Saturday, November 25, 2006

My AIESEC experience IS OVER

I was thinking a lot this days about how to explain my feelings related to the fact that my AIESEC XP is over. It's very hard for me and I hope till the end of this post I will not start crying.

I feel the need to share and also I want people to know the reasons why I have been kicked out from this magical organization that was part of my life (for 2 great years) and that will remain part of my life even if i have to build my own life experience, my own learning circle and try to strive for excellence and achieve great results.

I was recruited in 2004 in October and I had different experiences that helped in the process of being an change agent and I have learnt a lot:
I was part of the organizing committee of 3 great projects: Training Center, Alumni Congress, Role-Taking Responsibility stage)I have learnt many usefull things like: working in a team, to communicate, to accept that people in a team do not see things or deadliness like I do, conflict management inside of a team, public speaking skills, promotion skills, working under pressure.

After taking responsibility I had the chance to experience LEADERSHIP. First of all, I was the Organizing committee president of a national conference(OGX&PD functional Meeting). I've learnt many usefull things about conference management , how to manage a team , efficient meetings , working under pressure and together with my team managed to organize a great conference.Other leadership experience was when I was elected as Organizing committee president of CEE PBOX: Business Expansion.This project wasn't a great achievement for my local committee but for me was a huge learning experience.

I was SOL coordinator @Romania and manage to organize a national sol campaign and change some paradigms related to this issue.I've made people aware of the fact that we should help eachother and we should cooperate.
For 8 months I have been part of National Exchange team but i didn't manage to finish my term.

But what I enjoyed most in AIESEC where the people I've meet. I have a huge network of contacts and what I love most was living diversity each day. I was very interested about this part and i had the luck to bring(to match) in my local committee 6 great trainees: Marco (Mexico), Glen (USA), Luca(Italy), Cihan(Turkey), Kate(Ukraine), Sebastian(Germany) and also I've matched one girl (SN)in Poland.

I was at 15 AIESEC conferences:
-6 Local
-8 National
-1 international

It's very hard to write in few lines my huge AIESEC experience and it's very hard to understand that there is life after AIESEC...but I'm even more stronger and I know that one day I will comeback.

Why I have been kicked out? I've got two warnings from AIESEC IASI. Our internal rules and stipulation mention the fact that when an AIESEC Iasi member receives two warnings he or she can be excluded from AIESEC Iasi. Also this has to be voted by the majority of the full members.

Now it's an unpleasant part but let's try to explain...It's strange for me because i'm not crying but in fact I suffered a lot till now. I think after this message my soul will be free.

The first warning i've got was in the summer of 2005. We had a ceeder from Poland that arrived in the Bucharest airport and my mistake was that I've called somebody from @Bucharest to pick her up from the airoport even if two persons from executive bord told me not to phone them. It was very strange for me because their answer was: "Let the person stay in the airport because we can't find somebody" but I was human and I've tried to find somebody for her and I had luck to find somebody.
My mistake was that i've made a huge confusion about the hour when she will arrive to Romania.

The second warning was because I applied at an international conference as facilitator without announcing the people from executive board. I know this was a huge mistake but I didn't do it on purpose. It was 2 o'clock in the night when I applied.

I'm really sorry for what happened!!!


AIESEC has been the best choice for me until now (but unfortunatelly it's over), because it has changed me, the way I am , the way I interact , and the way I think more than I could have imagined. Coming in contact with AIESEC in 2004 was the greatest thing that could have happened to me. Every day I find new opportunities to develop myself and to make a change in the world. It helped me to think outside the box(I have a @ t-shirt with this :”Think out of the box”) , overcome paradigms , open my eyes and see how many things are to be done.Because of AIESEC I developed my own personal values , a vision and I’m doing my best to achieve it.

I know that i will comeback one day. My dream is that in 2013 my company will sign partnership with AIESEC ROMANIA in NPS(the biggest national conference).

Even if my life in AIESEC has an tragic end i will support AIESEC and i will try to become partner and sustain their projects.

I will make a movie about my AIESEC XP and I will post it soon on my blog ...all the beautiful moments I've experienced, all the people I've meet and What was AIESEC for me in pictures in two greatest years I've spent in this magical organization that changed me a lot.

I hope that my AIESEC friends will remain close to me even if i'm no longer part of AIESEC.

Friday, November 17, 2006

Rediscovering the meaning of real life

The following lines contains one of the greatest experience from my real life (non-AIESEC life).On Wednesday night I was invited by somebody special for me(thanks Simo) to go to philharmonic and listen to a great concert.

It was "Carmina Burana" by Carl Orff. Carmina Burana is the largest and greatest collection of secular lyrics from the Middle Ages. It has proved useful in understanding the goliards, and it has demonstrated that music flourished widely in medieval times beyond the confines of the Church.

In 1937, the German composer Carl Orff wrote the secular cantata "Carmina Burana," which was based on the medieval poems but did not use the original melodies. Orff's work was very popular in Nazi Germany, and has since been used in numerous TV programs, advertisements and films, most notably John Boorman's Excalibur.

It was an inspiring moment for me and made me think about my future plans. I realised in this oasis of silence that sometimes it's great to escape from the real world to be with your thoughts, dreams and with special people around.Sometimes ago my favourite sentence was : "only me with my dreams&thoughts trying to enjoy the adventure of living".

I have been touched by the moment and I felt sad because I don't go to often to theathre, opera or philharmonic.I was looking around and the people were feeling great because their souls were filled by great piano music. I was impressed by the conductor that managed to be a great TEAM LEADER and his team managed to perform a great concert.

I was struck by some amazing feelings and storm of thoughts. I was thinking about my personal life vision ,my personal values and the measures that should help me to perform.

All in all It was a nice night and I want to say special thanks to Simo (one of the greatest persons I've meet till now). I feel very lucky that somebody helped me to escape and enter the real life.