My name is Berche Roxana and I was an exchange participant for 2 months, in 2010, in Izmir, Turkey. During my Development Internship I was part of a local project called Myself My world. My main responsibilities were: organizing learning circles for high school students grades 10-11, encouraging students to speak in English, giving lectures on subjects such as Effective Communication, Time Management, Presentation skills, Leadership and preparing social activities such as art, drama, music, sports related to the previous lectures to make students interested.

You may ask what did exchange mean to me? It meant having the chance to give lectures to a group of 100 high school students and never fear public speaking again, learning once again that body language is an international language and having the opportunity to be a representative for my own country.

It also meant having the opportunity to meet more than 20 other interns from different countries and realizing that we have more things in common than we would had ever though, the challenge to see what it would have been like to be born in an another country and last but not least the chance to appreciate my own country and our heritage.

Even if my experience had ups and downs I would definitely recommend AIESEC’s exchange program. In order to have different results you need to do something different! I advise you to go challenge yourself and see what you are capable of doing. Go in exchange!

Roxana Berche

Development Internship in Turkey

Arriving in Cluj some people were already waiting for me to pick me up from the airport.

  From the beginning on people took really care of me and were very friendly, so I felt warmly welcome from the beginning of my time in Cluj. Cluj has a lot of international trainees. In the first days I met people from New Zealand, Greece, Ukraine, Poland, Azerbaijan, Puerto Rico, Hongkong, UK, Georgia, Turkey and Moldova. We also had a big global village in Julius Mall to present AIESEC and to get to know each other.

In my internship I worked in the Sunny Days project. It was a development traineeship. We worked with a Romanian NGO and socially disadvantaged children. Sunny Days was held in two centers of the NGO. I worked with Irene from New Zealand in my center. In the other one we had Giannis from Greece and Giorgi from Georgia. The work in Sunny Days was at the same time hard and interesting. I learned a lot about myself in this time.

The NGO works under very difficult circumstances, which means there is not enough space for too many children. We initialized presentations and projects about drug abuse, prepare yourself for the future, ecological day, human rights and the European Union. Additionally we presented ourselves and our countries. Even though the internship was difficult I learned a lot there and wouldn’t wanna miss this experience.

At the whole I had a great time in Cluj-Napoca. I made a lot of good friends there and people were very hearty to me. I always felt welcome. I also had the chance to visit the country and travelled to Sibiu, Brasov, Craiova, Pitesti and Bucharest. Also in these cities I met AIESECers who took care of me. Partly I even had free accommodation. My personal highlight was the RockMe-conference. As the only international delegate I had the chance to join a Romanian AIESEC-conference and it was a great experience for me. I got to know the people from LC Cluj-Napoca better  

and met so many Romanian AIESECers from all over the country. It was my 10^th AIESEC-conference and the first one abroad. So it was something really special to me.

I cannot close my little report without saying a few words about our network. I already knew Giannis from Greece from an AIESEC-conference in Germany last year. It was just nice coincidence that we met here again. But I also met Cristina from Brasov and Oana from Bucharest again. They were also at the same conference back in Germany. And after my internship I started travelling with Irene from New Zealand and we went to Belgrade where we met Branka, who was again also at that conference. What do I want to tell you with that? AIESEC makes the world a lot smaller and gives you so many great opportunities. In these 2,5 years I’ve met AIESECers from about 40 countries and no matter where I go to now, I know people in nearly every country. No matter if Wellington/New Zealand, Thessaloniki/Greece or Cluj-Napoca/Romania and these are just a few examples. And you don’t just meet any people. You meet people that want to have a positive impact on their countries, their societies and the whole world. An these people do something. They act.

So I want to thank AIESEC and especially LC Cluj-Napoca for an amazing experience. You were the most hearty people I could imagine.

LIVE THE DREAM!!!!

FOAIE VERDE CLUJ-NAPOCA

Alex, 27, LC Giessen, Germany

 My birthday was one day after I arrived in Cluj Napoca – but still, the LC threw me a surprise party, something I will never forget. The LC arranged group trips to sightsee around Cluj and there was never a moment where I felt lonely or without someone to talk to.

For 6 weeks, I worked on a development internship with disadvantaged children in Cluj, gaining work experience with a Romanian NGO. It is expected that there will be some challenges when working in a different country,but as I have learnt, it is your attitude towards the project which is important, and with hard work, creativity, persistence and most of all communication with your colleagues, it is easy to have a positive and worthwhile experience.

Furthermore, in Romania, I have met people from all over the world, travelled to beautiful places throughout the country and made friends with local people from all walks of life. With all the conflict and tension in the world between countries, I strongly believe that it is organisations like AIESEC that are essential in promoting peace and cultural understanding between different countries.

The opportunity is there for exchange – and you just have to say yes! I have done 2 exchanges in India and Romania and it has been an unforgettable experience. Working for an international company or organisation is the best thing you could have on your CV and travelling abroad with AIESEC means that you have a group of friends waiting for you when you step off the plane. The friendships and memories you take with you will last a lifetime, and it is a great way to network and make connections with people all over the world.

Thanks to AIESEC, I now have the confidence to do what I want to do – and I feel like I’m just getting started. Thank you, AIESEC Cluj Napoca!

Irene McDowall, New Zealand

To me, travel means adventure; so I ignored the raised eyebrows and headed straight or the unknown- into the lush green lap of Transylvania, Romania. I don’t think I could have asked for a better AIESEC experience.

Romania is a land struggling to get back on its feet, both financially and politically. Yet there is always place for beauty- you’ll see her revealing her pretty face through colorful cottages, dancing crimson tulips on window sills or the adorable cobble-stoned piatas. Having spent most of my time there in Cluj Napoca, a student city, there was never a dearth of activities. The streets are lines with cafes and bars, not to mention the Transylvania International Film Festival (TIFF), which was held during my stay there. With the overwhelming reception I received, I constantly had people to hang out with, at parties, to see the city, or just for a chat over marzipan coffee.. yumm! This description would be incomplete without a mention of my adventures backpacking through Transylvania.

LC Cluj helped me organize a trip across some of the most charming medieval cities. On the whole, I met some amazing people, not only in Cluj and while traveling, but also through my trainings. The students were warm and receptive, far from my expectations of hormonal 9th graders! The memories I formed are lasting, and so are the friendships. I would do it all over again if I could!

Jehana Vazifdar, India

Right after the intensive leadership experience as a conference manager in January 2010, I decided to go for exchange on the same issue- Corporate Social Responsibility- which completed the whole issue-based experience. I joined the Sustainability Education Program which was a national project in Romania as a developmental traineeship to spread my impact internationally. Following your own passion could help you identify what do you want to achieve in an international internship experience, at the same time, fulfill your internal desire.

Spread your impact directly and indirectly

In Romania, I have directly spread my impact in the local community by conducting workshops on sustainability to the university students in Cluj-Napoca. It was not only to enrich their knowledge and awareness to the issue, but also empowering them as change agents to contribute back to the society. Besides, I have shared my skills and knowledge which I had developed through previous leadership experience to other trainees in the same project, so that more people can be influenced. Apart from learning from other people, I could utilize my leadership experience to make a bigger impact both directly and indirectly.

Cultural experience

Living in another country could definitely let you immerse into another culture that you are not familiar with. I can never imagine that how trains delay normally for one hour; how people eat food at random hours; how people have so much fun all the time and so on. It is totally a different lifestyle that I have never experienced in Hong Kong. Though they are not as wealthy as we are, they are happier and simpler than we do. With less enjoyment of materialistic life, it is full of invaluable friendship bonding among people. We do not rely on luxurious entertainment, rather we just spend the time together in a café, in a pub, in a park or in a dormitory. Maybe it is called the real friendship.

At the same time, you can know more about your own culture by identifying the cultural differences. When I am living in Romania, I start to realize that people in Hong Kong are quite cold-blooded and keeping distance from each other since people in Romania are more intimate and caring than us. People do treasure how much fun we have together instead of how efficient we are. I have been paying extra attention on what we eat and how we eat because I have noticed a distinctive difference on the food and drink.

Personal learning

Undoubtedly, my knowledge has been enriched throughout the exchange experience. I have a better understanding of the reality of social issues faced in Eastern European countries by observation and discussion with local people. The roots of those problems are not only due to socio-economic circumstance, but also the adverse influence of Communist mentality. Those are not ad hoc problems, rather they are systematic failure of the government and institutions. This also reminds me that Hong Kong is really advanced and developed, despite the severe criticism against the government. Meanwhile, I gain an insight that unless you really talk to people who are suffering, you can never understand thoroughly about the reality.

Moreover, as my project is highly related to Corporate Social Responsibility, it provides me a new perspective about CSR and the third sector in Romania. CSR is quite a new concept for students and it is not a common practice in Romanian community. It can be seen that CSR is not a prioritized strategy because the general public demand the transparency and governance of the company at the first place. Besides, the non-governmental organizations in Romania vary in quality because there is no systematic regulation and rule, for example, some of them are not organized and structured. The third sector in developing countries still has a long way to go, nevertheless, it is an important actor in improving the society.

My facilitation and training skills are also sharpened because of continuously practices. When I am facing with different audience, the method of delivery could be very different. I could not realize that if I have not participated in the trainings with university students, AIESECers and high school students. At the same time, I gain lots of confidence in delivering workshops even facing with foreigners. I could able to share and discuss with other trainers which let me gain some insights from another perspective.

Give and take

This life-changing experience reinforces my belief on ‘give and take’. I always hold that belief when I am helping other people. Do not focus on how much you can gain and you can take from that, but focusing on how much you can give to others. It can be a very little thing you may give to others, but you may get something invaluable in return. This attitude really makes me reflect on my own living values and views about true friendship. That is what a life changing experience means to me.

Hello, my name is Gaurav Sathe, a trainee from Mumbai, India, on an internship in AIESEC in Cluj-Napoca in May-June 2010. Here are some important things I feel you should know as a new trainee in Romania:

1. It is always good to learn one to ten in Romanian as it will help you out from time to time. Learn simple words such as good night (noapte buna), good (bine), thank you (merci), yes (da), apa (water), etc. since it will help you build relations with people such as the watchman, canteen-guy and other such persons who will be happy to help you since you are making an effort to learn a bit of their language.
2. Don’t be late. Things here work on time and Romanian people are too nice to tell you that you were late but frankly I feel it is considered very disrespectful in their culture to be late.
3. Be involved with the LC as far as possible. Especially if you are an AIESECer back home, it is really nice to see how AIESEC here is different from AIESEC at home.
4. Use your trainee buddies. As I understand it, these guys signed up to help you out with whatever you need. Do not feel that you are exploiting them; I feel that every time they are successful with helping you out with something, it gives them great joy in doing so, and in not asking them for anything you are simply not allowing them to reach their goal, i.e., making your experience special.
5. 

   Alcohol is cheap, I know. Especially to my Indian friends, keep the level of drinking at moderate. Don’t get too excited and lose control, it has several consequences. I learn this the hard way.

6. Culture shock may happen to you and you may not realize it, but these are the symptoms: you will try as far as possible to stay alone or at home, not go out and talk to people. You will miss home and think of when you will go back. But here is how you can beat it-call your trainee buddy and ask them to take you around the city. This can help as you will see things that are not like home, and will remind you how lucky you are to be here.
7. Attend every single conference available to you. These are honestly once in a lifetime opportunities and should not be missed out on.
8. Trust your trainee buddy with anything and everything. You can have full faith in them and they will be more than willing to help you out with anything in the world.
9. If you have absolutely nothing to do and you want to spend time on facebook, go to the office and use the internet as compared to Iulius Mall as you will meet people by just sitting in the office. Not only this, you will probably end up spending money on something at the mall!
10. 

    Don’t think you can get away without a ticket on the bus. The control will come at the one single time you decide that its ok for once and you will have hell to pay.

11. In case you wonder where you can wash your clothes, call your trainee buddy. (This effectively demonstrates how you can rely on this person!!)
12. If you want to travel the country you can do so easily on weekends, just let the Reception and Servicing coordinator know, they will make arrangements with the LC where you are supposed to go and they will host you. Do not hesitate to take this step, Cluj is just a part of Romania, there is a whole country out there to visit.
13. There may be times when most of the LC members have examinations (including your trainee buddies), and there is nothing you can think of to do. In this case, ask your trainee buddies if they can just suggest something you can do, I faced such a situation and my trainee buddy gave me several options on how I could spend my time.
14. Make sure you have a plan on your phone. It is very very unwise to not have one, most people have Orange connections and it is highly advisable to take a plan that has free Orange minutes and text messages so that it saves you a lot of money.
15. 

    It may happen that you wake up at a time when you’ve missed breakfast at the dormitory canteen and it is too early for lunch. You are however extremely hungry and need to eat desperately. Here’s how to solve this problem: buy cornflakes (or your favorite cereal) and milk from Iulius mall, Auchan (supermarket) specifically, but make sure you buy the milk that does not get spoilt even though it is not refrigerated. This type has “UHT-3” written on the bottom of the packet.

16. Eat Sarmale and Mitittea (Mici) the first chance you get. They are amazing.
17. Enjoy every minute that you’re here in this country; it will be over even before you know it. (I learnt this the hard way too – just ask any AIESECer in Cluj-Napoca how )

„Hy, my name is Monica Abrudan, I’m 24 and I’m a programmer. In the spring of 2009 I decided to give my career a little bit of colour by involving in social development projects.
I wanted to do volunteering at the British Red Cross, ONU or UNICEF, but I was refused because of my lack of working experience in the social domain.

Fortunately, AIESEC offered me a chance to participate at social development projects through a Development Internship of 2 months in Egypt. I worked at an NGO, who’s purpose was the development of the cities/villages around Alexandria. One of my main responsibilities were participating at the organizing of this social project.

Besides my professional experience, I gained much more culturally speaking. Egypt was the first country I visited outside Europe. I found a new culture with different traditions, religion, food, family relations, clima and… traffic.
Soon after I returned from this internship I went in another one again through AIESEC and lived another grate experience.

AIESEC offered me the opportunity to try a totally different career in my professional development and I loved it”

Monica Abrudan
AIESEC Cluj-Napoca