Let's take a ride to Singapore town

Hey Folks!

Before going abroad for an awesome year in Paris and New York respectively, I started a blog titled "I will be chasing the starlight". This is of course a reference to the Muse song "Starlight" (listen to it!), which I enjoy very much. In addition, it's also kinda my leitmotif as I have so many dreams and goals I want to achieve that I thought "starlight" might be a proper illustration. Call me arrogant, but with all the things I want to achieve in life, I thought chasing something earthly would be too limited.

As most people reading this blog might have heard is that I went to Singapore last week (If you haven't heard, the 1000 FB tags could have given valuable hints ;)). So maybe I'll start out what I was doing there. In a nutshell: I am a Young Ambassador for the inaugural Youth Olympic Games, taking place in Singapore from August 14th to 26th, 2010. The YOG are an initiative by the IOC to host world-class sports competitions for athletes 14-18 while also offering a balanced culture and education program (CEP) to teach them the Olympic Values, namely Friendship, Excellence and Respect. So in short, my job is to help promoting the YOG and the values they stand for.

In order to be well-prepared for my role as ambassador, I was invited to the Young Ambassador Seminar in Singapore last week. And believe me when I say that this was the most exciting, inspiring and eye-opening week I ever had in my life. I won't bother stating examples of why this week was special (which it was) and why it was more fun than stuff I've done before (which it was as well). All I can say is that after this week, I know that I must have done something right in life, as it has lead me to being named a Young Ambassador and being fortunate enough to meet with all those exceptional people in Singapore.

I've been sitting on the next paragraph for 2 hours now and it doesn't go anywhere. I just can't find any words to describe how extraordinary and amazing spending six days in Singapore with the 28 Young Ambassadors (btw: We missed you Maysam!) and the 60 CEP champs was. Just put it this way: Imagine you live in a nice country, where you always have the slight feeling you don't really belong, because most people don't dare dreaming as big as you do. Next, you board a plane and go 10,000 km away. You exit the plane and suddenly, you are surrounded by dozens of people sharing exactly the same energy and spirit you do. And although they come from different countries and backgrounds, you have no problem whatsoever having an awesome time with them. Now multiply that feeling by a million and you get an impression what being a Young Ambassador means to me.


In the next five months, I will be busy promoting the YOG to Austrian youngsters and getting in touch with the Austrian athletes qualified to go to Singapore. And even though I will sometimes get the feeling that I already have a lot on my plate, it won't matter. Because I know that there are people all around the world going this way together. And believe me or not, but I draw such an incredible energy from just this one thought that I don't have a single doubt on my mind that I will succeed with my mission. After all, I am after the best reward there has ever been: Being reunited with the YAs and CEP Champs in August...