(CLICK to go to AIESEC Romania Blog) : Back home with AIESEC Romania. Questions and Answers :

   Petrovan Medeea – Katerina ( VP Finance 2010-2011 in AIESEC Brasov)

3 weeks already passed after you left Estonia and came back home. You were there on the ”Be successful!” project organized by AIESEC Tartu  as a trainer for high school students on topics like: entrepreneurial outlook, time management, personal effectiveness, goal setting and achieving, team work, leadership, communication and personal branding.

Now that you are back…we have some questions for you:

1.      Why did you go on exchange? How did you end up in Estonia?

I chose to have an Exchange experience because I really wanted to have a complete AIESEC experience and also, I had some objectives about my personal development that I could have achieved only through an international experience.

I was actually accepted on two projects: one in Estonia and one in the Czech Republic but, I chose Estonia because I felt that this is the right decision for me and also, I liked the idea of the project more.

2.       Is it currently easy to find a job in Romania? Did the situation in the job market guide you to volunteering?

” Is it easy to find a job in Romania?” – Well, it depends on how good you are; how involved you have been as a student in extracurricular activities and if you are a opened person, if you are conscious that first at a job you have to learn and give back value to the company and only after require a big salary.  I don′t consider it hard to find a job in Romania, but most of young people here do.

I knew that companies are not looking only for graduates with good marks on faculty so, yes, this might have been another reason why I choose to volunteer in AIESEC and other NGO′s, but this is only a very little reason compared to the things that really made my decide to stay involved in the non-formal field all this time.

 3.      …you study finance right? had you heard before anything about the economical situation in Estonia? was it of interest to you?

I have graduated the finance and banks faculty and now I am having my masters on audit and accountancy. In my thesis I made a econometrical analysis on the European Union countries, so Estonia was one of them. For this reason, I had a few information  about the economic situation in Estonia, but my 2 months internship there helped me understand some aspects better.

4.      …are Estonian pupils eager to put their dreams into goals and actions to fulfill them? did you notice any differences between the attitudes of Romanian and Estonian students? 

The pupils that I have met in the project were proactive and involved so I can say about them that ” yes”, they can put their dreams into goals and actions, but I don′t think I can generalize this answer to all Estonian pupils because ,as we have seen, among them there is a big lack of interest in what concerns their personal development ( and I don′t believe this is about the fact that they don′t want to get involved, but it′s about the fact that they are not conscious about the benefits of this and the need they have to develop personally).

I have noticed a difference between Romanian and Estonian students, and it is about the thing that I was just talking about: getting involved. Romanian students are a bit more opened to projects and extracurricular activities and if I should answer the question  ”Why?” ,well.. it is not because they are smarter (I think they are just the same in this side, both Estonian and Romanian students have a big potential), but it is like this because teachers always remind them that if they will be passive and won′t get involved in anything, they will not succeed in the future. So I think that this difference of attitude that I noticed  is reasoned by the education, perspectives and mindset that Romanian pupils were taught to have.

5.      What session might have been the most beneficial to them and why? What impact might this have on the Estonian society?

I think  that ”communication and personal branding”  was the workshop that they have enjoyed most. In this one, they have learned how to become active listeners, how to give constructive feedback and how to receive feedback from others, how to use body language to achieve their objectives and last but not least, what is a personal brand and how to create one for themselves.  This workshop was beneficial for them because whatever you do in life, you will work with people and to be successful, you need to know how to create good relationships with them and… in my opinion communication is the basis of a successful relationship: knowing how to communicate what you think, how to tell someone that he/she made a mistake without making him/her feel bad about it, how to react in different situations by using your body and your words, how to make people see and understand who you are and so on.

Talking about the impact that this might have in the Estonian society, I can only say that I believe in the rule of personal example so, if our students apply these things in their everyday life, they will for sure make a positive change for their life and for others lives also.

4. Was it easy or difficult for you to deliver the sessions? Could you bring an example from your life when you had to use this skills in order to reach your goals (that were also your dreams)?

It wasn′t easy to deliver the workshops because I have never been a trainer for an audience with 6 students (or less) before so it was a challenge to find the proper methods to keep them all the time 100%  involved  in the sessions. When you have an audience with 15-25 persons, you can feel the group different, but here was a totally new and   interesting situation for me.

The skills that we have worked on with the students are useful in their everyday life to become a better and successful person: entrepreneurial outlook, time management, personal effectiveness, communication, team work, leadership. So, probably as any AIESECer , I could offer many examples from my life when I used these skills, but.. what came into my mind was an interview that I had with the top management team of a 3500 employees company from Brasov. I was having the interview for an excellence scholarship that they were offering here and I remember that half an hour as being one of the most challenging times of my life because I had to prove in a very little time that, besides my marks in faculty, I have had in my life all the experiences I needed to develop and apply these skills.  I gave this example because it was a dream of mine to be the one who wins the scholarship. In this way, I got the chance to save money and pay some business conferences that I really wished to attend and also, save money to come to Estonia and come back home with the most beautiful memories of my life and knowing some of the most beautiful people I have ever met.

Do you have any regrets after this Exchange experience?

Hmm….that is a hard question. I would not call them regrets, but..there were some things that I would have enjoyed to do (or do them different at least) and I didn′t have the chance or courage maybe. But I cannot turn back time so I am grateful for what has happened and, time will someday offer me the proper moment to complete my experiences. As it is said, life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it is about learning to dance in the rain .

Would you recommend the Exchange experience to others?

Actually… I can′t even imagine a complete AIESEC Experience without Exchange anymore because it′s like the time that comes to summarize all your learning experience and link everything.

And also, not connected to AIESEC members, it really is an experience that every single youth should have.

For me it made a difference because I learned how to find solutions being alone in a foreign country; I learned how to look at my life from a different perspective; I learned how to be patient with myself and with people around me; I learned how to leave my shyness away; I learned that I can make a difference for me and for my country; I discovered that my limits can be enlarged in a way I never thought they could be .. and a lot of other things.

Be successful!
summary

Project in general:

Take the initiative!!!! The project of our students:

New record today: 3 days, 3 hours of sleep overall.

This is the article on this blog that ends (at least officially) my exchange experience.

I was sitting yesterday in Tallinn in the airport, looking at the photos that I took in the last weeks there. When the plane started to move, I had again the same feeling and thoughts ( “how can I get out of here?!”). After the plane took off, I felt that with each second I am getting more and more far away from everything.

In Frankfurt, after walking a half an hour to my gate, I still had 30 minutes until the departure. From this moment, with every minute, I started feeling that I am getting more and more close to Romania. Why?

Well… first of all.. I started hearing people talking in romanian around me (strange, but I was not happy at all to hear it and I even changed my place to have some more minutes of silence). After that… I hear an announcement : “ because the flight no 1422 from Frankfurt to Bucharest was overbooked, we don’t have enough space for everyone, so we are looking for volunteers to stay for one more night in Frankfurt and take the first plane tomorrow”.  I didn’t want to spend the night searching for a hotel with 30 kg of baggage after me, so… I put on my headphones and continued listening to my music.

Not even 3 minutes past, and I think hear another announcement about flight 1422. I take out my headphones and listen. And yeap, I was right: “ because of some problems the gate for the flight to Romania has changed. Please go as fast as possible to gate no. 54”… Great.  Another 10 minutes walk to the another gate. On my way there,  I hear again Romanians around me, complaining  and swearing the company. Again,  not happy to hear my language.

After 30 minutes, finally I start my flight to Romania. A  beautiful moon view on the window. I started feeling tired because of this lack of sleep and maybe because of thinking too much so I said.. “ 2 hours and 20 minutes flight..I could try to sleep”. I close my eyes. Too many thoughts and images are coming to my mind. Not good. I open my eyes..and look again on the window for some minutes. Almost all people around me were sleeping so I said.. “hmm, I will try again”. And once I close my eyes, not even after one minute, a strange feeling makes me open my eyes again. No one was sleeping anymore: turbulences because of the wind.

For the next 10 minutes I felt like being in an adventure park on the rollercoaster. The effect was even better this time. People were scared. I was just looking at the window, the moon view was not the same anymore; it was like a permanently moving picture in all directions. Again, I felt that I am getting closer to Romania.

I arrive in the airport, without any idea of what will happen now. At the exit, I suddenly hear my name; I turn around, and I see my very good friends and EB: Lulu, Dani and Cata. I didn’t know they will be there, so I started feeling “hm.. almost home”.

People walking fast everywhere, car horns as a permanently background sound. My own country was offering my cultural shocks now J.

Next step: 1 o’clock in the night, we need to find a taxi to go back to the city. I start to smile and I say.. “ guys.. there are taxis everywhere. What are we waiting for?”.  And my friends answer..” Hey, Medeea… you are in Bucharest, in the middle of the night.  We have to wait for the right taxi! These ones won’t accept us”. Yes… even if, legally you have to pay 1.35 lei per km, in Bucharest, at that hour in the night, outside the city.. each taxi has it’s own rules. Some drivers ask 3.5 lei per km, some ask at least 100 lei (around 25 euro) to get us to our flat when normally the ride should cost 30 lei (max).

We started to ask each driver… “ can you get us to “Titan”?”, and the answer was… “ How much do you offer?”… “well… we offer how much the paying clock will show!”.. and in the next second.. they were closing their window and pretending that we are not even there. Hm… feeling even more close to Romania, minute by minute.

After almost one hour, we found a taxi that accepted to drive us to our place according to the law and the rules J. On the way, the city looked very alive. Cars driving fast, people in a hurry, lights…

The only thing that I had in my mind was.. “ Welcome back Medeea, welcome back to the “jungle” , welcome to Bucharest”!

I realized that I will need some days to get used to my this places again, to the rhythm of life, to the rules of life. I had cultural shocks about my own country ..

I will stay another 3 days in Bucharest so I will have time to get used to it. My city, Brasov, is a loooot different..the people, the rhythm of life is not that crazy, the rules are rules and so on, but my schedule will be so full that… I won’t have time feel the difference. This is a good thing actually, because having a lot of things to do can help a lot somehow.. not to think so much anymore, not to feel how much you miss the people that you had around until yesterday.

So here I am, back to Romania, trying to get used again to my own country. It is a beautiful country. Very beautiful one. You just have to be in the right place, at the right moment, and you will find Romania as being “the land of choice”.

I miss everyone from Tartu already and I hope to come back there soon.

It would be like a breath of fresh air, every time.

 

PS. Hope to see you soon in Romania!

I am on the bus to Tallinn, going to the airport.

The last two days here were very intensive.. with only 2 hours of sleep.. trying to put everything in order before leaving.

Yesterday after our final event of the project I had a shock : “ Oh my God, tomorrow I am leaving Estonia!”..

And now… here I am… going home.

It  is very hard to describe what I feel.

I was counting my last days here.. and yesterday night.. I counted hour by hour while writing to the people that made a difference for me here.

When we arrived in the bus station.. I couldn’t take my eyes from the clock in front of the bus.. 11.48..11.49..11.50……11.54.. It is like knowing that in 4 minutes a part of you will die. You don’t know if you want to cry, or to laugh, or… you want to run away to make it faster and to finish it.

11.56 was the moment when I started saying goodbye to people that were there; the ones that made my experience here worth and that will always remain in my heart; the ones that I trust and that I know that will make a difference.

I realized what was happening only after the bus started to move and turned around the first corner; the moment when I asked myself..”when will I see them again? When will I talk to them again?” ,”when will I be next to them again?”… and the general answer was “ I don’t know!”…

That is … the moment when you wake up and the only thing that you can think of is.. “ how the hell can I get down from this bus?!?!”..

Strange feeling to watch the streets, people, nature.. asking yourself..” when will I come back”..

General answer again… “ I don’t know”. (this part of my life is called “confusion”).

It is all about the people…

I will miss you. I already miss you.

“we are a little of all the people that we meet; we are the sum of our experiences”

In one week, right now.. I am preparing to get off the plane in my country; see my friends, go back to my city; spend some time with the people that have been part of my life in the last (many) years.

Today my countdown started here.. one more week. So, with this come a lot of thoughts, feelings and questions: Was it enough? How can I take the best out of my last week here? What would I like to change and how can I do it?  Who am I thankful too and for what? How did this experience changed my life? How am I going to live my life from now on after all the things that I have learned here? And so on. Many questions that I answered sitting next to the river and a very beautiful tree that someone has showed me here. Probably the most beautiful place in Tartu.

The last 3 days here have made the difference for my experience, because … when you start feeling that.. “ Oh my God… I don’t have time anymore”… the learning process is  faster. And so, those three last days have helped me to summarize and to stabilize all the things that I have learned.

The most important thing that I have found out again…is that we really are the creators of our own lives; we have the power to decide what our thoughts are, what perspective to have for some specific situations; we can decide our limits; we can decide how much sole to put in something and control our feelings; we can choose our values and become whatever we want to become.

Many people have asked me..” what kept you so long involved in the non-formal environment? How did you have the power to be part of so many things and why?”. Well… today, sitting next to the river I found my answer: the people. The most beautiful feeling that I can have is when I feel that I can create experiences for people around me.

We all have our story.. and we are the creator of our life story.. and this story is the sum of our experiences and the sum of the people that we meet and that become part of our lives.

When you feel that your actions, words and feelings help people writing a little part of their story..well, that part of my life is called “happiness”. I realized again today that all the material things that we have, all the money..they are just a way to count the value of some experiences (either is about your experiences or the experiences that you create to others)  but in the end… everything is about people.

What I feel now is gratitude for all the things that have been part of my life: good experiences, bad experiences (in the end… who can judge if a experience is good or bad besides me?). everything that I have lived every day in the last 22 years, every page of my story..was because of the people that were in my life.

So… if you read this, I just want to tell you one single thing: THANK YOU for being part of my story.

There is no perfect experience without “what the….?!?!” Moments. You need them to understand better the differences and to be grateful for your everyday life here. There could be funny moments, strange moments and..other moments..:)

Here are some examples:

1)    Ticket checking:

In Romania, you can choose to buy a bus ticket (or not) to travel by bus in the city. (it is your choice and your risk if you choose not to). The ticket control is made by some employees of the bus company that are disguised as normal passengers and.. suddenly, they take out their badges and start controlling people in the bus. The people that don’t have a ticket most probably will get a fine (but there are a lot of cases when you can find the right excuses and come to a understanding with the controller J.  Here in Estonia, while I was travelling by bus in Tallinn, suddenly the bus stopped next to a police car. 5 people costumed as police officers came in the bus and started to check every person. The ones that didn’t have the ticket were taken by the police, “invited” to go in the police care and… God knows what happened to them next )).

2)    A normal day in our dorms, 11 o’clock in the night. Suddenly, Anya, one of our flat mates comes in and says: “ Girls, we have to go to the hospital now!”. The girl from the third room of our flat was diagnosed with a very dangerous disease and we had to take some pills to prevent contamination. After that, we have spent some time until 3 o’clock in the morning cleaning each and every little corner of our flat and disinfect to be sure that the risk is minimum. All people from Raatuse who had any contact with her had to take the pills, so… in that night, all our dorm knew about our apartment.

3)    The bus schedule says that leaving from Lahte ( a place near tartu where we have one of our schools for Be successful project) there is a last bus at 7.25 PM. We have finished our workshop and arrived in the bus station at 7.15 PM to be sure that we will be there in time for the bus and waited…and waited… and waited… So here we are, 8 o’clock, alone, in the middle of nowhere, without phone credit, knowing only “Tere” and “aitäh” and how to count until 10 in Estonian. And, because AIESEC really is everywhere, we met two AIESEC members that were coming from their job and that had the same problem: “ how to get back to Tartu?!??”.. We tried to hitch-hike ; no car stopped. So… our last solution was to go back in the school hoping that we will still find someone inside at that hour and to ask for help to go back in the city. Our luck was that right then, a teacher was closing this office door and accepted to take us back to the city with his car. ( but because we were 5 people, only the girls went with him and our 2 colleagues remained there until someone came from the city to pick them up) .

4)    Erasmus floor: the floor is alive by night and very silent by day. You can find here cultures from all around the world… opened people that are opened to talk to you anytime. By night… people are gathering together and have a lot of fun together. If you want to get some sleep in Raatuse 4 th floor… you should better be very resistant to noise .

I was asked to define my exchange experience in only one word, and I think this was the hardest task that I got since I came here. I tried to search for that word that could define all the feelings, the thoughts and the limits that were enlarged in the last weeks here.

The only word that I think I could choose now is “change”. Why? because this experience has been until now about changing my perspectives, my stereotypes, my thoughts, my limits, my believes, my feelings.

You come here, used to live your comfort-zone life, and you find every day new challenges: “ How about doing this?”, “how about going there?”, “how about trying something new?”… you ask yourself, but in the next moment you hear “ no, I have never did this, I can’t”; “ no… what if I make a fool of myself?” “ what if?.. what if?… what if?”

I write this article to thank to a special friend of mine from Tartu; because she is the one that made me think twice before saying “no” to a new experience in my life. I will never forget her words: “ Medeea, let go.. as much as you can!”.

And also, I want to thank another special friend who’s words I will never forget: “ this is your Exchange, it’s your one life time experience, so you better make it worth it”.

And, there is a last third person who I would like to remember and to thank for giving me new perspectives about my life, my career and leadership.

I will sooo miss you guys, you can’t even imagine.

Thank you, LC Tartu.

 

On our second workshop we have tried to find answers to quiestions like:

                                                           Who are you?

                                What do you want to achieve in your life?

                                        How can you achieve your goals?

                      How can you stay motivated on your way to success?

 

So, remember the most important ideas:

•  What do you want to achieve in your life?

-         What is the vision of your life?

Remember that the vision is not concrete; it is your dream.  You will never be able to measure it, but you will always tend to get closer to it.

-         What is your goal?

Remember that Goals have to be SMART! ( specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bounded). You need to know your goal very well, to be able to measure it in order to achieve it!

-         What objectives can you have in order to achieve your goal?

Remember that if you want to achieve your goal, you need to sett smaller and SMART objectives, to be always sure that you are on the right way to your Goal and so, to your vision.

-         What is your strategy?

What are you going to use to get there; How will you get there?

 

• Use Time management to achieve your goals:

*Step 1: Remember your SMART objectives very well!

*Step 2: Prioritize!! Find your three main priorities and FOCUS your activities on these!

*Step 3: Organize and plan your activities:

Organize your activities: write down all your activities and use this instrument to organize them:

Plan your activities: use the method that suits you most!

*Step 4: Control your time!

Tips and tricks to control your time:

-         get to know yourself, your personal working rythm and plan your day according to this!

-          60/40 rule: plan only 60% of your day. Let 40% available for activities that will appear and could be “important and urgent”

-          Pareto Rule: 80 % of your results will come from 20% activities

-          Plan in detail

-          Keep your objectives close to you. Visualize them!

-          Plan time for yourself!!

-         Don’t forget about time thieves! Control them!

For our students, this project is not only about attending workshops that will help them in their everyday life and future careers; it is also about taking the initiative!

They will have the possibility to apply everything that they learned and to come up with ideas for their personal project that will be based on a necessity of Tartu community.

Until Saturday, students will come up with ideas, and after that we will be ready to take the next step: planning the project!

Don’t complain about the things that you don’t like around you, GET INVOLVED! TAKE THE INITIATIVE!

What I miss about Romania (ongoing update :

- punctuality; being on time and starting activities on time

- the mountains

- fresh baked pies that can be bought on almost every street

- the rythm of life: people are faster in everything they do

- cheap taxi

- Andos, Bistro de l’Arte,  Mado(Romanian restaurants/ Bistro  where I use to eat and drink my tea

- IRIS concert (my favorite band:)

- planning things effectively (keeping promises)

- effective communication: communicating things clear and in time

- workaholic schedule