Extrémités (Extremities)

Sorry it has been 10 days since I last posted. Wait, who am I apologising to? Anyway, this blog has been a means of coping with culture shock, so since I have settled in well, I haven't felt the need to post on the blog. I will post at least once a week from now on though.

1. AIESEC France

I went to Marseilles two weekends ago to meet the AIESEC people there. They seem exceptionally motivated, mature and intelligent individuals, which makes me wonder why they were not performing. The reason seems to be their strategies, which are archaic and business-focused. They need to be more creative in their approach; it will help them considerably.

AIESEC France is currently underperforming - certainly the national ICX strategies are a problem, but I believe the membership is generally not very motivated too (Marseille seems to be a notable exception). After writing an 11 page application I was selected to the AIESEC France long-term strategy team; I'm going to recommend they really look at their membership and see if they are up to scratch. After that, they need to completely change their recruitment methods and brand awareness...bla bla bla. I won't go on, because you are probably already asleep.

One interesting thing though is that AIESEC France is paying 75% of my return trip to Paris for the meeting. Unfortunately I will be working all day there, but at nights I will definitely explore the city. Don't worry Vinita, I am sure I will have company, so I won't get set alight by a French mob hurling Molotov cocktails.

I have been charged with the responsibility of putting together a team in Aix as an adjoint to Marseilles; this seems ridiculous as with not much extra work I can setup a Local Branch here. I am going to persuade the national branch of the organisation to let me do that. I have been working hard on this recently, but not at the expense of my studies, which I am also working hard on.

2. The obligatory 'meaning of life' chat

I had a long chat with Rob the other day about the purpose we individually have attached to our lives. The contrast was interesting - he said life was too short to take seriously, and I responded by saying that life was too short to NOT take seriously. He argued that we can leave the world a better place simply by living good lives centred around the self and our local friends/community, to which I responded that the only way to truly change the world is by macro effect - i.e. by devoting our lives to positive change, and real policy change at that. Yet I looked at myself, in the midst of stress and mental decay, and then at Rob, totally calm, playing his guitar. Are devoting ourselves to a world we will never see really worth it?

There are no easy answers to these questions. But all I know is this - all human beings are gifted creatures, and they can do pretty much anything they want to. The key phrase is 'want to'. Once we've hit the basics of shelter, food and clothing, what do we want? Happiness according to 90% of people. How do we reach happiness? The Dalai Lama says through compassion. But should that compassion go so far as to destroy our own sense of wellbeing? Did people like Mandela and Gandhi get it right by sacrificing their own happiness for a cause? Or did they not actually sacrifice any happiness at all, and they in fact attained it simply by the act of sacrifice?

I have no idea.

3. Nicole departs

Nicole had warned me that she might be leaving due to the fact that the subjects available here would not let her graduate. Then one day, she was gone. She left a lot of stuff in front of Leah's door, and that was how we knew she had departed. I heard something also about how she had seen some person follow her through the street for an unusally long distance, and that she felt the accommodation was not secure. I don't know if she actually said all this, this is only hearsay.

I find it hard to believe - Aix is much more safe than Sydney, probably the safest city I have ever spent time in.

A somewhat expensive holiday, given that she would have paid for 3 months accommodation by then already!!

4. TERRORIST ATTACK???? No, just a terrorist attack.

There was an attemped terrorist attack the other day in Marseilles. Apparently some Corsican separatist tried to carry a bomb into the post office, but it exploded in his hands beforehand. I was quite surprised to hear this to say the least, but apparently terrorist acts by Corsican seperatists are quite common in the south of France. When it was mentioned in my class that there was a attempted terrorist attack in Marseille, people were shocked, until it was added that this person was a Corsican separatist, at which everyone said something like 'Oh ok that's alright then' !!!!

How bizarre...


For 10 days that's not much is it? I guess I've learnt the art of concision. :)