(2 Votes)

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Planning
Going to Düsseldorf by car was my idea. Gwen^[1] was telling me about visiting a friend in Düsseldorf, by train. As I had a similar experience two years ago, I proposed to rent a car and have some fun together. The best part is that I came only with the idea. Martin and Gwen handled the rest (renting a car, checking gas prices, mapping routes).

Issues
Till Friday all was done, except a little thing that slipped our mind: Gwen doesn’t know to drive a stick-shift. Imagine: in the U.S., they actually give you the driver license on an automatic shift.

So, I^[2] was teaching Gwen about the “extra” pedal called the clutch. Things started OK, on the first try Gwen actually started the windshield wipers^[3]. After a nice test ride in the city all was prepared. We went home to pack and started our journey.

Well … not quite, a few meters of the parking lot Gwen managed to place the car in the middle of the road and because being stressed and all she couldn’t manage the fine moves of the clutch and gas pedal required to get the car moving forwards. OK, we moved … in small steps, hick-ups, engine dying, engine start, car shaking, hick-ups engine dying. As this kind of movement was killing the engine, building a long queue behind us and was not getting measurable results, I^[2] had to take over and drive a few blocks to a parking area.

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1. Annual Report CEEDer. [»]
2. No driver license, failed my driving written exam 3 times. [»] [»]
3. In the U.S. some cars have gear shifting on the wheel. [»]

(1 Votes)

286 views

The return to Amsterdam was planned a week ago. I wanted to see the city again … see how much my perspective has changed. We got at the train station 2 hours later than we agreed up-on :). Typically! I think I got somewhat lazy in this 1,5 months. Waking up at 9, reaching the office at 10. I will have real problems re-accommodating once I get back home as Romania is also one hour ahead.

Well we got there eventually but the other party was also late. We enjoyed a smooth ride to Amsterdam Centraal mostly glancing out the windows and chatting. The city has pretty much unchanged in my eyes, except maybe for the huge number of people (mostly tourists) walking down the streets. I felt like in Bucharest … simply too crowded and too noisy. I wished I could visit some of the museums there, but our crowd was so undecided … I learned my lesson: having more than 4 people around when traveling is not a very good choice. Everyone wants to go somewhere else, everyone wants to eat something else, everyone has different ideas on how to achieve these and in the end nobody gets what he wants.

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(1 Votes)

615 views

I love water, this is one of the reasons I like The Netherlands so much. Everywhere you look is a canal, a lake or the open sea. I choose to see Kinderdijk this weekend … mainly because it because it involved a 35 minutes boat ride.

Saturday it poured down all day and the sky cleared just 20 minutes before our departure. Nothing unusual in The Netherlands. Weather here changes from sunshine to heavy rain and vice-versa in just a few minutes.

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(Not Rated)

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I’ve flew 3 times with Alitalia … and the 4^th flight home, will be my last one with this company. In these 3 occasions they managed to:

1. Be late to a total of: 6 hours.
2. Change the day of my flight due to delays or other events: 2 times.
3. Make me pay for taxi or food, others due delays: 200 RON.
4. Make me wait at the airport in line for: 4 hours.
5. Make me run trough Milan Malpensa Airport to catch my connection: 1 times.
6. Lost my luggage: 1 times.
7. Bring back the wrong luggage: 1 times.
8. Recover my luggage in: 3 days.
9. Break their own rules about luggage assistance if recovery lasts more than one day: 1 times.
10. Have an inadmissible attitude (flight attendances): 2 times.

The Lion.

(Not Rated)

219 views

A lot has been going on lately and I haven’t had the chance to update my blog. I’m gonna write now about the most recent developments and come back later with some nice moments from the past month :).

On the road again … this time back to The Netherlands, a place forever in my heart.

Some time ago while I was working, an e-mail caught my attention. It was about an application for the Brand Principles Meeting in Rotterdam held by AIESEC International. Branding is a dear topic to me, as I’ve worked for one year together with Paul, for the creation and implementation of the AIESEC Romania Brand. I’ve also been a support entity for the implementation of the Global AIESEC Brand. During that year I’ve traveled a lot around the country and also had some of the most awesome experiences of my life.

So in not so many words, I decided in the last 2 hours that I must be there, just to contribute and see how the AIESEC Brand will develop.

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