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very early on to meet the other placementstudents at a party in Pretoria. We all becamefriends quickly and we spent almost everyweekend exploring the Gauteng region aroundJohannesburg and beyond. Since we hadenjoyed travelling around at the weekends somuch, myself and another IAESTE student(from Ireland) decided to postpone our returnflights and spend 2 weeks exploring Cape Townand the famous Garden Route up towardsDurban. This was an amazing fortnight, andlooking back, it is hard to see how we managedto fit everything in during 14 days, including arange of new experiences, not least of whichwere scuba diving and bungee-jumping!My time in South Africa not only provided aperfect opportunity to apply some of mytechnical knowledge but also really encouragedme to seek a possible career in consultancy. Ialso enjoyed the amazing chance to explore acountry and culture that in some ways is sosimilar to ours, yet is also remarkably different.Finding this aspect so rewarding, I now feelconfident travelling or working abroad for anylength of time and have demonstrated thatinitial set-backs can be overcome. It is thecombination of all the above that explains whyI consider myself so fortunate to have been partof IAESTE and taken advantage of the uniqueopportunities it affords to all its participants.19th Seminar on IAESTE Development : April 22-25, 2004Tunis, Tunisia - SID ReportIAESTE International convened its 19thSeminar on IAESTE Development on April 22-25, 2004 in Tunis, Tunisia. This marked thefirst SID conference to be held in Africa and inan Arab country.SID serves as a means to bring together IAESTEmembers and co-operating institutions todiscuss issues of best practices, administration,organisational advancement and development.Unlike the Annual Conference, which focuseson the exchange of internships, SID allowsdelegates to come together and focus on thedevelopment and improvement of IAESTE as aninternational organisation. Work groups workon specific tasks requested by the previousGeneral Conference. The resulting work fromthe work groups is refined over the year intorecommendations that go back to the GeneralConference for official voting andimplementation.The conference was held at the El MouradiHotel Africa, Tunis and at the openingreception participants were welcomed by MehdiLamloum, the Organizing Committee Presidentof IAESTE Tunisia. Further remarks were madeby Mr. Jalel Ezzine, Vice President for theNational School of Engineering and by theNational Secretary of IAESTE Tunisia Mr TaharFriaa. Mr. Ezzine expressed his sincere welcomeand appreciation for the hard work of theorganising committee. Pauline Ferguson,General Secretary of IAESTE joined SID Coordinator,Jeff Lange, IAESTE United States inwelcoming participants from around the world.This year, 58 delegates were in attendance from25 countries including 11 National Secretaries.The work at SID is broken down into fourworking groups led by work group co-ordinators.The pace of the SID is extremely fast. Themeeting takes place over four days and is resultsoriented. The conference convenes an openingplenary to discuss work done since the last SIDand the work to be tackled by this year’s SID.Work groups present their results at a group fairheld on Saturday. The group fair is a postersession that allows work groups to post theirresults and gather feedback from thoseparticipants outside the work group. Groupsthen present their findings and results to theclosing plenary. The venue for the next SID andthe SID Co-ordinator are then nominated.However, SID is not only work. Conferenceattendees spend time learning about the cultureof their host country and get to see some sightstoo. On Friday evening, delegates were invitedto a Tunisian cultural evening held at arestaurant in the ancient Medina in Tunis. OnSaturday, participants were treated to a tour ofhistorical Carthage and the seaside suburb ofSidi Bou Said just north of Tunis. SID also giveseveryone the chance to share their own cultureat the National Evening when delegates sharefood and drink from their own country alongwith cultural dress and dances.The 19th SID was an overwhelming success. Aspecial thank you to IAESTE Tunisia for theirhard work in putting together this year’s SID.Mr Jeff Lange SID Co-ordinator20 I A E S T E A N N U A L R E V I E W 2 0 0 4