March 9th, 2009
(9 Votes)
One hundred posts ago I started blogging here “the the place where I lay down my thoughts, where I shared my experiences gathered passing trough this voyage called life”. The day it all began was April 12 2005. I started blogging to keep my friends updated during the time I was in the Netherlands as an intern in AIESEC International. It was easier to share my experience than everything else out there but I can’t say this was entirely my idea. I got inspired by Arthur, and I still am when I read some of his posts. He’s one of the few who managed to leave a mark on my life and I’m forever grateful for that.
Almost 4 years, 1426 days, 19271 visits, 100 posts and 202 comments later I must say that I’ve changed a bit since this journey began, well who wouldn’t? I’m all grown up now (sad / smiley face). These 4 years have been a hell of a ride … I’ve had my share of good and bad, made new friends and became disconnected from others, I’ve traveled, I’ve teached, I’ve messed up, I’ve inspired, I’ve learned new things, I’ve made some people happy and I’ve also made some people sad. This is all part of this thing called life.
August 11th, 2008
(3 Votes)
Last month I was asked by Nico, a good friend of mine to deliver a training at the Train the Trainers conference held in a village near Pitesti. This is kinda’ sorta’ the first time ever since I’m an Alumnus to be an external at a national AIESEC conference, so I was quite surprised … in a good way :D.
I must say they did everything right in the way they handled me … a month in advance notice, numerous reminders and documents explaining the agenda, objectives, transportation, etc. I’m usually very hard to please regarding these things. Well believe me I could not say a bad word, not one, regarding the whole process from start to end. I quite honestly have never been better handled since I’ve became an Alumnus. It reminded me of an older similar experience.
I’ve had two things to prepare, a “Video’s in presentations” learning circle and a “Presentation skills” training. I knew I had to prepare these trainings as people from Dale Carnegie, real good trainers would be delivering there and I felt I had to live up to the expectations. It felt really good doing research and preparing my trainings, the Power Point actually Keynote[1] presentation. It was reminding me of the old times :), nights spent preparing, the joy of delivering, the satisfaction of doing a good job.
- This is the Power Point alternative on Mac OS. [»]
December 17th, 2007
(2 Votes)
I’ve been writing less lately, especially because my laptop broke down and I couldn’t write from home anymore. After a long time I have it back and now I’ll try to write more often.
I can say that life’s good right now, there is no need to complain about the small challenges or little things I’m dealing with every day. I do realize I have a lot: relative health, family, real good friends, a job, a bank account, what to eat and a roof over my head; All this and the fact that I’ve been traveling around Europe this year, visited 5 countries[1], some of them twice and spent more than 3 months abroad. This is quite something :).
Right now I strongly feel the need to settle down. I want stability on personal level, more than anything. I’ve started spending more on myself, and I’m taking steps to bring more balance in my life. I want to live a healthier life, stop abusing this body of mine by working all day, eating one time a day mostly junk food, and sleeping 4 hours a night. I’m trying to get myself to exercise, swim, get out in the open. I’m not 18 anymore and it shows, whenever I’m stepping over the limit.
- Austria, Germany (twice), Italy (twice), The Netherlands, Turkey. [»]
December 14th, 2007
(5 Votes)
Hey guys,
I never missed an LTS[1] but this year it was really close. I’m glad I didn’t. It took some skill to convince my brother to drive 200km :). The drive there was nerve wreaking because of the poor quality of the road, tight turns and icy road. We arrived in the evening right in time for the Alumni session. I don’t think we’ve been so many ever. We talked from the heart about old times about the beginnings, challenges and advice. We definitely did our magic there. Afterwards all of us went to find a suitable place to try out the beautiful layer of snow that had just fallen down that evening and spent 3 good hours, riding downhill on plastic bags, banners or whatever we could get :).
- AIESEC Sibiu & Ploiesti Newie Preparation Conference. [»]
August 14th, 2007
(5 Votes)
I’ve had some time to think lately. In one of the evenings back in Rotterdam as me and Kiks were walking back home, Kiks spoke about his experience. He gave me a different perspective of my life, of me and AIESEC.
I’ve been in AIESEC for six years, six years of my life. I was struggling so hard to make a difference, to leave a mark of my passage. In the end my efforts seemed so fruitless, witnessing all my work, everything I created being erased. Becoming nothing. Dust. For a while I was so very angry with myself, with the others. I realized that my time was gone and that right now there was so little I could do, to fix things.
What I didn’t get is that it didn’t matter … what guarantee do I have that AIESEC Sibiu will still be here in 5 years? Or that AIESEC as an organization will still be around in 50 years? All that hard work, all these efforts and sacrifice of generations simply won’t matter.
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