- 6th July -
Some of the moments outside of the conference proper are the ones I will most cherish. Card games in the lobby, Ahmad's crazy card tricks, and the amazing football game we played between the trees in the park behind the university. One of the best things was the number of different nationalities alone, in this one football match. We could call each player their home country - everyone in our team was from a different place! Canada, Portugal, Holland, Germany, India, Sweden, Jordan, and me, Malaysia.
I'm sitting in the half-empty 2am bus to Madrid as i write this post. The moon, though already waxing from its fullness of a few days back, still shines brighter than the dim lights in the bus. The land gently sloping away from the highway is lit by moonlight - it's peaceful, perfect for thinking and reflecting. (and of course, writing blog posts).
The thing in front of my mind at the moment, though, is people - faces, smiles, words, handshakes, embraces. The conference's most important component was its people, and out of the 250 of us plus organisers, facilitators and speakers, I think I only really got to know less than 50. My one regret is not having enough time to interact with more people.
As the country slips past, I'm also thinking of what to me were the most important messages of the conference. That we have nothing to fear, least of all failure - 'I am enough'. That the most important thing is to start somewhere, and keep going. Seeds of an idea for something I can do are slowly taking shape already. For me though, I know the biggest danger will be letting the lessons and inspiration of the conference slip away by not acting, by overthinking, by hesitating, by finding excuses. If I act at all, it must be while everything is still fresh.
Some of the moments outside of the conference proper are the ones I will most cherish. Card games in the lobby, Ahmad's crazy card tricks, and the amazing football game we played between the trees in the park behind the university. One of the best things was the number of different nationalities alone, in this one football match. We could call each player their home country - everyone in our team was from a different place! Canada, Portugal, Holland, Germany, India, Sweden, Jordan, and me, Malaysia.
I'm sitting in the half-empty 2am bus to Madrid as i write this post. The moon, though already waxing from its fullness of a few days back, still shines brighter than the dim lights in the bus. The land gently sloping away from the highway is lit by moonlight - it's peaceful, perfect for thinking and reflecting. (and of course, writing blog posts).
The thing in front of my mind at the moment, though, is people - faces, smiles, words, handshakes, embraces. The conference's most important component was its people, and out of the 250 of us plus organisers, facilitators and speakers, I think I only really got to know less than 50. My one regret is not having enough time to interact with more people.
As the country slips past, I'm also thinking of what to me were the most important messages of the conference. That we have nothing to fear, least of all failure - 'I am enough'. That the most important thing is to start somewhere, and keep going. Seeds of an idea for something I can do are slowly taking shape already. For me though, I know the biggest danger will be letting the lessons and inspiration of the conference slip away by not acting, by overthinking, by hesitating, by finding excuses. If I act at all, it must be while everything is still fresh.
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