Happy Post Middle of February Day

Looking at a GMM of 80-90 people is pretty mindblowing. It's like the product of everything we've been building up to in the past year is finally tangible. visible. real. We've planned and planned and now it's time to act. This requires that every single member in the LC step up and take it upon themselves to enable themselves and others around them to be both leaders and mentors.

It's pretty empowering, after weeks of:
goal setting
planning
Marketing
info sessions
IT kinks
applications
floods of emails,
4 nights of interviews
and a few hours of slap-happy hysteria

to finally see the culmination as 40 unsuspecting newbies walk into their first GMMs.

This weekend: ROKS Spring 2007.

230 Rowdies will gather.
60 will be wearing RED.

Two Years Ago This weekend...

I attended my first ROKS conference
Let's flash back, shall we?

Holy Buttload

It's 1 in the AM. I haven't even started the spanish that's due at 8:50 AM. But all I can think is: HOLY BUTTLOAD.

Just finished off our recruitment drive.
Three info sessions this past Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
137 potential members attended in total.
97 are now somewhere in the process of completeing their applications/registering for interviews.


Wow.
This is the beginning of something big.

Belated Thoughts

A bit delayed, I know, but it's finally time for my WSC reflections...

I've never been more proud to say that I'm a member of AIESEC Madison. With carloads of 17 people driving anywhere between 14-18 hours to get to the glorious town of Spartanburg, South Carolina, we started off the conference strong and ended stronger.

WSC was definitely a chance to pause and look back on the past year in AIESEC, and the progress we've made both locally and nationally. This semester has been truly remarkable. After a few years of completely turning our LC's structure upside down, trying new things, failing, trying newer things, succeeding, I think we finally are at a point where all the pieces are in place and we are already starting to see results.

Looking around at our delegation at WSC, I saw 17 individuals that are all leading our LC. They may not have VP positions or fancy titles. That's unimportant. What they do have is a passion, drive, and commitment to making AIESEC's vision become a reality. They have the ability to empower others, and they have what it takes to blow shit up in Madison this next year.

I'm also incredibly proud of AIESEC US right now. I have learned and grown so much from working with the subgroup this past year, and I'm so proud of the progress made and where we are as a nation right now. I owe Luke a pretty freaking huge THANK YOU for taking on the monumental task of facilitating the work of the subgroup, for always being there to bounce ideas off of, and for being an incredible friend. Also, for looking way crazier than me on dress your P night.

At WSC, I felt my first pangs of pain at the thought of all the AIESEC Madison members who will be graduating in May...Some of these individuals sucked me into the organization as an unsuspecting freshman, others I've grown to depend on in the past semester. They have been mentors and friends, and they continue to challenge me every day. And, although I have been been conveniently avoiding the reality of their graduation, and will continue to do so for a good bit... for now, I'll just say that you folks have played a bigger part in my life than I think you know, and for that, I'd like to thank you.

So.. I have officially stepped into my LCP role, and I can finally say that I am confident enough to take this on; to take on the challenge of leaving AIESEC Madison better than I started it; to enable individuals to do the job of running, building, and growing AIESEC Madison better than I could ever do it, and well, basically... to blow shit up.

Nice

My first class today:

male 1: Wow, Sara, are you sick?!

Me: errr...

male 1: sorry, that could sound really bad, but you just look pretty sick

Me: Ya. Sick. Right. I'm sick.


5 minutes later, same class:

Male 2: Sara you have this thing on your nose

Me: Ya. A pimple.

Male 2: shoulder shrug.

Annie: HAHA!

Good Morning to you too everyone.

The Third Eye

As I wake up this morning to an email from my mother about another sexual assault occuring on the UW campus during broad daylight, I can't help but compare the liberating feeling of walking around freely through the streets of Hong Kong to the sentiments I wake up with today, in Madison, my hometown.

The third watchful eye has crept back into my daily routine, as walks home from the library and other locales in the late night have been consciously limited, my step quickens during my walks home from c lasses that let out after dark, and I am left with the gut-wrenching realization that the one thing I fear most in this world has occured to at least two young women in the past weeks on my very campus.

Musicals, PJs, and Good Friends

A chillaxing night with two Beautiful ladies included nostalgic moments watching Joseph and the amazing technicolored dreamcoat at good old west high school, followed by a night in cozy pjs watching My Best Friends Wedding.

Gotta make the most of the times when we're all here in Madison.
I seem to take that time for granted.

Mary's Monkeys and life's other updates

Mary's Monkeys:

My most fun class in college so far is definitely my 1st semester arabic class. Mary, our TA, is a pretty remarkable individual. It's amazing how 6 classes a week for one pretty challenging course can create a strange bond between everyone taking part. So, in class, Mary's students are sometimes referred to as her monkeys, but outside of, she has two little monkeys of her own, Lydia and Sophia. Well, the monkeys were destined to meet this weekend, as a few of Mary's students decided to tag along on the family's Saturday bowling night. Plans changed a tad due to the popularity of saturday bowling leagues (who knew?), so bowling night turned into a night at Casbah, a local arabic restaurant/bar, where the seven of us, including Mary's monkeys, invaded Casbah's bar for a good two hours. Strangely good times. I have so much Respect for Mary.

The Fam:

My brother has officially been accepted to the UW. This has both positive and negative implications. This is a tricky phase for the little punk, I just hope it turns out well come next fall. He has some big life decisions to make...

As for the mother/daughter vaca, it has now turned into a whole family vacation. My mom, dad, brother, and I will be spending 21-26 of December in Puerto Rico. Random, I know, but my mom's hooked on the idea, and I'm goin with the flow. Sadek family vacations have ended on less than stellar notes the past few attempts, but I'm choosing an optimistic approach with this trip, and we'll see how this turns out.

End of semester:

Three weeks left of this semester, and the weather is getting to me, man. Let's see if I can build up any motivation to study these next three weeks. I'm looking forward to a fresh start next semester.

WSC

As of right now, Madison has 17 delegates going to this conference, most of which are driving 17 hours to get there.

That makes me smile.

Mother Daughter Vacation Advice

So, the madre's pretty set on a Mother-Daughter vacay this winter break prior to WSC. She's been talking a lot about Puerto Rico, but I don't know enough to say whether this would be a good place to spend a week with the madre. Any advice on Puerto Rico, or a more suitable locale would be appreciated.

Green Package

It came with a printed letter:

Sara,

I am sorry for taking your mittens. I feel ashamed that I did such a thing. I hope you are able to forgive me in your heart, though you don't know who I am. I hope college is going well for you.

Best Wishes

sitting patiently inside the green package were my favorite mittens from high school.

Rough Moment

My bracelet from Thailand has unfortunately passed.
With it goes a little piece of my soul.

How many delegates can we get to WSC?
I say: a buttload.
Let's get this rollin' folks
CLICK ME

Finding a Balance

Just as the overwhelming realization that the line seperating my normal life and my @ life has essentially disappeared, that my day to day interactions, work, thoughts, and weekends are becoming more and more consumed, I received a phone call that brought back a bit of my sanity. Next year I will be living in a house with some non-@ friends, and although this was a tough call, I think it will be for the best. While I may not have the weekends to spend with these folks this semester, it is refreshing to know that I will build into my life some time with these gals in our humble abode come next year.

Thank You

Thank you for working your ass off this past year, and still managing to be there for me whenever I need it. I'm so proud of you!

Making the Time

I realized recently that I have deprioritized most every aspect of mental sanity time, such as working out, theater, art, dance...and man, it has been taking its toll. I didn't realize how much I've depended on one or all of the above things to keep the stress level down until I took them each out of my daily routine little by little.

My excuse was: I have no time. Every time I tried to pencil time for myself, I thought of the hundred other things I needed to be doing instead. After some much needed conversations with people that mean a lot to me, I have realized that I have to prioritize my health and my sanity, or else I just won't be happy doing anything that I am doing.

So today, I made time for the gym. Yes it's ramadan, yes I had classes, and a conference call, and a meeting, and yes I have a quiz tomorrow, but I made the time. And man, it felt so good. I am now penciling in free art Friday before class this week, some much needed time with me and a ball of clay. I think I'm liking this...

Attempts at a monologue

For our first coach groups today, we had to bring in three objects that told a bit about our personality. I grabbed two of the objects with ease: my sketching pencils and mi caja de cigarros de Nicaragua. The latter is where I keep a plethera of pictures, old letters, postcards, notes... As I sat there emptying the box of its contents, I stumbled upon an crinkled old sheet of paper. I carefully unfolded it and read its contents. On the long forgotten sheet, scribbled at the top in my handwriting, were the words "first attempt at a monologue"...I read on. Performed in front of my entire high school with Multico my senior year of high school, this monologue spells out the gray line between culture and religion, between family and personal beliefs.

In my hand lay a monologue, a snippet of my life, spelling out my first attempts at grappling with what I truly found important. Today, reading over words that had once taken incredible personal courage to write, and were an incredible personal feat to perform, I sat and thought about how far I have come in the past three years. While I still haven't found that perfect balance, and still have questions that remain unanswered, I know I've come a long way. That, my friends, is a good feeling.

Reflecting with Helen C

As midterms surprisingly sneak up on my unsuspecting self esta semana, endless spanish vocab streams through my vains, mezclando con el cafe que ya esta circulando. I'm starting to feel productive. HK was a lot of play, and not so much work. Weird to say it, but I had missed the feeling of productivity. And now, while at times exhausting, a busy schedule keeps me going. It keeps my sangre flowing.

On a different not: Rowdie ROKS this weekend.
New members are rocking my world.
But right now, tis time to rock my espanol.

Back to Life

So I haven't been blogging. Writer's block I guess one could call it...or something of the sort. I've been having a difficult time wrapping my head around my last few weeks, where I'm at right now. Not gonna lie, getting back into Madcity life after my past 8 months has been hard, to say the least. Over and over again I had heard about reverse culture shock, about reintegrating into what used to be the norm, and how difficult it can be. I heard it, but I never actually...heard it...if that makes sense. I mean, I have lived in this city a greater portion of my life, and it is the closest thing I have to home, but right now it feels as if I've been gone too long and kind of missed a good chunk of college life; like my madison life kept moving forward, but without me in it. When does it get easier to be home?

HOME

Back from an 8 month journey which ended with an incredible IC... 30 Minutes until my first class starts. Today is filled with classes, student org fair, Jill's arrival, and a new trainee! There's no easing into this semester baby, we're divin in full force.

Yes, I have a lot to update and reflect on: AIESEC, IC, London, NYC, HK...the blogs will come soon. Patience friends.