My 6 weeks in Egypt — Nour’s Story
Nour Riahi, 22 years old, is one of the Exchange participants who chose Egypt as a destination for an AIESEC internship. Here she is sharing her story with you
Q: What motivated you to go abroad and be a global citizen ?
A: I wanted to come out of my shell and do something that makes me feel proud of myself. I am living a monotonous dull life between the university and the house and for once I wanted to change that and get my own experience. I also wanted to impact society as much as I can and help others using the skills that I have.
Q: What is your added value from this experience ?
A: First, I’ve become more confident, sociable and self reliable. I now have a high self esteem and I am fully responsible so I can take a good care of myself and my group. Second I found out that nothing is impossible, with will and work we can make anything happen. Finally, those few months taught me what I couldn’t learn in 20 years of school and university. I swear that this is a unique and amazing experience that made me discover who I really am and taught me how to react and make decisions within a few seconds.
Q: How did you manage to live a different lifestyle with people from different background ?
A: I had no problem living in a different country and with different people. With AIESEC I learnt how to integrate quickly and easily with people despite our differences. I had to live with people from Turkey, China, Morocco and Colombia and they were all so warm, open-minded and kind. What matters the most is to show respect to each other, accept each other’s differences and never criticize or judge.
Q: What were you the most fascinated by ?
A: First of all I liked everything about Egypt. People are so welcoming and cool and they show affection and gratitude for strangers. Plus the food there is delicious, I liked it so much. Moreover my volunteer work was to teach French, I liked the learning Method based on games and I am so happy that the kids liked it and became fond of French. Even with the grownups, it was always so easy with their attention and curiosity. And finally I would like to thank LC Suez for all their support, they are really amazing as they stood a lot by my side. You’re the best guys.
Q: How did this experience help you develop your leadership potential?
A: One of my dreams was to leave a positive impact on people around me , it is more like a passion or vision for the future . And the feeling of what I did , to see how I changed people’s lives, to live every second of it was incomparable . And now and here I am living it every day. I have never felt so proud of myself and my accomplishments like this. One more thing that is really precious to me is that I learnt from AIESEC to never judge anyone and let people be themselves. It’s not only about people holding different nationalities that I have met or the difference of cultures I have witnessed but it’s more about me and what happened to me, I went from a very shy person who could barely say one sentence in front of a crowd to a person who is really confident and strong. And that’s what I call a leader. By this experience I’m dead sure that people can grow and change if they were given a chance to do so.
Q: Would you do this again if you had the chance ?
A: Sure, even if I don’t get another chance I will make it happen.
That was Nour’s story. What’s yours ?
