INCREDIBLE INDIA

Mohamed Arby Ghemari, 23 years, shares his AIESEC experience with us.

In June 2010 I boarded a flight to India without knowing what would meet me on the other side. I spent four months interning as a linguistic consultant at Jain Heritage International (JGI), a Cambridge School in Hyderabad.

Working at Jain Heritage International is one of the best working experiences I ever had.
I really enjoyed every single day working with my students who are sociable, cheerful, smart and so Talkative!!

At work, I was feeding my curiosity, my desire to learn, and my analytical skills. My students were so eager to learn about foreign cultures. Having melting pot classrooms helped me too because I also discovered the Korean and Chinese cultures. My Korean students who were living in Hyderabad for a while helped me understand more the Indian Culture.

I'm really Thankful to all the teachers and especially to Principal MAM who welcomed me like I Was a member of JGI's family and who were always ready to help me. My Indian colleagues showed me incredibly warm hospitality by welcoming me into their homes. Their lives were simple, but they were really generous with me, even though I had no way to repay them.
I never thought that I'll have such an amazing experience and unforgettable moments in an incredible country as India. How amazing is the culture and the spirit of these people!! ! !

One of the greatest things in this experience is the fact of meeting other trainees from all over the world and sharing with them my experience. I had such a great time with my flatmates and the other trainees: we had parties every week, trips almost every weekend. I lived in a house with six other international trainees. We became a multicultural family. We learned to compromise when there was conflict, and to support each other when we were having difficulties understanding our new jobs and our new culture. We would trade off cooking our national dishes, which allowed me to practice the skills I learned during my courses at the culinary school for restaurant management in Tunis. I also had the chance to visit a lot of places with my friends, discovering the beauty of India and its breathtaking monuments and landscapes such as Taj Mahal in Agra, Golden Temple in Amritsar, Hawa Mahal in Jaipur. It’s really amazing to see how from a state to another people change. We can find a different culture, a different language and a different religion, but we’re still in the same country “India“.

I still remember myself standing in front of the Taj mahal, so white and so peaceful and for me, being there in front of it, is one of the best experiences I had in my life, because I never thought I would make it that far ; and I made it thanks to AIESEC. I met new people who became really good friends and I discovered such an unbelievable country. So if you have the chance to go to India you’ll see that for once the word “WOW “will make sense.

I have been a member of AIESEC which is an international student leadership organisation for one year. Returning to Tunisia after my internship I decided to help other students have a chance to experience what I did, that they can live the AIESEC experience. I took a position as the Outgoing Exchange Coordinator inside my local Committee. My job is to find international internships for Tunisian students and supervise the team that works with me.

Hyderabad, the city I was living in, was hosting this last summer the International Congress of AIESEC which was awesome specially the Global Village. The fact of meeting more than 600 Delegates from all over the world was simply astonishing. Every local Committee was managing its own booth where we tasted swiss Cheese, Belgium Chocolate and traditional Chinese Biscuits. I think that the International Congress is one of the most important events in the life of an AIESEC member and I think that I was lucky to be there when India was hosting It.

For the future Exchange participants, visiting India would be such an incredible eye opening and also an adventurous experience. It would make you awake of the daring aspects of your personality, the ones you had no idea existed. The Indian’s spirit will make you more open and more sincere, while the different Indian festivals will give you a chance and an excuse to have fun and to do juvenile things you could never do back home.

Like me you’ll get to see a lot of breathtaking, historically significant places situated in unrealistically magnificent landscapes and the joy they give you will be hard to take in. You will feel as if your feet are off the ground. However, in order to truly understand the place, you have to be willing to get out of your comfort zone, and eventually you will come to love it.

My time in India helped me to realize that I am passionate about people, new cultures, and working with children who are the future generation of their country. It also opened my eyes to see how things in my own country could change to give our youth a broader view of the world and give them a better chance in a world that is becoming more and more globalized.

I'll have India always in my heart as the first Asian country I have visited.

Hope that my experience will inspire, motivate and encourage other people to live the AIESEC experience which I promise will be unbelievable and incredibly fabulous.

Best Regards

Ghemari Med Arby (TUNISIA)