There’s a sister asked me this question on the Q&A of Instagram. Normally, people have some typical words whenever asked about aiesec: professional, international, personal development, etc. Yep, I admitted that You mostly achieved these things when you’re in @. I’ll use @ instead of aiesec in my sharing for short :3 Btw, I say mostly because we still have different @ers and different experiences. I say mostly because 90% @ers that I’ve met are the awesome ones, who marked their name in their @ journey and go further after completing their mission in @.
In @, I smiled a lot and cried a lot. I experienced many up and down moments in @. I had many new friends and I lost some. I had chances to meet extraordinary people in different fields: activists, businessman, inspirationers, etc.
This is the event that I had a chance to be a project leader, my first leadership experience in @. At this time, because of lacking HR, I was chosen to take that responsibility. In spite of experiencing in that positions many times in the past, the nervous feelings still appeared when I knew that news. The project was successful, which brought back a pride to @ers in my Local Chapter. In this cultural fair, we organised 11 booths within 11 countries range from Asia to Europe, each booth were hosted by 2-3 exchange participants and some Vietnamese volunteers. In the afternoon, we collaborated with a club in the university to organise a race around the school area with a number of traditional Vietnamese games. 2 months, 11 people in core team and more than 20 volunteers, we nailed it. Thanks to this event, I gained a priceless lesson for myself, about the modesty and sympathy.
This my first family in @, the brother that wears black t-shirt is my “mom” and the another is my brother :))) I was the youngest member in the team at that time, so I was pampered and loved the most :3 People usually call me “be Que” (little Annie). In @, after a term of 6 months, we’ll have a reallocation time when we can choose to apply to the higher position or move to another department (function). At first, I didn’t tend to move to the UR team, I believed I could learn more and showcase my capabilities in the old function, but the leader of that function advised me should go. After a few days, I made my decision, until now I never feel regretful about that. I remembered the period we brainstormed for an event from 9am to 6,7pm, this was Sunday tho :3 and I spent my whole day with my “family”. There’s one memory that I always feel funny when recalling it. In a bonding day, we went to a Vietnamese small restaurant where sells the Northern specialities. Khoa – my “mom” ordered a list of dishes that actually for 10 people 🙂 meanwhile we just had 4 person. He even ordered an fried egg dish with wormwood, one of the most terrified dish I have ever tried in entire my life :))) This picture was taken in the reunion day to say goodbye to me. These two brothers came to the airport to meet me, that’s so touching, although my flight was pretty late and they live far from it a lot. Furthermore, If the coronavirus pandemic wasn’t too bad like this, I would have a chance to reunion with mom “Khoa” in the Netherlands, because his chose to go exchange here. Haizz, that’s so pity TT>TT
This is one of the most ideal team that I worked, Vi – my leader and Nguyen – sub leader of Content team and I was sub leader of PR team. We organised Youthspeak Forum together, this is an annual event of @. It’s held in national, regional and local chapter scale as well. At first, I thought I could get along with Nguyen and Vi like this because I studied at a different school whilst both of them studied in the same place. After several working spaces, meetings when the time of eating were longer than the time we actually worked :))) We shared the funny stories, gossiped about crush, love life, clubs, our members, have been suffering from the crisis from finding venues, partnerships, running PR campaign, we get closer and harmonized with each other. And, we called our team is The fairy team :3 because we had experienced so many difficulties that we become unbeatable, our mission is bringing peaceful to people, help people and after completing the duty, we come back to the seventh, return to our origin – a fairy :3
Besides, I also have other friends that contributed to making my @ journey become meaningful ever: Linh aka Links and Tang Van – my bro. Linh was in the same function with me, although we worked in different team but we were easy to get along with each other. After leaving @, she usually came back and supported me in the @ events. She is a trustworthy friend that I can confide to when I was upset. Speaking of Tang Van, another big brother, I think It’s my privilege to meet and know these people. Tang Van hmmm, we didn’t work in the same department, even didn’t have a chance to work together. Spontaneously, we knew each other, and Tang Van always ready to give me advices when I need consultant not only in @ but also in my life. He’s gentle, cute, he used to be so energetic and hyper proactive, but he has become unruffled, calm recently. He said that It’s time to change, people will change in their cycle of life. It’s time for him to step into a new pace, when he realized he had overcome lots of up and down of life. The day that he came to say goodbye to me, it rained like dogs and cats but he still tried to come to meet me :3
Last but not least, this is Nhat Linh, a friend that’s always side by side with me, both in @ and my daily life.He’s always there whenever I need help. Whenever we attended in @ event, we definitely have to take a picture together, that’s our goal :3 I remembered the time we walked for an hour to find a repairing shop for his scooter, the tire was deflated. Under the scorching weather, we just kept going between the empty paddy fields, dogs kept barking because of our appearance and I kept talking to encourage him :)) We still kept in touch until now, when feel happier and the stress is eased after texting with him :3 just like a cure. Yesterday, when installing the MacBook, I asked him for help although It was 1am in Vietnam and he has to go at 4am :)))
P/s: I also would love to say thank you to others @ers that present in my journey, make it more meaningful. Thank you and love you: OC Attraction term 18.19, Function ER term 19.20, sis Emily-LC Hanoi, sis Thu-current working at MC Vietnam term 20.21, bro Huy-LC HCMC, Thien An, Thien Ly, Na, couple Cuong-Tien, Tu o, bro Billy, sis Chi Chi, couple Thong-Nghi, Bu-LC Ha Noi, Phi Yen and others @ers that I met in my life. Thank you once again❤️
To cut the long story short, aiesec is not only an international and professional non-government and not-for-profit organisation, but also a family of mine. The place that stored my pieces of splendid youths, a home that I didn’t come back but I was proud of when reminiscing about.
Annie's diary 
love to hear those storiessss
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