Simone

Week June 9th - 15th

2008-06-09T00:44:00.001-07:00

This week I'm working on:

Weekly realisation campaign update on the AiS wiki
Filling in the bi-yearly SOGA (State Of the Global Association) survey
Drafting my Annual Report articles
Teamdays with EB Geneva

Picture:

Already starting to feel a bit melancolic... I'm really gonna miss working with you guys! The awesome eXchange crew!!!

Best moment(s):
The whole last Saturday spent with my darling brother: a great english breakfast, followed by self-made sushi, and then EURO fever on the Bundesplatz. Awesome :)

Soundtrack:

My mellow summer song...

... and THIS is my ultimate dancing song at the moment. It absolutely rocks!!!!

http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=6UX0p7uAW2s (unfortunately they don't allow to embed it into blogs)

Week June 2nd - 8th

2008-06-02T00:58:00.001-07:00

This week I am working on:

Weekly realisation campaign update on the AiS wiki
Team2Team transition prep
2-3 days of individual transition with Jih-Ming in Zurich

Picture:

My godchild Mario guiding us two through the Zoo of Basel :-)

Best moment(s):

"Die asi-Familie zieht um": an extremely fun day throwing away tons of stuff of the MC office; a whole day spent with my godchild on Saturday; a spontaneous concert visit in Biel with Joey and Anna Saturday night

Soundtrack:

This is what I call a great start into the openair festival summer! The Gentleman concert in Biel was awesome :))

Week May 26th - June 1st

2008-05-26T09:34:00.000-07:00

This week I am working on:

Weekly realisation campaign update on the AiS wiki
Preparation MC team2team transition
AiS annual report 07/08 meeting
Cleaning the office for 2 days - finally, yes!!! I mean it! :-)

Picture:

Great food at the South African lunch on Saturday, hosted by Abey!

Best moment(s):

Happy yet sad moments: attending for a last time the LCMs of Bern and Basel. A lovely lunch with my predecessor. Discovering a great night spot in Bern. Cooking for my mom on Sunday.

Soundtrack:
A legacy of my several former Brasilian flatmates... just love the sound of this language :)

And yes, I admit, I LOVE this song!!! For once, I like a Swiss contribution to the Eurovision contest!

Week May 19th - 25th

2008-05-19T01:38:00.000-07:00

This week I am working on:

Weekly realisation campaign update on the AiS wiki
Meeting Abhijit, VPICX of Chennai/India and attending his X presentation in Bern
AdCo meeting on Wednesday in Zurich
Preparing individual transition for my successor Jih-Ming
Starting to clean the server and bringing order into my files!

Picture:

S'mores at their best!!!

Best moment(s):
The MCM on Thursday: definitely the most fun, random and yet sooo productive meeting we've had in our term so far! :-))) ; the Friday evening with the ladies... full of really weird and hilarious conversations ("i'm from the deep deep Siberian forest and don't want to talk to you"), with an interesting music mix in the background and of course yuuuummy American food! Marshmallows over a real fire!!!

Soundtrack:

Week May 12th - 18th

2008-05-11T12:24:00.001-07:00

This week I am working on:

Weekly realisation campaign update on the AiS wiki
Working on the Switzerland Exchange wiki
Preparing individual transition I will have with my successor Jih-Ming

Picture:

Living the good life with Annette

Best moment(s):
The 2 hours boat ride on the Lake of Lucerne between the Rütli and Lucerne: in company of a wonderful friend, the sun shining with a stunning blue sky, the water having an even more stunning green-shade, amidst the breath-taking scenery of the Swiss alps, feeling very lucky and very happy.

Soundtrack:
Stevans "The Missing Part"
MiNa "Praying Mantis"
Culcha Candela "Una Cosa"
Dynamite Deluxe "Dynamit"

Week May 5th - 11th

2008-05-05T01:11:00.000-07:00

This week I am working on:

Exchange Newsletter: The OGX and ICX realising campaign is launched!
Meeting with my successor Jih-Ming concerning X NST
Meeting Fabian, VPTM Basel on Monday
Attending Career Days Zurich Tuesday morning
Exchange coaching with Bettina, VPX Lugano
LCP elections Lugano Tuesday
...all in all attending the LCMs of Bern, Lugano and Zurich - very busy week! :-)

Picture:

An incredible but true story: Abey feeling cold at Seba's B'day BBQ - Drazen (twice as big as Abey) offers him a sweater of his. After us mocking about the seemingly ridiculous offer of the Serbian intern, we have to realize that the sweater perfectly fits our South African friend. Learning point of this story: it can come very handy if someone does not know how to use a tumble dryer ;-))

Best moment(s):
Hearing of the success stories of 'my' VPXes concering the EPs in their LCs - you guys rock, am so proud! :-)) ; BBQs in Seebach & Aarau ; a wonderful walk along the Aare on Sunday with a great friend of mine ; tanning in my dad's garden on Sunday!

Soundtrack:
Radiohead 'Pablo Honey' (found it again in my old Genevan flat, yay!!!)

Week April 28th- 30th

2008-04-28T04:25:00.000-07:00

This week I am working on:

Send out new BSV guidelines
Follow-up of the Exchange Funky at KICK-OFF
Developing the EP and TN realization campaign
KICK-OFF follow-up with companies
Meeting Irina, the OCP of DO-IT 2008

Picture:

The first BBQ outside of the season - and this in the high north, in Stockholm!! What a beautiful, beautiful day it was.
Anna and me took full advantage of the sun ;-))

Best moment(s):

Working, sunbathing, BBQing, playing a Swedish game in the park, random&hilarious moments with the Swedish MC - all of this during 3 days in Stockholm last week.

Soundtrack/video of the week:

The one and only Harry&Barry

Week April 21st - 27th

2008-04-26T14:11:00.000-07:00

This week I am working on:

I'm off for planning days with my team to Stockholm!!

We will work on the conference output of KICK-OFF 2008 and define our focus until the end of our term
We will plan transition for the upcoming MC team
And last but not least spend some quality time with our lovely Swedish MC colleagues Linn, Joanna, Himanshu and João in the beautiful city of Stockholm

Picture:

Thanks for being there for me, you two :-)

Best moment(s):

Strolling through warm, sunny Stockholm, eating ice cream in Gamla Stan, a moment of complete relaxedness sunbathing on the stairs of the National Theatre and the following BBQ in the park next to the Vasa Museum. And of course - beating Joanna, João and Ivo three times together with Himanshu and Luca in this cool Swedish wood game which name I forgot. Woohoo! ;-)

Soundtrack:

Roxette - an hommage to the Swedes!!

Week April 14th - 20th

2008-04-16T14:21:00.001-07:00

This week I am working on:

KICK-OFF, KICK-OFF, KICK-OFF!!!
More concretely, doing my job as a conference manager for the 3rd and last time during my MC term...
Briefing the Newie Chair Ankit about the Newie and XPS tracks
KICK-OFF agenda management with the lovely KO chair Mohcine

Picture:

From April 17th-20th, this awesome group of people rocked KICK-OFF 2008. I couldn't have asked for more. Thanks to them, thanks to the OC and thanks most of all to the delegates, who made this one hell of a wonderful, successful and random last national conference of my term.

The eXchange spirit at KICK-OFF! Thanks for everything guys, it is such a huge pleasure working with you!!!

Best moment(s):

During the huge stressful buzz of the KICK-OFF week: finding time for great discussions with some people I have not seen for such a long time, receiving signs of appreciation of people dear to my heart, a random moment with 'my exchangers' (exchange attack!!), seeing the smile back on someone's face after a difficult moment and the following hug, endless girl talk with my one and only Regi & Anna :-))

Soundtrack:

Xi Shua Shua

Week April 7th - 13th

2008-04-04T05:24:00.001-07:00

This week I am working on:

Chairing the OCP ACT election at the LCM Bern on Monday
Session design Newie Track
Logistical coordination with the Kick-Off OC
SRB in Fribourg on Tuesday and maybe in Zurich on Saturday

Picture:

Newly trained mentors of AiS!

Best moment(s):

The IBM mentoring workshop in Zurich on Thursday ; the skiing weekend in Klosters full of very cool (aaawesome powdersnow!!!) but also veeeery strange (the official day of the EGG on Saturday..!?!) moments

Soundtrack:

Madonna & JT "4 minutes"

Week March 31st - April 4th

2008-03-30T14:58:00.000-07:00

This week I am working on:

Postponed site visit Fiesch on Monday
Session design Newie Track
Logistical coordination with the Kick-Off OC
Mentoring Workshop with IBM on Thursday

Picture:

Memories of primary school snow camp in Gstaad in February

Best moment(s):

A long postponed visit to my grandparents
A great moment of (traditional ;-)) Bernese randomness after a delicious dinner at Céline's (watch out for those party themes at Kick-Off!)

Soundtrack:

Having a Johnny Cash phase...

... and I love love love this movie

Week March 24th to 30th

2008-03-25T02:14:00.000-07:00

This week I am working on:

BSV final round (ddl. March 30th)
EB Bern coaching Wednesday
Fiesch site visit for KICK OFF with the OC from St. Gallen
Kick Off: Track&session design, faci selection, delegate promo

Picture:

Best moment(s):

A great conversation about past and future internships, and the professional and personal future in general, over a yummy indian dinner at Markthalle on Thursday
Easter weekend: spending time with my family, searching for easter eggs in the snow, eating sooo much and being able to read a book in two days (it's been ages since I took time for that!! :-))

Soundtrack:

"Walking in a Winter Wonderland"

Week March 17th - 23rd

2008-03-18T02:10:00.000-07:00

This week I am working on:

BSV, BSV, BSV!
EB Zurich coaching
Myaiesec.net training for VPXs on Thursday
Kick Off: Track&session design, faci selection

Picture:

Best moment(s):

Workshop-hopping with my partner in crime Anna
An unexpected, very very cool - although brief - moment with my brother
Travelling twice to my beloved Geneva. Reeeally miss this city

Soundtrack:

Claude François "Alexandrie, Alexandra"

Legendary Geneva song! It came up unexpectedly during the XPS in Geneva. Didn't know Claude himself had these cool dance moves. We should have copied more from the original! :-D
Dedicated to lovely Joan, who was a wonderful faci this weekend, who tried to remember the dance moves with me, and who since yesterday is matched to an internship in Pakistan! Congrats girl, am so happy for you!!!

Week March 10th -16th

2008-03-13T03:21:00.000-07:00

This week I am working on:

Transit follow up
BSV, BSV, BSV!
Myaiesec.net management
Kick Off management

Picture:

The last week preparing and delivering TRANSIT, a pioneer conference, with this lovely faci team. I couldn't have asked for more! SUCCESS!!! :-D

Best moment(s):
The fit of laughter in the girls' dorm the first night in Bellinzona ('wish, you were there...' thanks Sara&Anna:))
The general energetic, smiling, motivated atmosphere through out the whole last weekend
Standing on top of the castle, looking down at Bellinzona and the whole valley trying not to get blown away by the wind gusts
The couple of hours on Sunday spent in the kids room on the mattresses amongst stuffed animals with 5 great people

Soundtrack:
Michael Sembello "Maniac"
OK GO "A Million Ways"

Week February 25th-March 2nd

2008-01-21T13:56:00.000-08:00

This week I am working on:

Session design Transit
Compiling BSV material
Attending the info eve in Geneva on Thursday
LCMs in Bern and Zurich :-)

Picture:

The new and very promising EB of Zurich: Denis, Diana, Paul, Philipp and Ivan - thanks for a great weekend! Can't WAIT to see you in action!! :-)

Best moment(s):
The welcome dinner of our new flatmate. He is from Jordan and has a degree in hotel management - yum, he seriously knows how to cook arabic dishes :-)
Partying in Bern with some LC Bern members and Anna and Jeroen.
And of course great moments during last weekend spent with the incoming and outgoing EBs of Zurich. Most of the moments are subject to censorship, sorry ;-)

Soundtrack:
James Gruntz "Here I am"
Kaiser Chiefs "Ruby"

About me

2007-07-18T09:28:00.000-07:00

Name: Simone Kuhn

MC position: Vice President Exchange

Date and Place of Birth: 25th of August, 1982 in Aarau/Switzerland

Hometown: Suhr, Argovie!

Nationalities (Other origins): Swiss (and nothing else – I’m so exotic in this team!)

Languages: German, English, French, some Italian. Started a Portuguese course during my busiest year at university, which was also the year of my EB term… bad idea. Probably went to 5 lessons. Would love to continue though, love the sound of the language… years of living with Brazilians left their traces

I ran for MC because: It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I absolutely could not let it pass me by. I'm sure I would have had to wait a couple of years before being able to work in such a position where I have as much responsibility, can work so independently and at the same time closely in a team, and in such a dynamic, young and international environment. I knew it was going to challenge me immensely, and it was scarying me a lot - which in itself is always an incentive for me to do something

Ideal internship destination: I’m incredibly drawn to Africa these past few months, and I would love to do an internship in a western or east-African country. I have never been to this continent, and I know that living there for some time would challenge my world view the most (cheesy as it sounds, I actually feel that way ;-)

Childhood ambition: Flight attendant - airports were and still are a huge fascination for me

Current ambition: Finding a job which reconciles my inner conflict of wanting to be abroad and at the same time spend time in my home country

I love: My patchwork family, cooking and eating Asian food, my friends scattered all over the world, dark chocolate, road tripping through New Zealand, losing myself in books, dancing, spending hours at Starbucks gossiping with my girlfriends, all sorts of tea, the British accent, nature, San Francisco, summer weekends at open air festivals, Six Feet Under, British humour, my current job :), Hokey Pokey icecream, spending hours on Sunday mornings reading the newspaper, life.

Favourite books: "The catcher in the rye" J.D. Salinger, "Narziss und Goldmund" H. Hesse, "The Alchemist" P. Coelho, "His Dark Materials" Trilogy Ph. Pullman, "Angela's Ashes" F. McCourt, "Die Häupter meiner Lieben" I. Noll, all "Harry Potter" books by J.K. Rowling, murder mysteries like the Comissario Brunetti books by Donna Leon, the Wallander series by Henning Mankell or good old Agatha Christie

Favourite movies: American Beauty, Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Pianist, Le fabuleux destin d'Amelie Poulain, Love Actually

Favourite quote:
"...always keep in mind that life is a great thing, everything hard has its positive side, don't be stuck in the every day reality, allow yourself to dream, have faith in your wildest dreams"
(from my favourite CD at the moment: AaRON 'Artificial Animals Riding On Neverland')