Shalom, pallid traveler

It didn't occur to me until tonight that the AIESEC GT landscape could be completely different next spring.

It's somewhat of a bittersweet vision. Of course, there's the newer members of the present blossoming into full fledged AIESECers, and the fresh crop of newies that always reaffirms everyone's vision of what AIESEC really is.

And then there's the everpresent absence: those who have left for traineeships but their presence lingers like a sweet summer scent... and those who have moved on in life and won't ever return, gone but not forgotten.

I never realized how attached to certain people I had become. There's no other way to put it. Once all those people are gone, if I'm still around, I don't know if it'd be the same. For the first time, I understand why people return from really long traineeships and have a hard time reintegrating into their LC. Everyone they knew is gone... the LC had changed on them. True to form, home had disappeared and left an alien, yet friendly replacement.

I guess that's just the nature of things. But it's still unsettling to think about.