Exchange comes with challenges

I chose to have my exchange experience in Sunway University, Malaysia. It was a nice university filled with multi-cultural student body which colored up my experience even more. I enjoyed my time in Malaysia a lot, that I still believe it was one of the best decisions I have ever taken in my life so far. The name exchange comes with challenges. This is what we call stepping out of comfort zone. I did not grew up with a lot of comfort. I had many challenges, obstacles since my childhood. But I knew exchange experience was none of that I had before. And indeed it wasn’t. It was my first flying experience. I was less exposed to the procedure of travelling to another country. It was really challenging that I had to learn everything by experiencing. 
     
I believe my exchange experience taught me what life is, who I really want to be, what people expect  you to be and at last but not least AIESEC exchange experience taught me how to make the right 
decision at right time. AIESEC was the platform which made this experience a reality and made it truly inspiring as well. In the journey of creating leaders for the world, AIESEC has given me the wonderful opportunity of involving in a global community development project which I was able to make an impact to the society. I was attached to the project called #MOVE, which was about creating awareness of sexually transmitted infections among university and high school students around Sunway. The main project related to this was Choose to protect which was a workshop series on such infections and gender perspectives on relationships. I was holding the responsibility to do the workshop about gender perspectives on relationship as it directly affects to the transmission of such infections. I facilitated a lot of workshops convincing young teenagers to be careful about their relationships and taught them about gender perspectives. How boys think? How girls think? How do they react in certain situations? Etc. actually this was quite a nice experience even for me to learn such stuff. I really believe I could make an impact among those groups of people on the subject. 
             
Even if the nationalities and religions are a bit different from Sri Lanka, the surrounding and behavior of people seemed very close to me. Even the university students were not very different from people we do see here. For some reason some people were afraid to talk to us, but some became our best friends forever. Food was a bit different which the coolest experience was for me I had the opportunity to taste many different kinds of food that I won’t be able to find here in Sri Lanka. With the people I associated they did not really have a lot of cultural values like in us in fact I observed they have westernized more than Sri Lankans. Yet something made me more interested, that they still have a king in addition to their president for the country. That is something beautiful for such a developed country which Kuala Lumpur looked like New York but still they have a king.As an AIESECer I think I learned a lot through this exchange program. First, I have had an amazing real life experience of the procedure an EP should go through. As an OGXer I believe that is one important lesson I need to learn. Starting from the info session, until I came to the realization I had to keep track and find solutions to each and every problem that I faced. When I started my project, I had a broader image of how a GCDP project actualizes and what are the issues that need to be taken care of before realization. I took part in a project designing session for AIESEC in Sunway so I had that GCDP experience as well. I met different kinds of people to work with so that I equipped myself with working experience with different mindsets to achieve the same goal. That experience is valuable for me to contribution towards my LC in the future. Simply I had real life OGX simulation, a GCDP simulation and diverse working experience which geared me up for being an important AIESECer in the future. 

Last but not least, I had the amazing opportunity to attend the Local Leadership Development Seminar of AIESEC in Sunway. That was the loveliest of memories in my exchange experience. I learned a lot about leadership, public speaking, personal branding, presentations, conversations etc. Plus we did a lot of outbound activities which builds trust among each other, leading groups to achieve one target etc. I learned a lot of AIESEC square dances (jives) as well. So I believe in the AIESEC perspective, I had the most wonderful experience in my exchange.

Since my childhood I had this hunger to see a different country. As a less exposed, naive child from a village, I always wanted to explore the world, see how would it look like? I wanted to meet people there, talk to them and work with them. AIESEC has been a platform for me to achieve all my dreams and as well as to support building up my potential to be a leader. I discovered the leader, the speaker within me. I cannot thank you enough for the person you made out of me today.

Thank you everyone, who made this possible..!

Sandaru Karunasiri
Electrical Engineering,
University of Moratuwa

Indunil's AIESEC journey in Vietnam

I had my internship in the city of Ho-Chi-Minh in Vietnam. I worked on a project called SELF which focused on improving leadership skills of Vietnamese university students.

This experience was a great new challenge for me. I had many experiences in travelling but this was the first time I traveled alone. I experienced so many diverse cultures from people from various parts of the world and learnt how to work with them. The “cultural shock” I got and how I adapted to it was one of the greatest learning challenges in my life.

The working attitudes of each of these interns and the Vietnamese Organizing Committees (OCs) were different.  Sometimes the meetings and discussions became so intense that some OCs started crying. But it was just because everyone wanted the project to be successful. First I had some trouble communicating because the interns and OCs could not understand my accent as well as I could not understand theirs. I had to speak slowly than usual, but at the end everyone understood each other.

My experience in Vietnam was life changing as I was helping others in becoming leaders as well as I was learning from them to become my own leader.

AIESEC is what brought me to here as, if it wasn’t for AIESEC I wouldn’t be able to meet such amazing people and learn from their own experiences as well as make new experiences for me as well.

I had to work as a leader to a group of Vietnamese students and act as a mentor to them as well as help in conducting leadership workshops and presentations. The experiences I shared with them during those sessions and the guidance I provided made a huge impact as they were motivated in activating their leadership skills pursuing their goals at the end of this project.

There were many differences in the culture rather than similarities. Vietnamese people were very friendly and there was a great attention on foreigners. People would talk with me or say Hello. I had to stay with a Vietnamese family for these 6 weeks. So I was really exposed to their culture. Vietnamese people are ‘foodies’ and everywhere there were food stalls. The food was really different from Sri Lankan food and other interns had trouble eating Vietnamese food (eg: Blood pudding, snails, pig fat, dog meat). The traffic in Vietnam is crazy as the road is only filled with scooters and nobody would give space to cross the road. One of the first challenges for me was crossing the roads in Vietnam.

 

 

This internship also helped me to discover the ‘traveler’ within me. I traveled a lot with the other interns as well as traveled alone. I went a 900km journey alone in night buses as well as using an inland flight and couch surfed for the first time in my life. I learned to ride a motor cycle for the first time. And my first motor cycle journey was a 400km trip with my German friend to a place called Mekong. I met a lot of different people in this journey and had positive as well as negative experiences. My bike broke down in the middle of nowhere, got lost and had no way of contacting because my phone got soaked in rain water, got cheated by a shop owner who stole my key and forced me to pay a ridiculously high price for a cheap meal. But the good things about Vietnam and the friendly people surpass these negative experiences.

I experienced things in 6 weeks that would take years for some people to experience and each experience was a new learning point for me!

Indunil Herath
Department of Civil Engineering

Faculty of Engineering

University of Moratuwa

Wenuka's exchange experience in Vietnam

It was a time where I experience total freedom and I got much more experience from living alone. It  was not easy as we think. I really missed speaking in Sinhala when I was there. I think my internship gave me self-confident specially when communicating in English. I gained knowledge how to deal with an intern, especially with Europeans. Now I know what they feel and what they want from my experience.

AIESECers in Vietnam created a good work condition to me in the project and also guided me in first few days till I get used to Vietnam. I along with other seven interns had to teach communication skills and leadership skills in Vietnamese students. As I feel and as the attendees told, we have created an impact on their mind and believes which they can use for betterment of themselves and this world.  

I always tried to gain as much as experience I can from my limited budget was the biggest challenge I had to deal during my internship. I always had to manage my expenses and had to make some rough decisions not to be bankrupt during my internship.

It was a really nice, unforgettable, life changing experience which was a huge challenge at that time, but a sweet experience at the end of the day.

Wenuka Gunarathne
Department of Electronic & Telecommunication
Faculty of Engineering, University of Moratuwa

Internship to Malaysia - Chamal Perera

I decided to go for an internship to Malaysia to gain some valuable experiences to my life. So after the internship now I am really happy because I learn a lot from this tour.

First day, a day to remember

The flight I was about to take has overbooked. So they asked me to take the next flight if I won't mind it. Since the next flight is scheduled to fly 5 minutes after my original flight I decided to take the later one because airlines had to send someone to that. So they were glad that I helped them by taking the next flight and offered me to travel in the business class. I was overjoyed and took their offer.

Landing To Malaysia

After coming to Malaysia I had to take a bus to KL sentral, a town situated 60km away from the airport. Before taking the flight I had contacts with other EP of my project. So I was suppose to reach KL sentral to meet him. But it almost took 3 or 4 hours to find him because that town is really big. We had to travel to batu gajah, a town situated almost 250km from kl sentral. So we had to find the railway station to get a train. Unfortunately we missed our train by 5 minutes. So we had to wait for another 6 hours for the next train. I had a friend of mine in Malaysia, so I traveled with him to pass the time.

Name of other EP of the project is Ester. Me and Ester pick our train around 6 pm. And reached Batu gajah by 8 pm. When we reached the station, the president of non cooperated things in AIESEC UTP was there to pick us. He is Eric. Eric drove us to the UTP (University of technology Petronas)

We were amazed after seeing the university for the first time. I have never seen a university like that.

View of Village 4 from My room

Eric had arranged us a comfortable room there.

First week in UTP

UTP is divided into 5 main villages. So students live in those villages. Students all around the globe are studying here. We got our room in village 5. In our floor there were 12 graduates who are studying for their masters. They were from Spain,Italy,Ireland, UK, Argentina. So during the week I spend in UTP I had the opportunity to share experiences with them.

Graduates from Europe 

UTP Library,Biggest library i have ever seen

During the day time we used to roam in the university. I have never seen a library as big as UTP library. As I remember it’s consist with 6 or 7 floors. So it was a great opportunity for us to use that library.

During the evening time we played with students in UTP. We played soccer, table tennis. It was a new feeling for me to associate with strangers and to play with them.

Chancellor's hall  

We had to stay in the UTP for 6 days until Eric finishes his exams.

Moved to Sanathan Dharma Ashram

Eric and Rathana, two members from AIESEC drove me and Ester to the Sanathan Dharma Ashram. It was the place for me to work under the AIESEC project.

First day at the Ashram

At first when I came to the Ashram I felt like I am alone. I really experienced the culture shock for the first two days. They had a strict time table and all of them worked accordingly. All of them were really friendly and they all treated me as a brother. It was bit difficult for me to adapt for their food in first few days because they only eat vegetarian meals. But later I get used to it.

Sanathan Dharma Ashram is a home for parent less, abused and abandoned children.They all speak Tamil. Mr Aramban is the founder of the organization and he is the current president as well. He is a great human being. He had been involving in social works for almost 30 years. He is a father for all 48 children of the home. All children follow Hinduism as their religion. They worship Gods twice a day. And even they pray to their Gods before eating. I was able to see their culture and it was a great experience for my life.  

In the ashram we were asked to teach children and to help them with their education. So I tried my best to help them and to assist them. In the morning time most of the children go to school. So me and Ester had to teach to small children. All of them were so happy about us. And after all return from school we teach them subjects such as Maths, English, Science etc.

It was really hard to teach them as their English knowledge is poor. But somehow with the help of the Google translator I managed to translate necessary words to Tamil and managed to teach them.

Me and Ester traveled in weekends. Specially trip to lost world tambun, a water park 80 km away from the orphanage was amazing. Sometimes uncle Prem, driver of the Ashram took us around Sitiawan. All of them were very helpful.

Lost World of Thambun Water Park

They were my students 

There was an american lady in the ashram.She is travelling around the world for social works. Everyday she teaches yoga to children. I also learnt a lot from her. Sanathan Dharma Ashram is controlled by a board of senior citizens. Mr. Go also a member of the board. He visit the home very often. He is a retired general of Malaysian Navy. So i was able to learn plenty of stories about his life.

Training session 

Teaching time

Birthday Celebration

Preparing Letters to raise funds for the Organization

Some times it was really difficult to handle them all. They were chattering all the time. But did manage to handle them with the help of  uncle Aramban. Occasionally we had birthday celebrations as well. They had their own way of celebrating birthdays. 

She is special. She has an amazing ability in cooking

I also got the opportunity to participate for few cultural events in Sitiawan. Mr. Aramban always look after us and gave us many opportunities to see different things in the country. Sometimes we had some deep conversations about religious teachings. I am a Buddhist and they all were Hindus. We always respect the things in other cultures. He is a very matured person. So i  learnt a lot from him as well.

At Sitiawan annual Leo club conference 

Onam celebration - celebrate after obtaining the harvest 

Chinese temple

Confucianism

They gave me a great farewell when i leave Malaysia. I will never forget their lovely smiles and their lovely gifts. One day if i ever visit Malaysia i'll definitely go and visit them.

They gave me plenty of beautiful cards. 

Last good bye 

Through this internship I learnt a lot for my life. I got many experiences. I learnt about different people and different cultures. And most importantly now i have the courage to visit any country alone and do my stuff without any guidance.

Chamal Perera

University of Moratuwa

My internship experience in Malaysia

I'm a student of University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. After our first semester we have two and half month vacation.So I wanted to spend that time usefully. As a result of that I selected AIESEC internship to spend my 6 weeks with serving the community and have a life changing eexperience
Malaysia is the country I went for my internship.Under the supervision of AIESECer's in UTM, I worked in Amitabha Malaysia orphanage. Amitabha Malaysia is a NGO that do several community services such as look after orphan kids,recycling.donations,etc.My daily task was teaching the kids in the orphanage.And also we had some special days to do extra work.I'm not the only one who work as an intern in Amitabha orphanage.there is another Taiwan guy and two Vietnamese girls.
Our first big task was training the kids for their dance that they have to perform with us in their special festival at a shopping mall.Early it was not easy to me because I never dance before.But I took it as a challenge and practiced really hard.As a result of it we did it successfully.

After that our next task was promoting Amitabha Malaysia in a new year fesival. For that I wore as a chicken and enjoy the little children.It was really nice experience although it is very hard to wear it.we completed it successfully as well.

That was two main tasks we need to do during my intership period. During my time in Malaysia,I visited lots of places in Malaysia such as Malaka, Penang, Kuala Lampur, Singapore and met nice friends from various countries.Now I have friends from different countries which I never had before.

Finally, I would like to thank all the people who look after me during my time in Malaysia specially the people in NGO, AIESECER's in UTM and AIESEC for giving me this great opportunity to serve the community and giving me a life changing experience.

Janakith Iraj
University of Moratuwa

“Liao Bu Qi” GPN!!!

Educating middle-school students about environment protection, boost their English language skills and above all exploring a different culture with four other amazing people from four different countries!!!

Well this was never in my “to-do-list” of reaching the targeted goal of my life, before I became a proud member of AIESEC Colombo South.

Thanks to AIESEC, I realized life is not about having a perfect CV, but it’s about creating a unique “Story of my life”

My Global Community Development Programme internship with AIESEC SYSU, Mainland of China not only added a bunch of beautiful experiences to my life, it also opened up a number of opportunities to develop my personality as well as the AIESEC career.

On 12^th of April, landing at the Canton Airport with hardly any English speaker around made me want to take the next flight back to Sri Lanka.But when I saw the cheerful and warm, friendly faces of my AIESEC buddies waiting for me holding a huge board with “ni hao Chathu” on it, I was overwhelmed with happiness.

Along with my other team mates from India, Germany, Tanzania and Mauritius I has the most effective time period of my life.

Seeing the curious, eager faces of those Chinese middle- school kids, waiting for us to tell them about our culture, working with them hand-in-hand to protect environment, playing all the interesting games with them made each day special and something to look forward to.

Exploring the amazing culture, visiting places with the AIESECers of SYSU was an experience no tourist can get. And YEY!!! Now I’m an expert in using the chopsticks and a fan of authentic Chinese food.

One of the most important things was building up an unbreakable friendship with people from different cultures, backgrounds and mindsets. I would proudly say that this made me open-minded, flexible and a balanced person.

The outgoing and the reliable personality I believe I have developed, and the connections I built up with my international friends also opened up new paths to develop my AIESEC career and as a result now I’m a proud member of the National Support Team of AIESEC Mainland of China.

So,
Let’s make a difference and feel  the difference…..Take the first step to create your own life story!!!

Chathurika Warnakulasuriya
University of Moratuwa

" I have never seen a most beautiful creature in my life, it was on a tree, looking at us with its big eyes, curled into a ball." Ela Penkowska shared her exciting experience with Feel Lanka 5.0

Ela Penkowska

I was very excited about our stay in Mahoora Wilpattu Luxury Camping, even though we were supposed to spend only one night there. We came by bus and there had already been a jeep waiting to pick us up. After a while we arrived at the camping. The welcoming  we got could not be any better, cold  wet  towels and king coconuts were exactly  what we needed at that  moment.  Our  bags  were  taken  to  the  tents  and  we
had  some  time  to  enjoy  the surroundings and get ready for lunch.

Lunch took place  outside in a specially arranged place. Starters, salads, main course and dessert were  all  equally delicious. It was a great opportunity to try Sri Lankan cuisine at its best. Also service met the highest standards and the staff foresaw every of our needs before we even spoke a word.

After lunch there was a perfect time for safari. We grabbed our cameras, hopped into a jeep and looked
forward to an unforgettable adventure.  We got into National Park and at first saw a deer, many colorful birds, some monkeys and squirrels.

Then we arrived at a big reservoir and saw a couple of elephants drinking and having a bath. We  stopped  the  jeep  for  a  while  to  take  pictures  and  watch  them  when  suddenly  a  huge elephant walked out of the bush. 

We continued our adventure and met a few jeeps going in the opposite direction. The drivers exchanged a few words and it turned out it was possible to see a leopard somewhere on a tree. We rushed to the place and there it was, on a tree in a distance. We spent a long time taking pictures when finally  the  leopard  decided to go down.  It walked slowly towards deer  and suddenly changed its way and  started coming  closer and closer to the jeeps.  When it came five meters to the jeep no one could say a word, I could
almost hear my heart beating.

After a few moments,  the leopard  was gone in the bush. We went to an arbour to have a picnic, Mahoora Camping provided a big basket with tea, coffee, biscuits, juices, fruits and cold beverages. We watched many birds, a fox and a turtle, then  headed back to the camping. We were welcome with cold wet towels
and ice tea.

In  the  evening  there  was  a  campfire  planned.  Again  it  took  place  in   a  different location. We were offered  an  aperitif  and sat to the table to a delicious meal. We could also taste Sri Lankan sweets and  in the end of delighting in our wine, we had a chance to meet the chef who cooked for us.  Sitting in the candle lantern’s light and looking  at the moon was so relaxing. We took a hot shower and went to sleep.

We woke up to the sunrise and heard birds singing their  best concert.  Apparently our safari was not over as the  Naturalist told us there was a Loris right in front  of our tent.  I have never seen a most beautiful creature in my life, it was on a tree, looking at us with its big eyes, curled  into  a  ball.  We  went  on  a  walk  with  the  Naturalist  and  saw  many  colorful  birds, squirrels,  elephant’s  track,  a  small  village  and  a  lake.  Searching  for  the  birds  was  very exciting as we needed to be very quiet not to scare them away. 

After the walk we went back to our tents to leave our cameras before breakfast and saw an unusual view. Loris  started walking slowly on a branch  of the tree. We were told it is very rare to see it and we were very lucky. We ate delicious breakfast and our time had come. It was very sad to say good bye to the Manager, the Naturalist  and  all the staff. They made us feel like  we were in paradise  and took  care of  us  very  well.  I  will  always  remember  my  stay  in  Mahoora  Wilpattu  Luxury Camping Site and we will definitely be back. See you soon!