X

I was thinking a lot about X these days. And about AIESEC.

My conclusion is very simple... in AIESEC you do some things really, really well, but when it comes to the core product of the organization - AIESEC XP - things are really screwed up. Thinking about the people I met in AIESEC, I would say that only 20% of them actually had a qualitative complete AIESEC experience.

How come? Why? Why does this organization focuses so much on numbers and quality is so left behind? Why do you find internships where you should be a receptionist or a travel guide when you are promissed professional and personal development? Why do you have internships where you go to work and you have nothing to do all day long or when your JD is so different from what you are promissed? Why do you promote X as being the coolest experience ever and more than half of the EPs I know were dissatisfied with what they got? True, in such circumstances, you get to be much more tolerant and positive and you gain a lot personally... but why noone tells you the truth about what will happen to you? Oh.. and why people that are in EBs/MCs and think the same way don't just do something to change it?

I'm looking for an answer to these questions...

Amazing weekend

Vilnius is great!

I am simply in love with the city... The people, the parks (or the forrests), the atmosphere, the amber... Simply in love!

There were only 2 things missing... the ability to capture the beauty of the moment and him, to hold my hand while walking along the river...

Winter time already?!

2 days ago it was snowing. The temperature is maximum 3-5 degrees. At 7 is already dark. In the room is so cold that I can barely stay here for more than 1 hour.
I wasn´t prepared for this. So of course my first reaction was to complain, to be bitchy and pissed off. But I think things will get better. Or at least I hope they will.

This is how it all begins

According to myaiesec.net, I am officially an intern in Siauliai, Lithuania.

I started my experience yesterday, on a pretty cold October Tuesday. After a long flight (actually, waiting 4 hours in Prague was the boring part, but luckily I had Ally McBeal with me) I arrived in Riga. The girls were waiting for me in the airport with a really, really nice poster and an AIESEC banner. We drove to Siauliai and the moment we entered Lithuania we stopped for the traditional Lithuanian welcome: a shot of vodka (not as bad as our palinca) and bread (really good, black with seeds, home baked by a member's mom) with salt.

The beginning seemed promising. But when I got "home", things changed a bit. I live in a semi communist dorm where everything is white and cold. The only cool thing about the room was the message from my roommate. After I managed to unpack some of my stuff, we went out for a tea and then back to the dorm to chill. The people are really nice,but they are not used with internationals around them, so they speak in Lithuanian most of the time. At some point I couldn't take it and I "kindly" asked them to speak in English and things improved.

Last night was interesting, because we had an electricity blackout so it wasn't only unbelievably cold, but it was also dark. Luckily, my roommate, Laura, warned me that I should put on a lot of clothes before going to sleep and so I did. About my roommate... Her name is Laura, she's 23 and she's from Denmark. Her English is really, really good (unlike that of most of the people here) with an Aussie accent. She looks a lot like Ruth, my CCP from Brazil. She's a really nice person, very new to AIESEC. I think we will get along very well. 

Today I woke up feeling much better. I remembered one of my laws: "the moment you stop comparing is the moment you start being happy". I think that it also helped the really, really hot shower I took. Then Vika (VP X) came and brought us to the office (us means me and Sadrik - the other intern from Uzbekistan). We had a short meeting about the project and I had time to talk to Andrei and Roxi and get some work done.

So, first impressions on Siauliai:

• it's so damn cooold
• people are very nice and helpful
• AIESEC office is a really nice place and you can have tea here (this makes me happy and keeps the cold away)

I think I will take Roxi's advice and I will fall in love with my X experience...