In the words of PJ and Duncan...."PSYCH!"

Two weeks tomorrow me and my trusty padwan (btw we recently discovered she is only 12 and actually quite advanced for her age!!!) set off on an epic journey!! I can't believe that it is already time for IPM! When I think...this time last year I didn't even know I was elected! yowzers! So in Amsterdam, our motley crew shall be plus 1 coz we are on the same flight as Magnus, the Norwegian elect with whom I have already discussed the wisdom (or lack there of) of doing an on board presentation yoki yoki perhaps there is a time and a place for country pride?!

And what awaits us in Cairo?!! Well very possibly a very tired Frankybaby...who following what I am sure will be an incredible NSM then has to make his own epic journey...although he is as yet without padwan. There will also be joyful reunions! I get to see John for the first time in almost 2 years! (my how the time flies!) Of course there will be spirit a plenty in the WENA plenary and many of those running screaming hugs both inside and out of WENA ;) well we have to make up for only send virtual ones via msn for the rest of the year!! oh there has been some mysterious hinting from Mischa...though I'm not too sure what that is about! But what will most definitely be awaiting us are the 44 plucky individuals who have submitted their applicants for AI, yes you read correctly there are forty-four candidates for AIESEC International!!! That, ladies and gentlemen is a heck of a lot of speeches ;)

Have had so many conversations recently about how this year's IPM will be all the more intense!!!!! Why? Because they will be my MCPs up there! The ones that I have worked and played with...My generation! and admitedly a couple from another generation...but still...Most of them I know personally! All of them I respect...even if it is just for taking this step! All have provided me with an intriguing read! I'm already bursting with questions for some.....oooooooooooh roll on the good times!

Oh the things that are uttered in the MC office!!

"Do you want me to bring you HIS panties?!"

How can it be Friday again?!

Even though this isn't an average Friday....it is also the AI applications DEADLINE! ooooooooooooooh I hear you say! Excitement in the air! Can't wait to see who will be turning up to WOW us at IPM! I've heard some additional names during the week that got me psyched! Ah if only I had a vote eh?!

And now I am sitting in my little office, preparing MCP transition agendas and pondering my pending unemployment ;) and yes pondering is the correct word! I thought I had it all sorted in my head but now... hmmm I am shall we say conflicted! I have even taken to filling in applications?! Easy tiger...I know...it is a downward spiral to another year of AIESEC once you start FILLING in the applications...but as yet I have no intention of submitting them...they are just aids to my thought process...for now

In other news I am happily chatting to one Paddy McGee who has been unfortunately absent from my life for a while now! I half envy his upcoming semester of Politics of AIDS in AFRICA, Disease, Drugs and Development and the New Europe After Communism - but I only half envy him because in reality I am too happy for him to reeeally be jealous!

I have been reading about migration and it is something I think I could become seriously interested in..the reasons for, the process of and most of all the barriers put in the way...it truly is fascinating...hopefully I will have the time/mental capacity to post properly about it next week. Silly head has been giving me trouble this week...wooot for dizziness and migraines!

It sad to know that once I post this...my last post about Venezuela disappears :( I should post less! On other happier news, I get to see Maeve in about 15 minutes with what I am sure will be her stunning new haircut! AND next month we have TEAM days....not quite heading off to Madrid, like some other unmentionables, but we are going to Cobh :) Colleen and Prue are in for a treat...Connolly St, Mags and Charlie, the purpleness that Prue is so terrified of! oooh the Rob! and my boys (hopefully) and then of course there are the sights too....

Ok I admit it....it is starting to get a bit chilly around here!

hmmm....saturday 19th January, MC Office.

Just wanted to record the date and place for Prue. The time when I will officially recognise the fact that well, it is less than tropical in Dublin these days...in fact it is a good deal closer to arctic today...maybe I am just missing Venezuela and Carribean breezes or maybe it is genuinely a little bit chilly here.

Just a bit mind.

In other non weather related news, I have a ticket to Egypt and know how to use it ;) in the words of PJ and Duncan....PSYCH! I am still getting Christmas cards....wonderfulness :) and happy happy days! My laptop will soon be home!! Also thanks to my little Romanian treasure chest of good ideas I now have an excel sheet, not just any excel sheet...an excel sheet of my year plan! And nothing any of you can say can make me feel nerdier...Shirley already threw all of that at me ;) So before anyone else asks....no it is not called the Aine Score Card and no it does not contain Critical Aine Factors! but it is pretty and it does have clickable buttons made of photographs! Once my laptop and this baby are combined there will be no stopping me! I will rule the world....cue evil laughter...ok cue my uncontrolable giggling instead :)


hmmmm....I think the cold has unleashed my silly side! God help Colleen and Prue if it snows!!!!



*****Just in case any of you thought I was going a little soft....here is tonight's weather report from the esteemed MetEireann....Heavy showers of rain, hail and sometimes thunderstorms will continue through the evening and night. It will remain windy and cold with lowest temperatures 0 to 3C; frost in sheltered areas*******

Look what I found....an ELECT!!!!

Monday evening a bundle of nerves (I was quite honestly more nervous this year than last!), I stood on a stool in Messrs. Maguire and held two pints of water over our MCP candidates! We had spent the week interviewing, reading selection exercises and applications...considering, debating, discussing and then considering some more and now the moment had come to actually do some electing and so....introducing MCP 07/08....




Ms AISLING DONOHOE!

I'm sure she will do an amaaaaaazing job as the 50th MCP of AIESEC in Ireland! I am equally sure she will have as much difficulty as I have had in explaining how to pronounce her name while at international conferences! And I am doubly sure that she will make me and the rest of AIESEC in Ireland incredibly proud!

PS Aisling....Transition starts Friday ;)

Tiz the season for electing!

It is that time of the year again when MCPs all over the network are seeking out the one to take their place! That time of year when you start getting text messages and seeing msn tags and blog posts congratulating newly elected MCPs! Which of course makes me think of the process that will take place here in Dublin this Monday evening when I get to pour water over one of two candidates that are not only passionate AIESECers but close friends. I'm not sure how or if I will cope with the disappointment of the other but I suppose that is part of the game of life?!

All this has me thinking of what an amazing opportunity I have been given. AIESEC in Ireland may not be the strongest member in the network nor does it necessarily have the biggest membership...but we have had our own trials and tribulations this year too. Success and failure are words that have a slightly synonomous feeling to them now. I have learned so much about myself and how I react to others, to situations, to crisis. Sometimes I like what I see...sometimes I loathe it, sometimes I wonder how I have never noticed before. Maybe I wasn't ready to? Maybe there was never the opportunity?

I have always felt that part of me belonged outside of Ireland, funny that it took one of the most international organisations around to teach me just how Irish I am and yet now part of me is very surely beyond the shores of this little green island as part of me is with each and everyone of my amazing friends that are scattered throughout the world. I know the life we lead now is far more conducive to skype, msn and blogging than the post-AIESEC world will ever be, but my new years resolution both now and every year to come will be to keep these people in my life. Because after all the tranisitioning is done this June a day will come when I sign into aiesec.net and see the dreaded "alumni status" and after all that what will matter most are the people who came into my life this year and for which it is very much the better.

Just for you Eze

I know I promised to post the cutest video ever, but well youtube is being silly and won't let me...bah humbug to them! so I hope this is the next best thing :) xxx

Memories!!!

Carre,
originally uploaded by aineoconnell.

Wandering around Amsterdam last Friday afternoon I found a poster for the Carre theatre and was reminded of my first trip to the city almost a year ago!

Fresh from MCP selection I arrived at Schipol Airport, where incidently I met one of my now closest friends, took the train in the direction of Soesterberg and IPM!

Why did the Carre theatre remind me of all that? Because that is where we had Opening Ceremony of course! Crazy old lady dancers and even crazier drummers and of course the voice!

So much has happened since then and so much is happening now! Today we started interviewing our wonderful MCP 07/08 candidates in 5 weeks time I will (hopefully) be heading to Cairo - I'm starting to agree with Rob....time most certainly does not go slowly!

Congratulations Mr MCP Canada 07/08

I was soo excited to finally get the news today that John had been elected MCP in Canada! Since my very first international conference in Malaga 2005, John has been one of my ab fab favourite AIESECers! I am beyond psyched at the idea of seeing him in Egypt! Congrats again :)
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I guess Shirley was right! the soul comes a few days after you land....I'm still waiting for mine!

My last days in Venezuela were as much fun as all the others! and as hectic too! On Saturday we went shopping for the Masia family Secret Santa...I had to buy a present for his cousin :) we also had to buy balloons for Albert's birthday..well we didn't have to but I wanted to! We ended up getting him a Sponge Bob one...it was too cute...kinda wanted one for myself too ;) then we went to his place for some birthday celebrations ;) yummy cakes!!! that day was also the birthday of one of Franky's aunts so when we got back to Caracas we went for drinks with his family too - I love birthdays!! Except that I had to explain - again - how I wasn't British and how my prime minister didn't have to report to the queen and that no I didn't use the pound! ah fun times! ;)

What would you say is the best way to spend the last day of the year?!! Well we thought it might be watching Saw 1,2 and 3! Although to be honest i needed a break before 3 and we went on a city wide search for Cesar salad dressing! ;) It also must be said that seeing Cary Elwes (Wesley, Princess Bride) in 1 was a little bit upseting! That night we spent with his mum's family :) we ate grapes (obviously not Franky...him hating almost anything that can be labeled fruit ;)), watched the fireworks over the city - that went on for over an hour, making us feel like we were in the middle of a warzone!!!

At 03.30 we went to meet up with friends and to party! and OMG did we dance! I had soooooo much fun with Eze too that night! dancing and joking around ;) We had planned to go to the beach the following day but for one reason or another we ended up in our beds at 09.00! We did go to see Deja vu that night though...which was good but not excellent! I also had my last Venezuelan hot dog.... they really are yummy!

My last full day in Venezuela was super special! We went to el Avila ;) we went up in a jeep...steep and bumpy ride! we stopped at Galipan (which was in the clouds) to eat lunch, look around and buy some yummy cookies that I had on the plane today! then we hopped into another jeep and carried on to the top to the Avila Magica park at thetop of the mountain! And let me tell you, there we had sooooooooo much fun!! We queued for an hour for churros! had our photos taken, had a look at the IPM 2010 location ;) laughed lots! contemplated "borrowing" a kid to have a family photo taken, went on an "interesting" submarine ride, laughed some more and then took the cable car back down the mountain! The last part was awesome! because well...the view is usually pretty decent, I mean you can see the entire city almost, but we went down at about six so ontop of the usual views we got sunset too! sniff...my last one in Caracas! That night we went for dessert with Eze and Frank which was yummy but it was horrible starting to say my goodbyes! We went home and fell asleep watching ER ;)

Wednesday was the worst day ever! Well it started out well but it could only have one ending. Franky made me arepas for breakfast :) and yes Eze they were yummy and no I wasn't ill after them ;) we listened to music, well kinda just one song on repeat! then we went for a fantabulous sushi lunch with his mommy but I was still so full after breakfast I couldn't eat it all!

We went to pick up Isabel and headed to the aiport. I had spent the past week trying to get everyone and anyone to take my ticket and now it seemed as though I would have to use it myself. After several goodbye hugs I finally passed through security and well lets just say that I cried a "little".

My flight from Caracas was delayed and so I missed my connection in Madrid meaning that I arrived in Amsterdam later than expected :( Being the wonderfully overprotective friend that he is he made me eat dinner and then sat patiently (ish) while I chatted to Franky on google. He then made a huge mistake! He thought it would be cool to call Bruna...little did he realise though that he wouldn't actully get the chance to talk ;) We were supposed to go out but by that time I had given in to the tiredness of 2 days minus sleep and so he went with the guys from AIESEC Baruch who were also visiting (I'm sorry - again for sleeping so much!)

And so today! I finall got to chat to Robbie, it had been so long I was starting to worry! I <3 you...looking forward to hearing the rest of your stories! After that I went to the Anne Frank House museum. I remember reading the book for the first time as a kid and how it was really my first introduction to the absolute nightmare reality of WW2 and so it was quite surreal walking around the actual house and see her room etc.

Unfortunately I didn't have time to go to ABN AMRO drinks as Mischa had planned but we did have time for one more night time bike ride through the city (you know I love it really....just give you a hard time for the hell of it!!)

At home now, in Cobh. With a list as long as my arm of things to catch up on! The small matter of MCP selection to contend with! Stay tuned for the announcement next week ;) Oh what a joy to have an elect....I can start transition straight away ;) jejeje only kidding...I'm keeping power for as long as possible ;) and IPM is just 6 weeks away!!!!

- Get Your Own