Tyler's Blog

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With full of expectation and anxiety, I threw myself in a new environment where there are full of strangers, different food, and different atmosphere. In contrast with my anxiety, I can confidently say that I spent the most meaningful and enjoyable summer with great people I met during my stay in Sri Lanka. 

Meek and mild personality is not helpful when you meet a new person. As you may know, giving a favorable first impression of yourself to others is very important because people tend to judge others when they first meet by the impression that they get. Even though I know what I need to do give others a good impression of me, I was not confident to do that in front of new people because I became very quiet and kept the awkwardness. Dispelling all the fear and approaching to other EPs first, my dynamic and fun experience in Sri Lanka has started.

The most memorable part in Sri Lanka is that I received too much spotlights from local citizens. Because it is unusual for local people to see and meet foreigners, they will look at me with full of curiosity and/or start to say hello first. In first, I felt uncomfortable and awkward because I was being greeted too much in this country just by being a foreigner. Moreover, it was something that I have never experienced. As I get to know more and understand about this country, I was very touched by people’s kindness. People were more than happy to help me whenever I ask a question and they would try their the best to answer my question. Some may question me what is so special about it. What is so special about this is that, without any exaggeration, every each one of them is kind enough to help you if you just grab anybody on the street. 

After feeling their sincerity and kindness, I was more open and wanted to give back the kindness that I received from them. There was no need to have wariness over them. I did not have to be suspicious about them. I remember one of the teachers I met during the school session telling me that talking to foreigners is something big and different experience for them. By sharing my experience, learning about Sri Lanka, eating local food, and communicating with local people, I tried to be mingled with Sri Lankan people wherever I traveled.

I am very happy that I can confidently say I succeeded mingling with people during my stay in Sri Lanka. I want to say thank you so much to Sri Lanka for sharing your kindness, culture, and places. 6 weeks of my stay passed very quickly and I was already feeling longing about Sri Lanka on the day when I was leaving the country. My journey was great and I am more than satisfied with the valuable memories that I take from it.

In Pursuit of the Chicken Bun

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“He is only heard, not seen.”

After having spent six weeks in Sri Lanka, what mystified me the most about my stay was the Chicken Bun. Before my lament begins, let’s quickly go through the basics:

Chicken Bun: A savoury snack which consists of a chicken patty in a soft bun.
Chicken Bun Man: The driver of a three-wheeled bakery.

Now, what does a three-wheeled bakery look like? Imagine a popemobile - the one where His Holiness is surrounded by bulletproof glass - but instead of a religious figure, there is an assortment of baked goods. The most popular baked good, the Chicken Bun, will be the name that I bestow upon the driver of this vehicle.

The concept is simple. The Chicken Bun Man spends his time driving through the winding backstreets of Sri Lanka, selling bread to hungry passersby. He announces his arrival with a merry tune that reaches the ears of residents far and wide.

It wasn’t long before the music of the Chicken Bun had lost its charm on me. At the end of six weeks, the once cheerful melody had planted itself in the darkest corner of my mind, forever haunting my memories with feelings of torment and loss. The pain I felt was the result of many unsuccessful attempts at finding the Chicken Bun Man. His music flooded alleyways and filled living rooms, but his whereabouts remained shrouded in mystery. I am starting to wonder if “Phantom of the Bakery” is a more appropriate name for this man.

My desperation grew. Exhausted from chasing scent trails and driven mad by hunger, I had thrown my fists in the air and begged the sky for mercy. I wanted divine beings to harness the arcane power of the poultry gods and bless me with a bun. Sadly, my stay in Sri Lanka ended before I could find the wheeled bakery. With a heavy heart, I left the country empty-handed.

And so, as I write this in the dead of night, jet-lagged and with Ceylon tea coursing through my veins, I can’t help but reflect on what the journey of the Chicken Bun has taught me.

If you are given a chance to explore a path less travelled in life, take it. There will be moments when you feel completely lost and helpless, but be patient. Be humble and be grateful. Thank the people you meet who add color to your life and inspire you. Embrace spontaneity and seek adventure; sometimes the strangest adventure will surprise you with the sweetest laughter. Enjoy each drop of rain, remember the gentle touch of the wind, and bathe in the warm sunlight. I promise you, the path will reward you with dreams and wonder. It will brighten your spirit and mend your soul. The path will fill you with curiosity and love for the most unexpected. Treasure these moments, because when you reach the path’s end, you will face a heartbreaking task – saying goodbye.

My AIESEC Experience by Daniel

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Now my experience is finished. When I look back what I see is one of the greatest experiences that I ever lived. To explain my experience, I have to divide it into three parts.

First of all I have to talk about AQUA 2.0, the project where I was volunteering. When I applied to Aqua I did not expect the amazing project that has been. When we started the project, each of us prepared a talk on a topic of environmental problems. We were very excited to start the school sessions. Once we started we realized about the incredible opportunity to teach and learn. It was so nice to interact with the students, and that was thanks to AIESEC south Colombo, because they provided everything we need. It was nice and pleasant because the students were having a good time while they were learning.


It was not always easy. In some schools we met the linguistically wall of difficulty due to the lack of English language experience. However we never gave up to try our best. With our vitality we could express our ideas and we finally interacted successfully with all the students. The rewarding experience did not just come from our teaching; it came also of the exchanging of culture. I really do not know if they learned from us, us much we learned from them.


The other part it would be the experience of tourism. Sri Lanka it’s such a wonderful place to visit. The country have some of the better landscapes that I have ever seen. What I loved more of Sri Lanka, is that you can see the contrast of sea and mountain. If you go through the coast you will see wonderful beaches, paradisiacal beaches. But if you go to the central regions of the country you will find mountains, rain forest and a lot of tea crops. I quickly fell in love of Sri Lanka, I will never forget what my eyes saw, and I will keep all in my heart. And most important, some day I will come back.


Finally the last part is my own experience that I lived in Sri Lanka, my own interaction with the culture, and my personal challenge living out of my comfort zone. My first two weeks were so difficult for me especially, I arrived to Sri Lanka with a bad English due my lack of vocabulary, and that did not allowed me to have normal and fluent conversations. It was so hard for me to communicate with my mates. But I never gave up, and with the help of some of them I improved a lot. Once I gained enough level of English I started to live one of my most exciting experience ever.


By the other hand, when I arrived there I met the cultural wall of Asian people. Some times it was so hard to understand some kinds of their behaviours. But I really enjoyed that, I had the opportunity to learn their cultures and share mine. I made a lot of friends of China, Singapore, Canada, Korea, Sri Lanka, etc. I met amazing people that I already miss now. I really hope to see them all again. I am also glad to have had the opportunity to live as any other in Sri Lanka. I know that I did not lived exactly like them, but I did not lived as a tourist. 


Concluding I must say thanks to all my friends from AIESEC south Colombo and my friends that were volunteering with me. Thanks for one of the most rewarding experience ever. I will miss you all a lot. And I really hope to see you all again.

Daniel Fernández Bosman

Summer's Blog


I will never forget their smiling face in my life. The students are so shy to speak English with you, however, you could feel how they wish and excited to talk to you. I know they barely understood me sometimes( maybe most of the times), I just used the simplest words to explain and used my body language to help. However, we totally understand each other by our smile. Look at the photo, we were cheering up for our team, we just felt and shared our happiness at that moment. What I learned most is smile is the best language to go through the world, no matter where you are.

Judy's Blog

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After staying in Sri Lanka and doing this project for six weeks, I have learned a lot. Thanks to the OC team, who provided us the opportunity to come here. We all could see that OC team had been trying so hard to give us life-changing experience! The OCP was trying her best to let all the EPs not only have fun but also learn something like leadership, communication, and cooperation.

Besides, I made good friends here. The OC team and EPs are awesome! It is really a rare chance that you can live with some people from different countries and travel around for six weeks! Because of this trip, I learned many cultures from others. I knew that the world is huge and full of many different things, but now I’m so eager to see the world by myself!

However, the project has not ended. I am looking forward to seeing AQUA 3.0 finish the work we hadn’t finished, doing something to prevent people from suffering the CKD decease and making them feel better. It is a big issue and it is really a meaningful content. Hope it can be finished someday!



The Sri Lanka Experience by Guangjing Li

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After a six-week-volunteering experience from Sri Lanka, I have returned to my previous living pace. Now recalling the days spent there, I am prompted to think what changes has been brought to me.

The most significant change would be the fact that I feel I have grown older. In a way the short six weeks of visit felt like a year. This peculiar opinion is explained by owing to the unusual challenges and hardships met in the island of Sri Lanka had me gained experience to an extent that it would possibly have taken more than a year’s time to reach a similar result if I had stayed in my comfort zone. Now holding this additional maturity, I feel very fortunate and a deep regret to the individuals who were not able enjoy such experiences.

The activities in Sri Lanka has greatly improved my communication skills. One can imagine communication in person is hardly needed when living in a world when everything can be done by a simple click of a mouse or a few typing onto a keyboard. Here in Sri Lanka, I would find myself constantly asking strangers for information and help. Perhaps asking people for information may not seem to be remarkable, but when venturing into an uncertain region and the local people are not proficient in English, to verify obtained information and to try understanding and talking to a person who completely does not speak English deems impressive.

Another contributing factor to my improvement is realizing the difference in the environment and the living conditions. I am aware of myself living in a comfortable place at home and possessing more than I need, so at the start of the project, due to the large difference of environment, I was so tempted to break away from the volunteering group in order to have a better living condition. By virtue of understanding what I was here for --- to volunteer and to experience a different place, I stood my ground, changed my aspect and accepted reality. Thus having a different perspective, I could appreciate surrounding matters more than I previously will. At present, if greeted by hardship, I can instruct myself as to what hardships could I possibly face since I have participated in volunteering in Sri Lanka.

One influence that I cannot forget are the new dozens of friends I met --- the organizing committee members and the participating volunteers. The concept here is that by talking and collaborating with these friends, I was able to grasp the excellence from their characters and revise the good qualities to myself while frequent conversation resulted in knowing more about others. Therefore after six weeks, a bond was shaped and everyone felt comparable to family. This was later proved by the great feeling of sadness as I left Sri Lanka for home as it resembled the same feeling of leaving family as I headed for Sri Lanka. Yet at the start of the project I was so not convinced by the fact we will become family, as time passed, I learnt that the family formed would give so much joy and at times so much sadness.

My journey may have ended but the impact on myself from the experience will never fade. My volunteering group worked well to end our project, additionally we have built a foundation and an entrance for the next group of volunteers. I give my best wishes to those who choose to join the next AQUA project. The journey may be difficult and there will be problems to solve, however the results will be satisfying and a valuable experience will be guaranteed.

Hawa's Blog

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In Sri Lanka, there is too much going on at any time, the place is filled with such interesting chaos that you can't help but move your head everywhere to see it all. Despite it being different from anywhere I have been, I felt strangely at home by the end of the first week. Over time, I even found myself craving for rice and curry.

One of the most memorable times would be interacting with students from the schools. The children that we met on our school sessions were inspiring, full of life and sincere. Despite language barriers we could get our message across and most of them were much more knowledgeable about environmental issues than we thought. All of them exceeded expectations and I hope that in the future they would pass on the same message to others.


The project itself held much importance, not just for our earth but for those suffering from illness as well. It would have been a bonus to create a greater impact, but I believe what we have done so far did lend a hand in the situation. It is heartening to see that the determination to help the plight of those in need still remains strong, for now and for the years to come. 

Many things in Sri Lanka felt new, yet close to home at the same time. It reminded me that despite the differences we are all just humans after all and I truly enjoyed every moment we spent working and travelling together. In every journey, there are bound to be both good and bad times, but the friends made and experiences shared made it all worthwhile.~ :-)


Alice's Blog

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When the plane landed in Sri Lanka, my volunteer trip began. We Aqua2.0 is a team of twelve, living together in the EP house with pink wall.

After a brief training, school session begins. We ran around in eight different high schools, but the smiling faces of innocent children never change. Those students looked at you with expected eyes, eager to gain more knowledge from us.








The main project of our team is protection of water resources and the environment. Of course in addition to publicize our own ideas, there was some practices, such as rainforest environment report, water quality monitoring and so on. Besides work, we planned lots of small trips to feel the beautiful view in Sri Lanka. What impressed me most is to enjoy the sunrise at the beach in Mirissa.


It's Lanka Lanka! by Scarlett









Time in Sri Lanka will always be missed, despite the scorching heat out there.

I still remember the sunset we’ve seen on Mount Lavinia’s beach. A little bit purple sunglow mixed with lilac and pink. It may sound a fantasy in a movie but camera helped us to capture it. Team had a lot of fun of hanging out together and we were getting to know each other in a relaxing way.





The school session kick-off on the second week. Everyone was so enthusiastic about their topics and can’t wait to get the ball rolling. It was very touching how students interact with us and respond the questions. Some kids are very hospitable, even asked for our contacts. 7 schools were visited during 3 weeks, what a marvelous thing to recall!


“It is truly breathtaking!” said everyone from the World’s End. The 3 hours spent in Horton Plain is absolutely worthy and memorable, although the travelling time to go to there may be much longer than that. What makes hiking more enjoyable is that, the team can go there together and share so much beautiful memories.




Li's Blog



Opportunities can be found in the most unexpected places. I always enjoyed work rather than travel or relaxation. Thus the struggle in buses, vans and trains is not the most pleasant experience. But on one occasion, I found the freedom of going to a local jewellery shop. The manager talked to me for a while and asked me whether I was interested in getting paid by providing translation to non English Mandarin speakers. Amazed by such sudden proposal, I decided to take advantage of the limited luxury in this country. The jewellery shop did have air conditioning and a few unoccupied offices on the side. If by any chances I could provide translation services in return for free use of an office where I could study my frustrating organic chemistry, then it would be the most enjoyable incident ever since I arrived here. I brought forward my proposal but did not receive an immediate answer as the manager had to discuss the situation to their owner. After 2 days, I received a call from the manager, who agreed to my previous proposal.

After these extraordinary acts, I may suspect whether my hopes can proceed as I wish. Will what I ask still result in success for other matters, or is this according to the book "The Alchemist", a beginner's luck, and soon hardships will come. The project is still running easily, I shall remain humble and observe carefully my surroundings. I shall be prepared to eliminate any challenges or difficulties that stand in my way.