THE X WORLDS OF OTHER MOLDOVANS

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.

For instance, recently two more adventure-seekers from Moldova have gone on internships to two different corners of the World: Africa and Asia. Elena Scutaru has decided to visit the “Africa in miniature”, as the Republic of Cameroon is usually called, and nowadays she shares her experience on the blog “Cameroon in plain Moldavian” (in Romanian). Sergiu Matei has chosen the busy streets of the great China – you can read about his adventures on the blog “Din Moldova in China” (in Romanian).

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!

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!“.

HERE WE GO AGAIN!

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.

2) New contacts are required for supporting the realization of the BioSciences Research Centre (BSRC) idea.

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.

ADVENTURES IN SINAIA

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 Brasov Reception 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 Brasov Reception 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!

GREETINGS FROM THE X WORLD

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.

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)!

3 X WORLDS… FROM THE INSIDE

Internship in Romania through the “eXchange” programme of AIESEC described in the previous post “PRICELESS GEM IN MY COLLECTION” is a valuable and unique exhibit in my collection of the X Worlds. Still, it is neither the single, nor the first one. Before applying and going to the internship through “eXchange”, I was responsible for managing this programme on the local, national, and international levels, supporting other people in obtaining their high-quality internship experiences.

The very first X World revealed its benefits and challenges, when I entered “AIESEC in Chisinau” here, in the Republic of Moldova, and joined the eXchange Department as the so-called eXchange Development Responsible. We were a small, but quite united team with a kind and passionate leader, Irka Perdeleanu. Although we did not achieve significant results, still our team was the first one to introduce various eXchange management instruments in organizational projects and activities, establish the basis of reception practices, negotiate country-to-country partnerships, and implement other important innovations for the growing “AIESEC Moldova”. Members of this generation of the “X Guys” obtained significant leadership positions and organized impactful projects in their further AIESEC career.

Here is a short video showing some moments from the wonderful experience of that period:

Then came the Evolution: the National Executive Board (usually called MC EB or just MC) of “AIESEC Moldova” was established, and it happened so that I became the first “eXchange” programme responsible (Vice-president of eXchange or MCVP X, as it is officially called) on the national level. Thus the excitement and passion, as well as multiple challenges continued with both old and new nice, hard-working people already in two local committees: Chisinau and Balti. Together we also brought valuable improvements and innovations to the “eXchange” programme here, achieved certain growth both in quantitative and qualitative parameters, and promoted the potential of “AIESEC Moldova” on the national and global arena.

A glimpse of that extraordinary and memorable term is presented in the following video: 

The local and national experience was followed by an international one, when I got selected for a virtual team called the eXchange Quality Board (XQB) that is responsible for supporting AIESEC International in developing qualitative parameters of the “eXchange” programme on the global level. 15 devoted individuals from different countries and regions lead by a very responsible Chair, Felipe Dalcin, spent a period of one year working together on reviewing the international policies and standards of the programme, creating and releasing educational materials, coaching AIESEC committees in other countries and supporting them in solving quality-related cases as effectively and efficiently as possible. After finishing the XQB 2008 – 2009 term these people have proceeded further by becoming presidents of national committees, going on internships, or getting suitable and desired job places.

This video shown at the 60^th AIESEC International Congress displays the staff and main activities of this interesting and colourful virtual team:

Truly, all these three X Worlds were some amazing experiences I enjoyed to live! Many objectives were achieved, many challenges were overcome, many valuable learning points were received, and, of course, many good friends were obtained. Thus, the opportunities were worth taking them. And if you have even a small chance to be recruited in AIESEC and offered similar opportunities, do not hesitate – go for it! You will have a lot of pleasant moments to remember afterwards… and many people to thank for the time spent together… as I do right now.

No doubt, I am highly grateful to all those people, who shared the above-mentioned experiences together with me, and say “Thank you!” for the knowledge, skills, challenges, and fun moments you gave me then. For it is true that “as the Great Pyramids are built of many stone blocks, so the success of a person is made of many contributions”.

There was passion, there was pleasure

Of sharing our common treasure.

Now it’s gone. We’re far away.

Nothing more there is to say.

But sometimes, at life’s next veer

You might see a random tear…

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? 

THE SCIENCE OF AIESEC: CONTINUED…

 

In the post “THE SCIENCE OF AIESEC” it was written about the third scientific article with the description of AIESEC and the “eXchange” programme to be published in summer 2009. And here comes the update: this article called “Entrepreneurial Preparation for Young IT Specialists in Moldova” is published and available for anyone to read in the book “Promotion of the Information and Communication Technologies in Education”.

 

 

In order to inform you of its contents, here is the abstract of the work:

“The article displays the challenge of lacking business preparation for IT students in the Republic of Moldova. As a solution the project “OPEN i” is described: general overview, goals, main stages and actions, impact, etc. In the end the list of actions to establish the entrepreneurial preparation for young IT specialists in the country is presented”.

The article “Entrepreneurial Preparation for Young IT Specialists in Moldova” has been added to the Library of the X Worlds, so that you could download and read it (available only for AIESEC members registered on www.myaiesec.net).

Thus, there are three scientific articles about AIESEC published so far. But I suppose it is too early to put a “point” here. Therefore, the concluding phrase of this post is:

 

 

IXPQS – THE SOUND OF YOUR SUCCESS!

Today is already the beginning of August 2009, meaning that my term in the virtual team eXchange Quality Board (XQB) 2008 – 2009 of AIESEC International is over. During the whole period of the team’s activity we have realized important initiatives and delivered significant results for improving the quality of eXchange experiences on all levels: local, national, regional, and global. Here I want to tell you about one of them – the so-called IXPQS 2009.

IXPQS is an abbreviation for the International eXchange Policies and Quality Standards. In simple words it is the set of policies and standards that regulate AIESEC’s eXchange programme on the global level. In order to ease working with IXPQS it is divided into six main parts (documents):

1. International Exchange Policies – Contains all the overall policies related to the eXchange programme;

2. Statement of Understanding – Defines the roles and responsibilities of all parties of the programme;

3. Complaint Procedures – Explains the procedure of raising complaints and the quality case solving process;

4. Exchange Process Standards – Displays the minimum AIESEC services that must be provided to an intern or organization;

5. Privacy Policy – Outlines the use of information provided by interns and organizations;

6. Annual Revision Process – Explains the process to review and improve IXPQS.

In 2008 the XQB team drove forward the initiative of revising the previous version of IXPQS (2005). It was necessary due to changing of the primary eXchange-managing instrument (transition from Insight XP to MyAIESEC.net), various inputs from countries and needed support to boost the eXchange growth both in quantitative and qualitative parameters. As a result, the new version of IXPQS (2009) has been officially released at the beginning of this year. It has continued to play the role of the primary eXchange quality management tool in AIESEC.

But what are the most important changes implemented in IXPQS 2009? Here are some of them for you to see clearly the importance and benefits emerging from the revision results:

- The maximum number of internships per person has been changed from two to as many as possible within the limited period of 36 months abroad;

- The minimum duration of an internship has been reduced from 8 weeks (2 months) to 6 weeks (1.5 months);

- Possibility to apply for the eXchange programme at the age up to 30 years;

- Simplified eXchange Measurement System and other necessary updates.

Thus, IXPQS represents a powerful tool to manage the eXchange programme for all sides involved in it: eXchange participant / intern, organization / project, and AIESEC (Hosting and Sending Committee). It supports the satisfaction of the participating organizations and individuals, sets clear expectations of each party of eXchange, maintains good relationships amongst them, contributes to the promotion of internships, and, of course, stimulates the eXchange growth.

And all this is not just simple words – I have really used the eXchange Policies and Standards to improve my internship experience that I finish nowadays. These documents have helped me to define my rights as an intern and the responsibilities of the Sending and Hosting AIESEC Committees and push them to improve the servicing related to the eXchange programme.

To sum up, IXPQS is a great instrument to manage high-quality eXchange experience for all parts of the programme and on all levels. Truly, it can serve as one of the key sounds of your success.

If you wish to learn more about IXPQS, you can view and download the presentation I have made recently for my session on the eXchange quality.

Also I suggest you to take a look at the wiki “IXPQS Wiki” containing the latest updates and education materials on this topic.