National Ambassador's Camp

This small 3-day AIESEC camp held in the seaside (ugh...) town of Port Dickson was my first hardcore AIESEC conference experience in over a year. And it was great :) I volunteered to help faci and ended up being conference manager & chair (a new combination for me!), but luckily it was a pretty chilled out affair, more camp than conference, so not too crazy at all.

I was more than a little shocked that agenda was being written a week before the event itself... I'm assured it's not like that usually. But it was kind of cool in a way. Rush to the MC office each night after work, 2 hours of planning & laughs, then off for dinner. Pretty relaxed, and definitely culture shock for Pavla, Csilli and I who are used to conference preparation being a little more... intense. Anyway, everything came together and the weekend was a success. It was great getting to know the 'new' MC team better (some I didn't know at all before) and the delegates as well.

The whole weekend was focussed on exchange - something I'm quite passionate about :) - and working in an international faci team (MC including Csilli plus Pavla & myself) was just as fun as always. I went to sleep so happy on Saturday night. I don't know how to describe it, but being in an AIESEC conference environment again was so uplifting. The energy level, the interest in getting to know and learn from each other, the anticipation of the difference we can make when we leave... It's something special that makes me sure that, no matter how frustrating it can be sometimes, I will always be happy to be associated with AIESEC and proud to count myself among our alumni.

Memorable moments included:

• "Malaysia Truly Asia" session especially traditional dance/game from East Malaysia, and the local delegates singing Malay songs

• Myself & Jasper (JasMINE) as the faci team representatives at the cross-dressing party
• Games at the beach (and being dunked in the the least beautiful part of the ocean I've seen in M'sia..)
• Global village
• Sharing from Bon & Eric about their traineeship experiences (APX reunion!)
• Faci team plots to "acquire" team mascots and eggs... and team member tactics to avoid it
  
• Really different ideas and ways of thinking on controversial issues at world cafe
• Watermelon eating competition
• Dancing "old" songs with Pavla & Csilli, and learning the newer ones
• Sharing time in closing plenary
  
• Wrap-up with the faci team