ISFIT 2009 (from Marlon)

Hope you are doing well! I just got back from ISFIT and it was an eye opening experience. I was a part of the group associated with the theme of "Peace as a Concept." The group consisted of about 20 students from all over the globe, From Sudan to Indonesia to Brazil. Every morning we met up at workshops and the host Norwegian students lead the discussions. We mainly dealt with concerns regarding sustaining peace and what obstacles we face. We exchanged dialogs and heard personal story from each and everyone. The opening ceremony of ISFIT was conducted by Desmond Tutu, who gave a very inspiring speech on how we as global citizens could contribute to help sustain peace. After each discussions in the mornings, were followed by plenery sessions which were hosted by renowed public figues such as Atomic energy commison Chairman Dr. Hans Blix, Nobel peace prize lauriate Betty Williams, Norwegian foreign minister to name a few. The nights were fun, we all gathered up at the main student center, or as the Norwegians called it the "Samfundet" for a night filled with music and dance. Every day I went to sleep around 3 am and woke up around 8 am. But I was energized with the prospect of what the next day had to offer. It was truely an amazing experiance and I would highly recoomend it to everyone who is interested in exchanging ideas with a wide array of critical minds. I was staying with a host family for the whole week and that was an experiance in itself.