THE AMBITION OF 2015

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.

Additional information about the presentations of the BioSciences Research Centre (BSRC) is available in the post “NO MORE AMBITION… TIME FOR ACTION!“.

MEMORIES OF CRAIOVA

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)!

PRICELESS GEM IN MY COLLECTION

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: 

 

The next facet reveals you all places of interest we had DISCOVERED during the two-month period of our internship: the modern Science Museum of Oltenia and the grand Nicolae Romanescu Park in Craiova, the exciting Village Museum in Sibiu, the beautiful Botanical Garden in Cluj-Napoca, the rich Peles Castle in Sinaia, the astonishing view of the city and the Black Church in Brasov, the nearly eternal beauty of the mountain chain in Busteni, the large Victoria Square in Timisoara, and much more. 

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 Oltenia HERE, 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. 

And what about you?

How many X Worlds will you have? 

THAT IS MY X WORLD!

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!

So, do YOU have YOURS?

MY SUCCESSION – REALIZATION!

“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.

MY STATUS IS “MATCHED”!

 

“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 internship place I have applied for is the international project “Learn to Change the Future 2009” organized by AIESEC in Craiova in Romania. And now I am officially accepted to come to Craiova, which is at the south-west of Romania, and join the team of 7 interns from Canada, Lithuania, the Russian Federation, Slovakia, Turkey, Ukraine… and now also the Republic of Moldova. Together we must deliver some trainings on the environment protection to high-school students in Craiova and involve them in the improvement of the ecological situation in the city.

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.