Roman Legacy

I learned this interesting fact from Stephanie tonight:

Somewhere in China, there's a poor, rural village inhabited by Roman descendents. Apparently, there was a period when Romans were in what's present day China. After most of the Romans left, a small population stayed behind (might've been left behind). Since then, they've pretty much stayed put and for the most part, intermarried. So today, in modern day China, there's a little village out there with blond hair, blue eyed Chinese farmers. I think they are pretty well assimilated into Chinese culture - speaks mandarin like any other Chinese farmer. The only difference is they are obviously of Caucasian descent. I wonder where this community is...

Just goes to prove how cool China is! ;-)

Let's Get it Started

A big thank you to Chris Pflaumer for typing out and sending me the step-by-step instructions for the whole Let's Get it Started dance.

My life is now more complete. :)

Crazy Week

I keep on thinking this week has gone a lot fast then it actually has. I've been running around crazy with things to do (mostly aiesec and school work. real surprising). A lot of people I know this week has had similarly busy and stressful weeks. It really does seem like finals or dead week. Unfortunately, this won't end for me till at least March. Then perhaps, I'll do the things normal 2nd semester college seniors are suppose to do...

Humph.

Hand Gestures

One thing AIESEC culture preps talk about is the different meaning of hand gestures in different cultures. Apparently it affects AIESEC LCs as well! This might be of particular interest to anyone from Austin who's reading this now...

I just learned from a CNN story, done by Anderson Cooper, that the hand sign of UT Austin - the hook 'em horn - means "hail to the devil" in Norway.

That's something to think about next time anyone does a hook 'em sign!

Hahahaha...

Presidential Inauguration

The inaugaration gives a damn good reason to go drinking tonight.

Migrating to Canada... Hmmmmmm...

AIESEC Spirit

I haven't been this pumped about AIESEC since my first year in AIESEC (all those years ago!). I really think WSC had something to do with it.

Looking back, AIESEC has contributed a lot to my life these past few years and a lot of my college experience. I owe a lot to it. I'm glad the AIESEC spirit in me is rekindled, even if it is my last semester in college. Like Digidy said, better late than never!

On Spontaneity

On Friday afternoon, Roland IMed me seeing if I wanted to join him and 10 of his closest friends on a skiing trip for the weekend. By 6pm, I was on the road heading for West Lafayette.

We began our trip by driving to Chicago where one of his friends, Maritess, was having her 21st birthday party. By 12am, we arrived at Dragonfly in Chicago. A few drinks with some pinoys and pinays later, we arrived at Roland's friends place where we were going to crash for the night.

The next day, after a late lunch at Roland's sister's place, we picked up Maritess and headed for East Lansing. About 20 miles away, Roland got pulled over by a state trooper. He was clocked going 91 mph on a 70 mph road. A few seconds earlier, he was going 105. The trooper was nice enough though and contributed to the weekend's quotable quotes: "IllinoiS". Yes, IllinoiS. We were struggling to control our laughter. In the end, he ended up giving Roland a ticket for 10 miles over, instead of the original 21.

Finally, we arrived at East Lansing and met up with some PFA girls at MSU and 4 of Roland's friends from Purdue's PFA. We started our evening at about 12am. We finished at 6am. Kinda felt like WSC again.

The next day, we got to Kalamazoo at 5:30pm. I started skiing/snowboarding at 6pm. I have never done too much snow based activities before and it was my first time snowboarding. Damn, it's hard...made harder without too much instructions on some basic manuvers like stopping and turning. Now, my body is soar all over.

At about 10:30, after a pit stop to pick up some supplies at Meijers, we started heading back to Chicago. 1am we had our dinner at Chinatown in Chicago. Yummy Chinese food...

Nash, Daniel, Roland and I ended back up at Calupe's sister's place where most of us promptly passed out.

I got back to Bloomington at 8pm today. Good times with some Boilamakers.

My weekend's verdict:
- Michigan sucks. I'd shoot myself if I have to live in Kalamazoo or Lansing.
- When you are driving and are waving your hands outside the window and a state trooper is near by, it's a bad idea.
- There really are hills in Michigan!
- Calupe should recruit cool pinoys and pinays into Aiesec.
- IllinoiS!!!

More WSC Pictures

I finally uploaded all my show-able pictures from WSC! Below is the link to the pictures from a new old member's first national aiesec conference experience:

http://www.ofoto.com/I.jsp?c=elfugkt.2szm71rx&x=1&y=9jyf68

In a blink of an eye, those memories from conference has become just that - short flickers of moments, thoughts, and feelings in the vast expanse of time.

They all pass so fast!

The Beginning of the End

Yesterday was the first day of the new semester. Walking to my class, a realization suddenly hit me harder than it ever has before:

Shit, this is the beginning of the last semester of my undergraduate career. Starting from this day, I have 16 weeks to figure out what to do with my life - or at least to figure out a starting point.

16 weeks...growing up is a really scary thought.

WSC 2005 Recap

AIESEC Indiana at WSC
Originally uploaded by sheilaz413.

In the end, Digidy was right (Damn it! ;-) ). I should have went to a national conference a long time ago.

My first and last AIESEC US national conference was quite an experience. I've met some great people, including my awesome roommate Lauren from Madison, and Team Realness. As well, it was great seeing some old faces.

The sessions were intense, especially considering how little most people have slept the night before. I broke my personal record the last two days at the conference, sleeping a combined of 4 hours.

What got me really pumped up during the conference though was seeing a room full of intelligent, motivated young people who full heartly believes in the mission of AIESEC. Despite all the disagreements about the way the organization is run and what can be done improve it, everyone believes that the power and idea of AIESEC can help them make their mark in the world.

That's empowering.