, algo asi), en un barco, y ahí se quedaron.

(Todos apuntando a sus paises)

(Con Cris, Luci, Kimmie y Morra)

Con un mono :)

MCP
Decidí aplicar a MCP de España para el periodo 1011. Si quedo, prometo que esta vez si será mi último año en España xD. Pero quiero quedarme un poco más, para darle continuidad a lo que estamos haciendo con el equipo 0910 ahora mismo. Y si no me resulta, entonces me iré de intercambio por ahí. A Brasil, o a algún lugar por ahí, ojalá más cerca de Chile. (Aunque si es más lejos, igual está bien, jeje).

Ajedrez
Según la página deajedrezchileno.cl, soy un jugador inactivo xD. Y es verdad, desde el 2007 que no jugaba un torneo, y desde que entré a la universidad, que casi no he jugado. Me puse a ver, y en 2do año de Universidad como que dejé de jugar. Pero bueno, me dieron ganas de jugar un torneíto por aquí. Para variar llegue tarde, y perdí la primera ronda pues… por llegar tarde ¬¬. Pero me dejaron inscribirme para la segunda ronda, y me sorprendí, porque de hecho me fue bien :P. Gane la primera, gane la 2da.. la 3era la empate, pero tuve suerte porque la debí perder. La cuarta la perdí, pero esta vez tuve mala suerte, porque la debí ganar xD. La quinta la gané cuando me quedaba justo un segundo en el reloj (eran de estos digitales, así que cuando digo un segundo, es exactamente un segundo xD). Y como mi partida era la última de esa ronda, al minuto se inicio la ronda final, y di jugo absolutamente: no estaba para nada concentrado, cometí un par de errores estúpidos, y preferí rendirme. Pero aparte de esa última partida, me sorprendí a mi mismo con na performance de 1911 de ELO :P. (se supone que luego de no jugar por años, debería jugar peor que antes, no? Pero parece que mejoré xD). Con un punto más ganaba premio. (Tal vez si hubiera llegado a la hora xD). A ver si por ahí me inscribo en algún torneo serio.

Eventos
Me ha tocado participar en varios eventos. Algunos muy aburridos, como uno en Instituto de Empresa y FNAC, y otros mucho mejores. Mi favorito fue uno en que abrió el Rey, y presentaron expositores de muy alto nivel. Todos los asistentes eran directores de empresas, el networking que hicimos fue impresionante. Otro evento fue uno donde estaban los Príncipes de Asturias. El evento en si no fue tan bueno, porque era difícil hablar con las personas. Pero al menos nos sacamos una foto con los Príncipes, jeje.

Con los Príncipes de Asturias, Cris, y Camby.

Cosas Varias
• Sylvia regresó de Costa Rica (si, esto fue hace tiempo, pero no lo había puesto en el blog). Estoy muy contento de tenerla de vuelta, y la extrañaba en casa. Lo triste es que a cambio se nos fue Nithya a Canadá, y aun no sabemos si va a volver :S. Asi que ya no tengo a quien ganarle en el Mario Kart xD (ella es la que jugaba conmigo).
• Con Sylvia y Morra nos volvimos adictos a Dr House. Hemos visto desde el primer capítulo de la 1era temporada, y ahora vamos en la 4ta.
• Seguimos adictos a ir a “El Tigre”. Pero pronto es probable que nos mudemos de oficina, y por lo tanto tengamos que encontrar otro lugar bueno por ahí cerca. Pero de todos modos, creo que El Tigre es irremplazable.
• Me iré a Chile para navidad. Partiré el 23 (llego el 24 a Santiago), y luego me regreso el 5 (llego el 6 a Madrid).
• Aun no tengo el NIE (la tarjeta), Debería tenerla la 2da semana de Enero. Pero ya por fin está todo regularizado, ya me aceptaron, ya tengo el código, todo en orden.
• Me quedan muchos días de vacaciones disponibles. Soy el miembro del MC que menos vacaciones ha tomado, y las quiero aprovechar von algunos viajes por ahí.

Nota: Este post lo saqué de mi blog personal, asi que por favor disculpen las expresiones en chileno xD.

Love me do (8)

2009-11-09T11:47:00.000-08:00

Hola chicos!

Tenía mucho que no escribía en el blog porque tuve un mes lleno de cosas y viajes.

Primero me fui de vacaciones a Italia con Sebas y Stella, ya podrán ver las fotos en mi FB, especialmente la de Sebas con la pijama de ositos y corazoncitos de Stella caminando por Venecia a un lado del “papa”. Luego tuve LC Visit en Madrid y en Bellaterra y luego pase a Bilbao a dar un Exchange training.

La verdad disfrute mucho estar con todos y sobre todo creo que aprendí muchísimo, además que estuve durante fechas importantes, ya que en Barcelona me toco estar durante la fiesta anual de la Universidad Autónoma y ver todo la gente quejándose porque la fiesta no era oficial, contra Bolonia y contra la separación de Cataluña y en Bilbao fue casi lo mismo, viajamos por varios pueblos y aprendí mucho sobre todo esto de la separación.

Pero bueno el punto de este post no es hablar de los viajes o los LC Visits si no de algo que tenemos aquí en la oficina que podría divertirlos. Pues tenemos un flipchart titulado “What the future leaders of society think” y vamos enumerando las grandiosas frases del MC. Aquí si las pongo y ya dirán que profundas son.

- “You don’t need a mic, unless you want to speak” – Kim

- “Don’t let life win” – Luci

- “ Si eres una mierda, eres una mierda, Suerte. Bye” – La morra

- “Don’t be ourselves” – Kim

- “Eso del tengo, debo y voy es algo que tu mente no canaliza” – Yeni

- “A veces me dan ganas de ser tan grosera” – La morra

- “Incorrecto contexto” – Kim

- “I strategically forgot that” – Kim

- “A ver marrana de donde sacaste los CVs de Mundicorp…osea yo te los mande, pero….” – La morra

- “There is this thing about flights, you cannot miss them, because if you miss them you are screwed” – Youssef

- “Never ask something you don’t know the answer for” – Luci’s Dad

- “Me tienen hasta la madre” – La morra

- “Pero creo que hemos llegado con tiempo” – “Sebas imprimiste los boarding pass” – “A la ferrovial” – Stella

Iremos haciendo un updated y si alguien necesita explicación pues adelante.

Saludos

AIESEC Edmonton LCP Elections

2009-11-02T21:22:00.001-08:00

Can you believe that my cousin ran for LCP of AIESEC Edmonton? That's right..the position of LCP is staying in the family apparently! Nonetheless she did a great job. Congrats Shree!

Me, Diana (LCP after me) and my cousin, Shree! (the third generation)

Halloween

2009-11-02T21:19:00.001-08:00

This weekend, we celebrated Halloween in style. It was a really fun time and I think the first time in forever that I have had a good costume! I was dressed up as Cleopatra :)

Calgary

2009-10-25T13:51:00.001-07:00

My sister and I packed up for a few days in Calgary. Its only about a 3 hour drive away from Edmonton, but it was nice to get away. We stayed with our family friends, Niraja and Murray and their two awesome kids. They have a great house and a huge backyard. Two deer decided to visit us one afternoon and hung out pretty much all day. It was really cool to see it in their backyard in the city!

I also met up with Yuriy for lunch at this place called the mango shiva. It was an Indian place but fusion and made for white people (i.e. the set up was actually very nice and there wasnt plastic tableclothes on the tables :)) But since he's an important investment banker now, we had to cut it short so he could get back to work.

I also visited Marc in Okotoks. I got a world wind tour of Okotoks (took about 20 minutes :)) and then we went to the rock. Okotoks means big rock in some aboriginal language. so we went out to see this big rock which was kind of impressive. apparently its from the Rocky Mountains and was left there when the glaciers melted away or something like that.

Also did some shopping in Calgary - there always seems to be awesome deals and sales when we go down to Calgary, even though there are the same stores in Edmonton! weird, i know..but still awesome

See the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from nithya's posterous

barcelona: pyromusical

2009-10-04T16:02:00.001-07:00

i forgot i had this video! while we were in barcelona, it was the feria de marcé (i think thats right...) and its a festival in honour of one of the patron saints of barcelona. we couldnt attend any of the events because of the conference, but we were lucky enough to catch the last 20 minutes of the pyromusical (its usually around an hour) on the last day of the feria. usually there is a fountain that has lots of lights and is timed to music. but for the end of the festival, they included fireworks! they even shut down the plaza so people could stand in the street and watch. they even did a little bit of the show to Jai Ho from Slumdog Millionaire - of course i took a video! see below and enjoy!

Posted via email from nithya's posterous

Youssef

2009-10-04T14:35:00.001-07:00

Youssef, the IGN Director on AIESEC International was in town last week doing his first country visit in Spain! After doing a great session during Input Meeting in Barcelona, we all headed back to the office in Madrid for some good old coaching time. So members of AIESEC in Spain, don't think that you are the only people with fabulous LC coaches...we also have one =)

We also recieved recognition in the AIESEC International weekly newsletter! "To AIESEC in Spain for an incredible Train the Sellers Seminar (TTS) at their National Conference pre-meeting. The event had a very strong sales, product development, external analysis and many other sessions ran by experienced Alumni, Corporate guests, MC members, AI guests which makes it a good event to replicate in many other MCs and LCs in the network. An additional recognition goes to all of the LCs for participating in a great "Input Meeting" in Barcelona!”

canada

2009-10-04T14:24:00.001-07:00

after 24 hours of traveling, I am back in Edmonton, Canada. I am waiting for my long term visa so that I can stay in Madrid with no problems. As soon as I hear anything, I will for sure be very excited and let everyone know. For now, I will be working virtually from home. Thank god for the internet! =) Espero que nos vemos pronto! un beso

Posted via email from nithya's posterous

Random Moment # 843

2009-10-04T14:20:00.005-07:00

Random Moment # 843: Cynthia and Stella fell asleep in the same bed. Sebas wanted to go to sleep. Waking them up the normal way seemed, well too normal! So we devised a three step attack.

Step 1: Pour 2 glasses of water on them
Step 2: Hit them with pillows
Step 3: Jump on top of them

As you will see from the pictures, the plan was hugely successful. The attacking team was very proud.

See the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from nithya's posterous

Input Meeting

2009-10-04T14:20:00.003-07:00

Input Meeting is a national conference that is run by AIESEC in Spain. AIESEC IQS in Barcelona hosted it this year. Some highlights from the conference (explained by the pictures). The first party was at the Gato Negro which has shots for 2 euros. Now don't think this is your regular 2 euro shot special...they actually have this huge chalkboard with around 100 shots and they come with gimmicks. Borja and I sampled the Harry Potter. They actually set the entire shot glass on fire and made sparks come from it..it was CRAZY!

There was an alumni talk show with alumni from the last 6 decades. It was really cool to see the history of AIESEC in Spain especially since its not my country. It was even better because it was in English and I could understand all of it!

There was also a Global Village where some LCs really came prepared. Zaragoza did a complete replica of their city with food! Including a river and a cathedral! It was very impressive. The German table was also very entertaining because of the Berlin shot involving Jagr, Mustard, Pickles and a lot of yelling.

During one of the parties, the club started playing a song called "moving", which happens to be a roll call in Spain. Guess what? all the delegates started dancing and even randoms from the club joined in! A short video is also included in the post.

There was a really cool candle lit reflection moment at the end of the conference and it resulted in some awesome pictures. Congrats to Jessika for being the best delegate and to Sevilla for being the best delegation!

(12946 KB)
Watch on posterous

See the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from nithya's posterous

Franklin's Visit

2009-10-04T14:20:00.001-07:00

Franklin (from AIESEC International) was in Madrid the week of September 16th. He was in town to do some sales in Madrid and also joined us in Barcelona for the Train the Sellers conference. Here are some pictures from his visit. I also found a random store called Canada! I don't know exactly what they sell, but it was still cool! There are also some pictures of awesome Spanish food. The first one is Tortilla Patata with Pimiento and the second is Migas. So tasty!

See the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from nithya's posterous

Weather

2009-09-17T06:43:00.000-07:00

This week has seen a dramatic weather change here in Spain. For the past 4 months everyday has been sunny and around 35 degrees. Singlets, shorts, thongs the best possible dress. However suddenly overnight the temperature has dropped 13 degrees to now a maximum of 22-23 degrees, minimum about 10 degrees plus rain. Now its Jackets, scarves and boots. Its killing me!!!! Now I realise how few winter clothes I have with me (being only allowed 20kg luggage for a year in Europe really sucks) so tomorrow its off to get some slightly warmer clothes before heading to Barcelona for a conference.

More updates soon

Day Tripper (8)

2009-09-05T15:13:00.000-07:00

Domingo 30 agosto – miércoles 2 de Septiembre.

Hace un tiempo la Morra encontró unos pasajes en internet, por 80 euros ida y vuelta a Casablanca. Inmediatamente Kimmie y yo nos entusiasmamos, y decidimos partir. Pedimos vacaciones por 3 días, y ya está. :D Con el tiempo se nos sumó Franziska (NST TM) y Angie (amiga de Morra).

Iríamos a Casablanca, sin tener muy claro qué esperar, pero muy entusiasmados. Preguntamos algunas cosas a Siham, y bueno, sucede que de pronto nos enteramos que en esas fechas era Ramadán. No tenía ni idea qué significa eso, pero averiguando, me enteré que es una especie de mes sagrado para los musulmanes, en los cuales ayunan todo el día, hasta que se va el sol (tipo 7), y todos van a sus casas a comer y celebrar. Y eso nos asustó, porque implicaba llegar allá, y no saber si encontraríamos algún lugar para comer, o si lo hacíamos, si podíamos comer en la calle :P.

Y bueno, partimos el día 30. Llegamos a Casablanca, y del aeropuerto encontramos un tren que nos llevaba a la ciudad, pero partía en como una hora, así que aprovechamos de buscar algo e comer en el mismo aeropuerto. Encontré una especie como de empanada, que me recordó Chile, así que la compré. Esta era de pollo eso si :P. Franziska, Angie y Morra hablan algo de francés, asi que nos la arreglábamos. Y yo aplicaba un par de gestos si era necesario, y aunque me costaba, igual me las arreglaba de alguna manera.

Empanada :)

Partimos en el tren, y viendo nuestros boletos, como que nos entró la duda... parece que teníamos que hacer cambio tren entre medio. Y no sabíamos cuando bajar… al final le acertamos, y luego de poco más de una hora llegamos al centro de Casablanca. Y ahora qué hacemos? Preguntamos y nos dijeron que estábamos como a 10 mins caminando, así que en vez de tomar taxi, decidimos caminar… claro, se nos hizo un poco más largo porque nos perdimos, pero al final llegamos a Medina (el centro histórico de la ciudad, donde estaba nuestro hotel), y ahí si que nos perdimos xD. Medina hay que imaginárselo como un mercado repleto de gente, vendiendo de todo, y con callecitas pequeñas y en todas direcciones. La gente se te acerca y te habla, y es casi imposible despegarse de los vendedores. Y como se nos notaba lo extranjero, a nosotros nos insistían aun más :P. Al final, un señor de nombre Ahmet nos guió hasta el hotel, y nos iba enseñando de todo. Nos llevó también a comer por ahí (cosa que no habríamos logrado sin él, por Ramadán… nos llevó a un restaurante, y como que casi nos escondieron para que comiéramos así tranfugamente) xD. Nos prepararon una especie de carne en huevo… algo típico de allá. Luego nos llevó a un lugar para beber algo (allá la gente no toma cerveza, sino que té marroquí xD), y luego a compramos algo para vestirnos. Kimmie y yo nos compramos ropa típica. Aquí dos temas entretenidos… las chicas era impresionante como causaban sensación en Medina xD. Todos las miraban, les decían cosas, me decían cosas a mi por andar con 4 de ellas, y me felicitaban también… por ahí alguien me ofreció 200 camellos por ellas (50 c/u). e el bar un chico se acercó para sacarse fotos con ellas, jaja. Y lo de comprar cosas también es entretenido. Resulta que en Medina las cosas no tienen precios... todo se negocia, y se regatea. El traje primero me lo tuve que probar, y luego de que me gusta, empieza la negociación (nada de ver si te gusta algo junto con el precio... eso me desesperaba, pero igual por ser una vez entretiene). El webon partió pidiéndome el equivalente a 75 euros. Me lo escribió y le dije que no.. entonces me preguntaron cuánto estaba dispuesto a pagar. Dado que me puso un precio idiota, le respondí con una contra oferta idiota: 5 euros. Me dijo que no, que era ridículo, y me pidió 30 y tantos.. le ofrecí 10.. y así.. terminamos en 20 euros. No estaba seguro si es lo que vale, pero bueno, estoy feliz con las fotos que mee saqué con ese traje. Luego me dijo Siham que lo compré un poco caro, pero ni tanto. Igual, es que si comparamos los precios de Marruecos con los de España, el euro vale un montón. En la noche fuimos a la mezquita Hassam II, un templo impresionante, el 3er templo religioso más grande del mundo. Primero es la meca, luego otro en arabia saudita, y 3ero este. Era de noche, y habían miles, pero miles de personas orando, se paraban, se incaban, ponían su frente en el suelo, se volvían a parar y así… Nos quedamos observándolo un buen rato, antes de irnos a dormir.

En la Mezquita Hassam II

Para el segundo día recorrimos la ciudad. Compramos más cosas en Medina, y fuimos a la Mezquita nuevamente. Hoy más gente nos miraba y se reían de nosotros. En parte porque estaba con el traje ese (luego me imagine un gringo vestido de huaso por Conce, o un africano de mariachi en México… asi deben haberme visto a mi), pero también se reían porque andaba con las 4 chicas, y les decían cosas a ellas también. La morra me decía que caminar por Casablanca le sube la autoestima a cualquiera xd. Pasaron más cosas divertidas.. por ejemplo, si yo decía que era de Chile, la gente me decía “Zamorano, Zamorano!”. Pero cuando la morra decía que era de México, le decían “Marihuana!”. La gente es impresionantemente culta. Un random cualquiera en medina habla 4-5 idiomas. Pero no un par de palabritas, sino que realmente puedentener conversaciones. En alemán, ingles, castellano, hablamos de todo. Y claro que también ienen francés y árabe nativo. También saben mucho de fútbol. Luego de decirme zamorano, me recordaban que Chile empató a 0 con Marruecos en la preparación del 98, y a la morra le decían que Marruecos empató a 1 con México el 86, en Guadalajara. ¡Cómo pueden acordarse de tanta cosa!. Este día tuvimos problemas para encontrar donde comer. Caminamos unas dos horas, hasta que llamé a Siham preguntando qué hacer, y me indicó que fuéramos al McDonalds, que seguía abierto. Paramos un taxi, dijimos “McDonads”, y nos llevó. El desgraciado nos estafó, y nos cobró el equivalente a 5 euros. Claro, en euros es nada (especialmente si lo divides por 3), pero no nos puso el contador, y nos había dicho que nos cobraría menos.. así que la morra le dio un portazo enorme, que casi se le sale la puerta al pobre taxista. No nos podíamos sentir más como gringos turistas: comiendo en McDonald’s, vestidos ridículamente Kimmie y yo… Después de eso nos tiramos un ratito en la playa (si, me bañé en el atlántico), y caminamos al hotel.

3er día fuimos la Mezquita por la mañana, esta vez bien temprano para agarrar un tour y poder entrar. Los no musulmanes normalmente no pueden entrar, solo en el tour, y a horas específicas. Es de las pocas mezquitas a las cuales tenemos opción de entrar… a las otras está prohibido siempre. Y es algo impresionante! Además de ser enorme es súper moderna.. el techo se abre electrónicamente cuando el tiempo está bueno, tiene lámparas enormes que se bajan electrónicamente para limpiarlas, los parlantes están escondidos dentro de unos pilares con hoyitos, y así…

Ya en la tarde fuimos a Rabat, que es la capital de Marruecos. No es tan grande como Casablanca, pero igual es la capital. Es súper bonito! Pero teníamos tan poco tiempo, y no sabíamos que hacer, así que compramos unas postales, nos subimos a un taxi, y negociamos darle 10 euros entre todos por pasearnos una hora. Le mostrábamos la postal para que nos llevara a ese lugar, y así.. al final fueron 2 horas, y terminamos dándole 25 euros. El tipo no podía estar más feliz! Para ellos es un montón de dinero. Pero se lo dimos porque nos cayó bien, y porque al final valió la pena. Se pasaba por la raja todas las reglas, por ejemplo, nos metió a los 5 n un solo taxi, cosa que no se puede hacer, y que además nos benefició (pagamos 1 taxi en vez de 2). Y como nos esperaba a la salida de los lugares, entonces ahorrábamos tiempo.

Rabat

A la llegada a Casablanca, estábamos invitados por Siham a su casa a romper el ayuno. Nos pas+ó a buscar como a las 7, y nos llevó de paseo en auto por Casablanca. Como era la hora en que todos rompen el ayuno, es impresionante porque las calles que normalmente están repletas de autos- caballos, bicicletas- personas, ahora estaban vacías! Nos llevó a la parte top de la ciudad, que no tienen nada que envidiarle a Las Condes, y también a la parte no tan top, que… no tiene nada que envidiarle a La Pintana xD.

Cenamos comida típica en Casa de Siham, para romper el ayuno. Muchos pastelitos y cosas típicas, casi todo con miel. Era Riquísimo!. Los padres de Siham son un amor!. Aunque casi todo lo hablaban con la morra, que es la que mejor francés tenía, yo nada más unos gestos. Luego nos acostamos, y al día siguiente de vuelta a Madrid. Siham venía con nosotros porque ya se iniciaba el cuatrimestre en Granada.

Y el final del viaje era entrar nuevamente a España. Kimmie y yo estábamos un poco asustados yo especialmente, porque ya se me acabó la visa. Entré con el papelito que dice que aun estoy tramitando la residencia. Al final no tuve problema. La morra entró con su pasaporte mexicano (tiene otro gringo), y así entrará cada 3 meses, como turista, alternando pasaportes, para poder permanecer legal. Franziska no tuvo problema, al ser alemana xd.

Y ya está. Regresamos a casa, nos reencontramos todos (Nithya y cris volvieron de Malasia), y ya llevábamos como un mes sin vernos!. Fue cool :D

Pueden verse todas las fotos que saqué aqui:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2032675&id=1123333138&l=2b48cacc60

IC Live Virtual Global Village

2009-08-30T01:19:00.001-07:00

Hola Todos

Aqui es un otro random video de MC y delegates de Recruitment Weekend. Este es Day 0 Virtual Global Village

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D_ZkSZHlA4

Besos

Kimmie

Leaving on a Jet Plane 2

2009-08-30T01:06:00.000-07:00

Holo todos

This morning Sebas, Kimmie, Morra, Franziska (NST NTMT) and Angie (amigo de Morra) are also leaving on a jetplane heading for....MOROCCO!!!! We are all very excited and can't wait to share our adventures with you when we get back :)

Besos

Kimmie

Happiness is a Warm Gun

2009-08-29T17:05:00.000-07:00

Aqui unos videos randoms que hizo Kimmie :D

Uno es del recruitment Weekend que tuvimos en casa, y el otro de la vida que tenemos como delegados virtuales del IC :D (Cris y Nithya, las extrañamos)

Espero les guste :D

leaving on a jet plane

2009-08-10T12:23:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone (in Spanish below),

Cris, José (SV), Marta (BE), Stefanie (MR) and me are leaving on jet plans tomorrow to Malaysia! We are really excited for International Congress 2009 hosted in Kuala Lumpur.

We are taking a little vacation before the conference in Kota Kinabalu and in Kuala Lumpur. The pre conference starts on 19th and the official start date of IC is the 22nd of August.

I will be updating my blog at nithya.posterous.com so take a look when you get a chance (I am also part of the official IC blogging team!).

Enjoy August everyone!
Nithya

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hola a todos,

Cris, José (SV), Marta (BE), Stefanie (MR) y yo saliramos en un vuelo mañana para Malasia! Estamos muy emocionados por el International Congress 2009 en Kuala Lumpur.

Antes de la conferencia, tenemos vacaciones en Kota Kinabalu y Kualu Lumpur. El pre-conference empieza el 19 de agosto y la fecha de inicio oficial de IC es el 22 de agosto.

Voy a escribir en mi blog (nithya.posterous.com) y podéis echar un vistazo para estar al corriente. (¡Soy parte del IC Blogging Team también!)

Disfrutad agosto! Saludos!
Nithya

Yesterday(8)

2009-07-28T07:39:00.000-07:00

Hola a todos!

Tenía mucho que no escribía en el blog, porque hemos tenido mucho trabajo después del Get Started, luego con la visita de los NSTs (Claudia, Ali y María) y además todo estaba descompuesto en casa, no teníamos agua caliente, la lavadora no servía, el sillón cada vez más roto y lo peor de todo es que el Internet de la oficina tampoco servía. Pero bueno hoy decidí compartir con ustedes algunas fotos de nuestras aventuras.

En la Alhambra con Carlos, Claudia, Marco, Marc, Ruben y PACO :P

Antes del Get Started saliendo de "La Bella y la Bestia"

En la Alhambra con Marc (Chair) de Canadá

Después del Get Started

Its all too much (8)

2009-07-25T05:24:00.000-07:00

Por qué el GET STARTED 2009 es mi congreso favorito:

Los delegados quedaron contentos
El OC hizo un trabajo genial
Me evaluaron bien :)
Sumé muchos puntos
Fue en Granada
Volví a ver a Siham, Laura, Jose, Fátima, Carlos, Victor, y todos los chicos de @GR que son “de mis tiempos” en el LC.
No hubo problemas logísticos
Es el primer congreso que organizamos con mi equipo
Las sesiones de comunicaciones salieron bien
Conocí a los LCVP de Comm que me faltaba por conocer.
Tuvimos un buen Chair.
Lo pasamos bien :D
En Premeeting aproveché de ir de tapas
En Postmeeting también salimos de tapas :D
Pude ver a gente de Granada que conocí mientras estudié ahí.
Es la primera vez que me toca facilitar frente a toda la plenaria, y salió más o menos bien.
Conocí delegados geniales :)
Entre ellos, algunos que deberían estar en el MC el próximo año (aunque ellos mismos aun no se crean capaces)
Tuve mi revancha con el “Ignite” xD.
Se anunciaron los coach :D (Soy coach de Valladolid)
Entre otros motivos :P

What Goes On (8)

2009-07-08T11:07:00.000-07:00

Ya nos habían advertido los del MC anterior: Las primeras semanas ( y meses) son de mucho trabajo!!

Y claro que es así, porque entre el Get Started (donde además son conference manager), la planificacion, las políticas de área, y otras cosas, apenas nos da el tiempo. Estamos trabajando duro, pero felices :D. Es cool que ya estemos todos en la oficina.

Para quienes conocen la oficina, estoy en la mesa de la izquierda, donde antes estaba Gabryel. En frente mío está Nithya, que, a pesar de que estamos al frente, nos la pasamos hablando por gtalk. A mi izquierda están Kimmie y la Morra. En la otra mesa, atrás mío, está Stella. Estamos como a 20 centímetros de distancia, pero cada uno en dirección opuesta, así que casi no la veo durante todo el día xD. en la mesa de atrás también está Luci, pero para hablar con ella solo debo girar unos pocos grados mi cabeza, así que a ella tiendo a pedirle ayuda en cosas :D. Y más atrás tengo a Cris. A Sylvia tampoco la veo mucho, porque suele estar en reuniones con empresas, o haciendo llamadas (y para eso suele irse a la sala de reuniones para poder llamar más tranquila).

La maldita de Luci siempre me gana en todo!. Kimmie necesitaba llamar a una empresa para asistencia técnica, y me pidio que lo hiciera yo por que aun necesita mejorar su español. Y bueno, lo hice, llame tres veces, pero siempre me salió una grabadora, y no pude con ella. Luego Luci agarró el teléfono y le dije "vamos! a ver si tu puedes, a v er si tu puedes!"... y pudo ¬¬. A ella la atendieron personalmente, y a mi con grabadora. Como le resultó, decidí poner un marcador en la pared, que decía "Luci 1 - Seba 0". Luego de dos días, y por diversos motivos, ahora mismo el marcador dice "Luci 6 - Seba 0".

Qué más tengo para contar? ah, la Morra me cortó el pelo. Si, soy valiente al someterme a las manos de la chica más random del MC (no lo digo yo, lo dice la votación del pueblo). Quedé algo así como estilo John Lennon, pero está bien. Mañana nos sacaremos la foto formal del MC, y necesitaba cortarme ese pelo.

Y bueno.. Llevaba un buen tiempo sin escribir. Ahora podré dormir tranquilo.

Saludos a todos, y espero verlos en el Get Started en Granada :D

Eye of the Tiger

2009-07-07T15:01:00.000-07:00

Tonight was our first team dinner night. Since our meeting ran until 7:30, we decided to go out instead of going home to the flat to cook. So we went to the infamous El Tigre.

Many a MC team went to this place week after week and with good reason.

You pay either 1.80 euro for a beer or 2.50 euro for tinto de verano (half pop and half red wine..so good!) and get a FULL PLATE of tapas. Its ridiculous! This is El Tigre’s business model! From Monday to Friday, you buy a drink and get a plate of tapas for free. I don’t understand how they make money, but really, I’m not complaining. If anyone comes to visit me, I am taking you there for the cheapest and best meal ever!

When we got there around 9, the place was super packed, but we couldn’t leave! We found a little table with one stool and 8 of us crowded around. We took turns trying to get to the bar and ate like kings and queens….after spending a total of 5 euros.

A super good night all in all.

Twist and shout ...

2009-06-28T01:27:00.000-07:00

Hola Chicos !!! Que tal ?

Aqui a lado teneis finalmente la prueba que mi burrito se llama IH-OH, y no tiene otros nombres raros... :D

Aqui en Villalba es super increible !!! Todo el equipo al final està junto, explotando su potential y planeando el nuevo año...

Obviamente, a parte de trabajar muchisimo, no pueden faltar momentos super divertidos y de extremo " Randomness ", la Morra no puede absolutamente dejar de exhibir su voz suave ...

Gracias Luci para tu hospitalidad y para dejarnos tu casa !!!!

Un beso gigante a todos, os echamos de menos !!!! Nos vemos en Get Started !!!

All Together Now (8)

2009-06-25T13:27:00.001-07:00

Por fin estamos todos juntos!!
Ayer llego Nithya, la última que nos faltaba en el equipo… Estamos muy contentos :D
Y bueno... ahora mismo estamos en Villalba, en casa de Luci. Estaremos un buen rato aca, haciendo planning.
Y bueno, no escribo mucho. Nada más quería escribir antes que el resto, para poder quedarme con este super titulo del post, y para que Marta pueda seguir viviendo (es una blog dependiente) xD

Ya mas tarde lo editare, pondré fotos y eso :D

Chao pescao :P

Only for AIESEC members

2009-06-22T07:19:00.000-07:00

Cheers from Zagreb!

2009-06-20T07:22:00.001-07:00

Hola a todos!!
(mi primer post, que emocion! ;P)
Os escribo desde Zagreb (Croacia), donde estoy ahora de meeting con los MCPs de WENA (WENA Presidents Meeting).

Estamos creando el plan para la GN y la verdad es que va bastante bien!!
Ahora en 10min tenemos sesion con Aman (PAI 0910) que viene a hacernos una visita!

La verdad es que es una experiencia unica compartir estos dias con otros MCPs, la perspectiva que se gana es bestial!!! ;P

Por la ciudad bastante bien, es todo un reto... No se entiende nada de lo que hablan ni lo que escriben, pero lo bueno es que la gente aqui es SUPER amable y siempre estan dispuestos a echarte una mano. Por ejemplo ayer nos perdimos con el Tram y nos fuimos al lado opuesto de la ciudad, de donde se suponia que teniamos que llegar, y un chico simpatiquisimo nos ayudo mucho, incluso llamo a un amigo suyo por movil para asegurarse que nos daba bien las instrucciones!!
En fin, os recomiendo a todos una visitilla por estos lares!

Me tengo que ir que tenemos sesion! A ver si consigo que me pasen fotos y las posteo ;)

Petonets desde Zagreb,
Cris

P.S: Pepe y Yeni, que tengais una vuelta a casa fenomenal!!!! Os voy a echar de menos!! ;(

leaving on a jet plane

2009-06-18T05:54:00.000-07:00

after waiting three months for my visa, i still haven't received it. but i don't want to miss anymore of my experience in spain, so i am packing up my life in 2 suitcases and a carry on and heading out to madrid on june 23rd (finally). I will have to come back to canada in three months when my tourist visa expires, but at least i will be in spain for three months.

chicos, see you in spain next week! i can't wait wait to finally be there!!!!!!

[Leaving on a jet plane video Armageddon Movie version, sung by a Canadian :)]

Get Started

2009-06-18T03:00:00.001-07:00

Ready for the first conference of the summer? Ready to meet and interact with the new MC team? Ready to learn about all of the amazing things AIESEC has to offer? Ready to have AN AMAZING TIME IN GRANADA?!

If you answered "Sí" to any of the questions, then you need to come to GET STARTED 2009!!!

The applications are now released and due July 1st! Check out the wiki for more information and for the applications - http://www.myaiesec.net/content/viewwiki.do?contentid=10078670

See you there!
Nithya

The Fool on the Hill (8)

2009-06-16T14:15:00.000-07:00

Hola a todos !!! :D

Que tal ??

Os escribo desde nuesta querida casita, llena de maletas por todos lados, no se puede ni caminar por el pasillo, y cada manana yo y la Morra nos encontamos mientras hacemos Gymcana buscando nuestra ropa en toda la casa ... ;-)

Acabamos de comer unas quesadillas super ricas y llenas de chile que la Morra nos ha preparado, hehe, esta nina, esta traumatizada por el miedo de no encontar tiendas mexicanas por aqui, y se llevò una maleta llena se salsitas de color y sabores muy raras y chile super picante que va echandolo en todo... un dia la veremos desayunar con chile y leche :D !!!

Las noches aqui son los momentos mas divertidos del dia, llenas de risa y cosas super random !!! Cuando volvemos a casa, despues de un dia lleno de trabajo, empezamos a reir sin parar, y la cosa mas increible, sin beber... ;-) Lo pasamos super bien... Ayer, por ejemplo, despues de un abrazito colectivo entre el MCe, teniamos una media hora de discusion super divertida, estabamos casi muriendo de la risa, sobre el nombre del burrito amigo de Winnie the Pooh, el peluche con quien suelo dormir yo :D !! Como se llama segun Vosotros ?? Bien, para mi se llama IY OO, para Kim IYOR, para los otros IGOR... pero chicos... habeis visto un burro mientras hacia IGOR IGOR, bueno, yo, al menos en Italia nunca !!!

Io, Sylvia, a veces tambien Sebas y Cynthia, nos vamos a correr casi nodas las noches, despues de la ofi y estamos intentando comer saludable !!! espero que vaya a durar todo el termino...

Estoy super emocionada por todo esto... aqui es todo tan increible ... me encanta !!! Y ademas despues de haber descubierto el Tigre y los Tintos de Verano. Os espero aqui, tengo un monton de ganas de salir con vosotros para ir alli y tomarnos una cantidad gigante de tinto de verano... Pero no os preocupeis, ya yo y Silvia nos estamos planeando de hacer un national partnership con la empresa que veis a lado... ehehehe, puede convertirse en un conference partner... :D

Aprovecho la ocasion para informar a todos la noticia mas guay y fantastica de hoy !!! el 24 finalmente vamos a estar todos juntos !!! Nithya va a llegar... y oficialmente vamos a ser el " team mas Random" de toda la historia...

Un super super beso !!!!
Stella :-*

Edit by Sebas: Esta es la prueba de que el burro se llama IGOR!

Lucy in the sky with diamonds (8)

2009-06-16T11:43:00.000-07:00

Luci fue seleccionada Chair del Financial Sustainability Task Force de Iberoamérica.

FELICITACIONES LUCI!!! :D

She's Leaving Home (8)

2009-06-15T15:39:00.000-07:00

Ya estoy aquí por fin!!!!

Aunque sin visa pero aquí :P (digamos que esto de tener doble nacionalidad a veces es útil…quien quiere ir a viajar conmigo cada 3 meses???)
Ahora solo nos queda esperar a la ultima integrante de las “virtual girls”, Nithya ☺ (move it!!!)

Sebas contó un poco de la historia de mi llegada así que no entrare en muchos detalles aunque la verdad si fue muy divertido sorprender al equipo en la mitad de Plaza España y además gritando como suelo hacerlo! Y después de ahí 3 días de fiesta geniales!!!

Pero además de la fiesta y todo hoy fue mi primer día oficial en la oficina, tuve transición con Ina y Cris y recibí mi primer llamada de Claudia, Carla y Marta de Bellaterra (Gracias morras).

Luego trabaje en cosas de Exchange y recibí otro par de llamadas. Es increíble todo lo que tengo ya por hacer y solo es el primer día jajaja….después salimos a comer y pues como dice Sylvia….seremos pobres por gastar en tintos de verano y cerveza así que tuvimos que comer algo bara…ósea Kebaps….aunque hoy si cocinamos para llevar mañana a la oficina …es raro tener que hacer estas cosas cuando en tu casa no lo haces :P

Bueno adjunto algunas fotos sobre este finde

Your Mother Should Know (8)

2009-06-15T14:56:00.000-07:00

Si, bueno.... ser tica (de Costa Rica) y venir a acá ha sido toda una odisea. Pero ya! Ya llegué :)
Estoy feliz, me encanta mi super trabajo de ventas y la ciudad de Madrid.
Además mi equipo es un éxito, si, salimos demasiado y vamos a ser un MC pobre pero feliz! jajaja
Nos hace falta Nithya para ser un team completo y todos esperamos que llegue pronto!

Bueno, además con el calor que hace acá (si calor! aunque venga de un país tropical), hemos pasado a puro tinto de verano y tapas...excelente forma de conocer la ciudad.

Ya todos estamos empezando full a trabajar y es entretenido...si nos quieren mandar un correito de apoyo, no lo duden! :) O pueden postear algo en el blog!

Saludos desde el piso del MC niños!
besos!

I Saw Her Standing There (8)

2009-06-15T14:37:00.000-07:00

Transition party estuvo entretenido. Con la morra teníamos un plan secreto, la idea era que ella llegaba de sorpresa a Madrid (los demás creían que llegaría la semana siguiente), y yo la tenía que ir a buscar al aeropuerto. La cosa es que llegaba el viernes a mediodía, y yo tenía que encontrar una mentira para salirme de la gymkana. Como soy malo para mentir, le pregunte el jueves en la noche a Pepe, que organizaba esto, qué podía decirle a los demás. La cosa es que al final invente que me adelantaron mi cita con la brigada de extranjería no se cuanto (con los que tengo que hablar para obtener mi NIE). Y me salí antes entonces, y Pepe era mi cómplice.

Me fui al aeropuerto, y como la morra no me dijo en que vuelo se venía, ni menos a que terminal llegaba. Solo sabía que a las 12. Y llegando allá me doy cuenta que ningún vuelo llegaba a las 12 desde México! Me desesperé, me puse a buscar una maquina con internet para ver si efectivamente decía a las 12 (luego de que como 3 maquinas me tragaron las monedas, encontré una, y si, decía a las 12), así que bueno, decidí esperar un vuelo que llegaba a las 12.40 de México… era el más cercano a la hora que me dijo esta. Y luego ya pasó otra hora, y yo todo preocupado, pregunté en informaciones, y me dijeron que había una fila larga para entrar. Y bueno, después volví a la puerta de ese vuelo, y la vi ahí parada (de ahí el título del post). Mientras volvía, me quise comprar una Coca-Cola, y las putas maquinas nuevamente me tragaron las monedas.

Nos fuimos a casa, se ducho, blablabla, y llegamos luego a plaza España, donde estaban todos almorzando unos bocadillos, y se puso a gritar como Chewaka. Ella podrá escribir más de eso después.

Fue cool. Ya luego ese día continuamos con la gymkana. Mi equipo era los “patits”, con Toni, Carlas, Cris, Sylvia, Cynthia y yo. Los otros eran los “Koalas”, con Kimmie, Angel, Ruben, Stella y Luci. Aunque Luci no participo mucho, porque tenía un examen. A la noche fuimos a “La Latina” de botellón. Al día siguiente jugamos futbol, y ganamos por mucho (Sylvia es buena), y jugamos con agua. Teníamos unas bombitas de agua, aunque al final terminamos lanzándonos con baldes :P. Todo esto en el parque el retiro. :D. Y a la noche fuimos a una disco. Aunque como con la morra no nos gustan las discos, decidimos al día siguiente salir con Gina, Stella y Sylvia a unos bares. Primero a “Tapasentao” en… en… ah, no me acuerdo como se llama ese sector… Y luego a “El Tigre”, que será un lugar que visitaremos frecuentemente :D

(Aca estamos casi todos. Te extrañamos Nithya!)

Y así fue el fin de semana. Lo pase bien.

Hello, Goodbye (8)

2009-06-08T14:35:00.000-07:00

Hoy fue un día especial. Se nos fue Gabryel de vuelta a Brasil, a Salvador de Bahía, donde supuestamente se hace el mejor carnaval del mundo. Personalmente, voy a extrañar mucho al garoto, ya que es muy buena persona, y además me enseñó mucho de comunicaciones y de vida MC en general. A pesar de que siempre se enoja cuando le digo que Maradona es mejor que Pelé, de todas formas, lo extrañaré.

Pero también llegó Sylvia! Estoy muy contento de que el equipo ya se está completando. Con la llegada de la Marrana, ahora solo faltan Nithya y la Morra.

aprovecho de postear algunas foticos de los ultimos días de Gabryel en Madrid.

Elects about town

2009-06-04T05:22:00.000-07:00

Hola Chicos y Chicas!!!

As you would have seen from previous posts, not all of our lovely, sexy elect MC are in Espana at the moment. So to allow the team to be together we have chanelled the spirit of our long distance elects to join us in our activities :)

In la oficina

Out to lunch

MC Electo loving

Out and about in town

...and there are more photos to come :)

Besos para Madrid!!!!!!

Here, There and Everywhere (8)

2009-06-03T19:08:00.000-07:00

Hola chicos!

Recuerdan esta foto?

Espero que si, porque yo la tengo muy presente, fue tomada durante el PM/TROOPS ’09 en Bilbao, por cierto nuestro primero congreso como MC electo.

Y la razón de tomarla?

Simple. Teníamos que dejar una prueba física de quienes seremos las primeras personas en empezar a cambiar la historia de AIESEC en España y más importante cambiar nuestra propia historia. Si, nosotros los Exchangers y los EPs, tenemos esa gran responsabilidad y el día de ayer ese cambio comenzó.

Así que quiero aprovechar este post para felicitar a Eddie de Valencia quien ha sido matcheado con el LC de Monterrey en México y me ha dado el gusto de poner la primera cruz en la foto ☺ Quien será el siguiente?

Nunca olviden: Que hace la gente más cool?

edit by Seba(s): Si alguien tiene una X en su cara, no es porque no lo queramos ^^. La idea es que, cuando alguien haga match, se les hace la marca en la cara, para saber siempre quienes nos quedan para matchear.

¡transición!

2009-06-03T06:26:00.000-07:00

hello from Canada!

June 1st officially marked the first day of transition (insert cheering and clapping here)! Don't know what transition is? Well! Let me tell you - transition is a time where both the MC Current and MC Elect share information. It is kind of like a month long conference! We have sessions, work together and have lots of fun too. Each MC elect member gets individual transition from their predecessor as well participates in group sessions. We learn about everything from AIESEC International's (AI) history and the code of ethics to the reality of each LC and how to work as a team.

Over the last week, Stella and Kimmie joined Sebas, Cris, Luci and the current team in Madrid.

Sylvia, Cynthia and myself, however, are still in our home countries, awaiting our visas. We are equipped with a handy toolkit of Red Bull, Tea, Coffee and lots of food (like brownies) while we sit in our rooms on skype doing transition virtually. The three of us have been dubbed the "virtual girls" and are doing transition from 2am - 11am (GMT - 6... there is an 8 hour time difference between us and Madrid). The three of us are constantly chatting while the sessions are going on - keeping each other awake and alert (and of course discussing important information ;)!

Because Stella, Sebas, Kimmie, Cris and Luci miss our beautiful faces (yes, the three of us are the beauty queens of the group!), they have made pictures of us (I haven't seen them yet, but maybe they will post pictures on the blog soon? *hint*). These pictures are in the meeting room with them and the pictures even get to go for lunch with the group!

If you want to know more about the transition agenda or about the experience, message any one of us on facebook, send us an email or leave a comment :)

See you soon! Besos
Nithya

P.S. Come out to the transition party weekend (that's right! There is a party!!!) Its June 12th-14th - details on facebook :) (or send us an email)

You Know My Name (8)

2009-05-14T06:17:00.000-07:00

Un Mensaje para EPs

2009-05-11T16:16:00.000-07:00

Aqui está un mensaje de Frank Olaya (MC VP Corporate Sales, AIESEC en Canadá) para os. Ello es un alumni de AIESEC en Colombia y hizo un intercambio en mi CL en Canadá. ¡Disfrutar!

Un besito,
Nithya

Come Together (8)

2009-05-10T12:14:00.000-07:00

Cristina de Sicart
MCP
Cumpleaños: 29 de abril
Lugar de nacimiento: Barcelona (España)
Nacionalidad: Española
Email: cristina.desicart@aiesecinspain.org

Sylvia Cubillo
MCVP Corporate and Non Corporate Sales
Cumpleaños: 5 de noviembre
Lugar de nacimiento: San José (Costa Rica)
Nacionalidad: Costa Rica
Email: sylvia.cubillo@aiesecinspain.org

Stella Patané
MCVP External Relations and Alumni Management
Cumpleaños: 30 de enero
Lugar de Nacimiento: Belgrado (Serbia)
Nacionalidad: Italiana
Email: stella.patane@aiesecinspain.org

Luciana Riestra
MCVP Finance
Cumpleaños: 17 de abril
Lugar de Nacimiento: Buenos Aires (Argentina)
Nacionalidad: Española
Email: luciana.riestra@aiesecinspain.org

Sebastián Tagle
MCVP Communitacions
Cumpleaños: 10 de enero
Lugar de Nacimiento: Concepción (Chile)
Nacionalidad: Chilena
Email: sebastian.tagle@aiesecinspain.org

Cynthia López
MCVP Exchange
Cumpleaños: 18 de enero
Lugar de Nacimiento: El Paso, TX (EE.UU.)
Nacionalidad: Mexicana
Email: cynthia.lopez@aiesecinspain.org

Kim Rounsefell
MCVP Talent Management
Cumpleaños: 1 de abril
Lugar de Nacimiento: Redcliffe, Queensland (Australia)
Nacionalidad: Australiana
Email: kim.rounsefell@aiesecinspain.org

Nithya Ramachandran
MCVP LC Development
Cumpleaños: 22 de Febrero
Lugar de Nacimiento: Toronto (Canadá)
Nacionalidad: Canadiense
Email: nithya.ramachandran@aiesecinspain.org

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (8)

2009-05-01T15:43:00.000-07:00

PM 2009 in Bilbao

Our first homemade dinner...thanks for cooking girls :)

Team days at Starbucks (Madrid)

Our first team pic :)

Or this was the first one? :P

GV at PM

Hello everyone!!!

I am not the kind of person that writes a lot, sometimes I do, but I really prefer to read, so I will be sharing more pictures and random stuff with you than thoughts :P

My first post will just pics that are very important for me and for the team ‘cause they are the first one we have as a team, our first conference, our first dinner, etc.

Enjoy them ☺