More Than A Resume

“AIESEC is more than something you put on your resume. It’s the connections you make with other people and these connections will last you a lifetime.

What AIESEC can offer that other [abroad programs] can’t is not the job description, but the AIESEC experience–the people you meet, the situation you’re put in, and the way you guys work with each other. It’s really the people and the environment put together that make the AIESEC experience. That’s what made me really want it again. [This] experience is much more encompassing and not as one-dimensional. It’s hard to describe in words unless you go on it yourself. Even if you’re slightly thinking about it, I wouldn’t second guess it. A lot about going abroad is being open minded. Being able to adapt to your situation and realizing that anything can happen, you just have to learn how to deal with change because you’re going to learn something no matter what. Just give it a shot.“

Curiosity can easily be one the several factors that lure students to be part of the AIESEC experience. As an aspiring International Business major, James Wong was one of these students. After hearing such amazing stories from fellow AIESECers, James desired to find his own, filling this space his life had opened up for him. Little did he know then that what he was expecting to find would be minuscule in comparison to the everlasting experiences he was going to have for a lifetime.

With an open mind and outlook, James traveled to Bucharest, Romania for his very first global exchange. As a mere sophomore in college, James assisted teachers and taught workshops dealing in public speaking to fellow college students, many of which were his peers in age. Although older than him by a few years, James ceased to feel intimidated in the least by them. What he offered through teaching gave him the respect from his new found companions and so much more in return. James was not just teaching, but continuously learning as he absorbed the life and culture of the country that was apart from his own.

One would think that coming home to a hostel after work with 17 other interns from all over the world, from India to Brazil, would be overwhelming, but it only excited James more. Enabling him to share his entire experience with so many people he instantly connected with, James found the AIESEC experience and quickly discovered that he absolutely did not want to stop here.

As one global exchange ended, James soon took up another and traveled to Prague in Czech Republic this past summer. Rather than teaching public speaking to college students, James aided in teaching English to children of a kindergarten class. Distinguishing from sharing a household with AIESECers in Bucharest, James shared a single room with a Czech student. This way, he was able to discover the country more personally with another individual from an entirely pure perspective.

However, while James hoped to learn more about the very country he was staying in, he would learn so much more about the very people in it, especially the one who he would be rooming with.

It had turned out that James’ roommate had been dealing with his own personal issues. Surely, James understood and respected his roommate enough to give him space and time alone, but coming home day after day to an atmosphere that exuded negativity easily exhausted him. Soon enough, James was merely putting up with it, dragging the days out until the day he would finally return to his real home.

Through collected thoughts and thorough realization, James became aware that he was basically the only person his roommate was reaching out to. Out of all of the people in the world, James was the only person whom he allowed to open up to and share all his troubles with. Although they were basically forced together in the beginning, no longer merely putting up with it, James willingly stayed in the end; not just as a roommate, but as a friend. A friend that listened and learned, hearing each story patiently of all the pain and strife and helped him with his hardships. James realized then that he could not be pulled down because he had to be strong enough pull both of themselves back up.

While James had went on two AIESEC global exchanges, he found that neither experience was better than the other. Of course, both were extremely different from the other, but amazing in their own way; each had their own unique memories, ones that he is sure to never forget.

#exchange