International Presidents Meeting 2008

To say that IPM 08 was the best conference I have ever attended won’t be enough to transmit you how the conference was to me, but is the first thing that crosses my mind.

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First this is a unique conference where the current presidents (MCPc) and the elect presidents (MCPe) from all AIESEC entities gather for two weeks to discuss about the organization, where the current team of AIESEC International (AI) is present but also where partially the next AI team is selected and it’s the most diverse conference in AIESEC having in consideration that the number of delegates is around 200 with around 100 countries and territories represented! How crazy is that?

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So, basically I was very excited to attend this conference as you can imagine. So in the middle of February me and Alchy (the MCPc) went by train until Belgrade and then we went by bus until Macedonia more concretely Skopje. In both these countries they write in Cyrillic which is always interesting to see :)

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As soon as we got there we went to a Kavana, a typical bar in Balkans with traditional music and a lot of drinks. There I could immediately find great friends and get into the mood of the conference.

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The next two days we had Pre-meeting with the Central and East Europe (CEE) Growth Network (GN). We focused a lot on external analysis and my focus was to get to know as many as MCPe as possible and start to bond. These two days were soft and calm but the excitement of the conference was noticeable.

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Then, the big day came and started with the Global Village in the city center. Everything was organized and prepared, but the temperature didn’t helped (0ºC) so at some point people just went somewhere to have coffee because it wasn’t possible to be outside for so many hours like that.

But it was incredible the number of Macedonians that showed up to see and participate in the GV… So many people that didn’t seem to mind with the cold!

Then we had the official opening with traditional dances and songs but everyone was too tired to enjoy it properly, so most of people appreciated the 3 hours bus ride until the venue of the conference, Ohrid.

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Then the real conference started with the usual Roll Calls, the speeches for President of AIESEC International (PAI) and for Director of the GNs, as well as, the Q&A.

The Q&A in the GNs can be very different, especially between West Europe and North America (WENA) and CEE. So, as I am originally from WENA for me it was quite interesting because in CEE first people share the questions they have, then they point out what are the most relevant for the GN, then a order is made and if after those questions there is still additional time anyone can make questions. And all of this happens in a matter of minutes. Then, all questions start by “Give 3 concrete…”, “State 3 specific…” or “Tell us 3 tangible goals…” and of course, in the end there is the sarcastic sense of Humor of CEE with some crazy and weird question which I cannot mention because I guess it will be used next year again :)

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Besides that we had the Global Planning, the Global Focus Areas selection, sessions about specific topics, we had a whole day deliver by David J. Pollay with strengths assessment, then skills blocks, Macedonian night with traditional dances, the SG Dialogue, GN time, Official Dinner, the UBS Awards and of course the Legislation (You can see photos from all of this in the slideshow).

I also spend those 10 days talking with people, asking them advices, opinions, catching up with friends and making new ones, and in the end I ask myself how come there are so many amazing people out there?

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Some flashpoints:

- AI organized an amazing game which was just pure fun, no debriefing, no sharing, just fun. They were actors that would perform some sketches from which we had to find out who was the murderer. It was perfect;

- Portuguese speaking people are taking over the AIESEC network, I say this because besides the obvious Portugal, Brasil and me in Croatia, the MCPe from France and from Germany are Portuguese, and now Angola joined the Network. PSGN, GN, GN, Eu Gosto, Ahh ahh.

- The parties were amazing. Can you imagine we had party in the Global Legislation day? Boat Race!

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So, just to finish, the organization was amazing, the sessions were useful, there were real parties and the people were just perfect.

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Thank you all for making IPM such an amazing and unforgettable conference for me :)

Experiencing Zagreb

In the end of January I got to know more the cultural side of Zagreb because of the Free Museum night. I had already heard about his initiative in others countries and gladly I had the chance to experience it in Zagreb.

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So, basically I went to the Archeological Museum, to Mimara Museum, to the Museum of Arts and Crafts and finally to the Ethnographic Museum all for free. My favorite was Mimara Museum because of the Photography Exposition from Stanka Abadžića with black and white photos from different cities.

This initiative grew in me the desire to get to know better the cultural side of the city so hopefully I will find a way to attend some events and expositions :)

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Then in the beginning of February was a great period to explore a little bit more Zagreb and its nature.

We had a birthday in the team, Geet’s birthday, so we decided to go to Sljeme, the mountain near Zagreb to have lunch and connect with the nature. So we went up by bus and we came down walking.

In Sljeme it is possible to find a few cottages with delicious traditional food and for me is always incredible to see so many people in these places walking in the mountain and enjoying the fresh air:

To get in contact with such places is always refreshing and I hope we manage to do this more times, it wasn’t even exhausting :)

Afterwards we came home and we surprised Geet with a cake, it was a simple but very nice birthday.

In the day after I decided to continue enjoying outdoors so I went to walk near the river. The river that crosses Zagreb in Sava, which starts in Slovenia, goes through Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and ends in Serbia where it converges with Danube in Belgrade.

For me it’s a real pity that they don’t take so much advantage of the river. Basically there aren’t any bars or facilities near the river. Even though, it is possible to find a lot of people walking their pets, riding a bike or simply walking with friends or family despite the cold heheh.

But it's a pretty sight for anyone that can appreciate beauty and I am so grateful that finally I have my camera working again (miraculously) because soon I will need for my trip to Macedonia ;)

Carnival without Brazilian Music

In January I was chatting with a friend of mine and I asked him if he likes Carnival which he replied that no and that maybe it was in part due to the fact that he is not fan of Brazilian music…

. .............................................................................................. .... It was then that I decided to attend the Carnival in Rijeka (the biggest and most popular Carnival in Croatia) because it just came to my mind that for sure in Croatia they don’t listen to Brazilian music, so I had to see and experience a Carnival without Brazilian music… So I went :) . .............................................................................................. ....

I got there on Saturday, went to do sightseeing under rain and after dinner we went to a concert inside an improvised tend. Until then everything was fine but that concert finished and we went to another one outdoors with 4ºC of temperature and wind! The place was not full but there were a lot of people dancing and having fun… I don’t understand how they can…

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On Sunday morning (Carnival and Parade day) we woke up at 9am and at 10am I had a cultural shock or whatever you want to call it. . .............................................................................................. ....

Basically what happens is that AIESEC people join and create a group, there is an organization that arranges the dresses and everything, you just need to go with the flow, so I didn’t have any clue of what was going to happen. Rijeka’s VP TM just told me “Come, you can stay over my place and we will take care of you” (thanks Zana!). And for me that was enough so I didn’t even made many questions, I only knew we were going on a parade dressed as bees.

. .............................................................................................. .... So, after getting dressed everyone started to drink wine with coca-cola at 10am on a Sunday... I thought I couldn’t do it, but I did…

. .............................................................................................. .... Then we went to the streets and I started to get into the Carnival atmosphere. First we went to take the Millennium Photo: everyone that goes in the parade joins and they take a photo from a derrick (Rijeka has the biggest port from whole Croatia and it’s a very industrialized city).

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And also another interesting characteristic of this Carnival is that the groups that go in the parade are all friends that invite other friends and those friends invite other friends and together they become huge groups that just pick a theme and dress according to it.

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In the meantime we had to wait for our turn (it took us 4 hours) so meanwhile we danced, we drinked, we meet other people. It was amazing!

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Thus when our turn came we were very ready :) During the parade we passed by various stages and all of them presented us: AIESEC Rijeka group with people from many places (Portugala heheh) and even with the rain, we didn’t mind at all:

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When the parade was over for us, everyone was dying, we went to the improvised tend to have a meal that the organization provided and most of people stayed there dancing and partying.

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Some of us went home, me included… I felt like if I went out for clubbing and had a really hard party time. And later we came back but it was too late. There are other traditions in this Carnival that I missed, for example, they burn at sea a pust to scare away bad luck :)

. .............................................................................................. .... On Monday I also had opportunity to do some sightseeing and we went to visit Trsat Sanctuary and the Trsat Castle which has a great view over the city.

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So, to conclude I missed a little bit the Brazilian music but most of the time I didn’t even remembered that. It was just great and different. I loved it.

I will repeat next year, for sure :)

Back to the routine?

Returning to Croatia in the beginning of January was not easy, I must admit. I believe that many of you felt like that after vacations, I mean, to get back to the routine is complicated and besides the cold in Zagreb was not appealing compared to Portugal.

But gladly we had to make visits to the local chapters in Croatia, so just two days after being in Zagreb I travelled together with Geet and Alex to Osijek. Osijek, like I mention before is in the North East of Croatia and it’s a small and nice city.

Besides all the work, I also had the opportunity to get to know Osijek night live and I must admit that it was a positive surprise. First a private party in a basement with great music and then a nice club, very fashion.

And I also had the chance to meet again Sanda, the part-time MC member that studies and lives in Osijek :) After Osijek we travelled to Varazdin, a city in the North of Zagreb. I had a lot of experiences there, like riding a bike (which I haven’t done for years), sharing a sofa with Geet and Alex (which I don’t want to repeat) : And also I got a serious virus in my laptop, so after returning to Zagreb I’ve spend two days doing backup of all my files and restoring the system (I don’t wish this no anyone).

But also we had normal things, like giving sessions and trainings:

And going out, have some beers, the usual.

Then we returned to Zagreb and in the end of the month I enjoyed the free museums night, so I went to 4 of them. This is a great initiative and definitely I have to start enjoying more the cultural side of the city and its events.

So, back to the routine? Not really... Not yet :)

Matar as Saudades*

Home. After some time living abroad that concept takes a different meaning. Where is home? The city you live in? The country where most of your friends live? The place you were born? The streets you know since you were kid? What is home?

After some time living in Lisboa I also had the same questions, I’m sure some of you also had the same questions when you changed residence because of studies.

When I went in December to Portugal, more concretely to Lisboa and then Madeira, I had the same questions. “I’m going home” I said to some people and I actually did go home.

The first days in Lisboa I used mostly to be with my friends. In the first day I had dinner with people from my LC who were returning from their National Conference in that day, I also had a great dinner organized by Marta and this time it was real surprise because there were many other people there and I had no idea, I had great lunches, I had the chance to go to Bairro Alto and meet many friends who are also living abroad.

Then, Margarida and I arrived in Madeira on 23rd after many hours of waiting in Lisboa airport because our flight was overbooked, which is normal in this period because of students and tourists that spend Christmas and New Year Eve in Madeira.

On that night we meet with friends from high school, as always, to enjoy the very famous and best night in Funchal, “A noite do Mercado”. Streets around the old part of the city, where the market is, are full of people and improvised bars. It’s a very old tradition to go to market on the night of 23rd, you can taste the best sandwiches, typical drinks and find everyone there. During Christmas I spend most time at home with family, besides I was sick, can you imagine? When I left Zagreb it was snowing and in Madeira this was the average temperature outside: During the next days I meet some old friends, I went to travel by car around the island, had some dinners where I had the chance to taste the typical food from Madeira, nice… Then New Years Eve arrived. In Madeira the tradition is to watch the fireworks with the family in some friend or family house in Funchal. Then, after that amazing 10 minutes, we meet in the city center with friends to go to some bar, club or disco. Normally people dress up a lot for this occasion but I really don’t like that, so normally I meet with Margarida and drink in some cheap bars and enjoy low quality music heheh. But this year some friends at 6am convinced us to try to enter this really fashion club, and even in jeans, we manage to enter :) Part of our tradition also includes watching the first sunrise of the year… in one word: Perfect! After Madeira I returned to Lisboa and I’ve spend the weekend with a friend in the north cost of Lisbon. We have visited Alfeizeirão, São Martinho do Porto, Foz do Arelho and Óbidos. The ocean was wild and beautiful, it was a dream trip but unfortunately I don’t have any pictures…

Besides that it was again the same routine: coffees, lunches and dinners with friends. This picture is from the last night with Margarida, Rita and Marco, where we had a cool and improvised dinner. So, to conclude, I think home is not a place or a time, is a feeling, a feeling of belonging, of being known, of understanding, a feeling of safety and peace, that feeling that makes you lose conscience of time and place, a deep and comfortable feeling.

And I definitely felt I was home :)

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*Saudade (singular) or Saudades (plural) is a Portuguese word for a feeling of longing for something that one is fond of, which is gone, but might return in a distant future. Although it relates to feelings of melancholy and fond memories of things/people/days gone by, it can be a rush of sadness coupled with a paradoxical joy derived from acceptance of fate and the hope of recovering or substituting what is lost by something that will either fill in the void or provide consolation. Saudade has no direct English translation; its translation is dependent on context. No other languages in the world have a word with such meaning, making saudade a distinct mark of Portuguese culture. It has been said that this, more than anything else, represents what it is to be Portuguese. Some specialists say the word may have originated during the Great Portuguese Discoveries, giving meaning to the sadness felt about those who departed on journeys to unknown seas and disappeared in shipwrecks, died in battle, or simply never returned. Those who stayed behind—mostly women and children—suffered deeply in their absence; the state of mind has subsequently become a "Portuguese way of life": a constant feeling of absence, the sadness of something that's missing, wishful longing for completeness or wholeness and the yearning for the return of that now gone, a desire for presence as opposed to absence—as it is said in Portuguese, a strong desire to "matar as saudades" (lit. to kill the saudades).

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.

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”.