looking back: EuroCo 2006
The cutest and most random team in the whole wide world!
Thank you for making my EuroCo so special ;)
Thank you for all the meetings, conversations, fun, support, laughs, keeping cool in stressful situations, being always one team, enjoying the conference and especially the people...
Thank you for standing up for the challenge and dealing with it so well!
The most beautiful and most inspirational conference site I have ever been to (twice by now ;) ) Hotel Biser stuff higly cooperative & flexible, just amazing!
A place that can be so full of life and so calm at the same time. Magic of the Lake Ohrid... and a lot of sun.
And these are people who made it happen. My whole Conference Team. Unfortunatelly, besides them, I didn't get to know many other people... but they made up for that ;)
Simple and sincere
thank you to every single person.
Let me know what you are up to!
I am sure I will hear about you...
Chapter EuroCo 2006 almost closed, however I am already in the middle of the next one called WeGrow 2006. Three of us carrying the torch from EuroCo to WeGrow.
Yey, Portugal, we are coming!
thinking about: how my "who" relates to my "where"
Thanks,
Bee for the thought... that's exactly what was on my mind last couple of days... or weeks?
Two basic things are going through my mind:
1. does my "where" reflect my "who" fast enough?I am balancing quite a few roles in my life at the moment. Each of them is actually bounded to a location on this planet. None of these locations are actually the same. It's fascinating to decide about your locations ;)
I am a wife, so I should be in Medellin, Colombia.
I am a daughter, so I should be in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia.
I am a student, so I should be in Bratislava, Slovakia.
I am a friend, so I should be in Slovakia, Switzerland, Colombia, India, Thailand, United States, France, the Netherlands and many other places around the world.
I am a WENA Board Member, so I should be somewhere in WENA ;)
I am the EuroCo Conference Manager, so I should be in Struga, Republic of Macedonia.
I am the WeGrow Conference Manager, so I should be in Albufeira, Portugal.
where am I?
Travelling all around the place ;)Constantly changing my location and allocating my time to all my roles. I am trying to be everything at the same time. And the priorities are shifting all the time. Suddenly, I noticed that my physical body is about 3 days behind my role as I always need to be thinking in advance to be able to plan my priorities, actions and decide on my next location.
Yey, I am enjoying my life! Here, now.
2. how strongly is my "who" influenced by my "where"?If I change the location, how strongly does that location-bounded role become dominant?
It's easier to play a role in a matching environment. But what if I suddenly need to be someone else in that environment? Can I fullfil that other role in an excellent manner as well?
It was tough to be a loving & supporting daughter in the Republic of Macedonia.
It's equally tough to be an excellent WeGrow Conference Manger in Banska Bystrica.
And, it is extremly tough to be a caring & sexy wife anywhere except of Colombia.
But it's feasible. You just need to find the right tools to "deliver on your duties" ;) Thank God for internet, skype, msn, mobile phones and fast transport ways. These hold my world together.
Yey, I am enjoying my life! Here, now.
Sami's experience in Colombia - online
Surprise, surprice - after resisting for a long time, my dear Sami started blogging...
You (and hopefully me if I learn Spanish in next few weeks) can follow his own & his colleagues experience right
here I am looking forward!
my room & my city
so, here I live at the moment...
Did you know that you can even read about Petrzalka, the most concrete part of Bratislav and currently a place where I spend most of my time, in Wikkipedia?
Check it out
my Sami is famous!
Sami's already in Colombia, starting his internship within a PBoX of AIESEC in Colobia and the Colombian government regarding forced migration within the country.
His four months are starting with the Introductory Conference in Bogota, where he and other 14 trainees are getting ready to start their experience. And he's already famous! You can see him and read a bit about the programme (in Spanish) just right
here.
(thanks
Bee!)
This is what he wrote to me:
I am even trying hard to become famous here in Colombia ... :-) No, seriously, they just wanted sb. of the trainees to say some words in the opening conference - and lucky me - thanks to a very DIRECT democratic process (YOU DO IT!) I was elected to do so... quite horrible but at least I know that there is space to improve :)
The trainees and the Colombian participants are really cool. We're having a very good but intensive time together. Besides the many speeches and conferences that we listen to (all in Spanish) we have activties in the evenings like going for a drink or typical food downtown or on a hill with an awesome view over Bogota. All fine! And I'm looking forward to go to Medellin on Saturday or Sunday as everybody tells me that it's a great city with the best LC in Colombia. Well then, let's go!
Samilickyliiii, I miss you and I wish I could be there with you!
I'm coming in January - already counting days!
Lubim ta
Arrived home.... Or not?
hmm, it's been a couple of weeks since I left Switzerland and headed to Slovakia. Or home. Or my country of origin. Or to my parents' country. Or to the country where I study. Simply, I am in Bratislava now.
It's pretty interesting here. I can't decide if it's better than I expected or worse or just different. Before leaving, I really REALLY didn't want to go. I was nagging about it so much that even Sami told me to shut up and stop pitting myself. Since I arrived, I can't solve my relationship to this city. It's like one big flirt: you like it at this very moment, but in 10 minutes, you hate it.
Imagine, when we arrived, everything seemed so dirty to me, people were not smiling and always thinking only about money and how to cheat each other... 1:0 for me
Then, Sami and I went for a meeting to an NGO called league Against Cancer as Sami is looking for a job here in Bratislava. That was a shock for my "anti-Bratislava" mood. People working there are just great! You can see the spirit, the ideas they are working towards - they know why they are doing their job! And, it's NOT for money. I didn't believe that there are such people in my country, but luckily, I was wrong. Score: 1:1
Another fear: I don't know anyone at the Uni anymore... It'll be strange to try to get to know so many new people.
Reality: not true! So many people are still around. I didn't expect it, but it is so! Some of them even my friends! Result: 2:1 for Bratislava
Another misconception: Petrzalka, the ugliest part of Bratislava with the "cubic" architecture of the 1980's (imagine a neighborhood built up of houses that look like shoe boxes) will be my home. How not to get lost there? How far is it to find at least an okay not talking about cozy place?
Discovery: 2 minutes from the building I live in, there is a "Singing Fountain" - a fountain with music, light and water show every evening!
Bratislava is now leading 3:1
Morning traveling to my University is a nightmare (not only because my classes start at 7:30).
One bus + too many people = getting to know your co-travelers' smells from very close & no place to hold on
3:2
My classmates are another chapter: I am shocked how passive some of them actually are. And how disappointed from our University they are - so many bad experiences with bureaucracy over here! The more "unusual thing" you do (e.g. an Erasmus semester or breaking your studies for a year) the more punished you are...
On the other hand, those ones, who've already done something or been somewhere, understand that they are learning for themselves and are not studying for professors.
Score: 4:3 - a little lead in positive points for Bratislava
Finally, in the last year, we approached interesting classes! Learning about the world, most important events of last 15-20 years, is really cool! Presentations I've seen so far, were of a high standard. Interesting conversations (not only two monologues happening inbetween each other...)
5:3, should I say?
And, bonus at the end: My little brother, Martinko, is studying in the same city and we can meet a lot. I was missing him a lot! He had an internship in Vienna over the summer and I managed to visit him there quite a lot in last 2 weeks. He showed me Vienna and I fell in love with this city. He knows the good ice cream places...
Overall, my settling down has been really good. The only down side is internet - I still have no connection at home and have to fight for a cable at the Uni. This reminds me that I actually AM home.
My Slovak "me" is being renewed. I am back. And I feel good about it.
