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2011: Global Me! – Meet the trainees by Heidi Clee

Global.me is a project with a purpose to help make young students more globally aware. The project is arranged by AIESEC who recruits trainees from different parts of the world to come to Finland and discuss global issues with high school students. Two trainees have already made their way to Jyväskylä from Belgium and India. I have asked Anissa to tell about herself and what her job is within the Global.me project.

 Anissa comes from Antwerp Belgium. She is half-Moroccan and the youngest of four siblings. Already she has finished her studies in English, Spanish and Journalism. Her friends may consider her to be shy and illogical, but, Anissa says she can stand her ground. And although she can be stubborn at times, she considers herself to be very open-minded and easy-going. Anissa also loves to read, dance and watch films and tv-series but more than anything, she loves to laugh.

Anissa heard about AIESEC a year ago. She was interested in the internship program and registered almost immediately. Later she ran into the Global.me which struct her as a very unique and interesting project. Although she was asked to an interview, she did not believe she would get the position because only 15 of already 100 applicants would be chosen. During her exhange time in the Czech Republic, she received word that she was selected to be a Global.me trainee and thus she headed for Finland in January.

”Global.me is a big learning experience for the students as well as the teachers. The students broaden their mind, learn more about what is going on in the world and how Finland fits into that picture, while at the same time they get to experience a different culture and improve their English skills. Us trainees, on the other hand, have the opportunity to gain some teaching experience, and since Finland is one of the leading countries when it comes to education, we are learning from the best. The project also allows us to learn more about global education ourselves as well as let us get to know the Finnish culture. But perhaps the most interesting thing about Global.me is that there is no other project like it.”

Anissa admits to not having been an active AIESEC member but to her AIESEC has played a large role in helping her with her traineeship experience:

”But so far, everybody in AIESEC, at home as well as in Czech Republic and Finland, has been very nice and very helpful. Both times that I went on exchange, the AIESECers made me feel really welcome. They make it a lot easier for you to integrate into the new environment because you can always fall back on them. AIESEC-Jyväkylä as well: they really helped us out when we first arrived here, now 2 months ago, and I immediately felt more at ease. Because of them we also made some new friends.”

All in all, Finland has been — very different from Belgium.

”I didn’t think Finland was going to be very different from Belgium, but I couldn’t have been farther from the truth. Finland is extremely structured and organised and everything seems to function perfectly. The people here are extremely friendly, though it takes time to get to know them. I’m definitely going to miss the saunas here, although I still wear a bikini every time I go to one :-s And then there’s milk galore, constant sales, bus stops in the middle of nowhere… Yeah, I will definitely miss Finland, although I would never be able to live here permanently, just because of the weather…Snow in April just doesn’t feel right ”

*pictures provided by Anissa

Students about the video:

We started this project at Global Me course in 2011. We want to make people aware of poverty in the world. And we hope that this project makes a difference. Join and we can make the difference

You can follow this project by students from Nokia at Facebook.