B
BICC was slowly coming to an end. The big, final day we’ve all been waiting for was closer than ever. In the morning, it was time for our hard-working teams to wrap up their work and finish the 24-hour-long case solving. As I was approaching the hotel everything seemed so calm, as if everyone were in their rooms sleeping. It was only us from the Organizing Committee who knew that the hotel was more alive than ever in those early morning hours.
As the clock was ticking and counting down the last minutes of case solving, I found myself nervously walking up and down the hallway of the hotel. “Are they okay? Will they have enough time to finish their work? I hope they are not asleep.”. Those were the thoughts going through my mind as I was waiting for the clock to show 12pm, which had meant that the time for work was over. It was time for me to come inside their rooms and pick up their presentations. Even though I was expecting to see exhausted faces, I got only smiles from them and that showed me how important it is to stay positive even when things get tough. Seeing them after so long made me really happy and I couldn’t wait to hear how the night went (yes, when you are inseparable with your team, being away from them for 24 hours seems like a lot of time). At that moment, ambassadors had the responsibility of making sure that case solving ended on time and that their solutions were delivered in short term to a certain place. After we made sure everything was perfectly fine, we were all able to take a deep breath, relax for a bit and focus on what’s coming: final presentations.
Teams and their ambassadors were given freedom of choice to organize the rest of the day as they wished. In order to gather up all impressions from the night before, and some energy as well, my team and I went to a nice restaurant close to the hotel. There we had some good food and spent quality time together. During that time I was able to see that the guys from my team were true professionals: after putting in so much work and effort into case solving, and knowing that the most important moment was yet to come, they remained calm, optimistic and determined to make the most out of this experience. The rest of the day was reserved for resting and practicing final presentations.
My team, which consisted of four amazing guys from Concordia University, was kind enough to accept me as their team member.
I can proudly say that throughout the competition we have bonded enough to have a relationship full of trust and amazing team spirit.
I guess that is what happens when good intentions coming from both sides collide: our efforts to make them feel welcome as well as to make this competition a memorable experience and their great energy, friendly attitude and openness to everything we have to offer. Seeing that our teams are having fun with us makes all of the hard work so worth it.
It is incredible how you can get so attached to the people you’ve met just a couple of months (or even days) ago.
I can proudly say that overall, we have gained a unique experience, lifelong friendships and unforgettable moments and that is what makes being an ambassador at BBICC so special.