A day with AIESEC (literally)

(C) Jasmine
and for the other pics of this post too ^^

Today, I went to my first Local Committee Meeting (LCM) of AIESEC SP (Saint Pauls University). I am in AIESEC since 2009 and I attended already many LCMs. So to be honest, I really didn't expect much. Just a chilling event.

At 1pm I attended the LCM and as in the LC Leipzig too, the LCM didn't start at 1pm as planned :P I mean, we are students in AIESEC, why should we be on time? ;)
The whole LCM was in Japanese, but I could understand about 60% of the sentences. Luckily, AIESEC has many abbreviations which are used in every country like LCM, TM, MC, EP, TN, COM, etc. Regarding this, AIESEC is a bit weird, but thanks to it, I could follow the LCM by using the abbreviations with the words I understood and put them in context ^^

The topics were a mix of speeches, working in a group and little Q&A sessions with members from the national team (MC) of Japan and also former AIESECers who took some leadership roles. Really impressing, how many people attended :)

It was also interesting that some speeches and the working in groups really fit together with their content. The central theme was why AIESEC was founded and which goal we still carry on from these times. So we answered questions like "Why did war occur?" or "How can today's youth do something against the occurrence itself?" It wasn't that hard for me because when you are in AIESEC you actually heard this questions often and answered to it. But anyway, each time I learned something new from others ^^

I hope you could understand this, it is hard to explain for me. If it's not interesting, you can just skip it ;) The pictures are better :D

The Q&A sessions with the MC members and former AIESECers were also a new experience because I felt that even the fact that I traveled around half of the globe didn't changed that AIESECers are passionate for their work and do this really energy and time-consuming work because they want to do it. Sometimes to make a difference in the world, sometimes just because they are curious about things they don't know and want to to try out. And regarding passion and spirit, I think AIESEC Japan has clearly more of it than Germany :D Not because the Germans are unpassionate but because the Japanese really go all out in the things they want to do :)

After this, we split up in groups and I went to the group with the Incoming Exchange team (ICX, they are responsible for raising a traineeship in a company for people who want to come). And there were also members from other teams as well, because Jasmine, the Taiwanese intern, held a presentation about her work and experiences in Japan. Most impressive for her were the colleagues because they invited her so often to parties and she had a really good time with them. :)

The last parts of the LCM were some short speeches about upcoming events and to celebrate the members who had birthday this month. So for some minutes, the whole room was filled with energy and joy. I cannot really describe it, but in these few minutes everyone just celebrated with such a passion and energy, I have seen rarely. I don't know yet if this is normal in Japan, but I would bet on it. Japanese people seem to have this ability to be extreme in more than one way. Nevertheless if it's the strong politeness in daily life or their extreme power in celebrating and enjoying life. I think, I will really enjoy this time here more and more ^^

The best way to describe Japanese people is maybe the motto: "Work hard, party harder". Important: With "party harder" is not excess meant ^^ This is also a typical AIESEC motto, but from what I experienced, everyone here live with this philosophy. Sometimes more, sometimes less ;) In my opinion, this is one reason why Japanese people can and do working so hard. Through this level of celebrating, they can relieve stress and the bad feelings that stirred up over the day. Just a thought of mine ... :)


After the LCM, many of us went for dinner in a restaurant near the university. It was a nice and comfortable place, we ate and drank, so the usual stuff :D I talked with many people. learned much more about the Japanese people and their way of thinking. Even Maruta-san came, so it was a really nice evening.

Thanks this time to AIESEC SP and everyone who attended today. It was a wonderful day, I enjoyed it a lot and will come back for another LCM :)