All play and no work…
Since we’ve shined a light on what AIESEC is, what we do, why we do it and how we function and work on a daily basis in our previous blog posts here and here, then hopefully you already have a pretty good understanding of us. But trust me, it is not just about the work here at AIESEC, we also have our fun with different events and traditions that are part of the organization’s culture. What kind of fun you ask me? Continue on reading and you will find out…
Let’s start by introducing the events that we have. Our most common events are Chillaxes which can be pretty much any group activity that our hearts desire. Boardgame nights, watching movies, Kahoot quizzes or playing Jackbox, learning to dance or dancing roll calls, theme parties such as Shrek, Harry Potter or Minions or just a plain old-fashioned party. They are a way for us to socialize with our members in a non-working environment, as the social aspect of an organization is as important as the work that we do. Since we mostly work in our assigned teams all semester long, then Chillaxes are the perfect opportunity to get to know all the other people in our organization that we don’t see that much on a daily basis.
Once a year we also have our traditional pancake party called PANKA where we, surprise-surprise, eat pancakes. But there’s more to it – every year there is a specific theme to it, we have had different themes such as Eurovision, Toga party and the 2000s. This is the party that our alumni can also join to reminisce about their time in AIESEC.
In the summer we have Summer Days which bring together our members from Tartu and Tallinn, as well as the exchange participants who are in Estonia volunteering or doing their internship at the time.
Additionally, we have different conferences throughout the year but as an AIESEC conference is something really special, we won’t be getting into them in this post. Keep your eyes peeled for a whole post dedicated to AIESEC conferences as well as individual conference experience posts by our members!
As for our traditions, we have a lot of those, so I will bring out some of them to give you a taste of our culture.
First up, maybe the most important part of our culture and traditions: Roll Calls! In the context of AIESEC, Roll Calls are dances that we use to identify ourselves from other AIESECers as almost every committee or conference has one of its own. We are constantly dancing them at our events, during long meetings to get our energy up or in our free time just to have fun. There are thousands of different Roll Calls, with new ones made every year. As an international organization, our dances from all around the world have a huge variety of moves, which makes it really fun to discover new Roll Calls.
Another core piece of our culture are our Spirit Animals. For our members, who work in functional teams, the Spirit Animals are a cute way to connect with their function, with each function having one of their own. We have a unicorn, a narwhal, a bear, a monkey, a peacock and even an egg as spirit animals. Some functions also have special dances to go with their spirit animal and one of our oldest spirit animal, Nessie the Travelling Unicorn, even has her own Instagram account.
Some other traditions that we have as part of our culture and a way for us to have fun and enjoy our time are Spirit Awards which is a competition between different teams within the organization. Spirit Awards consist of different, slightly quirky tasks that have to be completed within a time limit in order to win. However, it is not about winning but more about working together as a team and having fun while doing it.
Another tradition of ours is the Nordic Circle, where we sit in a circle and everyone gets the opportunity to talk about life, about anything and everything they need. Probably doesn’t sound that fun or exciting but the way we do it is an excellent way for us quiet Estonians to open up, talk about our lives and thoughts that we maybe wouldn’t share in a normal setting.
All of this was just a small glace into AIESEC’s culture and it doesn’t quite paint the full picture of the fun side of our organization. To find out more and actually experience all of it, come join us as a member of AIESEC to make some friends, learn some dance moves and have fun while developing yourself!
