Being my first Regional Exchange, I didn’t know what to expect from it.Well, LC Karlsruhe certainly managed to leave a mark.
Duty first, so let’s take a look on the working sessions.
This Regional Exchange aimed to “enhance the transfer of knowledge and the facilitation between local and international level” (quoting the awesome Survival Guide made by the organizers). We’ve worked six hours a day, addressing issues that went from the most general ones (“What does EESTEC means to us?”, “What’s the aim of EESTEC?”) to the specific ones (“How to present EESTEC to students”, “How to address a company”).
Everyday we had also a training session, which revealed to be extremely useful not only in the association’s environment, but also in everyday life.
The part of the day that I liked most (do I really need to state this?) was the evening. Everytime we did something different: playing billiard, going for a pub crawl, improvising a party in a pub (we actually managed to get pretty much everyone in the bar involved in our dance mania), ice skating (ouch!)…
I need to highlight the Running Dinner. It’s an awesome idea (I’m going to steal it, for sure) because not only it’s funny, it’s also a great way to get to know more people from the LC. And what better way than going to their home and cooking something together?
I want to point out one thing. The nights out have been my favourite part not just because we had a great time together, but also because it showed me why I was there at the Exchange, why I spent five days working for my committee.
EESTEC it’s not just about learning skills for work and having connections with companies.
What I personally value the most, it’s the bond that’s formed between members. A bond that exists even if you have never met that person!
From the first day, I felt like being with people that I’ve been knowing since I was a child. This the most important thing that LC Karlsruhe managed to teach me.
Their hospitality has been overwhelming and this is confirmed also by little things. For example, my host for the weekend gave me, a complete stranger, his house’s key so that I could come home later in the night at the time that I wanted!
As stated in the beginning of this review, the EREC goal was to transfer knowledge so that the other commitments (in particular the young ones, like Milano) could learn something from each other and be motivated to keep working hard for EESTEC.
I can’t say anything except that LC Karlsruhe hit the bullseye.
Mattia Invernizzi,
Observer (almost JLC) Milano