My experience in Romania doesn’t starts at the time I landed at Constanta’s airport. My experience in Romania starts an afternoon, while I was posting a forum from my university. I was looking at the topic of “traineeship”. And there, I saw a post that said “If you are looking for a traineeship in another country, just call this number…”. And my AIESEC story began.
It was a matter of time to go abroad. Actually, I was just waiting to finish my June’s exam period and then to go for a traineeship in another country. Till that time, I started to get involved in AIESEC’s actions and activities. I started to realize that one of my worse decisions in my life was that I didn’t join that organization before. So, after taking some experience in the organization, by participating in a couple of conferences and in some learning events, I took the decision to go for a traineeship in another country.
For me, it didn’t matter at all in which country. The only thing that really mattered was the job description. I was searching and searching for a good job description with the guys from AIESEC, I was sending emails with my CV and further information, but nothing was fitting to me one hundred percent. So, I was a little bit disappointed about that but an afternoon, it came up a really good job description out of nowhere.
I accepted it immediately, without even see the destination. I was so happy about the job description, that I didn’t even look the rest information. So, after accepting that proposal, I started to check the rest information. It was an educational traineeship in Romania. It was great. I checked for tickets and I searched for some information about the place that I was going. By that time, I started to chat with my buddies there and I was starting to build my firsts friendships.
The time pasted and an afternoon, I was in Constanta, at the airport, waiting for my luggage. From a small window I saw two girls, with a small Romanian flag and a white piece of paper that was written in Greek “well pissed, Yiannis”. It was great! Till my first morning there, I didn’t have realized that I was in Romania. It was something that I realized in a really great way.
My first morning there, I had my greatest experience in that traineeship. I spend the previous night in an AIESECer’s house. I woke up at 9 o’clock and I went out at the court and I meat her parents. They are great people. They offered me coffee and a chair to sit. They didn’t speak English but they had a great smile on their faces. Actually, I couldn’t even speak English because I was thinking like being still in Greece.
It was the best morning there. We had a great conversation for about two hours. We spoke about history, music, politics, Romania, Greece, food and so many other things. They spoke to me in Romanian, by using some English, French and some other language’s words. They even said to me some words in Greek. I was replaying in English, French, Italian and in every other language I knew a word. We used our body languages to effort our speeches. It was great!
The days were passing so quickly that I didn’t even notice that the last day had come. It was like yesterday the day that I went to the hostel, the day that my roommates came at the room, the day that I went to my first training, at my first conference. Everything is like happened yesterday. I had great time there. And that is because all the people that I have meat there that made those two months so unique in my life’s calendar.
I was staying with three amazing girls from three different countries. Staying with them was like living in heaven and in hell the same time. They are three girls, completely different from me and each of them, with the others. We had our good times and our bad ones but in general, I think that they will agree that most of our time, more than ninety percent, was a great time. We had our crazy moments, our funny moments, our personal moments and our sentimental ones. It was a great school for me to stay with them.
But the same time, it was like hell for me. I had to look after three awesome girls that everyone felt in love with them. Noone could say which one was the most pretty. And that was the reason that everyone wanted to be in my shoes, to stay in our room, to have a piece of the great everyday life that I had there. But noone ever thought that I had also to be there for them, to make their life easy and joyful, as they made it for me with the big difference that, I had to look after three girls and they had to look after only one guy, me.
And if you think that taking care of one girls is difficult, try to imagine how difficult is for three. I am just joking because it was the best thing that I could do as a reward to those things that they do for me (cooking, cleaning, ironing, massage, styling advisors, etc). So, that was the reason why I participated in two conferences there (taking a break from our room life). That was the reason I felt so free and so great during that time. I enjoyed so much both conferences, each one for a different reason.
The first one, that I had the honor to be the chairman, it was for people that they considering to go for a traineeship in another country. So, I had the chance to speak to them, to share with them my experience and to make some new friendships. Some new friends either from Romania or from other countries and we spent there some really great time. All of them are people that it will be difficult to forget.
The second one was with the local committee from Constanta. There I had the chance to dream with them, to plan with them and to fly with them. I had the chance to know them better, by spending time with them. I had the chance to be part of their team and to share with them my thoughts about their future. It was a great challenge for me and for them. It was a challenge that I think that we will all remember.
I kept for the end the main purpose of my trip there. The trainings that me and the other two girls we were delivering. These trainings I think were the biggest challenge for us. These trainings that they didn’t had anything to do with our previous life because we are students in the university and not teachers in a school. But I think that we succeed in them too. I think that it was a great experience not only for the participants but also for us. We learned as much things as they learned and even more. Not only that, we made some new friends.
Some new friends that I am really happy that I meat them, I am really happy that they I had the chance to share with them some of my knowledge and to brainstorming with them so many new perspectives of the things that we were talked. I am so glad that I had the chance to improve myself through their comments and their feedback, to see new perspectives that I didn’t saw before and to get some of their eyes sparkle.
Sparkle, that I had so many time to see in someone’s eyes. But they were not the only ones who had a sparkle in their eyes. Actually, everyone had a different sparkle in their eyes. That is the reason why I thank everyone of you for my experience in Romania. But as it happens always in the human relations, there some people really special for me. Some people that I had the chance to spent some more time with them, to know them better and to speak about few more thinks. Some people, that the time I was with them was so amazing and so different. These people, knows who they are. We had already said a lot of things and we know that we will have the chance to see each other again.
I have to close this post because it become really big and nobody will spend time to read it. But before ending it, I have to say to all of you a great thank you. A great thank you about the things that you have done and you changed me. About the time that we spent and now is one of my greatest time periods in my life. About the things that we had discussed and about the conclusions that we made because they will change my point of view in few things.
I wish you, to have fun and to take care of yourselves. I wish you will enjoy every moment of your life and every of your dreams to become true. I hope you had such great time with me as I had with you. Bye and see you another time…
P.S. 1. I am here for few days and I already miss Romania.
2. If you want to comment, you have to click below the word “σχόλιο”, you write your comments in the white box and then you press the orange button that says "ΔΗΜΟΣΙΕΥΣΤΕ ΤΟ ΣΧΟΛΙΟ ΣΑΣ" (for those who don’t know Greek). You can also open these pages with translate.google.com, by just copying the url in the google translator's box.
3. About the photos and the all the things that you want from me, please, be a little patient because I am studying a lot and I don’t have a good internet connection. In the beginning of the October, when I will finish my exams and I will be in Athens, I will sent you whatever you asked me and what I had promised to you. This is the deadline. But I will try to make it sooner.
