Hey there! Want to hear some exciting news? Well then imagine what would be like to have in your city people from all over the world, open to talk to you about their customs and traditions: wanting to be your friends! Want to know things about our trainees? Well, we have a treat for you! Read and enjoy the article below. Courtesy of the Incoming Exchange department: written by our dear Madalina Ungureanu.

Projects can get tiresome and there are times when you might lose touch of what your purpose is. It’s not always about meeting deadlines and reaching objectives. Sometimes you have to think more about the people that are part of the same team as you; and when internationals are part of your team, then you might want to do that more often.

Try imagining exotic Puerto Rico with a pinch of Poland and Czech Republic, a dash of Estonia, spiced up with Taiwan and Hong Kong, on top of which you add a drop of Russia and some Holland. What do you get? The perfect recipe for internationalism, all covered by interested Romanians that came to find out about cultures so different from ours.

This is what happened on Monday evening, 9th August, in Carturesti. We were 11 internationals from 8 countries plus 15-20 more Romanians talking about customs and holidays from our countries. But this was a learning circle that was a bit different from the rest that we had in the past, by the fact that it was open to the public. So we didn’t have only AIESEC members that might have already been used to the multicultural environment, but also some pupils from Grow and other students from outside the organization.

We talked for about two hours and we found out that traditions mean different things to each of us, some valuing more personal traditions that arose in each person’s family, and others thinking of traditions more as social events that bring people closer together. I learned that Dutch people like to party very much with each occasion that they can get, and cherish a lot the time spent with their friends, I learned how Puerto Ricans celebrate not only their holidays, but also the American ones due to the big USA influence; I learned how Russians are quite patriotic and celebrate events that are important to their country’s history; I learned how Chinese people focus more on spending time with their families and commemorating their ancestors on the Chinese New Year and spend time with friends on the Western New Year… and so many other things.

… Martisor, Three Kings Day, Chinese New Year, special Estonian customs for Easter and Dutch Queen’s Day were all subjects of the same evening. It was a night where I felt internationalism maybe more than any time.

There was laughing, sharing and tea… so different people from so far away countries.

Yes, we do have conferences and trainings and parties and so on… but we also have people… amazing people, each with their own stories to tell and the thirst for knowing and sharing more from and with the others. We have great opportunities to know so many countries just by staying at home and talking to the ones who choose to travel here.