Experience: Bob Paulussen, Lahore, Pakistan

Surprised by her beauty
It was 4 am as I walked outside of Alama Iqbal International Airport. When the doors opened I felt the heat and I looked into a couple of hundred dark eyes; men and women wearing the traditional colourful shalwar kameez. And as I shook hands with Tayyab, one of the guys from AIESEC Lahore, I knew it; this is the start of a unique experience, the start of my summer in Pakistan.

Let’s start at the beginning; why Pakistan? It is not the first country one would think of. That was exactly the reason why I chose to go to this country. The media creates a negative image of this country. If you are reading an article or watching a TV-programme about Pakistan, most of the time it is about negative topics such as terrorism, war, bomb attacks, the oppression of women. ‘The country must have more to offer than that’, I was thinking. Every country has its beauty, I was ready to discover Pakistan’s. The learning programme, arranged by the board of the Nour Project, provided me the right preparation for the journey.
The first important thing was to leave my legacy; try not to use my Dutch background, be open-minded and accept the fact that this is a different country. I spent the first four weeks travelling around, visiting cities like Islamabad, Lahore and Rawalpindi. I noticed that the Pakistanis were really hospitable; it looked like they were honoured that I took the time to visit their country and not to focus on all the negative attention in the media. A lot of people wanted to take a picture with me, during that moment they convinced me that not all
Pakistanis were terrorists. I told them that it was my mission to spread the positive word about Pakistan in the Netherlands.

After the weeks of travelling, my internship started. I was going to teach English at a private school in Gujranwala, a city close to Lahore. I taught the English Spoken Course at the Bibi ‘n Babaschool; four weeks from Monday to Saturday, nine classes a day, boys, girls and teachers. These four weeks showed me the other side of Pakistan; the future. Looking at these children I saw a lot of motivation to change their country, especially among the girls. The school really tries to stimulate them to go to the university and to become financially independent. However, the quality of education in Pakistan is still insufficient. The Pakistani government should invest in education, because this is the key to a better future. For me, it was an honour to teach the key holders of the future. Their motivation and will to change their country inspired me and opened my eyes; let’s hope that these kids can chase their dreams and that there is a bright future ahead for Pakistan.

The mixture of travelling, working and living made this experience not just a physical journey, but also a mental journey. I really had to leave my legacy, I had to forget the fact that I was a white man from Holland. This journey was an eye-opener, I learned to switch from perspective. Looking to the Western world from a Pakistani perspective, makes you think different about our habits and values. The opportunity to spend two months in Pakistan was unique and mind-blowing; I met a lot of Pakistanis, met a lot of new friends. I would
recommend everyone to visit Pakistan; so leave your legacy, open your mind and dare to
share!

Experience: Jasper Wierda, Delhi, India

I am Jasper Wierda, and during the summer of 2011 I was an AIESEC intern for AIESEC Delhi University in India. If you ever consider going on internship via AIESEC don’t hesitate anymore, I guarantee you that it will be a life changing experience. Also, I can recommend an internship to India due to my own experience but I guess that any uncommon foreign country will do.

India
The first things to notice when arriving in India were the heat and the humidity (killing), then came the traffic (crazy) and the conditions of the accommodation (not as at home). Be prepared for something different, basic and in the end magnificent.
In the beginning I did not really like Delhi, it was a big (as in BIG) city, never sleeping with too much dirt lying around everywhere. Then in the first weekend I started travelling (luckily I had the opportunity to travel every weekend) and with the travelling I started to fall in love with India. You can visit so many beautiful places and experience so many amazing things. For example, I still remember that day I went on camel safari and slept in the desert. Or the day we had a 30 hour bus ride back from the Himalaya Mountains (in India) since the bus got stuck in the mountains due to heavy rain.

Apart from the places to visit there were the people to meet. Despite of what many travel guides and people told me in advance, people are very nice. They all try to help the Westerns at their best (not always the most efficient way however). Off course you got to get used to Western pricing, regularly double or even 4-double amount of what things should cost. Autoriksja’s for example, charge double to 3-double amounts, but for souvenirs that’s only the starting point. Just keep in mind that it’s all part of the game, and you should have a nice time haggling.
Speaking about time, Indians take their time in everything they do, ranging from a telephone repair of 20 minutes that lasts 2 hours or waiting time in a restaurant that takes at least 30 minutes for only the drinks (if you have managed to order). In traffic however, Indians are the most impatient people I’ve met. They use their horn instead of their flasher to pass, and they’re passing whenever the smallest opportunity exists. This, added to the fact that usually 2 or 3 cars drive on the same lane (meant for one car) makes Indian traffic really an… experience.
Or the metro for example, where everyone enters and exits at the same time. Especially when metro is crowded, this becomes an experience as well.
Also, the Indians love it to learn you Hindi phrases resulting in some very nice interactions with locals. I remember for example the 70-years old guard guarding my neighborhood trying to let me count in Hindi. Soon autoriksja’s stopped to listen and try to teach me more.

Being white makes you a walking tourist attraction yourself, especially in the smaller, non-touristic villages. I really had this when I just visited a temple and an old man made me the Indian dot on the forehead. So don’t get surprised if people (either openly or secretly) try to picture you are keep on staring at you. It’s something Indian you should get used to ass well. My strategy was to give them the pleasure back, so I made a lot of pictures of regular Indians 
Furthermore, there is the Indian food. Personally, I loved it and did not found it too spicy. If you are open to try new things (which you should) you’ll have a great journey your first weeks. Then, after a while I felt longing back to meat fish and a decent burger. Indians don’t eat meet (apart from chicken) which makes the country like heaven for veggies.

Project
Concerning my project, I went to India for the Udaan project. This was one of the largest projects of AIESEC Delhi University over there. There were a couple of pre-events at local primary schools, leading to a big main event for probably 2000 children. Just to give them a good time and ‘deliver some smiles’.
Our project involved developing underprivileged children by having six weeks of sessions with them in which we were teaching them English and skills like leadership, teamwork and civic sense. It was the first time AIESEC DU had this project, and we interns were to develop it and make it a success.

While everything in the Netherlands would have been very organized, we started in chaos and ended up in designing the good formats and content. This was quite a challenge, considering the fact that we were working with interns from all over the world too.

During such a project, you meet so many interesting people from all over the world and deal with huge cultural differences. This is one of the best aspects (people) of an internship (via AIESEC) and the main reason why I would recommend you to go.
We were working for four days a week, like a couple of hours each day, so there was plenty of time to experience Delhi with the locals.

AIESEC
And with the locals I refer to the AIESEC people that made my stay in India unforgettable. They took us to those non touristic places worth visiting, showed us those cafes and restaurants that where the so called places to be and organized even some weekend trips for us.

One day I was visiting some part of Delhi with a girl, and we ended up very near their University campus, so we texted them which resulted in a spontaneously and unplanned visit of their University the other day.

Or after having some party, they were taking us by car to visit Delhi by night. We went to awesome places and really felt like locals. Also, one of the local AIESECers was living very near our Intern apartment and spent therefore a lot of time with us. He even gave up some working days or cancelled a meeting.

In the end, I was very glad with AIESEC. In the beginning for example they weren’t there to pick you up at the airport or didn’t even give you a call when you arrived and there were some other minor problems. But they were open to listen to us and using our suggestions to improve which I found great. In the very end they dropped off a lot of interns at the airport because we had become close friends. 

Personal impact
Working with children has a great impact on your life. Being a foreigner abroad has a great impact on your life. Meeting people from all over the world has a great impact on your life. In the end I felt that this experience was live changing. I think I really have become a global citizen. Especially the fact that you have to do this all on your own and that you get the chance to experience the other country changes you. Also, working with children out of the slumps, and meeting a lot of different cultures opens up your mind. I had a great time, and I hope I hereby convinced you to go on internship via AIESEC as well. If you have any questions regarding this experience, please feel free to contact me by mail.

Get away, and enhance your life!

Experience: Joeri Jansen, Baroda, India

Before actually leaving to India for a MT, the LPS organized by LC Tilburg made everything more concrete. By talking about expectations and plans of others who were also planning to leave, I realized that the start of my adventure was really getting close.

Some weeks later I said goodbye to friends and family, packed and arranged everything, and got on the plane, leaving the Netherlands for five months. When I reached Baroda, the city where I would be going to live and work, I got picked up by one of my Dutch colleagues and a local AIESEC’er. We went to our apartment by ‘auto-rickshaw’ seeing a lot of people and cows on the chaotic roads, so the first Indian experience was already taken care of. The first days were quite hectic and chaotic, but I got used to it faster than I expected beforehand.

One of the things why I went to India was to do an internship. I was an intern at an Indian IT company with Dutch and German partner companies. I was part of a team of German and Dutch interns, with whom we lived together in an apartment arranged by the company. Within the internship I focused on business development and project management. In practice, business development meant that I was looking for potential new Dutch partner companies to cooperate with. As part of this, I also joined the CEO for a business trip to the Netherlands and Germany, to meet some of these potential partners and to meet some of the existing partners of the company. This was a great experience and it was also nice to see some of my friends again, but I was also glad to go back to India after the trip. Back in India, we started working on new projects (also from companies we met during the business trip) doing the project management, which included talking to both the Dutch partners and Indian software developers. Later on I focused on the processes within the company and set up a customized CRM-system. Overall, the internship was not always that challenging, but I had a lot of freedom, learned a lot and really contributed to the company.

We (the other interns and me) were lucky not having to work in the weekends, so that we were able to see other places in India. Usually we took a sleeper train or bus on Friday evening, spending the weekend somewhere else and then again arrive in Baroda on Monday morning. It is an amazing colorful way of traveling through India, with a lot of people around and it is impossible to get bored during such a trip.
Picture: The day before ‘Holi’ festival at the office.

Looking back, the only conclusion is that I had a great time, saw most incredible places, learned a lot and made many new friends. I will definitely recommend a traineeship like the one I did. As long as you are really motivated to do something like this, everything will be fine, and you will also have an awesome experience abroad.

Experience: Christien de Kort, Sihjih, Taiwan

I arrived at the international airport close to Taipei on a Sunday evening. Four Aiesec students werewaiting for me. They took me from the airport to Taipei and from there to Sihjih, a city close to Taipeiwhere I was going to stay. They were very interested in me and asked me tons of questions.The apartment was very nice, but not very clean. It was in a high building at the 18th floor.

The first day I went to the university in Taipei to present about the Dutch culture. The second day was my first school day. The principal was going to pick me up at my apartment. He arrived half an hourearly, so I had to prepare quickly. The principal brought me to the school, which was very close to myapartment. The principal gave me a tour around the school. It was an elementary school for kids from6 to 12 years old. 2000 children attend the school and there are 62 classes.

In the teachers’ office they had arranged a desk for me, close to the other English teachers. In thebeginning the English teachers were a little bit skeptical about me being there. The teachers and theprincipal could not get along too well, and since my being there was the principals idea, the teacherswere not very enthusiastic in the beginning. But that changed quickly after they found out that I wasnot there to tell them how they should teach.

In fact, I had a really good time with the teachers, especially with the English teachers (as the otherteachers did not speak much English). In the school were 12 English teachers. Sometimes it wasdifficult to understand them, as I was not used to the Taiwanese accent.

After school I went hiking with the teachers and I joined the badminton team. Also the teachers tookme on several trips around the northern part of Taiwan. The director of educational affairs, a very nicewomen, took me on two trips. Most of the time I did not have to pay anything, no matter how hard I tried.

Sometimes I went on a weekend trip with other Aiesec trainees. There were no trainees in the citywhere I lived, but there were many close to Taipei. One time there was a conference for all trainees inTaiwan. Few European trainees were in Taiwan. Most of the trainees were from Malaysia, Indonesia,Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand.

I gave English lessons to students of all classes. So the youngest children were only 6 years old!They had quite some difficulties understanding me, so the English teachers translated a lot for them.I always taught a class together with an English teacher. As for every grade there were about 10classes, I sometimes taught the same material 10 times in a row, which becomes a bit boring after awhile.

The kids were all very sweet. They asked me a lot of questions and the little kids wanted to shake myhand, to hug me, to have my signature, to take a picture with me, etcetera. Sometimes the kids gaveme candy or little presents.

On my last they I gave a presentation to the entire school. I told them about the Netherlands and Ithanked them for all their kindness. All the classes had written a card for me! The teachers had littlepresents for me.

The day I left Taiwan, 4 English teachers took me to the airport where they said goodbye to me.The kindness of Taiwanese people is amazing. I have never met people before this hospitable. TheEnglish teachers made this trip unforgettable for me.

Experience: Marieke Schramm, Hyderabad, India

Incredible India, that’s what they say. Well, they are right! My two month lasting internship in Hyderabad (India) and my one month of travelling through India proved them right. Did I have a culture shock? Yes, but I enjoyed it. With a reliable AIESEC network behind me, I felt strong enough to handle it and could fully enjoy the beautiful culture of India. Staying at a home-stay with an AIESEC member’s family the first week, was one of the experiences I will never ever forget. Whilst I had still difficulties getting used to everything that is different (climate, food, traffic, people, noises, all the animals on the streets, ...), there was this lovely family trying to make me as comfortable as possible. Because my internship hadn’t started yet and the AIESECer I was staying with had to go to university for some hours a day, I felt bored from time to time. The family was very concerned and didn’t want me to go out on my own and of course I didn’t want them to be worried about me, so I only went out when I was in company of Rohit, my AIESEC home-stay.


After that first week I moved in with the president of AIESEC Hyderabad, living in his own flat with two other trainees. This was a completely different experience: the young Indian students showed us their vibrant lifestyle with all facets. A great and unique thing was that I was living with a local AIESECer, who had a lot friends over all the time and gave me and the two other girls living in the flat the opportunity to get in touch with a lot young Indian people in a short time. I feel like I really lived in India through this great new friends I made and the celebrations (traditional and modern) they invited me and the other interns to. It is nice to have the feeling that I have Indian friends now. Of course we also had regularly contact with all other AIESEC interns living in flats together. Thursdays were always karaoke-nights at our favourite pub, 10 Downing Street. And in weekend all of us, international interns and local Indian AIESECers would go out into one of the few clubs, having the best time! We had a blast, partied a lot, but also had interesting conversations about differences and equalities between cultures. In my experiences, the members of AIESEC Hyderabad are very interested in all different cultures and doing a great job in making you feel at home.


After settling down, my internship started. I was working at a NGO called Kurmaguda Academy for Relief and Education (KARE), situated in the Muslim neighbourhood Kurmaguda in Hyderabad. The NGO exists of a school which offers free education for underprivileged children, job training for women (e.g. chocolate making, perfume making) and free medical care. So far education is not for free in India, that is why underprivileged children are stuck in a vicious circle: their parents have no money to send them to school, so the children don’t get education and have no chance to get a job good enough to enable them to escape from living in a slum. Therefore dedicated residents of the neighbourhood decided that this should change and founded the school whilst working in their own businesses fulltime. Having no experience with running a school couldn’t stop them from trying to improve future chances of a good life for the kids. It really moved me to see all the passion those people had for the work they were doing. My job was to evaluate the education and organisation of the school, teach English and leadership skills and try to set up associations with other school to establish exchange of material and experience. In fact, my job description started with only teaching, but the passion of the founder of the school made me want to do more so I picked up some other duties as well.


Working at the school was challenging. The teachers speak only basic English, some of them can’t speak English at all. The children were not used to my method of teaching and found it difficult to understand me. They are also used to being hit when they behave naughty, a thing I would never do. So even though they were very sweet and kind to me, making them sit still and listen to me was very hard. It may sound as if I found it very difficult to work at the school. But even with all the communication problems, one look or touch can say so much more than words. Everybody was so happy that I came to work at the school, that they welcomed me very warmly. I was on my own the first three weeks at the school and what scared me at first, turned out to be the thing I was most thankful for at last: the fact that I was on my own made it very easy for my shy and young colleges to approach me and everyone wanted to take care of me.


My personal goal for the whole experience was to be open-minded, friendly, and initiating contact. The people I met whilst being in India made this so very easy for me and gave me the most wonderful experiences. This whole experience made me so much stronger. I know now that I can handle myself in a totally different culture then I am used to and do this not only travelling, but also whilst working. It also made me realize that people all over the world may seem so different, but are also quit equal in basic concepts and want the same things from life, the simple things like living happily in good health with your loved ones, in their own ways. I sincerely hope a lot of people who read this will feel inspired to go abroad and will be thankful that they have the opportunity to do so. Of course there were also some inconveniences. For example, the members of AIESEC being students who can be very busy from time to time had sometimes difficulties to house all the interns. Therefore we had to sleep with 8 people in a apartment with three rooms sometimes. Another thing is that a lot of us interns had to wait for our internships to start for a few days or maybe even a week. Also it can be annoying to find out that even people you don’t expect it from, are after your money. But hey, that’s the adventure! Be prepared for the unprepared! Also don’t be too demanding (but demanding enough to make sure that you have the standards to enjoy your time in the other country) and read a lot about the country you are going to, without letting some well mend advices scare you and without lessening your initiative in talking to the real people over there in your new home. I can honestly say, I would always do this over again. Even now I have been back for two months already, I almost daily think back to India. After a short time of 3 months, I left India crying... Never expected myself to be this emotional about my departure, but the feeling of leaving newly made friends for a unknown time, really hit me hard. So my last advice: be prepared to fall in love with a new country!

Experience: Sander Spaan, Pandang, Indonesia

The Beginning Per the day of today it has been exactly one month since my return from my Aiesec experience in Indonesia. In short Aiesec is the organization that facilitates the possibility for students to go abroad and take part in the local cultures and organization.

It all starts when it became clear for me that there was going to be a fourth year of IBA coming and the first trimester would be entirely empty. I wanted something new, something I could look back on for the rest of my life and say it was a life-changing experience, which is exactly the thing most people would tell you NOT to expect just to make sure you are not disappointed.

On the beginning I was a bit picky, since there Is this massive Hype about Tanzania, must say I also started searching a bit late and there weren’t that much TN’s in the database yet for September. All of a sudden I decided that I wanted to go away so bad that I decided to apply for anything that sounded suitable, Indonesia, Tanzania, Mauritius etc. In the end however I was accepted for all of them. I still don’t really know why I chose Padang, Indonesia, maybe it was my best friend (Putri, who is Indonesian) or just pure intuition, anyway I am glad I did.

The main Issue with Indonesia is that getting a Visa might get you in some trouble, so if you want to know how to contact me! I by now know every single little sheet they might want to have from you!

The Arrival

After a 22 hour flight I walked into a living room full of family that had never seen someone as blond as me making me feel almost famous. Because I didn’t know what to expect it shocked me that there was a gun lying on the table (which later didn’t turn out to be real) when it comes down to the facts Padang appears to be very safe, at least for man that are taller than all the rest of the population.

My main contact in my temporary host family was Jimmy, a very friendly guy that had been in Aiesec for years as an active member who spoke English very well, by now he is really like a brother to me. Anyway it all comes down to this, I could not imagine to find a family in the area that was more friendly and better looking than they were, not to mention actually had normal toilets. So after I was invited after a couple of days to stay I decided that I wouldn’t move to my intended host family.

Since my internship wouldn’t start until Wednesday the first things we did was cruising around beaches visiting stores and getting in touch with the Aiesec people. It is unimaginable how friendly the people in Padang are they are willing to do anything for you, they are also extremely happy. Anyway the Aiesec people and the people on the street will treat you like a celebrity which crazy enough will make you realize that being famous probably sucks.

The Cultural Experiences

Another important aspect of Padang it the food, I think I am not wrong when I say that the Padang food is the main inspiration for most of the food that we classify as Indonesian. First of all the food is delicious second of all its spicy as hell. So let me give you some advice DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES EAT GREEN CHILI’S, even if you think you can, you can’t some of the trainees before me actually had to go to the hospital because of the damage that was done.

Even though people, technology etc. is world wide in most cases you will make some shocking discoveries in Indonesia when it comes to the needs of the people. First of all the Indonesians in Padang drive around in a transport system known as the angkot; also known as some super over tuned mini-van.

These little vans mainly consists of some couches and a massive 2000 watt stereo system blasting Justin Bieber in your ears. After one day in Padang, if you didn’t already, you will wish he was never born, anyways you can imagine that 16 people in such a van plus Justin Bieber doesn’t make your day but you’ll get used to it. Then there is also another fact that might shock you, once you walk in to the toilet and see that it is in fact nothing more than a hole in the ground you will also come to the horrific conclusion that Muslim people do not use toilet paper. Aah you will hear yourself say, that’s why they get hepatitis A and the left hand thing and indeed, you are right once again.

The Internship

So now back to my actual experience over there, at this point I finally start working in the school since I haven’t spoken of it before, I was an English teacher in a Senior High school in Padang. I must say I super Enjoyed teaching the kids English since they are so disciplined and interested in what you have to say. One thing you will notice however is that the teachers in Indonesia have a drastically low English level leading into a massive communication failure on day to day bases. A major mistake they make is pretending they understand you, so when they ask you for a distance and you say;”where too” they will pretend they understand you and assume that where too is a measure of distance, this is just an example. Also they are not really all that serious about… being serious so if you don’t show up for a day or 3 they will simply not even ask you where you were. So when it actually comes down to the internship I must say that I would have hoped I could do more, for the rest I really enjoyed it.

The Travels

So for the rest I have been visiting offshore Islands like Sikuai, which is probably one of the most beautiful places on the planet. In this case I went here with my Girlfriend, Amalia, who is also Jimmy’s cousin. I probably spend most of my time with her and she is without a doubt one of the major reasons that will make this experience for what it is and will also be my reason to return to Padang someday. I won’t go in to much detail but it comes down to we fell in love immediately, had the most wonderful two months of our lives, are unfortunately apart by now because Indonesia doesn’t happen to be around the corner, nevertheless hope to see each other in the future again because she is without a doubt the most special girl I have ever met.

As probably anyone that goes to the other side of the world for the first time in their life you will want to travel around a bit, as mentioned before I went to an Island, tons of beaches, I also visited some cities in the neighborhood, the Maningjou lake, Kuala Lumpur and Bali every single one unforgettable. I ended my trip with Bali in my case which was probably the best decision, Bali is Hindoe this case and more open to the west. So it kind of offered me the possibility to go back in stages, to have our culture again but still the nice weather.

Experience: Rutger Metsch and Nard Huijbregts, Malaysia

Op onze laatste avond in Kuala Lumpur hebben we in de omgeving van de Petronas Towers het afgelopen half jaar nog eens goed besproken. We beseften ons opeens dat, toen we ons vorig jaar augustus op de universiteit inschreven, iedereen zei dat het ‘de beste tijd van ons leven, boordevol ervaringen’ zou worden. . Na ons door de drie selectInderdaad. Rond januari hebben we ons allebei, op goed geluk, ingeschreven voor het Ambassadeursprogrammaierondes heen te hebben geslagen begon het avontuur. 

Wij, Nard Huijbregts uit Maastricht en Rutger Metsch uit Groningen, kenden elkaar alleen van de trainingsdagen toen we in juli naar Maleisië vlogen. Zenuwachtig, maar voorbereid,  kwamen we met onze backpacks aan op Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Het was begonnen! Redelijk snel waren we over de cultuurshock heen – eerst was het lachen bij elk mondkapje dat we tegenkwamen, geshockt zitten bij ze zoveelste suïcidaal hard rijdende taxichauffeur, en staren bij elke burqa die we voorbij zagen lopen- en konden we aan de slag. 

De eerste 6 weken hebben we gewerkt bij 5 verschillende universiteiten, verspreid over het land. Bij deze universiteiten hebben we o.a. geholpen met de werving van nieuwe leden voor AIESEC, de werkwijze van de commissies geëvalueerd en aangepast, stageplekken aan bedrijven verkocht, congressen voorbereid en gefaciliteerd, trainingen gegeven aan meer dan 200 man per sessie maar vooral heel veel foto sessies ondervonden. Rijen vol Maleisiërs wachtend om met je op de foto te gaan. Het leven van een Ambassadeur heeft toch echt wel kenmerken van een supersterren bestaan. Van 5 sterren hotels tot slapen tussen de kakkerlakken, je maakt het allemaal mee. Een briljante tijd, veel geleerd, veel vrienden gemaakt en dingen meegemaakt die we anders nooit gedaan zouden hebben.

Naast onze AIESEC activiteiten hebben we ook nog een dag op het KLM kantoor in Kuala Lumpur mee mogen lopen. Dineren met de CEO, brainstormen met de marketing director. Naast al het werk hebben we natuurlijk ook de kans gegrepen om wat rond te reizen in de omgeving. Jetsetten in Singapore, wilde olifanten de rivier zien oversteken in de jungle van Borneo, met zijn tweeën op een afgelegen parel wit strand liggen, snorkelend in een azuurblauwe zee tussen het koraal en de tropische vissen, een schorpioen vasthouden bij de prachtige theevelden, even voor een week op en neer naar Australië en als kers op de taart een heerlijke businessclass vlucht terug: het hoort allemaal bij het leven van een Ambassadeur.

Experience: Wout Bouwers and Maarten Wessels, India

Afgelopen zomer zijn wij voor 2 maanden als Ambassadeurskoppel naar India geweest. Na een uitgebreid selectie en voorbereidingstraject stapten we op het vliegtuig voor iets wat later een waanzinnig avontuur zou zijn. We kenden elkaar nog lang niet zo goed wanneer we door de Moessons van Mumbai in een overvolle trein naar AIESEC studenten op weg waren. Toen hadden we het door, met het Ambassadeursprogramma zie je niet alleen een land, je beleeft het!

Maar wat hebben we dan gedaan? In het kort, wij zijn in 8 weken tijd op 10 verschillende plekken geweest om elke keer maar weer verrast te worden door de cultuur en de mensen. Bij de locale comités hebben we Holland presentaties en trainingen gegeven. We hebben geholpen met het werven van studenten en het verbeteren van hun selectiebeleid. Ook hebben we bij een humanitair project in Delhi vrijwilligerswerk gedaan voor 1 week. Uiteindelijk hebben we kunnen zorgen dat ze daar van extra computers zijn voorzien en we hebben dit project gelinkt aan het locale AIESEC comité. Aan het einde van onze reis zijn we naar het grootste internationale AIESEC congres gegaan waar meer dan 100 landen bijeen waren. 

Dat indiers hun zaakjes anders aanpakken dan wij in Nederland hebben we op diverse manieren meegemaakt. Als een Indier bijvoorbeeld met het hoofd schudt kan dit zowel ja als nee betekenen, wat nogal voor wat verrassingen kan zorgen. Over verrassingen gesproken, aapjes in de trein, poepende mannen langs het spoor en het volkslied zingen voor een film in de bioscoop schijnt er allemaal bij te horen. Het lastigste voor ons westerlingen was vaak het wachten op niets en vanalles, over een treinrit van 250 km deden we bijvoorbeeld 12 uur! 

Al die verschillen maar juist ook de gelijkenissen die we gezien hebben maakten deze reis zo uniek. In elke stad waar we kwamen konden we iemand bellen en overnachten bij locals, helpen met AIESEC projecten en omgaan met studenten. Door het Ambassadeursprogramma hebben we oneindig veel plekken gezien, honderden Indiers ontmoet en onmogelijke avonturen beleefd. Allemaal ervaringen om nooit te vergeten!

Experience: Freek Soetenga, New Delhi, India

Hi everyone! 

I am Freek Soetenga, former student of Tilburg University. 

I majored in Human Resource Studies and graduated in February 2010 in Tilburg. Of course I could have opted for a more common start of my occupational career, but I decided differently. 

In 2007-2008 I spent one semester as an undergrad student at a American University and ever since I have felt the desire to go abroad, for a longer period of time, again. I feel like you really get to know the inhabitants and their culture when you live and work in a foreign country, as opposed to visiting 

the same country as a tourist. I wanted something new, something different. Therefore I decided to sign up for AIESEC and try my luck with them. Soon I realized that India would be the best option for me. For many different 

reasons, but mostly because I had heard so many fascinating stories about that place. I wanted to experience and see what it is like myself. 

My coach warned me that several LCs in India are on a blacklist because they 

hardly organize anything for foreign EPs. I decided to go anyway and two weeks after my graduation I landed on Indian soil. Well, to be frank, the LC is almost non existent. I met my contact person there only once, at work, just because the organization I worked for (Centre for Social Research, CSR in New Delhi) wanted them to come over because they also experienced some problems with that LC. To be completely honest, they did invite me twice for a 

dinner party, but both times it was during the weekend. And weekends are there for you as an EP to explore the country! That is the good thing about AIESEC in India. They put all AIESEC trainees in 4 or 5 different apartments so you have always other foreigners around you to hang out with. 

The downside is that you do not have any privacy really. We had to share rooms with one, two, three and at times even four other people. Two trainees had to sleep in the hallway, with just a little curtain to block the view. I was pretty 

lucky because I roomed with a very nice American guy and we got along well. 

Unfortunately our room did not have any windows, and just a fan to keep us ‘cool’. Just so you know, I am not complaining, I had a great time and I would definitely do it again, but I would not recommend it to anyone. I am trying 

to give you a realistic picture of the situation. Anyway, at one point the thermometer reached 48 degrees centigrade and the warmer it gets, 

the more likely it becomes that the power cuts out. One week there was some kind of construction going on, which resulted in four hour long 

power cuts, every single day. I had to work that week and I spent an equal amount of time in a basement, a relatively cool place, to read a book and wait for the power to come back on..great! 

Work. Of course I should also tell something about that aspect. What I learned in India that, and this is not just my opinion, but most other EP’s shared this, you should NOT go there if you want to expand your professional knowledge/skills. Most EPs were disappointed with their job and as a 

consequence, changed or quit early. I did not end up being disappointed because I kind of expected this to happen. I, and I would recommend this to everyone, went there to get to know the people, the way they work and to experience what their daily life looks like. 

To some extent I managed to do that and I am thankful for that. However, I would also like to tell something about my job. 

 CSR is an NGO that focuses on researching issues concerning underprivileged areas of society, restructuring gender relations and empowering women. I joined the research department to help them out with there ongoing and new studies, but, given my HR background, I was also promised that I would be responsible, together with a colleague, for setting up a HR department. 

 From day one I have been regarded as full-time employee. I started working 

right away on different studies. This really reminded me of just a month earlier when I was still working on my thesis. What I am trying to say is that my daily activities were very similar, especially at first, to what I had been doing at home. It helped that I felt like I was working for a good cause. At times I was the only one in that department - there were no other trainees and just two other foreigners - and because they treated me as a regular employee, they did not give me extra attention or whatsoever. I did not find this a major problem, but I can completely understand if someone else would have felt lonely. If you are that kind of person, try to join an organisation with many other foreigners (not hard to find) 

Luckily, this got better in my situation as well. At the end of April, beginning of May a lot of Indian and some foreign interns joined the organisation for the summer break. 

Also I got to go to several conferences (of which some were completely in Hindi..) and into the field to conduct the questionnaires I had developed. This made things more interesting. My second part of the job, the 

HR-related task, unfortunately never really materialised, except for some recruitment tasks.

 One more thing I want to say about CSR is that I was surprised by the way they carry out their research. It is very unprofessional (and this goes for a lot of things in India) and often even incorrect. I really feel that I helped them out in that area. I finished some projects, got funding, wrote research proposals and papers. 

At work, but even more so in daily life I experienced how bureaucratic and hierarchic the Indian society is. I can think of numerous examples. The caste system is still prevalent and everyone seems to be so afraid to lose his or her job that they will always live by the rules. For the most part people are sincerely friendly, but you have to be careful because you will also meet a lot of people 

(more than for instance in Nepal and China) who will try to take advantage of you; especially when you act like a tourist. Do not wear shorts or sunglasses and try to learn some Hindi, this will be a big help. Oh, somehow, people that try to sell random weird stuff to you - which happens all the 

time - never seem to understand that you are not interested in their product, instead they assume that they will have to lower their price. As a result they will follow you around for 40 minutes whilst shouting an arbitrary number in rupees at you; and in the end they will possibly get frustrated and most likely shout at you and then leave. 

Like I already said before, I would definitely recommend going to India, but be careful. Do not expect anything from the LC. Therefore, only go to a city in which there are many other AIESECers. 

Do not expect too much from you internship because you might end up getting frustrated. If you cannot stand heat, like me, you are going to have a hard time. The sweaty weather I did not like, in fact it was my least favourite part. Also, sometimes it is fairly hard to deal with all the beggars and poor people that surround you. One time, three little boys grabbed my leg and just would not 

let ago anymore. It is such a cliché, but at times like that you realise how well off we are in Europe. 

What I did like were the parties and weekend trips with other foreigners (and locals), the street food, the hospitals (yeah, you might get sick and some of your friends will for sure), every single rickshaw ride, the interaction with locals, getting to know the city and so much more. I could go on for hours, but I already rambled on for too long. So, if you have any questions, please, do 

not hesitate to ask me. 

Freek Soetenga 

Experience: Teun van Vlerken, New Delhi, India

My development internship was with an organization called Kalakar Trust, which takes care of slum children in New Delhi. The Trust was founded to protect the artistic skills of street artists who moved from Rajasthan to Delhi during the past half a century. In order to preserve their skills and enable them to sell these talents Kalakar Trusts provides education and health care to the slum colony where these people live. My role was to teach the children English.

The people at the school were very cooperative and kind. I found integration in the working culture of the school fairly easy, even though I was told that I was basically the first one out of many volunteers who had really managed to become a part of the school. At the time of teaching, there were no other trainees at the school.

The local AIESEC in New Delhi was not all too popular among trainees, to put it mildly. Suspicions about money, integrity and professionalism were more than once discussed. Actually, during my first week a massive fight was just going on as the trainee house had just been without running water for two weeks, and that in August when temperatures easily top 40 degrees Celsius.  However, I must say that, even though I have witnessed questionable behavior from the AIESEC LC, I have personally not encountered any problems. 

The cultures in India are so very different from what we are used to, so that one finds himself completely in a different world. Especially in New Delhi, the massive capital, life is pretty tough and it takes some time to figure out how to deal with a variety of issues. Just to name some; the daily struggle of bargaining a decent price for the auto rickshaw requires some skill and it is only after some weeks that you have mastered this. Dealing with the ever present bureaucracy demands a lot of patience and preparation. Being folded into a bus with so many people around you that you can hardly see any daylight through the mass of bodies are you may also require some getting used to. And of course the ever present variety of cows, dogs, monkeys and the like makes the streets look slightly different from what we are used to here in the Netherlands.

India however is a beautiful country to visit and to live in. Life is full of colours, scents, people, and surprises and the kind of person who is open and eager for new perspectives will without any doubt enjoy life on this subcontinent. The country allows all religions to be practiced freely, something that only adds to the wide range of different people and cultures.

On a personal level I don’t think my stay has really changed me, though it added a lot of insights and perspectives. This is because I had already lived for a longer time in another country and culture before, which prepared me to some extend to changes in my environment. However, if a long stay in India is your first experience abroad it may come as quite a shock.

Every extraordinary experience contributes to your general perception of the world and certain issues, and India has in this respect certainly done its job. You see and you act according to the situations you encounter, and hence breathe to the fullest extend the culture, but it may take years to fully comprehend what this has done to you and your personal development.

I certainly recommend New Delhi as a place for a traineeship (but you need to be flexible). It’s vast and ugly, pollution is terrible, the heat is sometimes unbearable, the food makes many people sick, monkeys may enter your house to steal things to eat, you lose your bag on a train or your watch on a bus, but it shapes you and in the end you will love it all.

Teun van Vlerken

Experience: Tjeerd van Kampen, Beijing, China

Dare to dream!

On the 12^th of May, 2008 a deadly earthquake occurred in the Sichuan province of China with 68,000 deaths. This catastrophe made many children orphans. When a student of the Renmin University of China in Beijing visited this area and saw these children, she decided to set up a project in her student organization to help the children. She was a member of AIESEC and created the Dare to Dream project. A project about inspiring children to dream with summer camps in Sichuan with foreign and Chinese volunteers.

Content of the project

The project took place for the third time in the summer of 2010 and consisted of 6 organizers, 23 foreign volunteers and 24 Chinese volunteers with duration of 6 weeks. The project started in Beijing, where the volunteers had training for 5 days. In Sichuan the group was divided into two smaller groups. Each group went to a different school, where they provided a summer camp of 10 days. After the first summer camp, we had a small break, where we evaluated and prepared for the second summer camp. After the second summer camp at two other schools, we evaluated in Chengdu. There ended the third Dare to Dream project.

The training in Beijing involved multiple things. First of all the training was about to learn each other better. We did name games, teambuilding games, and had some free time in the evenings to spend together. Secondly, we got some lectures about how psychological effected the children can be due the earthquake and how we have to cope with it. And last, but not least, we had to make courses and activities for the summer camps.

Every foreign volunteer was coupled with a Chinese volunteer and every pair taught one class in the summer camps. We had many different courses with fun interaction with the children. Some examples are English teaching, a lecture about responsibility, debates about topics of their interest, and presentations about dreams and careers. Furthermore, we had activities like Global Village, a cultural role play, a talent show, a sport meeting, a lip dub video and a goodbye party.

The organization

The organizers of the Dare to Dream Project arranged everything for the volunteers during our stay in China. They arranged the summer camps together with the schools, picked us up from the airport, arranged accommodation, and were always there if you needed something. They were really helpful.  But the organizers occasionally lacked the ability to take own initiative. Sometimes volunteers had to come in action or pushed the organization to gather necessary information. It was noticeable that the organization wasn’t experienced in leading projects of this scale, but they managed to make the project a success. In the end everything worked out and I’m really thankful for their big effort in this project.

My coaches in the Netherlands helped me professional with finding a good internship, prepare for the travel and were ready to help during my travel. I’m also thankful to them.

The culture

Chinese culture is completely different than the Dutch culture. The things I were really amazed about or were very noticeable to me are the following.

First of all, the traffic is completely different than the Netherlands, besides that the roads are bigger. They drive really close to each other, like to zigzag through the traffic, wear no seat belt, use cell phones while driving, and horn a lot to let others know they are coming. But no accidents! The drivers are really experienced! I feel also really safe when I’m in the bus or a taxi, even though the traffic looks like a mad house. Furthermore, when you have to cross the street, you just have to start walking. The cars will avoid you. After the first day I enjoyed crossing the street and the first days back in the Netherlands I cycled through red light all the time!

Besides that, the food is completely different, but very good! But at first eating with chopsticks was really awful. The Chinese volunteers, who treated me for a meal at the first day, gave me a spoon eventually. After 4 days I managed to eat with chopsticks properly and back in the Netherlands I eat meals with rice with chopsticks. As well is the food more spicy in China, even the KFC burgers!

Furthermore most of the Chinese can’t speak English at all, their English signs are so bad that it is funny, they spit occasionally on the ground, they like waiting, and they have always long discussions, which sounds like big fights due yelling.

Once in a lifetime experience

This travel showed me a lot of insight of what kind of person I am, what I can achieve and how I should live my life. I met awesome people, gain a lot of experience and had loads of fun!  Besides the teaching we also had loads of time for sightseeing. For instance, I have climbed a mountain, climbed the Great Wall, saw pandas, and visit the Terracotta Army. We also had to endure some difficulties, but together we managed them. The stay has changed me a lot due this knowledge and experience. I am really glad I joined this internship! This project blew my expectations completely away! Simple said, it was an once in a lifetime experience!

So if anyone has the same opportunity as me to go on an internship, I would say, do it! You won’t regret it! Just choose an internship that suits you and don’t forget that you control how good it will be!

Tjeerd van Campen, Tilburg