With the development and growth of the “eXchange” programme of AIESEC Moldova more and more young people from the Republic of Moldova manage to obtain colourful internship experience in other countries. Thus, more and more blogs with interesting stories of their X Worlds appear in the World Wide Web. This trend allows us to find out about the daily reality in other countries, located even far away from our home.
It is evident that the increasing number of interns would display their X Worlds, giving other people the opportunity to get to know more countries and visit them in the future. Quite good basis of mutually beneficial international relations, isn’t it?
As for me, I will not be able to benefit from the “eXchange” programme… at least for some time. However, visiting other states is still on the “To Do” list, so new stories are waiting their turn to appear here.
Stay tuned for more life-changing experience from all over our grand and beautiful World!
As an alumnus already I have little to say regarding the newly created organizational strategy called AIESEC 2015… Nevertheless this period brings significant push to my own ambition and goals. Needless to mention they are possible with the support of my experience in AIESEC, in particular the eXchange stage.
It is due to my internship within the environmental project “Learn to Change the Future 2009” in Craiova, Romania (details are revealed in the post “PRICELESS GEM IN MY COLLECTION”), that for the first time I have been able to present my idea and ambition to establish the BioSciences Research Centre (BSRC) – an international organization aimed to combine Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), scientific research and contribution to the environment protection in my home country and all over the World. The presentations took place last summer in two Romanian cities: Craiova and Timisoara. They allowed me to practice presenting the idea of BSRC, gain self-assurance, as well as obtain several valuable contacts to use in the nearby future. So, according to the well-known concept “The Right People on the Bus” (read about it in the book “Good to Great” by Jim Collins), I have the “Bus”, and now I am in process of getting the “right people” on it.
Thus, the internship through AIESEC has significantly contributed to the establishment progress of another organization that by the year 2015 should be officially registered and actively developing to realize its vision, mission and goals.
This is how the cumulative growth is done: one success brings another… one victory leads to more on other battlefields… and so forth. And in the end, the Ambition of 2015 is turned into the Reality.
New Year. New friends. New research theme at work. New conferences and other facilitating opportunities. New form in MyAIESEC.net that might transform into a new internship experience…
Yes, I have decided to apply for another internship through the “eXchange” programme of AIESEC and obtain one more X World in my collection. The reasons standing behind such decision are the following:
1) I need more experience in the areas of my interest and passion (training / facilitation and Ecology), which is rather challenging to get in my home country.
3) Work experience and engagement into AIESEC activities in another country will contribute to personal and professional growth.
4) Freedom to choose country, city, and company / NGO / project to do internship is a significant benefit.
5) And, of course, no “eXchange” experience is complete without traveling around a foreign country, organizing cultural events, having fun with other interns and local AIESEC members, and so on.
Thus, I have introduced a new personal form (so-called EP form) in the virtual eXchange database within MyAIESEC.net and started searching for a suitable internship place. The offers have begun coming in the same day, which makes me optimistic about having another memorable experience this spring and/or summer.
So, here we go again!
P.S. Thank you, AIESEC in Balti, for accepting me for the “eXchange” programme. Count on your support further on.
During the internship in the neighbouring Romania in summer 2009 (read more about it in the post “PRICELESS GEM IN MY COLLECTION”) we went for a one-week tour around some cities in the country. One of the destinations was Brasov situated in the Transylvania region. Of course, we visited this beautiful city, but upon arrival there we were immediately invited by the AIESEC in BrasovReception Team to join them and their interns in a trip to the nearby Sinaia in a mountainous area on the Prahova River valley.
There we visited the yard and some rooms of the majestic Peles Castle (summer home of King Carol I of Romania), saw the smaller, but also beautiful Pelisor Castle (residence of King Carol I’s nephew and heir King Ferdinand and Ferdinand’s consort Queen Marie) and the Sinaia Monastery, enjoyed the astonishing view of the surrounding mountains, took many pictures, played joyful games, and so on. Our visit to Sinaia lasted only one day, but, as you see, it was full of wonderful moments to remember for a long time.
But what made me recall these moments now?
Recently my good friend told me of a wiki (webpage in the organization’s internal platform MyAIESEC.net) made by AIESEC in BrasovReception Team, where there was a video and several photos of us, interns, enjoying the trip to Sinaia. The next day I checked it, and here is what I found:
Definitely, it was a pleasant surprise to see and remember that wonderful day, those interesting events, our new good friends, and the warm and kind reception offered to us.
Thus, thank you, Reception Team of AIESEC in Brasov, for the pleasure of experiencing and remembering all this! It was the trip we will never forget!
It is the end of December – the wonderful period of sending and receiving Christmas and New Year greetings. This is also an excellent opportunity to reconnect with relatives and friends from other countries and continents.
For me this year’s holidays revealed another not so evident, but still very pleasant benefit of having an internship through the “eXchange” programme: greetings and wishes from the Hosting Local Committee (LC) and other interns whom you worked together with. It was so nice to find these from Rudy, the President of the project’s Organizing Committee, and the guys from our international team of trainers in my Inbox. They made me remember all those wonderful and sometimes challenging days of this summer experience: people we met, trainings we delivered, events we organized and attended, places we visited, and so on. Truly, the effort for obtaining an internship is worth investing in it – there are many subtle benefits that gradually reveal themselves long after the experience.
In conclusion, I wish all of you a Happy New Year, to have it full of extraordinary moments in your home countries and abroad, and then also to receive plenty of warm greetings from your new friends from all over the World!
Those, who understand Russian, I invite to read my poem “The Year of the Tiger” as a New Year greeting.
In my previous posts I have written much about the benefits of having an internship through the “eXchange” programme. Some of them are revealed after the experience itself, but it does not mean they are less pleasant to receive. One of such benefits is represented in the fact that you might become some sort of an “eXchange star” in a committee or two (or even more!). Of course, you will probably not see several lines of fans at your front door, sign people’s T-shirts, or kiss chubby babies (still, who knows!). Nevertheless, there is a chance, for instance, to appear on the eXchange promotion posters, Facebook pages, or video presentations at conferences.
As an example, here is a short webcam video made for AIESEC in Craiova, where I spent approximately two wonderful months of my summer internship:
More videos with internship experience stories, promotion of the “eXchange” programme, as well as information about other opportunities in AIESEC in Craiova can be found on the Facebook page of this local committee.
Спасибо снова, AIESEC Крайова (“Thanks again, AIESEC Craiova” in Russian)!
A month has passed since the end of my internship experience in Craiova, Romania mentioned in the previous posts (“MY SUCCESSION – REALIZATION!” and “THAT IS MY X WORLD!”). Nowadays it shines like a gem from its stand in my collection of the X Worlds.
A marvellous and, truly, priceless item!
But there is much more to admire. Just come closer and take an attentive look for yourself.
See, this facet reflects what we had DONE there as a team of seven foreign trainers within the sixth edition of the environmental project “Learn to Change the Future 2009” organized by AIESEC in Craiova.
Here it is possible to make out the trainings on Ecology and Volunteering for last year pupils done, here is some volunteering in practice in building houses for unprivileged families and cleaning the City Botanical Garden, and here you can see the city march and closing event with promotion of pupils’ ecological initiatives on the Central Square. Certainly, the last event was the most exciting and memorable: you can read more about it in the articles HERE and HERE (both of them are in Romanian) and watch the video reporting presented below:
And this colourful facet here displays the backgrounds and skills we had DEVELOPED while performing the above-mentioned activities. Observe the training and facilitation skills, knowledge about major environmental issues and sustainable development, effective communication with people from other cultures and with different mentalities, volunteering and teamwork skills, and further on.
Certainly, there are many more photos made during this amazing experience. You can have a look at the two photo albums available for visitors near the gem stand: “My Visited Places” (photos 61 – 79) and “Craiova, Romania”.
If you wish to find out more about the flow of the project “Learn to Change the Future 2009”, I offer you to listen to the spots on the Radio OlteniaHERE, HERE and HERE and watch the video presented on the concluding press conference in July 2009:
And in conclusion, there is one more video to show – the one with me telling about the internship experience during the last days of it:
Well, these are just some of the visible parts of the treasure obtained through the “eXchange” programme of AIESEC. It contains much more than meet the eye: challenges and valuable lessons learned from them, small and big victories, new wonderful friends, huge gratitude to the ones, who helped us realize the internship there, in AIESEC in Craiova, and back at home, and other hardly noticeable, but still highly important facets that significantly contribute to the overall shine of the gem.
Nowadays this X World represents an admirable addition to my collection. Perhaps I will add some more in the nearest future.
Several weeks have passed since I began my internship experience. There are many people interested in hearing about the country and city I am in, the project we are engaged in, the reception activities here, etc.
So, here is a short video about the past weeks of my internship in Craiova, Romania. Enjoy!
“The Status of the EP CODE: EP-In-MD-MD-2009-1010 has been changed to Realized” – this short sentence might be a bit unclear and meaningless to the one not involved in the “eXchange” programme. However, for those, who had or currently having their internships through it, the phrase contains a good load of emotions, feelings, experience and successful results. Basically, it indicates that the respective person had arrived in the country of internship and started his/her work here – in other words, the agreement of internship between this person and certain company / project has been realized.
Talking about my realization, it is comprised of some interesting and sometimes humorous moments and events.
First thing to say here is that I had finally succeeded in obtaining the visa to Romania. On the same day I boarded a bus to Bucharest and was off to Moldova’s western neighbour. During the trip the bus driver had decided to add some “hot and spicy” entertainment to it and had showed us several funny videos with naked people and sexual background. I had watched them with an old lady from Italy, who had not shared driver’s preferences and humour.
At the Moldovan border another unexpected thing happened. The PC of the customs officer, who checked up and scanned our passports, shut down completely exactly after scanning my document. So, we had to wait for the officer to reboot the PC and restart the software.
The adventures continued not far away – at the Romanian border. Customs officers found two packs of cigarettes in the bus, which no one had claimed to be in possession of. The officers considered it to be a part of the contraband, so they arrested the bus and verified all luggage. Not finding anything they let us go in peace in about one hour.
Next on the schedule was a walk in Bucharest with a never-seen-before-girl, who had travelled to the western city of the country – Timisoara. Together we visited some interesting places in the Romanian capital, ate chicken crisps at the train station and played cards in the train to Craiova.
All this was the start of my “eXchange” experience. Nowadays I am fully involved in the project “Learn to Change the Future 2009” here, in Craiova, being a member of the international trainers team. We have already met all participants and attended the first Craiova City Tour, visiting the Science Museum of Oltenia with the exhibition of the local biosphere and the beautiful Nicolae Romanescu Park (formerly Bibescu Park) – the largest and most well-known park in the city.
Although the project “Learn to Change the Future 2009” is an Education Traineeship (ET) that usually means providing interns with salary enough to cover accommodation and meal only, the conditions here are quite good: a nice and cosy apartment with free Internet access and a fridge full of different food products is provided and some pocket money is given at the end of each month. Thus, the conditions are suitable both for a nice holiday and productive training work.
This is just a first quick look on my X World in Craiova, Romania. There are more exciting moments to experience, more interesting things to discover, more exciting events to attend… Therefore, more X World stories to post here.
“Matched” is the status of an eXchange participant’s personal form (so-called EP form) in the virtual eXchange database, which means the company / NGO / project the respective person applied for an internship to has accepted his/her application and is ready to receive this participant in its home country.
The following status of my EP form should be “Realized”, meaning that I am in Romania having my desired internship experience. However, certain obstacles have appeared here with the biggest one to be obtaining visa to Romania. This is a silly paradox: it was so easy to receive visa to Sweden and Brazil situated far away from Moldova, but a real bureaucratic inferno to get the necessary sticker in the passport for coming to the neighbouring country of Romania. At the Romanian embassy each point and comma in the application documents were verified and asked about several times by different persons. Due to such bureaucratic challenges I am still in Moldova, although the project had started 8 days ago.
Nevertheless I have managed to apply for the Romanian visa and should get it in 3 – 5 days. On the date of receiving my passport with this sticker I will immediately board the bus and travel to Bucharest, the capital of Romania, and from there by train to Craiova.
I am still optimistic to see the “Realized” status of my EP form, in other words, to have the expected internship.
This is the virtual library of materials related to the "eXchange" programme of AIESEC. Click on the logo to gain access to various education materials, templates, planning and evaluation tools, useful links, etc.
eXchange Gifts:
This is the collection of Facebook gifts related to the "eXchange" programme. To use the application click on the logo, enter your Facebook account, choose the gift you like and send it to your friends. Enjoy!
Posted by shurikx 
