Seems like the momentum is building for a memorable summer. As i sit in my room, smoking the first shisha of the summer and sipping wine with thoughts pouring through my head, all I can think about is starting learning circles this summer. More to come at the first GPM!!!

Aight, here's the deal. There are a couple of things in the works that everyone needs to keep track of. First, and perhaps most importantly, is what Arthur has just posted about, the possibilities of a Salaam trainee, THIS SUMMER!!! This is very very exciting news. If anyone has any ideas on organizations that would be interested, email it out. I have a few in mind, including Cornell Cooperative Extension, but that shouldn't limit our search. I'm sure there are many other places that could create a great experience for a Salaam trainee. The next issue is Coop. Currently, I am waiting on an email back from them, to cement our next meeting. Last Thursday, Arthur and I had a conversation with Chris White, concerning the Coop program. So far, we seem to be on track, taking what he termed, the "consultative" approach. Through the conversation with Chris, we decided on two different approaches that we could potential take with Coop. The first would be an informal, perhaps two or three person "test run" over this next year. In this test run, they would refer interested engineering students to us, so they can join AIESEC and go through the normal EP track. Do to the current size of our LC, we decided that five would be the upper limit of this test run. This limit was set because we need to deliver a very high quality experience for those students. Any more, and we could be compromising quantity over quality. After this test run, we would then sit down again next summer and see where we wanted to go. The second option is to start working on a customizable product. This process would include a bit more on the front end, setting all the processes up, researching student demand trends, tagging traineeships abroad, establishing some financial support, etc. From our perspective, these were the two most viable options we could suggest to the Coop.

So people, this summer is gonna be crraaazzzzyyy. I've said it before, and i'm going to say it again, buckle your seat belts, its going to be a ride.

First of all, congratulations to Zach on going to Singapore an joining our LC blog!

Today I went in to the @US national office for personal meetings with roommates Jen and Jill, and in my meeting with Jen we started discussing Salaam. She said that there are about 11 or 12 subsidized traineeships built into the grant this year, so if we can find a company that is willing to take a trainee, we would be able to have Salaam trainees in Ithaca this summer and possibly in the fall. This is so awesome and as much as I love the city, I can't wait to get back to Ithaca to sell these traineeships.

It would make me soooo happy if our first trainees were Salaam trainees and I know we would provide a great experience for anyone wanting to experience America and a more realistic view of the country than a big city would be able to offer.

Get ready guys, LETS MAKE THIS HAPPEN!!!!

So this is a bit after the fact, but better late than never!

Tuesday night, after an eventful management study session with Arthur, Pinar and I had transition over the phone. I'm not sure if having it over the phone made it go smoother or if it just helped to keep the side conversations and our ADD-ness to a minimum. But basically we started off discussing our goals for selecting new members and the best way to make sure we are getting the people we want and need for our LC. We then talked about Induction and what we wanted accomplished during/ as a result of the process. You can download the output from the transition here.

Finals are officially over for all of us now, so congrats on making it through the year and be sure to enjoy your summer!!

Long time no post. I'm home right now (sorry suckers!), and yet I'm still engaging in @ activities. Geez. I'm living proof that there really is no escape from @. Anyways, Lindsey and I had an absolutely amazing transition yesterday, which she will delve into later (haha--she still has finals). I just got off the phone with Missy on the full-time staff. We discussed the potential involvement of @ CN in a new relationship @ U.S. is forming with TEFL (Just what you needed--another acronym). TEFL is an organization that provides people with the opportunity to get certified to teach English as a second language. What makes TEFL unique from other similar programs is that the actual certification process takes place abroad. So, what does that mean for @? Well, many of TEFL participants wanted to stay and work in the country they got certified in. Since TEFL isn't a job placement program, TEFL contacted AIESEC so that some sort of loose relationship could be formed where TEFL participants could go on an @ traineeship after getting certified in English. Woohoo!

Where does @CN play into this? Well, @ U.S. is looking for a few LC's across the country to pilot this new relationship, and we could be one of them (it's up to you!). If we choose to do this, we would be taking in a few TEFL participants as exchange participants in our LC over the summer. No recruitment necessary! If there were any TEFL participants in our area, we would be notified about them and then we would just put them through the standard EP track, after which they could go on their lovely traineeships. Pretty much we would need to have an orientation and give the TEFL participants @ coaches if we chose to participate in the program, but that's about it (except for our magnificent Melinda, who would have to do the typical online processing stuff...).

That pretty much covers what we as an LC would be responsible for if we chose to participate in this program. As you can see, it's the typical EP track, minus the whole recruitment drive. Realistically we probably wouldn't be getting that many TEFL participants to begin with since Ithaca is, well, isolated to say the least...but we still have the opportunity to take in TEFL participants if there are any people interested in the Ithaca area. I'm thinking 1-2 people max.

So what do you think? Let me know if you have any questions. You can find out more about TEFL at http://www.tefl.net

Hasta luego.

Congrats to Melinda for passing her insight test!!!!

Luke and I had a very encouraging sales call today with the Engineering school's career services office. They seem very interested in @ and recognize that there are many benefits that we offer which are unique to most programs. What makes me very excited is that I think that they dig our mission of developing global leaders with global mindsets, and seemed very interested in meeting a second time and possibly getting more college involved. This could expand to a university wide program. Let’s get our HR in gear because good times are coming!

No pressure Lindsey.

On a lighter note, Slope day was @ intense. Thurs-Sat was filled with @ bonding, especially considering Trent, the mad scientist showed up.

Ben Folds and Talib Kwalib were intense, especially because Lindsey, Pinar, Melinda, and Tiffany (Melinda's roommate) were stationed about 2 inches from the speakers. Talib Kwalib free-styled for about half of the show, which was impressive, and Ben Folds is just an amazing performer and musician. Slope day will have to be a reception event next year. It's too good to keep secret.

Done procrastinating, now must write a 5 page case study for management. Oh the pains of finals week.

Pinar was right when she said it was an interesting slope day weekend. So here's some of the details...

Thursday night: Post Invisible Children, Pinar, Melinda, and I had a very deep conversation about the incredible strength of willpower and its foil, frailty. The discussion encompassed many different aspects of the human condition as well as AIESEC, its mission, and how it all relates. After being thoroughly emotionally cleansed, we decided to lighten the mood by going sake-bombing with Nick and his two friends. The night turned into a drunken fiasco, with Melinda and I falling out of chairs, and ended at Lambda Chi with Arthur, Arnaub, Trent and friends.

Slope Day: The girls (Pinar, Mel, and I) make it to the slope on very little sleep and a whole bunch of alcohol right as Talib Kwali begins to perform. We meet up with Arthur, Arnaub, and Trent just in time to rush towards the stage. Arthur, Pinar, Melinda, and I make it to the FRONT ROW for part of Talib Kwali and all of Ben Folds, where we not only lost our hearing, but were also kicked in the head by crowd surfers (Arthur), puked on by roomies (Mel), and glared at by security for taking so many bottles of water (Me). It was awesome.

We split up after the concert and passed out for a few hours, until Arnaub picked us up around 11. After realizing every liquor store had closed early, we decided to go to Weggies, where we had to hide from the security guard while Arnaub smooth talked the security guard into letting him buy the booze. Once again, we ended up at Lambda Chi where we had 8 solid hours of hookah, lots of drinking, AIESEC dancing, a Nordic Circle, and lots of talking. We all walked home with the sun up, having missed the sunrise because Luke was sweet talking the pizza people into giving him 8 random slices as a large, their pick.

AIESEC Party, Saturday Night: Needless to say, we were all pretty tired by the time Saturday rolled around, but we managed to squeeze out one more fun-filled and interesting night. There's never a dull moment in our LC, that's for sure. It started off casually and calmly with a nice Filipino dinner and some talking on Luke's porch. Frank told us some of his scandalous stories from Mexico, and we all bonded over hookah for the third night in a row. Once we were too cold to stand it, we brought the party back inside, where we continued the fun. Meg, Melinda, and I were sitting on the couch, when Nick and Arnaub decided they wanted in on the action. Somehow I ended up in the middle, sandwiched between Nick and Arnaub, lucky me ;) Our conversation became very fun, dirty, and sometimes nonsensical, with the occasional molesting (thanks Meg...I knew I wore a low-cut shirt for a reason), lots of hookah (yum!), and jenga. We decided the serious tone of Arthur, Pinar, and Trents convo was impeding on our fun (we lost Luke and Laura somewhere along the way ;) ) and we, Arnaub, Nick, Meg, Mel, and I decided to move the x-rated jenga to the candle-lit kitchen. One thing led to another and the rest is @CN history...

So as you can see, we had an extraordinarily great slope day weekend, and the best part is that most of us even remember it ;)

Until the next time,
Lindsey the "slush"

Well, it was definitely an interesting slope day weekend...(pics to come courtesy Lindsey...)

And last week it was an interesting LTM weekend, and I apparently have nothing better to contribute to this blog than slightly compromising pictures.

Luke and Nick are apparently much closer friends than I had originally understood...
Well, it appears that all the AIESEC boys are rather close...

Aww...they look so innocent....hah.

Salutations.

I meant to write about this earlier, but the wonders of sake bombing on Thursday night and the fabulocity of Slope Day have left me preoccupied in recent days. However, this is important to me, so document it I must.

Thursday evening we showed the documentary Invisible Children to our LC. And while attendance was less than expected, there was some free ass pizza (thanks to our mystery Big Red Bucks benefactor... lord know how someone still have more than like 20 of those left, let alone enough to get 3 pizzas, but cudos to you). Anyway, the event may not have gone off as I originally intended, as many of my endeavors tend to do, but the reaction was even better than anything I ever could have imagined. First of all, the emotion that the movie brought all of us, the eye-opening experience it generated, was utterly unreal. People were touched. Hearts were moved. All I remember is the silence that permeated the room. No one knew what to say, how to react to what they were just shown. Kids, children, people younger than all of us, lived in absolute fear, experienced things that we could never even dream, or nightmare, about. I think this movie had a big effect on Luke, just coming of his conference experience in Cameroon. I'm really glad he was able to experience this film, and I hope that he takes his new found exposure to the plights of Africa and really explores it. Maybe he'll actually do something useful for once, except having a pretty boss 'fro.

This was also, in my opinion, a break through experience, for our LC and for me. People were legitimagely touched and united by this film, something I don't know if we've yet to experience as an LC. The few who made it to the film, I feel, have now seen the power and impact that AIESEC can have. Up until this point, we have been rather preoccupied with getting our LC on its feeble little feet, but now, we've reached a turning point. We have the knowledge base, the manpower, and the resourced to kick the tires and lite the fires. And now people have experienced exactly what impact, what change, AIESEC has the power to achieve.

Whether or not we hold this event again, whether or not people follow up on this issue, doesn't matter to me. I'd love to see that happen, but I'd be happy enough if people just realized that AIESEC has the power to affect people as much as they were by this film. And I think it was important for me to see that. Seeing my own ideas and efforts come to fruition made me realize that I, too, have that power as part of AIESEC. After a somewhat lackluster outcome from running ROKS, a frustrating LTM, and a pant-load droppingly academic schedule recently, my AIESEC involvement and motivation has not been what it was after WSC. Going into a summer break that almost promises to be about as hilarious as mold, ending my AIESEC year after holding an event like this is going to help me keep my boney ass in tip top impacting shape so next year we can really get this raft a-floatin'. I know that we're going to come back strong for next semester, taking ass and kicking names!

Alright, I guess that's enough out of me. I hope you all enjoyed the few minutes you've spent here. I hope to see a lot of good things posted here thorough the summer and beyond. Just remember... big brother is watching, so I guess we'll all have to leave those stories about that blacked out night in Bing' for another page.

Take it easy.

hey, must be the money...

Solid evening.

Woke up at 11PM after an amazing slope day.
First row for ben folds and talib kwalib.
Peace restaurant magic. 8 hours of shisha and amazing conversations, light hearted for once.
Right now, I am as cashed as the shisha coals.

Finals approach, but academia is so far from my mind.
Love the Cornell XP.
We are coming up, watch it.

Trent from the MC is here. Everyone should meet him! Solid night of sheesha and deep conversations mixed with melodrama that is irrelevent. alcohol is the social lubricant that makes slope day.

After today's wonderfully attended GMP, Arthur and Luke decided it was time to have a little meeting dealing with transition. Through these transitional meetings, we, Arthur and I, hope to be able to successfully transfer the needed knowledge so @Cornell can keep the growing in the right direction. Today's meeting was ever so eventful, starting off with a debriefing on flex, the U.S.'s version of aiesec.net's file sharing system. From there we discussed the wonderful list serve, and all it as to offer, which is quite a bit, if I do say so myself. The conversation then meandered into Arthur's secret site, aiesec.org/branding, where he gets all his materials. After a brief overview, where my mystical awe of Arthur and his ability to produce documents out of thin air was destroyed, talks of aiesec.net ensued. Aiesec.net is perhaps, the coolest invention ever, easily bypassing sliced bread and computer games. .Net has all our answers, from open communication, dealing with transparency, to a breath-taking website, to a global education center. An all in one, like me, intelligent, handsome, and great in the sack. Signing off, your's truly,

Luke B. el Presidente

Welcome to the @Cornell blog. Hope everyone can post summer expereinces and use this as a medium to communicate for years to come.
Arthur