Archive for the ‘Outgoing Exchange’ Category

It seems that Poland likes us a lot, because Karinna is going on a very nice internship on DT

I’ll let you read the JD (Job Description) and advise you to follow her example Read the rest of this entry »

Our Exchange blog has had some amazing stories about people who dared to be challenged, and took a step further in their personal development. We presented you people who left their countries to come in Romania, and bring pieces of their wonderful lands with them, and then Romanian people who left to explore this amazing world.

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We all have to deal with some cultural shocks when living in a foreign country. And we all need little tips to help us get through, take what we got and make the most if it. Today we are posting some useful (albeit funny) advice from one of the AIESEC members, who is currently enjoying an internship in Ukraine. Read it carefully, keep them in your mind:

Hope that these were useful. Thank you, Bogdan, for sharing.

GREAT NEWS!

Sanda Babiuc and Ioana Gavrilescu, two members of AIESEC Iasi are going in Exchange in Krakow, Poland! They will be interns at the Towarszystwo Przyjaciół Dzieci Orphanage.

I sent each of them an email asking them how they feel that in a week or two they will be going in exchange in Poland.

And they said…

…Sanda

“Hey dear

Sorry for answering so hard, but I was away from town.

Exchaaaaaaaaaaaaaange —> I am very excited and I can’t wait to get there!! I think that when I board the plane, my heart will shrink a lot ) I hope I’m going to make it a great experience and be a good ambassador of AIESEC Iasi.
Have a lovely day!

Sanda”

…Ioana

“Hey!

So nice you asked me :X you made me think a bit more about this )

Well I am very excited! I can’t wait to see how it is when I get there, when I meet all the other trainees and people from AIESEC Krakow. I can’t wait to see how it is at work.

I will be working with little children from an orphanage and I am a bit nervous because they do not speak much English , but very little from what I understood. This will be one of my roles actually – to teach them English. And it is hard to do something for them, to  motivate them, play self discovery games and help them when they do not speak English.

That’s why everyday I think of games and activities that would suit them.

All in all…it is the first time when I leave home for such a long time so it will be a bit hard…but I know for sure that I’ll be another person after this experience.  To do something for children with problems, inspire them and at the same time live to the full in an international environment….what can be more perfect than this? :X

I’ll keep you updated with impressions when I get there and I am sure they will be many and very beautiful.

Heh, I think I wrote a novel…but the simple thought of going and living this experience makes me dream at a complicated novel, full of action and symbols ) Life changing indeed!

Kisses!

Ioana”

Hello there! We promised more of Sanda and Ioana gone in Exchange in Poland, Krakow and here it is!

“We have been Exchange Participants in Krakow for three weeks already and it’s more than awesome!

Still, while we sit to write this, we cannot find words to express how wonderful our experience has been. Time passes quickly as we enjoy every moment. We might not have believed it before, but Exchange is indeed a feeling that cannot be described unless one has lived it.

Krakow is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe- you should definitely put it on your Must See list. We can never get enough of walking and sensing the age of the buildings or old streets. This city is full of life and we have embodied its soul into ourselves.

The work at the NGO brings us as much excitement and joy as the city itself. The staff is very welcoming and we feel like part of a family there. Working with the kids takes you to another world; one where smiling and laughing all the time is a rule. They give us so much love and treat us as special guests. We draw, play football, create quizzes, organize competitions, teach them about our culture and simply engage ourselves in any activity that puts a smile on their innocent faces. Seeing them grow attached to us as days pass by is one of the most fulfilling emotions one can ever experience.

Furthermore, after work, we have so much fun! Making new friends has never been so easy! Distance now holds a completely different notion for us as we have seen before us just how small the world is.

Romania, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Turkey, Spain, Georgia, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Morocco, and China- we have all united as one for a common goal, under a common experience.

We were told that Exchange is about people who want to make the world a better place and now, we see just how true it is. Exchange is a challenge that after going through, you can only count what you gained.

So when will you pack your things to join us in Exchange?

Lots of love from Krakow!!!

Sanda & Ioana”

And if you still crave for more we have a little surprise for you! Scroll down. You will not be disappointed!

How would you like to be in his place now?

“So, let’s start in the beginning… I was born in a small city in the North-East of Romania… HAHA just joking

My NEW beginning… Let’s start with me stepping out from the airplane into the Vienna airport. Familiar path, after a previous trip here and two months spent in this dream city, so my one-night stop in Vienna, finding my way to Paul’s place and then wondering around on my own was a breeze. Nice places, cool people – I was sorry to only spend such a short time there (though it was time well-spent, I met the new Austrian MC ). But I’m going back there for a weekend at the end of July, to see some old friends, so I’ll catch up shortly.

Let me tell you a bit about the 3-star dorm that I’m staying in The rent here is more than one third of my salary, but to be honest it’s worth every single cent!! I have a room at the 4th floor (out of 12) in one of the newest buildings in Linz, at the edge of the city, with lots of green everywhere and the mountain less than 50 meters from my window (clean air, almost no cars in sight and trees everywhere, as you can see in the attached photos). The dorm actually functions like a 3-star hotel (including a reception desk at the entrance, very cool), we have cleaning staff that take care of the rooms, a neat basement with washing machines, dryers and ironing that we can use, table soccer games (which are especially popular now during the World Cup ) and so on. My room also has a kitchen (though not every room has one, I got lucky :D), and everywhere almost everything is ran on sensors and/or automated timers (lights in the kitchen and bathroom, the bathroom sink, the electric cooker etc) – so a small heaven for a techno-geek like me And now, I saved the best part for last: we have a huge pool and a gym which are accessible to guests of the hotel – so I’ll learn to swim in no time So, it’s just a very cool way of living, little things that make your life a lot less stressful.

Ok, so much for my new home for now. Going to work my the first week here was a breeze my two new friends – Vishant, that I already told you about, and Filip, this great guy from Croatia – are also AEISEC interns staying in the dorm, and are working with me at the same company, so I had someone to show me around since day 1. Really nice, considering that it’s a 50-minutes ride from there to work so you’d get bored to death without someone to talk to… We’re planning to find some shorter way soon, and are even considering buying a scooter to go to work… Work is fun – or, it will be, once I actually get started with doing something useful For the moment, my project is in the specifications stage, so there’s no actual work to be done for the now – they just gave me some documentation to study and showed me around the company. Even the work here seems like a vacation – the company is also at the edge of the city, so it’s light traffic and pretty green everywhere, plus that Fridays here are a half-day of work so that weekend starts earlier than I was used to I’ve met my colleagues here, I think all of them speak English – which is a really cool thing – and they’re all nice people and interested in the interns’ well-being. Surprisingly enough, there are a lot of girls here doing programming and development

Good, so that’s that… I didn’t yet get the chance to visit any major tourist spots – although Linz has a tone of those!! I’ve spent my first two weekends wondering around, buying some stuff for my new home, getting used to the layout of the tram and bus lines and catching up with some work. So, needless to say I have a lot of visiting to do – one of the first things on my agenda will be to go in a boat on the Danube Then of course, visiting the Ars Electronica center as well as other museums and places of interest. It’s gonna be a busy internship for sure, so expect more posts like this one in the following weeks and months! And of course, lots and lots of photos For the moment though, I’ll just let you admire the view that I wake up with every morning here

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La multi ani de Ziua Romaniei!

Voi scrie acest e-mail in romana pentru ca, acum mai mult ca niciodata ma simt roman, alaturi de soldatii nostrii din baza militara NATO, din Kabul !!

Dupa doua luni in care nu am auzit vorbe romanesti, cu atat mai putin sa intalnesc persoane din Romania, iata ca de 1 decembrie 2009 (dupa o luna jumate de negocieri ) am sarbatorit Ziua Nationala a Romaniei alaturi de 40 de romani, care m-au facut sa ma simt ca acasa… pentru aceasta zi, militarii nostri au facut 1500 de sarmalutze ca la mama acasa, ciroba radauteana, si fasole cu carnaciori. Au ramas americanii, germanii, francezii, turcii si toti ceillati cu gura cascata cand au mancat din bunatatile noastre cu specific romanesc.

Mi-am pus o dorinta cand am baut pentru prima data vin fiert anul asta, in pahare de apa plata (sub acoperire:):) … am savurat o cana de cafea facuta la filtru (made in Romania), am vorbit romana in grai moldovenesc cu sh si tz, si m-am bucurat sa vad ca romanii nostri sunt uniti peste hotare si ne reprezinta tara asa cum se cuvine.

Care este probabilitatea ca intr-o tara mult prea indepartata sa intalnesti 5 oameni din orasul in care ai copilarit ?..mult prea mica dar iata ca aici totul este posibil.. Am facut clubul botosanenilor ..”We are form Boston city, yeyy !!”.

Dar nu in ultimul rand sa intalnesti un roman care a auzit de AIESEC si care, ma asteapta de Craciun sa dansam Lele …

Felicitari AIESEC Iasi pentru premiul pe Exchange, eu simt cu adevarat ca il meritati !!

Sunt mandra ca sunt roman !!

“I have almost two months of AIESEC  Exchange experience in Germany. The AIESEC people from here are very friendly and polite and open minded. A part of them started to call me Dracula because they know I am from Romania. I met very motivated people who work hard and with pleasure in doing their projects and this makes me want to get involved, too.”

(Raluca Oborocea, TT, internship in Germany)

“Even if sometimes I miss my family and my friends, I know that what happens now is an unique experience and I want to fully enjoy it. After  two months of Columbia life,  I can say I learned more about Colombian culture, with all that implies, I met extraordinary people.”

(Lavinia Armasu,, DT, internship in Columbia)

“Exchange program is giving you an incredible exposure to entire world; when you are in an internship in a country as India, that has more than 1000 trainees from all continents and countries, the world looks so small..The good thing of being a trainee in India, and more in Mumbai is that here you are never alone. There are so many trainees than when you come, you don’t need to search for friends, they are already here. If you want multicultural exposure and a challenge of your limits for sure India is the best place to have it.”

(Anca Onuta, TT, internship in India)

ALEXANDRA BARLADEANU

GHANA, MMRS OGILVY, June 2009- January 2010

It happened… Just as Aqua was telling me at the beginning of my internship… I felt in love with Ghana! It may be the country… and it’s definitely the experience .

I remember my first 2 weeks here… I was feeling like it was the worse choice ever, now I KNOW that it is the best one.

I felt so many things being here: excitement when I first arrived, boredom in the first weeks at work, happiness when visiting so many amazing places, hatred when I was robbed, and homesickness almost every week, gratefulness for getting to know some really great people, fear and disgust for my sleazy neighbor that peaks at me behind his curtains, and the list may go on.

After 3 months in Ghana I know what I want to do with the rest of my life .

How can somebody put in words all the emotion? All the memories? All the feelings? I know I can’t!

AIESEC is a wonderful world  It’s not a perfect world, but what is perfection?

For me AIESEC was the space where I learned incredible many things, made new friends, developed skills, gathered strength, became courageous…

Thank you AIESEC Iasi and AIESEC Romania !

IONUT DANIFELD

GERMANY, UL INTERNATIONAL GERMANY, July 2008- January 2009

UL International GmbH Germany it’s a division of UL International. It’s a company that they main activity is to certificate products for America. For example: if Apple wants to bring a new product on the market it has to have an UL Certificate. The engineers in UL (Germany, Barcelona etc.) test the product and give after that an certificate.

The division in Germany-Isenburg it’s connected with the other divisions in the world, for example Barcelona.

Aiesec gave me the opportunity to work in an international company and it’s an incredible feeling. Everyone there spoke English and I had collages from Czech Republic, Poland, Russia, Dominican Republic, Germany. They were all incredible friendly people and always smiling. When you wanted something they were always there for you and they treat you with great respect. It’s amazing to work with people in different part of world, because you can learn all kind of culture things about there countries and you can promote you’re country. Everyone ask me about Romania, how is Transilvania, how is in you’re city, what’s the history of Romania. For example, I had a culture experience with Ivan and I talked with him about Romania and Czech. I learned that Czech people say “ahoj” (hello) and Czech and Slovaks can understand each other even if they are two countries. Beside gaining experience in the work field, this cultural part of an internship. Is incredible.

Internship in numbers and feelings:

• - 6 months in Germany. Incredible how fast time is flying
• - 10 cities visited in these 6 months: Darmstadt, Berlin, Erbach, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Heidelberg, Mainz, Munchen, Neu-insburg, Wurzburg
• - 9 countries that I have friends and I know that whenever I want to go i’m more than welcome: Egypt, Germany, Slovakia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Venezuela, Brazil, Belgium, Czech, India
• - 6 months in a multinational company “UL International” that I got experience, I worked in business field and I learn how to interact with people

• - 3 apartments change in the last 6 months
• - Other 40 parties attended and talking with incredible people
• - One Aiesec conference that for me was a dream comes true
• - 6 months of blogging and other 6300 visitors and 150 articles written
• - More than 15 LCM atented in Aiesec Darmstadt
• - One speech in public in front of students of Darmstadt University … almost 40 people present
• - 3 goodbye parties: Ivan, Sadullah, Me

Internship thanks:

• - I want to thank Aiesec Iasi for supporting me in this going abroad and every time that I said that I quit
• - I want to thank Aiesec Darmstadt for being every time next to me and supporting me in every stupid thing that I wanted, and doing so many cool things for me. Because they always take me everywhere with them. Understanding every time this phrase: Englishhhhh guy

There is no such thing as good internship or a bad internship, is only the you’re internship and how you wanted to be!