Tapolca–Site Visit

Last week, in preparation for Global Leaders’ Summit, I went to Tapolca for a site visit at the hotel that we’ll be staying in for the conference. Tapolca is located about 2 hours from Budapest near Lake Balaton. The city is built on thermal water and the hotel that was selected for the conference is a spa.

Underground lies a Cave Lake that the city is famous for. Many people come here for spa treatments as the cave’s waters are said to have healing powers. The extremely clean air, relatively constant temperature and high vapour content is good for those suffering from allergies, asthma or respiratory illnesses.

But of course, I didn’t have any time to enjoy any of these as I was busy attending sessions and preparing for the conference. I experienced a bit of a culture shock while I was away during these two days. Yes, I know I’m in Hungary and there are Hungarians all around me, but I’ve never been surrounded by so many at the same time. I have Hungarian friends and I hear them speaking to each other, but this was totally different. Everyone around me was speaking a language that I didn’t understand and it was so disorienting. At first I was really bothered by it, but by the end of the 2nd day, I didn’t notice it as much and just started tuning out.

These two days were like a mini conference in itself. There were sessions with different topic discussions and even some AIESEC dancing. It was like I was a newbie again. I didn’t know any of the dances and even though its the same organization, the AIESEC culture is different. Its going to be interesting to see how the conference plays out.

GLS runs February 15 – 24, 2012, but Pre-Meeting starts February 13. The Congress Committee team starts work on February 11, that is less than 5 days away. I still have so much stuff I need to do before I leave for 2 weeks. And yet, it seems so strange that the conference is only a couple days away.

Here are some photos of my days away:

Talking about expectations for one another

VPBD & CCP discussing

Lunch time!

Simulation time!

The entire Congress Committee team