JCI Dublin - Junior Chamber International Dublin

The JCI Dublin Delegates in Turku

Sunny weather, sea, boats, tanned people. We were not expecting any of this, still we encountered all of them during the Sparkling Experiences JCI European Conference in Turku, Finland. Several of the JCI Dublin members arrived in Turku via Stockholm on a cruise ferry, and had a chance to meet members of JCI Sweden, Norway, Turkey and Denmark in advance of the conference, and even have a warm-up party!

The conference gave all the participants the opportunity to grow and learn, by taking part into trainings, competitions and listening to keynote speakers. It was also a truly multinational and multicultural event, attracting JCI members from all over Europe, but also from countries as far as Japan, Korea, USA, Mexico, Tunisia and many others.

First time attendees to the conference received special treatment: each was given a little light-green flag, which was a conversation opener, and sometimes even a door opener! (especially for first-timers who needed to get signatures from senior members during meetings :D )

With trainings during the day and parties during the night, it was a really intense experience, and I am glad to have been among the jaycees who had their first international conference in Turku! My only regret was that so many good trainings were overlapping, and I had to make tough selection choices!

Delegates from JCI Ireland  had a special place in the conference, as the 2008 World President Graham Hanlon is from Ireland. The spirit of the Irish delegation was therefore very high, and only sky was the limit when JCI Ireland won two awards during the Awards Ceremony.  Best publication and best UN Project were the categories for which JCI Ireland went under the the spotlight, and boy does the spotlight feel good! So good that we are planning to win even more awards for the next year's conference in Budapest! And speaking of Budapest, their "Dance to impress" competition gave JCI Dublin another chance to get on stage, as we got a mention for participating, and doing the jolly dance moves in front of major landmarks in Dublin. We did not win that one yet, but the competition is still open until June 2009, so keep an eye out for more hungarian dancing on the streets of Dublin!

There are so many stories to be told, and so many impressions to be captured, that it would take several thousand words.  I will let several photos do the job instead. Members of JCI Dublin initiated a project to share their individual experiences with everybody else, so watch out for the upcoming "JCI Ireland - Sparkling experiences in Turku" brochure!

Tudor Borlea
JCI Dublin
22 June 2008