An Ode to AIESEC SYSU

AIESEC... so many good things to say about you, NOT! Actually this blog post will pertain only to AIESEC SYSU. I am proudly going to express my honest opinion because well, China has censored enough things and it won't censor my experience with AIESEC... so may this be a warning for those people who want to come to China (especially Guangzhou) through AIESEC. Before I came to china I was enchanted with this organization, and sadly, one or two LCs can completely ruin the reputation of an international org like this one.

What spurred this rant you ask? Well I just filled out my midterm survey on myaiesec.net and realized how much AIESEC has NOT DONE for me. So let's start at the beginning. I found a cheap ticket online to come to Guangzhou and contacted my TN Manager to see if the timing was ok. I assumed she'd reply right away because she had been sending me about three e-mails a day about my job, but she didn't reply until hours later. By the the ticket had gone up in price, a lot. This should have been my first sign. When it comes to saving their ass, they will SKYPE, gchat, email you all the time to get a response. When you need something answered they take their sweet old time. Then, when I was finally coming to China, I was told that I might not be able to get picked up at the airport. Why? Because my TN Manager had class the next day. Umm well I'm just getting off a 16-hour flight, don't speak Chinese, don't know China... and you expect me to what? Get ripped off by a taxi driver who takes me to an expensive hotel so that I could take a bus the next day to a town 40 minutes outside of Guangzhou to the middle of nowhere? Right. So after I heard about this possibility I immediately contacted the LCP and was told I would be picked up by AIESECers. Thanks for making me feel so welcome SYSU (do ya'll sense the sarcasm yet?).

So I did get picked up at the airport, stayed in a shitty hostel... it wasn't even a hostel, it was a rented room in some shithole place in Guangzhou and for the first time I saw that hole in the floor that I would come to know as a toilet. The next day my supervisor picked me up in a car provided by my company and I would see my TN Manager once after that point, because I was nice enough to stay for an AIESEC event to interview potential members, that would then cost me a three hour journey back to Beijiao (worthless). Oh and I was also told I would be right outside Guangzhou. Yes, I guess "right outside Guangzhou" must mean a 40 minute bus ride outside of Guangzhou (and the kicker is a friend showed me how to take the bus... but that is AIESECs job). AIESEC is supposed to show you around the city you are staying in and provide you with methods of transportation. You don't speak the language, so how can you find out about buses in China? You can't. It is all by word of mouth! There are no concrete schedules down here where I live. AIESEC is supposed to be a system and something to fall back on for support when you come to a foreign country. Nevertheless I clearly am able to get around and this experience is all behind me now, but I need to write it down so that people know what actually happened to me... I didn't really tell many people because I wanted to be strong and NOT scare anyone, but it was a pretty scary and anxiety filled first week. Now, luckily, I can look back and smile and be proud that I didn't drop everything ant go back to the US (which I considered many, many times). After I got into Beijiao, my supervisor (I still don't know if she helped me so much because she had to or because she's just warm-hearted...) took me to get a phone, supplies for my shit hole room (to which I was told "You can move out whenever you want. New people always move in here at first then move"), and then was going to leave me to rest while she went back to work. I remember that moment exactly. That is when it hit me I was in China alone. The AIESEC people didn't come with me. They didn't call me to check up on me. They didn't show me around Beijiao... and for anyone who has been here, it is NOT easy to get around by yourself for the first three months or so. No one gets that the language barrier is so extensive, to a new foreigner in China-- it's fucking scary. Simply put. Really fucking scary. I cried A LOT that week here. For one reason or another. I didn't know if I made the right decision. I didn't have internet at home. I slept in Ewa's place three nights the first week because I hated it here. I really hated it. I was in some Bumblefuck town for a year. And the situation hit me, yet again. And how many foreigners were there in Beijiao? Four, including me. Fucking four. I hated the feeling I had in my stomach my first week, but look where I am now.

Then Audre eventually came, I met some other people in Guangzhou with much effort and asking my TN Manager for e-mails of other people... and my effort paid off. I met some great friends, some of whom I'm still friends with to this day. And I have not seen anyone from AIESEC since. To be fair, they did have a party for the people here through AIESEC in my third month or so... but that was the last time I saw any of them. Audre, who is still here, REALLY got screwed by AIESEC SYSU and had a bad first month and a half. I don't want to get into HER story because that is another blog post within itself. Basically let's just say she was guaranteed a job here, then the day she had her flight, she found out she would be interviewing for a job, not HAD one. She interviewed against a guy with 10 years experience who got the job... and she was stuck with NADA. Nothing at all. She found another job a month later after much stress and almost NO HELP from AIESEC.

So everything AIESEC was supposed to do, they didn't (with the exception of picking me up at the airport). Without Kelly and people at my work, I wouldn't have a phone, a place to live... nothing. All of this AIESEC is obligated to help you with. So why were they like this? Is it just China or is it the organization here itself? When Audre had her problems, I came to speak with her to the LCP and her TN Manager (also my TN Manager) and I my guess is that they were just busy. They have school, they have like 40 trainees to take care of, they have AIESEC. They have too much on their plates, way too much. I think with an organization like this, work needs to be spread out evenly so that no one gets screwed (like all the people coming to China who don't have someone to turn to). Oh and let me mention I do have an AIESEC buddy, who contacted me a month after they knew they were my buddy. I have received one e-mail from her ever, and that was about four months ago.

Most important is what I have learned. I can say I could do this again. I could go to another country, be independent, not really know anyone or the language... and I would be ok. And this is most important. All my women, I N D E P E N D E N T, throw your hands up at me. I'm not scared anymore. I was not nervous or scared when I was flying here, but when I got here, that's when the fright and reality kicked in. I can take it easy knowing that things usually work out. I did get lucky with the people I've met here who have really helped me (Chinese and foreign) and who have been willing and even excited to help me, but sadly AIESEC SYSU is not included in that list. So it depends on whom you meet when you travel to another country, because you can't rely too much on one thing, one person, or in this case, one organization. Lastly, I was offered a job in the marketing department of my division, so that is a plus. Seems like I DID DO well in China huh?