Roxana Negoita was in an international intership in Turkey, in Ankara. She wrote 38 things that she misses about Ankara.

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. more…

“I’m happy I went in the Czech Republic for 9 months, because it gave me the opportunity to make new friends with whom I went through a lot of experiences, good and bad, but which made us stick together no matter what. Besides that it really helped me define my values and set my priorities.”

Hi, my name is Alina, I’m 24 and I went through the eXchange program in an Educational internship in Czech Republic for 9 months.

Culturally speaking it was amazing, a different language, different people, new job, new city. They are very curios persons and very interested in the Romanian culture, also because of the similarities, both countries are NATO members and members of the European Union which didn’t took in the unique European coin. more…

Unul din motivele pentru care am ales AIESEC a fost chiar experienta exchange-ului,mi s-a parut atractiva si la indrumarea unei prietene care era deja membra AIESEC,m-am inscris si eu.

Initial am facut parte din IT challenge,iar apoi m-am inscris pentru exchange.Am aplicat pentru aproximativ 50 de firme,dintre care majoritatea mi-au spus ca nu au nici o oferta care sa mi se potriveasca. Optasem pentru un internship de tip TN,in Rusia pentru 4 luni,era singurul pentru care indeplineam conditiile necesare,adica cele de limba sau experienta in domeniu.Pana la urma din cauza dificultatilor de calatorie am renuntat la idee,era mult prea greu de ajuns din cauza vizei pentru Moldova si plus de asta mai erau si costurile calatoriei,echivalente cu salariul meu pe cele 4 luni. more…