Budapest, EuroXPRO 2009 and Bucharest

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In March I was going to realize one of my dreams since 2004: to facilitate an international AIESEC conference, a big one!

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It was a conference for the future leaders of AIESEC in European and North American countries bringing together 200 people from a bit less than 40 countries.

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Of course I had to take the opportunity to travel by train and as it was safer, I took the option to pass by Budapest in Hungary because I was travelling alone. So I had the chance to visit a bit of the city, the CEE GN hosted me and I had a got time there.

Me and Barbara who lives in Budapest and who showed me the city :)

And this is just a bit of the city (I’ve broken my camera in Rome so now I only have mobile pictures but it's not that bad hein?).

Then I got to Bucharest in Romania to meet the team I was going to work with. Just to highlight that in this team was included David who was part of my Executive Board in Lisboa when I was President in AIESEC Lisboa ISCTE which was a great feeling!

So, having in consideration that this would be my last international conference my expectations were very high, I wanted to feel the AIESEC spirit, give quality sessions, bond with my delegation but also to get to know the Portuguese, spend time with some old friends, basically to enjoy it to the maximum!!

And I did, EuroXPRO was the best last international conference I could have, it was very relaxing as facilitator! Maybe because the entire team was so high profiled that the level of trust was above anything I have experienced, so I was not stressed out, I didn’t have to do late work or anything, I was relaxed even during pre-meeting. Besides that I loved the closing plenary, it was perfect...

And it was amazing to see Croatians there, to see them taking over and to see that Croatia will stay in good hands next year. Also it was great to see them bonding with Portugal and listen to them sharing their points of view about both countries.

And I got to meet the Portuguese which was also great because sometimes I feel so distant from AIESEC in Portugal.

And last but not least the conference was amazing for me because… I felt myself again (maybe some people won’t understand but…). I recognized myself, the best part of me, I was again the person and AIESECer I was before Croatia and it was an amazing feeling, I felt big and strong, and it felt good to realize that I am here, I’m still here! I got so much positive feedback from delegates concerning my sessions and it was very rewarding.

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On the other side I also felt that most of the time my full potential, capacity and knowledge is not used in AIESEC in Croatia... but how to change it?

Afterwards I had opportunity to see Bucharest. It’s not an amazing and gorgeous city but it has its magic, it’s definitely Balkan and it has so much influence from different countries and cultures.

So this is the Romanian Athenaeum which is a concert hall in the center of Bucharest.

This is a photo of a small garden belonging to an Orthodox Church.

And this is the Palace of the Parliament, which is the world’s second largest building after Pentagon.

And to finish my experience I leave a video that the Faci Team has created about the Faci roll call. If you were not in the conference it won’t be so funny but… I like it.

Obrigado, Hvala, Mulţumesc and Thanks to all who made my last international conference so special and perfect :)