In the rush of things, I forgot to mention about an interesting visit that took place last weekend. Louis Brownstone (
http://louisbrownstone.aiesec.ws), an ex LCP of ours, dropped by in Bloomington for a few days visit after a half a year rendezvous around the world.
It was great seeing him again. He still looked like he did in old times, but a bit lankier. Still had the same Louis spirit and Louis attitude. We were able to catch up for a bit during a Friday lunch, Beer Fest, and a little bit during our LC team building afternoon. Talking to him brings back a flood of memories of AIESEC from two years ago. Memories about the first scandalous YES conference in the Double Tree in Chicago, his video camera, bowling, the three Latinos, and all the other shenanigens that took place that year. Whenever I think back to that year, I remember how happy everyone was, how great everything seemed, how simple things were, how innocently I saw the world, and how much alcohol we consumed. It was my best year in AIESEC, both in terms of productivity and how much fun I had. Since then, no other year has yet even been able to rival that awesome year. Whenever I look back on things now and remember all that took place, there is a bitter sweet taste that always lingers around, kind of like the smell of wet pavement and grass lingers after a summertime storm. But unlike that summertime smell, I know that the high that I had, that almost everyone in AIESEC Indiana had back that one year, will probably never be felt again - at least not when I am still around. What a ball it was back then...
And on a side note, during Beer Fest, ran into a graduate student classmate of mine whose friend: a tall, blond, blue eyed guy with glasses, started speaking to me in Mandarin, Chinese! That took my by surprise, to say the least. Apparently, he spent six years in China studying Tibetan culture and just came from Tibet! I later found out from my classmate that the guy speaks fluent Tibetan...along with about seven other languages! Amazing... But there is also a very sobering moral to the story here - Princess and I should not take it for granted when we speak Mandarin amongst non-Asian faces. These days, who knows which person understands every silly little thing we are saying in Chinese. The stereotypical frat boy standing next to us while be chatter on might have spent most of his pre-college life in China!
