AIESEC brings together a community of remarkable individuals that go beyond cultures, nationalities, and geographical boundaries. We all strive to create a world free of such barriers. Though we are aware of this, only a select few ever get to experience the wonder and amazement of seeing such a community gather in one place.

Therefore, it was a truly humbling experience to be able to sit down with someone with a unique personality who was fortunate enough to attend a gathering of such people. This person was fortunate enough to be a delegate at the Asia-Pacific Summit 2023, held in Sri Lanka. It was fascinating listening to her experiences at APS. So without further adieu, this is her story.

Let us start off by getting to know you. Can you please introduce yourselves?

Hi, I’m Thanushi Perera. I’m the Local Committee Vice President for Business Development for AIESEC at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura. I was fortunate enough to be a delegate at the Asia-Pacific Summit 2023 this year.

In your own words, can you describe the Asia-Pacific Summit? Its purpose, the delegates, the organizers, and the significant sessions and activities that took place

The Asia Pacific Summit took place from April 25th to April 29th, 2023. The opening ceremony of the summit took place at the Ramrich Hotel in Ja’Ela. Once that concluded, we headed to the conference location, which was the Carolina Resort and Spa in Chilaw. We spent five days and four nights at that location. The theme of this year’s APS was Avatar, and there were around 150 delegates.

In my experience, when attending national conferences, you feel like you’re in a room full of like-minded people who share the same goals. The beauty of this particular conference was that each and every one of us looked different; we spoke different languages; we dressed differently; we were born and raised in different parts of the world; but at the end of the day, we were all still, a room full of like-minded people working towards the same goal.

What made you decide to attend the conference? Was the decision to attend an easy one, or did it take some deliberation?

Yes, it certainly did take some deliberation because there was a lot going on during that time, both in terms of work and in my personal life. However, the reason I wanted to attend APS was that, so far, I have attended five conferences, all of them at a local or national level. So, I definitely wanted to cross this off my bucket list.

When you attend an international conference, you are not limited to a given level of knowledge because the people facilitating it know far more than we do. So I was really curious to learn about the people who do the same work as us but in a different setting. Another reason was that I wanted to network with fellow AIESECers from the Asia-Pacific region.

 Walk me through your initial experience of arriving at the conference.

So, once we got to the Ramrich hotel for the opening ceremony, it was really exciting to see all these people from different countries at these different tables. It felt like we were in a foreign land. I sat at the Sri Lankan table with all the Sri Lankan delegates and Thirana from our own LC. Even though we were from different entities, it felt like we were from one LC. Even the night before, the MCP had told us we were one delegation representing Sri Lanka, and we had to keep our differences aside to be one for the next five days. It felt really nice because we did feel like we were our own entity, and it made me proud to be Sri Lankan.

During the opening ceremony, there were all these traditional dances, which were quite normal for us, but it was exciting to see the foreign delegates’ reactions to them. They were pulling out their phones and recording everything. It felt nice to see them enjoying it.

The welcome at the Carolina Resort was really surprising; there were flower garlands and decorations for the foreign delegates. So, the arrival at the conference was just as amazing as the actual conference.

 Tell us about your first day at the conference. What were the sessions and activities like?

The unique thing about APS was that there was no ice-breaker session. Usually, we start conferences with icebreakers. However, since we had already had breakfast together and everyone had already started networking, I guess there was no need for an icebreaker. It actually wasn’t needed because there was no awkwardness between delegates by the time we arrived.

After we arrived at the hotel, each country was asked to perform their shoutout, so we went up and did ours. Once the shoutouts concluded, we moved to the main plenary, where the chair of the conference was revealed. This year’s chair was Hermione, one of the AIESEC International Directors for the year 2022. After the chair was revealed, we moved on to welcoming each country. A video was played to welcome everyone, and it was nice to see everyone cheering and excited once their country appeared.

This conference actually had a conference theme song, which was ‘Viva La Vida’ by Coldplay, one of my favorite songs. After that, as per AIESEC tradition, jives started. However, since there were so many countries, each country’s jives were really short. Nonetheless was still really cool to see so many new and interesting jives.

Many international delegates attend APS. Tell us about who you met and what your experience was like.

Yes, I met a lot of new people at APS. The people who stood out to me were Drew from India. I think he was an interesting character because he was purely vegetarian. He doesn’t eat food if it is prepared in a kitchen with meat, so he was saying how he can’t wait to get back to India so he can have an Indian buffet. Another person that stood out was my roommate Michelle, an LCVP EwA from Taiwan, and of course there was Kotaro from Japan. He stood out to so many people because he was so outgoing and friendly and had so much energy.

There was also a melody from Taiwan. She stood out because she had a really interesting story. She was actually a LCP, but she began her term in the middle of the LC term because the previous LCP had to leave AIESEC. So she had to take over. I found her story so inspiring, and I’m really sad that I couldn’t take a picture with her.

 How did it feel to interact with some of the best AIESECers from around the world? Is there anything that you took away from your interaction with them?

I’m really glad I got to meet all these amazing people because hearing all these stories made me feel inspired. I learned that not everyone is here for the same reason as me and that everyone has had a unique journey that brought them here. It was really cool to hear all these different perspectives. Even in terms of work, I got to learn about the different approaches they take towards their own work. All in all, it was an amazing learning experience to meet and interact with all these people.

Did you face any challenges or difficulties during the conference? If so, did they diminish your conference experience? Do you have any suggestions for the organizing committee? 

For me personally, there were no challenges that actually diminished the conference experience in any way. However, one difficulty that happened was on the fourth day. On the fourth day, we had a session called “The World’s Largest Lesson. So the night before this session, we were separated into groups, and we had to come up with a lesson about one of the SDGs. Our group had to prepare a session on SDG 14: Life Below Water, and the following day we had to conduct this session in a class at a local school.

The main problem was the language barrier because most of the kids at the school didn’t understand English, and the accents of the foreign delegates made it even more difficult to understand. I get that it was part of the challenge, but after a while, communication became tiring. However, by the end, we did find our groove, and we used all sorts of things to get the kids to understand. Drawing pictures and using really simple words really helped the kids understand the lesson.

One thing that happened before the lesson was that the school had organized a welcoming ceremony for us. There was a slight miscommunication there; the school had informed the OC that there were only two items in the welcoming ceremony, but they ended up doing nearly six music and dancing items. This pushed our agenda quite a bit, but it was really nice to see how much effort they put into this ceremony.

Is there any particular session or speaker that stood out to you? What made them so memorable for you?

For me, there were two speakers that really stuck with me. One was Sujith; he was an AI BD manager, and he conducted a LEAD session on BD. The other was Arshad, also from AIESEC International, and he conducted a session on curiosity.

Arshad and Sujith did the session on curiosity together, and it really stuck with me and gave me a new perspective on how to approach my own learning and development progress. All the sessions at APS were really good, and all the FACIs were incredibly knowledgeable.

AIESEC in USJ won awards at APS. What did you feel when the announcement was made?

Yes, I felt really proud to go and collect the awards. Thirana and I actually had to go up multiple times since we won multiple times. Sri Lanka as a whole won eight awards. AIESEC in USJ won five awards, so I felt really proud to go up and accept them.

I really wish the rest of the LC was there, because it felt kind of lonely. The other entities were also really supportive. Even when USJ won the award, the other entities cheered because the award came to Sri Lanka. So, it felt really good to have that sort of team spirit and support.

 What was the most fun session at the conference?

So, each day actually had one or two fun sessions. On the first day, there was an APS Global Village. On day two, there was the Sri Lankan Night, where everyone had to dress up in either a sarong or lungi. I remember all the foreign delegates running around asking us how to tie their sarongs or trying to do it alone by looking at YouTube tutorials. The foreigners left the dance floor by about midnight, so it was just the Sri Lankan delegates singing and dancing till dawn.

On day three, we had a pool party. I was really sad because I was tired, and I went to the room to sleep for an hour but ended up missing the whole thing.

On day four, there was a gala night. So after the awards were given out, the DJ started, and we did so many jives. We did jives for almost two hours straight. So the gala night was also really fun.

Do you have any regrets regarding your conference experience?

My biggest regret at APS was that I couldn’t take time to properly listen to Melody’s story and that I couldn’t take a photo with her. The little bit I heard of her story really stuck with me, and I wish I could have heard more. 

Another regret is that I didn’t take the opportunity to get up and speak in the sharing space.

If given the opportunity, would you attend the conference again? How bad is post-conference syndrome?

For me, post-conference syndrome was really bad, and I was so sad to leave the hotel. However, my PCS was interrupted because I lost my purse with my NIC, cards, and money. So, I was so busy trying to find it that I kind of forgot about the feeling of leaving the conference. Afterwards, when I saw the group chat and saw all the photos, all the forgotten emotions came rushing back.

Do you feel that this experience changed your mindset or attitude regarding the work you do and regarding AIESEC as a whole?

My experience at APS broadened my horizons for the impact that AIESEC was making. When we work at the LC level, we only see the impact we are making, which can be small at times, but when you add up all the work done by each LC in the region, the impact we make is truly incredible. It made me realize that each and every cross-cultural exchange we do changes someone’s life for the better. It made me realize that we are contributing to a larger impact that is actually changing the world. I came out of APS confident in what we do.

 If you were to summarize your experience into one sentence, what would it be?

There is another you in another part of the world.

by Agana Dassanayake

Jayewardenepura Showcasing Team