My next step

After HMS I had time to taste more international dinners and to say “see you soon” to new friends:

But November is a month to make decisions in AIESEC, or at least to start thinking about them. For me it wasn’t an exemption.

In these last months in Croatia I had my ups and downs, my victories and defeats, I have learned to appreciate this country, I’ve understood how relative our principles can be and I realized that in life I have to define my own standards. And although it was the most difficult decision I took until now (at least the one that took me more time) I have decided to apply for MCP of AIESEC in Croatia for the term 08/09 because I believe I can contribute and because I still feel I have much to learn with this country and experience.

Thus, during CNC (Croatian National Conference) the elections would take place which includes speech, election panel and Q&A, so in the previous weeks I allocated time to read and above all to speak with people.

Then CNC came and I have to say that the whole experience was very important for me. Applying for the same position was also Sinisa, the VP Finance.

I couldn’t have chosen better person with whom to share this experience. I didn’t felt in any moment that we were opponents, I always felt that we were actually together in this challenge and experience.

Parallel to this was always the usual crazy parties from AIESEC Croatia. You need to experience it to understand the whole atmosphere and craziness, I definitely advice: Alien Party Fun here ;) My Functional Team Who? Me? Nooooooo…

Meanwhile, I also meet two very cool and inspiring girls, Viola (Maltese) and Mia (Serbian) with whom I had great time and conversations.

And concerning the process for me it was a strong cultural experience because in AIESEC Portugal questions are very different and the whole atmosphere of the election in my perspective is much more positive. For me it was quite challenging to understand the relevance of many questions or to frontally say “I don’t know”.

Then, after my final speech I had an amazing surprise because my biggest friend, Eduardo, came all the way from Portugal to support me… I was speechless… Obrigado gajo!

And yes, that is me with a skirt heheh.

Then we went for the official dinner and people surprised me again. Before the announcement and dinner they just started dancing and having fun, while Edu asked me “Aren’t they curious to know the result?”

Then the moment arrived and I was elected MCP 08/09 of AIESEC Croatia :)

So, this means I will be staying in Croatia one more year and I will lead the country next term.

And like so many people told me: “Good Luck”.

Hrvatski Motivacijski Seminar 07

In the middle of November AIESEC in Croatia had its National Motivation Seminar for new members, in which I was conference manager.

Of course that for such occasion I had to gather the troops, so I invited a good and old friend to chair the conference, Eduardo and he brought with him another good friend, Ricardo.

All started back in Zagreb with a great international dinner with food from Slovakia, Czech Republic and Portugal (and drinks from many other places).

We had a great and big faci team with whom I had a lot of fun preparing and delivering the conference. Thanks to all of you for those great moments wherever you are ;)

The conference took place near Split, in Stobreč Elementary school, the theme was football and I will leave the pictures to talk for them:

Opening plenary Sessions during the day The winning Homegroup from the simulations, Porto ;) LC Split, my LC in Croatia and then the parties...

“Aí gaja, para quê que me trazes para este país com Rakija e gajas giras?” quote from the drunkest chair ever...

In the train returning to Zagreb, it seemed that we didn’t have enough yet.

Hvala. This was a very important conference where I meet many people that made me think about my future and what I wanted to achieve. It was the moment where I started to think about what to do next :)

My Brother and trip to Vienna

A long time has passed since my last post, so I will do my best to update my blog with what happened in the past 2/3 months… if for nothing else, for the sake of having my memories abroad all together in one place.

So, in the beginning of November my brother, Sérgio came to visit me in Zagreb.

The highlight of his visit to Zagreb was to do sightseeing in a cemetery, the Mirogoj cemetery. It’s a real open air museum because of its architecture and memorial monuments. Also, one impressive fact was to see the amount of flowers in the tombs, which I believe it’s connected with the fact that Croatian people are very religious, therefore they frequently visit their relatives in the cemetery.

And during the weekend we went together to visit Vienna where we made a quick study tour of more or less 24 hours.

We started by visiting the Danube Tower with 252 meters height that was built in 1964!

From the top it’s possible to have an amazing view over the city and the river:

Afterwards we went to the city center and we had our first interaction with the old part of the city when we immediately got out from the subway and faced in front of us the St. Stephen’s Cathedral.

Then we went to Mozart’s House Museum and to the Church of St. Charles Borromeo:

In the middle of this church there is a structure that allows the visitants to climb until the ceiling of the church. Let’s just say that after climbing those stairs, my brother took a picture and we got down as soon as possible…

Then we went back to a small but beautiful church where we had the opportunity to listen to a free organ concert.

Next we visited a famous museum, Albertina and we still tried to visit the palace but it was too late. But for us the night only started, so we went for a concert of Mozart and Strauss music heheh.

When we got back we decided to go to a Disco near the Hotel we were staying. That disco had 3 different dance floors and cheap drinks, and it was full of kids, like us ;)

In the morning after my brother left but I still had time to visit the Palace, Sisi Museum and to formulate my own conclusions about Vienna. It is a beautiful city to visit and it makes us feel surrounded by culture and history. It is very well organized and prepared to receive tourists but the people are not that warm when they noticed that we cannot speak the language. But after seeing this advertisement, I gave an excuse:

Oh well, it is definitely a city to return and to enjoy the cultural part of it ;)

October, a busy month

October was a very packed month where so many things happened…

The month started with a National Conference of AIESEC that took place in the north of Croatia, in Osijek. Osijek is a small city where shootings happened during the war in the 90s and for me this was an interesting fact because it’s still possible to find some buildings with small holes of bullets as you can see in the picture:

For me it was interesting because I always pictured a city after a war devastaded, buildings competely bombed… And to see these buildings with those holes was just a different perspective.

Well, besides that Osijek is very sweet city where everything is just some minutes away walking, although I didn’t have much time for seightseeing…

About the conference the first day was in the Faculty and then we moved to an elementary school where the biggest shock for Geet and me was the fact that there were no showers…Besides that, this is the MC Mozaa;)

And this is the TM 0708 Functional Team (from the left to the right): Marijana, Ana, Nina, me, Zana and Jelena.

(The pictures from the parties are censured heheh)

And during the entire month in the LCs was happening a very important moment: the recruitment of new members of the organization, so I leave you here a picture of the AIESEC Stand from LC Zagreb.

Anyway, during this month I also had the opportunity to experience more Zagreb and Croatia Culture: After Osijek, we got back to Zagreb and together with Ajdin, the OFM Chair and MCP of Bosnia and Herzegovina, we had the opportunity to do some seightseeing and went to the tower in Zagreb where it’s possible to see the whole city: Also, I went to a free rock concert of two Croatian bands. It was cool but a bit weird to go in a concert where I don’t understand what they are singing about :) Then, during the weekend we went to explore Medvednica, a natural park near Zagreb. This was the team of the expedition before we start climbing:

The climbing was great and refreshing, and the most suprising was that so many people took the day of to do the same, there was so many people in the trails and in the mountain house when we got there. This is something that I really appreciate in Croatian people, they like to walk and enjoy their time outdoor and they do so always they can.

We also went to the castle that has a great view of Zagreb:

Concerning MC life, in October we had a great night “sponsored” by Porto:

And I went to Varazdin, a city in the north of Zagreb, to celebrate my birthday. I went there together with my MC team (excluding Sanda) because the Local Training Seminar of the LC from that city was taking place during that weekend, so the idea was to celebrate my birthday in the same party. First, it was really good to reach midnight and have everyone singing “Stretan Rođendan” instead of “Parabéns a você”, second I had a great time with the new members, third I felt among friends, and fourth I wish I could remember more…

About the city, I can’t say much but this next photo is basically all I have seen in Varazdin, so I must go back and visit the city properly. Then, to finish the month, I went to Split for the MC Visit. AIESEC Split had their Local Training Seminar at the same time as AIESEC Lisboa ISCTE, my two LCs. So it was quite interesting to have the feeling that 3000km away the same sessions were happening, to know that in both countries new people were starting to feel passionate about AIESEC, and so on…

So, I just leave here some photos of the conference so you can have an idea how cool it was:

But my visit to the LC wasn’t just the conference, so I spend more days there with the EB having common and individual talks until the end of the month… I had a great time and I always feel home:

And to finish this post, also an important event that happened in October was that Teresa, my VP Finance 06/07 in AIESEC Lisboa ISCTE, left Portugal to embark in a great experience: her internship in India. During the last days of October I was very nostalgic remembering when I meet her, realizing how much she changed and developed herself, and how much this experience will add value to her… Well, it just made me feel happy and proud of you, Teresa. Beijinhos amiga :)