Farewell Bonn, thanks for the memories!

29th June marked the day I would leave Bonn (by this time its nearly 2weeks later!), finally over and done with the most exciting year of my life. It also was smack in the middle of the mass exodus of numerous trainees, each one holding dear to one another in our rather big trainee community. Seeing that I was officially one of the longest trainee there still, plus the fact that many more from my 'gang' (we ll get to that later) were leaving shortly after me...we (as in the 'gang') decided to do like a series of farewell parties! Among others were numerous nights out clubbing, 'last' dinners and drinks with so and so, farewell lunches in office cafeteria and my personal favorite, the last minute themed "Tropical Beach Party" which was off the hook!










A sample of Tropical Beach Party photos...for more go to my FACEBOOK link here


Now, firstly on the definition of my 'gang'...I once had a real honest conversation with a Dutch chick who first labeled us the 'gang', namely me, Ana, Natasa (both Serbian hotties), Camilla (Indon hottie) and Segala (Brazilian dude hottie). Truth be told I was also closer to many, many more (Shook, Jennie, myself in the mirror etc), but visibly it seems the 5 of us were always seen as a group. Nothing bad or good, just the realization of an external perspective of how closely knitted was our group...despite the wrong numbers. Nevertheless, it doesnt help to stop distinguishing this group when we organized the series of farewells which were of course, meant for us.

Anyways, coming back to the final hours leading up to 29th June.

On the night of the 28th, the plan was at one of our (make that THE ONLY) Bonn club, Hausbar.

It was the eve of my departure...also the eve of Ana's birthday. Hence the double celebration...but I was obviously muted and quiet (till Put Your Hands Up came out!!). I was 'surprised' by a special gift by my buddies...it was a book of memories aptly titled "You know you had Leben mit (life with) Bonnie when...", and ppl will include individual memories shared with the recipient plus a photo. This went along with a pictorial book of Bonn, which all trainees would have and will get ppl to sign their names and write nice (sometimes forced) things bout the recipient. It was definitely a gift worth cherishing for me...


Me all 'shocked & surprised' over my gift ;)
Me and Segala, one of the contributors and producers of the book (who 'hid' it well from me!)
awwwwww...


Ana, person behind the book.

The other book...i changed mine from Leben in Bonn to Leben MIT Bonnie

Me and Shook...i ll miss her!

The 'gang' that went to Serbia, with the inclusion of Tanja

The sexy and good looking Coordinators Team! It was one hell of an office having them! Segala, me and Lisa (the coolest German chick you can find!)

Me and my successor...Michelle



The following day, everything was normal except for it was my last hours in Bonn. While all partygoers were trying to focus at work, I was busy packing. I had to leave from Bonn to Frankfurt Intl Airport at 6pm, leaving an opportunity for one final farewell with anyone that can make it to the McD's in front the train station at 5pm. Now, heres the deal...prior to this moment I didnt have any chance to reflect on my whole years experience here simply cuz for 2 hectic weeks, it was filled with unexpected interviews among unexpected interviews...one of which provided me an offer upon my first interview! So after heaps of meets and interviews (for my last day, I had FOUR!!), plus the verbal offer certainty of you coming back to Bonn again but the agonizing wait for HR and work permit confirmation, one definitely had no time to get all emotional. But then came that Friday, 29th June...most of my friends on Gmail chat had their nicks like "Farewell Bonnie" and "Goodbye Bonnie :(", it hit me that this WORKING ABROAD experience is finally OVER! Life as an AIESEC Trainee is DONE! Then upon seeing Segala's nick which sounded something like above...it just hit me...all the memories, friendship, job and experiences in one year that could all got mashed into a huge ball smacked right at my head!

For the 1st time abroad, not even during my first farewell...I CRIED!!! And I cried like a pussy! It was the sobbing, nose blocked type! And it was a good 20mins till Jennie Lee called and said, "Hey, I got your tickets!" (we were both taking the train to Frankfurt, a decision I didnt regret!)

Anyways, over and done with the tears! Hurried to McD's with Antoine Frenchboy cum chef extraordinaire who was such a buddy to fetch me over there! Although I didnt expect many to come (well, secretly I did!), slowly one by one arrived. In the end...there were 25ppl that came...it just made me the HAPPIEST!! You know your last moments whenever you re leaving will be the most cherished and memorable, so these guys and girls definitely made it all special for sure! I ll remember each of their faces as I hugged/kissed them one last time! Thankfully I had enough Malaysian postcards to give to all of them as my parting gift!

Arriving at the train station was rather rushed...but it was the most poignant scene I ll ever remember!! I always told myself that if someone cries when you leaves, you definitely were a huge part of their lives.
I will always remember the scene at Gleis 3 of the Bonn Hauptbahnhof...for it will remain etched in my memories forever!

The fact that nearly all my trainee friends were there, having some of them cry for me was a little too much. And to think, the only people I made cry were just ex girlfriends! I began to think if its surreal or just plain drama! Didnt help much with a very ON TIME train, I had to rush all the hugs, missing out on some! But with an eye of the whole scene all the time, it was just hard not to miss Natasa's and Shook's red eyes, Ana crying in one corner while someone was consoling her, Segala trying to hold it...it was the moment I stepped into the train with Jen. As the door closed, I managed to snap a final photo (which was crappy)...and I thought I controlled well, but when the train left...I was crying like a pussy again, this time on Jen's shoulders! This time, it was loud...real loud!
In Gleis 3 of the Hbf, part of the crowd that sent me off ;(

"Today, my heart melted into a puddle..." It was Jen's last minute addition to my Leben in Bonn book, which pretty much summed up the whole day. It was just the sweetest thing at the moment, was glad I spent my last hours in Germany with her!

First ever German AIESEC conference & Justin Timberlake's Concert - Part 3 (finale of a 3 part series)

Mini Tarts: Again...wayyyyy too late for an update. By the way...am back home in Malaysia. More on that in the next postings.

June 8th-10th, Lueneburg (somewhere near Hamburg).

I finally was able to chair an AIESEC conference in Germany. Always wanted to do it simply cuz you re in AIESEC for darn long, you just wanna see how its like working for it in another country... and to simply increase my German friend base :) Always the selfish dude...oh yeah, if I do manage to inspire or motivate more than 1 people, that ll be a bonus! And of course, to show what we Malaysians are made of!

In short, it was definitely the MOST TOUGHEST chairing experience ever simply cuz I was working with people who have never know me before and thus, many expectations were brought into the mix. In contrast to chairing something in Malaysia or even Asia Pac, where people would already know you somehow and thus command a teeny bit of respect...here I have to build them all in the first day I met the trainers for ice breaking cum expectation setting. On top of that, it was harder too since much of the agenda was settled and the team selected already...so merely this "chair" role was purely of symbolic purposes...although that was changed as I did wanna assume a large amount of responsibility.

Nevertheless, I did get to know the team much better. They were such a big sport too...very open and direct with their feedback which i totally appreciated. Help eased up things on the opening day, then everything was presumably smooth sailing. The crowd was pleasing too (on the eye as well)...but I guess on lots of the trainers perspective, I could do much much better on the timing (what was I thinking, its Germany for goodness sake!). However...a question on do you wanna end things on time when conference mood is on a high or do you wanna begin sessions on time cuz the agenda says so...??? Tough pick, one has to make the decisions and usually not ALL will like it.

Sadly, this is the first conference I ve chaired where I went off knowing that delegates response was awesome to me, but cant be said for all the trainers. It was a gut feel...but hey, we all learn! It was definitely an eye opener for me...would love to do it again for sure! And am glad that the people I met there will be friends for life!

Heaps of pics can be seen here







J Timberlake's concert - 10th June

Me and Blondie Natasa were counting down the days to this event! Sadly, due to delayed trains right after the conference I had to miss the opening act by Natasha Beddingfield! DAMN!!
Nevertheless, arrived just in time for JT to open with FutureSex/Lovesound...the concert was a AMAZING, FANTASTIC and definitely ABOVE EXPECTATIONS!!! The best part was the surprise inclusion of Timbaland...he came!! Did a cool 30min solo as well!

The 2.5 hour spectacle was just simply of the hook!! The crowd was HUGE, although most of them were sitting (hello...who sits in a freakin concert man!).

JT did almost ALL his songs from his new album, some from his first effort and ONE from an N'Sync number!! No doubt Sexyback got the biggest cheers (it was the last song of his set, before an encore), but Nat was anticipating Cry Me a River while I was waiting for My Love. It was worth every euro of the ticket price (all 46 of it!!).

Cool thing was one of Timbaland's number had images of skyscrapers from around the world...and Petronas Twin Towers was there!! Woo hooo!!!

I didnt had soooo much fun in a concert before...and JT did it for me!