Young Ambassador 2.0

Hey folks,

It was with some guilty surprise that I discovered that the last entry in this blog dates from exactly one year ago. On September 8th, 2010, I blogged - in the aftermath of the mind-blowing, life-changing, memory-waking first ever Youth Olympic Games in Singapore - for the last time. Until today that is!

As you might now, the sequel is ante portas - the first ever Youth Olympic Winter Games are going to take place from January 13th to 22nd in Innsbruck, Austria. Not only is it a source of great pride to have such an exciting event in my home country. I also got the chance to once more be part of the amazing Youth Olympic Team Austria as a Young Ambassador for the Games. I feel both humbled and honored to be given this role once again. Humbled, because I was once again selected to be part of an outstanding group of incredibly talented individuals, speaking of both the Youth Olympic Team Austria and my fellow ambassadors. Honored, because I have now the opportunity to carry on the legacy the first generation of Young Ambassadors created in Singapore. However, I am not saying this because I want to teach the "new" ambassadors what our job is all about. Believe me when I say that they knew more than well what our role is all about from the start.

In the last couple of days, we were invited to Innsbruck for the Young Ambassador seminar. In this series of workshops, discussions and plenty of hands -on activities, we were briefed on our mission in the time before, during and after the Games. For us, this was a great opportunity to see all the activities Innsbruck 2012 has in store for the athletes in it's Culture and Education Program (CEP).

However, apart from the "informative" part, the seminar was also a great way to meet all our fellow ambassadors. We did some very much appreciated venue tours to the usual hotspots (i.e. bars and clubs) and engaged in team building activities that lasted until the early hours of the morning :). Before leaving for Innsbruck, I did not really know what to expect. Of course I knew from experience what a great event the seminar was going to be. I was a little worried, though: "Having already experienced the seminar, could it maybe be less exciting than the first edition?".

I have to admit that I've been wrong quite a few times in my life - but believe me: I do not recall having been THIS WRONG about anything in a long time. The Young Ambassador seminar was again a mind-blowing experience, where I can hardly find the words to describe (which, knowing that I usually don't have a hard time talking, should tell you how great it actually was). The organization was just brilliant (special shout out to Verena, Anni and their volunteers for doing a tremendous job) and we were taken care of very well. However, there are 32 other good reasons why the last couple of days were so outstanding: The 32 Young Ambassadors, coming to Innsbruck from all over the world to contribute to the Games in 2012. I know that I might lose some credibility due to my quite inflationary use of superlatives, but believe me when I say: The Young Ambassadors, both in Singapore and in Innsbruck, are part of the most incredible people I have ever met.If you think that I am getting overly sappy talking about them: Just watch the guys in action and see for yourself :).

In the future, I hope that I will manage to put some regular updates on this blog. It's gonna be once again be a mixture between facts on the Games - especially the CEP program that I am responsible for as a Young Ambassador - and some personal thoughts. The blog is going to be in English 90% of times with some French or German maybe thrown in their as well once in a while. Feel free to comment on or share any of my stories.I also hope that I can do a layout relaunch pretty soon, since right now, it kinda looks like some Gothic metal fan page ;). Last but not least, just for the record: This blog is in a first-person, diary-type format and I am not trying to take the role of a journalist (special shout out to Kate :)).

Looking forward to the months ahead and hopefully see you in Innsbruck 2012!

So long,

Flo

Pictures: © Innsbruck 2012, all rights reserved. Click on the pictures for further information!