OMG! It's December already! I realized it only yesterday when an X-mas tree was brought to our office, to be decorated. Honestly, we have more Dutch winter than the Lithuanian winter over here, as there is no snow yet!
So what have I been up to in the past month:
Moments: ...a small Energy'07 reunion in Vilnius - with Diana, Jana, randomly met Vitalijus, joining the boys party congratulating Danny with his birthday, laughing a lot with (or from) his porn XXX team, then experiencing the so-called high-fashion party in Champagne Bar , which appeared to be quite average. ...cocktails, including a mojito (for Filipe) with Piret who is incredibly often coming to Vilnius these days =) ...so much adrenaline when trying to move wooden bricks of the Jenga tower during the drinks with colleagues. Afterwards moving to playing "Taboo" (or "Alias" as they call it here) and seeing that sometimes understanding each other from half of the word is not that difficult! ...lotsa lotsa people dressed like so 1920s and dancing all night long! Lindyhop is my new entry on my dances-to-learn list, and definitely it goes well with my love for jazz music. It's the third month I attend the course and I love it! ... a different creativity workshop in my home AIESEC LC. For the first time in preparation for this training, I didn't use any aiesec-related material, kept it all within my personal experience, tuned it with a few improv excercises and real examples how a little innovation can turn into big money. It's not difficult to be creative, and it seems that the message came across. ...artsy crowd in the opening of Fluxus-East exhibition, with wine and nice meals, with a crazy exibition attached. Fluxus is a movement initially was supposed to be an anti-art movement or so called "art-joke". And indeed he exhibition reflected it - everyone was able to listen to funny music and see all kinds of crazy stuff which is not art, but makes sense. Even play flux ping-pong (see left), which has not only interesting table, but the rackets also were not standard: one of them has a hole, another is completely soft, third one has a very rough surface... Art is fun! Even the former mayor of Vilnius couldn't resist to give it a shot. Very refreshing.
What is coming up next is... Winter Holidays, of course! Can't wait :) I am going to leave you with my powerplay for this month, which is another local masterpiece on MTV!
"yeah yeah, I'm alright, I keep power forever...." - yeap that's the way I feel!
* pic from: http://www.deepfun.com/2006_07_01_archive.html * Video of Happyendless called "Power Forever"
Yes, here we go again :) We had EuroCo hosted in Lithuania, therefore it was absolutely exciting opportunity to see some more people that are precious to me... Here is the part fo Belgian delegation:
...Enriching chats with Andries in - you know where - Briusly, about life and ideas, and the way creativity is applied in business practices. Thanks for the thoughts! And I feel that I have more to say about this, so keep on checking back in my blog. I just have this need to exercice my ideas before writing them publicly.
Later on Thordis from Iceland, not seen for ages, all charged up after EuroCo. Sitting in the cafe and drinking a lot of fancy-flavoured coffee.
Also chilling with Micky, Pieter and Kuhn in a coffee place, finding out how they and the rest of the aiesec people in Belgium are going. Micky trying the Lithuanian chocolate and getting a rough face with the chili flavoured one ;)
Short re-cap of the events in Vilnius in the past few weeks:
- De-Phazz - Gus Gus vs Metal on Metal (rough dance music will save the world) - DJ Mehdi - Phonique
How to manage all of them? Not possible, at all. But De Phazz was absolutely great :) You never know how music like that is going to sound - sometimes it's too loud or too noisy, but this time it was the same as the album I am listening to right now :) Fantastic.
And there is another discovery I would like to share - it's Koop. I have heard their song on our radio Opus3 and I loved it! So now I have the full album. It has a swing rhythm, and I guess that goes very much in line with the lindyhop dancing classes I am attending right now :) This song takes me high, why don't you try how it works for you?;)
I'm sitting now in my room, enjoying Saint Etienne with a heavenly calm voice singing through my stereo and chatting with some friends of mine who are coming to EuroCo (AIESEC conference), which is hosted in Lithuania in October. It got me thinking about how does the saying "keep in touch" work in practice for different people. I've been living in 3 different countries and visiting in another 15, and therefore, the network is wide. And I know how difficult it is to keep in touch with people being hundreds of miles away from you.
It sometimes really makes me feel uncomfortable, when I get to see someone after a while, and I see that it was a connection made due to circumstances, and it disappeared with the circumstances. It's a bit sad because some of those people were simply amazing and I'm sure there is way more common things than just circumstances we happen to be in, but the connection is not there anymore. And I think it's especially so hard for me, because time doesn't change anything for me - if I meet someone after three or twenty three years time, I would talk to that person in the same way I did the last time I saw him/her. But I know, that some of the people by that time would get more distant. For me it's okay just to meet someone and be happy about this encounter, and for some people it's more important to be continuously involved in the updates.
Autumn is the season of re-connections for me. Piret came over to Vilnius, I met her two years ago in Baltic Energy, where we both were applying for international MCs. I was announced to be selected for Belgium during the conference, and just right after it Piret ended up in Ecuador! Then we had a short meetup in Poland a year ago, and now we finally are back to our homecountries. Of course we've changed, but that was so nice to discuss about all the things that happened throughout this time! And the reintegration process. And comparing Lithuanian and Estonian guys :)
Second person to catch up with was Mate, whom I met in India, and then kept in touch, met up in a random place like Rotterdam (joking), and haven't seen for a very long time. Now in Vilnius, we were having a drink, talked about our current works, lives, meeting my friends who randomly come up to the same bar, talking to some Polish tourists, and then some more talks about drum'n'bass, Sziget and other open air festivals and then moving on to an industrial rave party. And a year seems like two days, not more.
And yesterday I got to meet up with Ausra back from Australia, Ruta back from her internship in the UK, and Vilma, simply not seen for ages. I was dead tired, but that was very nice.
And it's not over yet! euroCo is on it's way and then Energy. Both aiesec conferences, bringing some beautiful acquaintances and great friends over! Looking forward to that!
And I am working hard to send an email update to the ones who are not coming to visit me, yet... :)
I cannot believe it's autumn already! It seems that quite recently it was hot and sunny, and on the first days of September I am already looking into my winter wear and dreaming of house heating system turned on.
At any case the summer of 2007 was great! All spent in Lithuania, which was new for me after 2 years break. I made sure it would not be wasted.
Some facts:
Re-explored amazing Vilnius, Kaunas, Nida, Norviliskes, Rubikiai, Moletai and some other beautiful areas of this country
Became one year wiser
Got my driver's license
Read some incredible books: "Purple Cow" by Seth Godin, "The Tipping Point" and "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell, "A Year of Creativity" by Brenda Malon.
Fantastic clubbing almost every weekend. Party girl is back on track, hitting the only 5 reasonable clubs in this country :)
MTV B-DAY concert - celebrating one year of MTV in Baltics, and Be2gether festival - the first ever open air festival in Lithuania
Terrific connections, re-connections and discoveries
My goal for the summer was to enjoy myself as much as I can. Happy to be in entertainment business. And when I look into my diary, autumn seems to be packed with:
visits by friends from abroad! Since I'm not able to travel much, may everyone come to visit me :)
parties and clubnights - season is starting!
Conferences - EuroCo 07 in the first place!
big things in professional development
It seems that everything is falling into place for now. Even though I don't have the "big plan" for myself in 10 years yet, but bit by bit i'm getting everything I do into one picture. living in the now, as they say :)
After my blog-sharings, time to actually tell what have I been up to for the past 1,5 months :)
Shortly, that would be saying "See you later!" to these people:
and these people:
and these people, fitting all of them into this I would probably need a one square meter picture:
And saying hello to so so sooooo many more people that are speaking my native language.
Yes, I am back in Lithuania.
I don`t do exciting stuff as I did while I was abroad, but I am pretty busy. Studying for my driver's license, meeting friends, family, recovering lost connections, reading local newspapers, watching reality shows on TV, re-discovering the beauty of my country again, working on some private business idea, reading all the books my A`dam friends gave me for my farewell, attending AIESEC Alumni meeting, pampering myself and trying to get a job... It's all fine.
The only thing I am missing right now, is direction. As they say, when you don`t know the goal, it's difficult to score. What I want to do with my life? Should I study now or later? Which career I want to choose? Which industry? Which country? Or maybe become a nomad and travel the world? Or maybe just get married? It seems I've been thinking of this for quite a while, but the answer is not there yet, or it is changing every couple of days :) The time in hometown will be consolidation time. It will last as long as it has to last. Although I do want to spend time doing meaningful things.
*A picture from sustainability art installation in Design Centre in Copenhagen, Denmark
KaosPilots - where creativity and innovation go to school
Time for catching up with some important updates. This is where I`ve been a few weeks ago - a school for new business design and social innovation. A school for young entrepreneurs, about which you can see :
I've been hearing from my friend Henrique and Anna so much about KaosPilots, and I thought I have to experience it myself.
Henrique has picked me up and we went to the school. It was snowing like crazy and I thought of getting new shoes. But soon we have reached a yellow building saying "Kaospiloterne" on the door. The inside looked like anything else, but not a school (see the video!). No professors, just students and staff. And all of them "living" there as a happy family.
The week I was there had a topic on developing own business ideas and making them a reality. I think I was lucky, as the guys said it`s one of the best courses. The sessions were delivered by consultants. The one that I found very good, was by Dave from Startup Company, who provided a very structured but at the same time very flexible framework for setting up a new business. It went to different sections, from marketing to execution, I loved the simplicity and professionalism. After the session kaospilots were able to talk with teh tutors, consult with them, etc. I thought that if every week there are different people coming from various companies, that must be a great networking opportunity.
Another thing I was amazed about, is how everyone is determined to make the most of their experience, sharing their ideas, connecting with others, helping each other and actually making those ideas work on the spot! I am sure almost all of those guys will have their own businesses running by the end of their 3-year studies!
Overall, I was inspired! It was quite mind-liberating week for me. The people there are amazing! Henrique was saying that is so like AIESEC, and indeed there are lots of similarities.
So I know now, that one day I will start my own business, and KaosPilots convinced me that I am capable of doing this. Even though I am not applying for this school this year, after I came back, I took a chance to go to KaosPilots workshop in Amsterdam, as they are forming the first student team in the Netherlands! Interested? Check out KaosPilots.nl.
I wake up. It`s Monday. It`s raining again. I love staying in bed on days like that:) And I really do feel like doing nothing for a few weeks, relaxing and re-connecting with friends. Reading books. Going to arts exhibitions. To jazz concerts. Doing some career research. Pulling my portfolio together. And other stuff, that I never had time for. Ahh, life is good!
No no, you are still talking to the same person from Lithuania, who has snow for 3 months every year (maybe not for the past 2 years, but for the rest of more than 15 in my life). However, in my home country snow is perceived as a part of a normal yearly cycle. For sure it`s not the case in The Netherlands :)
Soooo, today for the first time this year we had snow, which was a bit more than 3 mm thick and stayed white on the ground all day long!! And guess what??? The country is out of control!! Traffic jams on the highway, metro`s are late, trams even more late :) Seems like snow every time is a big surprise over here :)
I was walking home tonight and actually deep in my heart I was excited to see snow :) I don`t know why, it is just so cute to see it here... a feeling of a way-too-late winter this year...
Had no plans for last weekend. Slept all Friday night (after two conferences.. i think that`s fair).
Saturday went to my improv class, which was again great. Today we also tried to improvise in singing, which was challenging, but I loved it! We had two rapping bands, and ours, of course, won. We also found a human beat box talent in our group and discovered that rapping has nothing to do with the music, but a lot with an attitude. Later on we had a cup of coffee in Crea cafe with our group, which is always a nice activity to do to get to know people better. For example, that at least three of us are living 5 minutes away from each other. Amsterdam is tiny, the theory has been proved again.
I also had my first ever pure Dutch party in my life, in a very Dutch house with around 40 Dutch people and 3 internationals, with house music and lots of beer. In the Netherlands that is not a common practice, you have to get invited to Dutch parties. So I was lucky this time! 10 points! And that was a good fun! 10 extra points for house parties.
Sunday was a lot of doing nothing (you can call it ME time as well, enjoying it so much) and jazz concert in the evening... Someone will be jealous now... That was Saskia Laroo playing that night! It was a good mix of jazz classics, funk and bossa nova, cozy atmosphere and a show full of motion. Honestly, I did not want to leave!
Today.. Monday again. You know, work and stuff. Lovin` it though.
Talking about seasons, it does not seem that there will be a classical winter for this Christmas. It seems there is not much snow in Europe, and people go skiing and end up hiking in the mountains :) As for Holland, check out the postcard Dan bought when visiting Amsterdam.. (sorry for the quality)...
Have a cozy Christmas with the beloved ones and a terrific New Year 2007!!
. Was a bit sick last week, I think there has been a wave of people catching cold these days, as weather has been more terrible than ever. . Had a super-extra-funny dinner with diemen ppl. . Had some of those nice conversations with Rasa, Venky and a few of my colleagues . Had Ginnie`s "tot ziens" activities, like surprise dinner with all current and ex-housemates, which was very difficult to make it a surprise, compiling presents and frustrations related to that, a lunch with the Amsterdam crowd. I am sure Gina will remember this WE for long. . Had an AIESEC Sinterklaas party last night, featuring a dice game for sharing presents, a company of my favourite Serbians (Zorana and bORIS), catching up with aiesec`ers (they did a great job organizing all this!) and other interns. Then going to Meander, which happened to be not as crappy place to be as it seemed on the first day!
Today I am just chilling, curing my sore throat and trying to study. Also creating an action plan for figuring out the next steps after my internship is over in Feb.
This was the date waited for a long time... The ultimate halloween party in the Wild Wild West finally happened! Every single soul came alive or dead but in a costume... our death count reached more than 70 souls visiting our spookhouse.
It was an awesome party with people which looked either random or unrecognizable (both were appreciated), lots of wine and other beverages, dances and awards, police inquiries, as well as a brave surfer deciding to fight the waves of the lake next to our house... good friends from Brussels, mysterious story about the poster that has dissapeared... I`d better start uplaoding the pix, they will tell you more!
This was a few days ago, and it was right on time. I received an e-card saying:
Hey honey, Just wanted to send you this because I know yesterday was a bad day for you - but I wanted to let you know that I think you are wonderful, and that it is all part of your journey.The good and the bad moments define us!
Big hugs Mazzy
Mazzy, you are also wonderful! Thanks for being there for me in the good times and the bad!
Everybody seemed to be bugging me about not writing in my blog. I was thinking, can it be that long? When I checked I saw that it was... more than one month of silence in my blog. It went like one week for me. So much happened.
That means nothing else but the fact that I`m living!!! Let`s start with an update.
Home. I have moved. To a very nice place in the West fo Amsterdam. Close to a lake. Lots of green space. Living with another amazing 4 girls from all over the world: Gina (MX), Mazzy (Australia), Masha (Russia) and Sarika (India). Almost all continents covered :) Amazing life stories as well. But about it later. I still miss my life I used to have in Diemen with my housemates and the whole trainee community there, but it`s time to move on. This weekend is super decoration weekend - as I am going to decorate my room, and me and Mazzy have driven a super project cosy of our living room! Rocks!
Friends. There are a lot of people to meet. A lot of interns as well. Some people come some people go. I came in teh epriod of big changes, and it`s very strange feeling to have this change and realize how temporary everything is. Last weekend there was Henrique`s farewell party, and it`s so weird to know that the first person you`ve met from Amsterdam will not be there anymore. BTW, officially in NL there are 6 Lithuanian AIESECers - close to beating Brazilian population :) Dutch people - hmm, don`t know that many yet. But I am sure it will improve. At any case, I really have a lot of things to do, definitely it`s not boring. What I definitely has to improve, is get connected to my friends abroad. This will be taken forward as soon as I have technical possibilities at home. ;)
Work. As Sigis said, you`d better like it, as you spend half of your non-sleeping lifetime there. Indeed, I like it! Every day, I experience something more about my work or workplace that I like and I had no idea that I can find it here. I do make a difference - I realized that when my first intern Ethan started mailing updates - check out his blog as well. I am really thrilled to hear about his experiences. However, the recent month has been very busy, I have a lot of things to digest in my head. Apart from that, I happened to be in a team of three girls who organized a team afternoon of our whole department. We have been lunching, recording a song (our department has singers! and yellers too!) , also touring around the most famous district of Amsterdam and having a great time.
Travelling. After Poland, I was in Belgium. Only. Was a great time, but I kinda thought that I should nto plan far away trips for a bit. Especially before the whole week in Lithuania in beginning of November!! My dearest friends, I will be in Vilnius on 2-12 of November, please contact me (or my agenda manager :)) for appointments :D Everyone else who are closer to NL than to LT, please come to visit me in A`dam!
AIESEC. It`s still a part of my activities. Last week we had AIESEC in The Netherlands NatCo, where I gave my support in developing trainings, as well as participating. Dutch conferences are unique, Different from what I`ve experienced. It was fun though. Good to see people I haven`t seen for ages, catch up and remember AIESEC Dances :)
Development. I have a Dutch phrase book, dictionary and courses. And I will make at least a small effort every day to learn this language. OK, every week for sure.
Interesting observations. Let`s leave them for the next post. To get you interested, I will tease you with mystical keywords, like from the supermarket, marathons, passes for bikes, falling knives, being too good.
Pictures. I will upload a few of them soon. For sure this time.
I`ll try to keep it short otherwise you will get bored reading... IC was nice... maybe not that fancy as in India, but seeing so many people from all over the world is still amazing. ... was nice meet old friends from AIESEC, some fo them I haven`t even expected. Since I had only 4 days,I gave up the idea to have good talks with everyone, but at least seeing their presence, a hug, a smile, was enough. ... I still had some GREAT talks, which I appreciate a lot. I cannot transcribe or record them, but they are all in my heart, thanks guys!
Everyone who has `coordinator` saying on their badge
... Teambuilding with the Global Coordinator Gang was awesome! It`s good to be an corporate guest! Fancy hotel, no lining up for the food, and meeting completely different crowd. Although being out of @ is also tough sometimes. ... Running external agenda, coordinating ING participation, having country meetings - my agenda was packed. And productive. ... AIESEC Parties, yeah, baby!
After ING Chances for Children workshop: Heske (Unicef), Charlotte (ING), Patrice (Curcuma), Joep (ING CfC), myself, Declan (Bridging Divides)
I am just so good with updates! Another week in A`dam..
Last weekend we went out with other interns to De Pijp, very Dutch area with nice places for drink or dance. Very very nice crowd, apart from the awesome intern gang, including some of the people whos presence was a pleasant surprise.
On Sunday I took a trip to Brussels, to see the Flower Carpet 2006 in Grand Place, meet some people, pick up some of my luggage, sort out my membership at Fitness Passage, which is the service I am not happy about. One advice guys - check for terms and conditions before signing anything in Belgium. But it`s ok, you live you learn. I learned not to go to Fitness Passage anymore, it`s just too much trouble. Also it ws cool to catch up aith Rasa, the MC team, experiencing extreme rain conditions and Belgian sarcasm which makes me paranoid.
The whole past week went faster than lightning, IC is next week and there was just a lot to prepare, ship, communicate. It seems like most fo the stuff is ready though, yey!
By facing the distance from my place to teh centre of Amsterdam, I realized that bike is just necesarry to live here:) As in the evening when I get back home it`s so difficult to motivate myself to go somewhere :) Like now, I know there is a huge festival happening in the centre, but I am just too lazy :)
And I think it`s nothing wrong that I sleep a lot, don`t go out every night and just take it easy :) I like sleeping!! I love lazying around :) But I promise I will get involved into social life a bit more from now on.
BTW, last Friday we had a first go-out with my teammaes from ING. We went to one cool tapas bar, then continued chtatting over a glass of wine. I work with amazing people I tell you!
I am finally not living in a suitcase, my room is nice and cosy now, just missing some artistic touches. The room is only for two months, I am looking for a place to move in in October, but still nice to have a good living environment.
Today I met Rita for a coffee and ended up chatting about life and work for the whole afternoon. Nice to meet great people.
I realized that I haven`t been taking pictures of me in The Netherlands so far! I have to improve this!
The only thing that is bothering me now, is my wisdom teeth, they sometimes turn into nothing else but plain pain in my mouth. Not so good.
And to make this post one of the most random ones, I would recommend you to check out the TO-DO list blog. You can submit your own to-do list which will be published in a book! Deadline is on Sept 15, I think I will submit something, as I have some sophisticated TO-DOs :)
Short wrap up of the first week, based on your questions coming to me from different sources: - I feel like at home! - I am healthy, I don`t have a headache, I sleep enough - Work is getting more an more interesting, seems like there is a lot of things where I can work in the company, which is very exciting! I will write a separate post abt that a bit later. - Yes, I started drinking Dutch beer - Belgian MC rule is not valid anymore. The beer is not that good though. Btw, in the supermarket I saw Westmalle Trappist for - attention Pedro and other fans of this beer! - 1,25 EUR ! Cheap stuff :) Best cost benefit is the same wherever you go :) - I will try to watch my figure and reduce the percentage of beer consumed. And I also eat healthier! - I know a lot of people living here. Most fo them are aiesec people, some just came, some are leaving, some are here forever, but every day I find out some nice surprises - different persons I know from verious places :) Small world. - I have TV at home! - My personal time is not managed very well these days, because of settling in and having all those small things sorted. boring things, but have to happen. - I am going to Brussels tomorrow for two days, to take some more stuff. yey!
I was about to sit back and do a proper reflection on my past year in Belgium, but a lot of things m already in a different train now.So reflection will come later tonight, now nothing else, but update...
Let`s start with the last mentioned but not explained event - MC transition party. Explanation in human language: this is the moment when the new team of AIESEC National Committee takes over the positions of the outgoing team. For that, there is a huge fiesta being organised, in order to see the outgoing team for the last time, as well as meet the lads from the new team, also a bunch of aiesecers from the country and beyond, have fun together.
The party was nothing but awesome. Soo many people - around 60, all nice people I got to work with or just meet up, interns or former interns(one even with tequila :)), other MCs (guess from three times... French MC again!), some old and new friends... a lot of talking, waterpipe, some people getting wasted, then saying official speeches, takeover presents, partying at the brazilian bar till very late night with teh best caipirinha I`ve ever had, having some team time with the 5 of us last time together, getting back home and finding an intensive sharing and drinking circle happening. being tired, going to bed and sleeping until teh sun came through my window. Saturday after that was showing Francois and Martina from French MC the best of Brussels, having a beer in Delirium, and then almost expecting them to miss rtheir train. Unfortunatelym tehy made it to it, so they were not staying longer... :(
Moving on... week after that was finishing uo some stuff, like Annual Report! It was designed and sent for printing, and i hope it`s gonna turn out good :)
On Wednesday I was in shock. Bad news about Ondra reached us... I still cannot believe it, it feels like he`s still somewhere in Prague, where I`m going to visit him... He was one of the most outgoing and life-loving people I ever knew. He is missed by many, you can see it. So sad that his life was so short..
Thursday - my last intern drink. It was raining, also there was yesterday`s shock in the air, but it was nice to see all those people, especially Jaders, I ahvent seen them for ages, also have some very nice conversations with Charmaine and Boris, then coming back packed in Celine`s car.
I was packing throughout the week,however, my room was a disaster until saturday,my actual leaving day. All morning I was holding my head with a thought `how the F#$% I have got so much stuff in one year??` But actually, I managed well to separate amd throiw out most fo teh unneeded stuff.. funny how things that were memorable in teh beginning dont mean anything to you after a while... That doesn`t mean memories go... You just find other way to have them in your heart! Beofre leaving I met up with Ingrida, another long time not seen friend, who moved to Paris recently! I tell you, paris is just becoming the coolest place to go to :D
Then I took a train to Amsterdam... Regular train ride to The Netherlands, like other previous 5 times in past year.. No Way! My room is not mine anymore, I possess no keys that open any doors in brussels, I will never be the same again... I cried a bit, that`s true, a lot of things ahve happened there. However, every change brings something new, and something good - In Aasterdam I was met by Veds, who also picked up his friend Anna from the station. We dropped our stuff and, of course, went out for a first drink. Great time, amazing people and amazing talks, then joining other interns for a party, I really got introduced to social life fast :)
Sunday mornings are always lovely - we slept until late afternoon. veds provided us with breakfas almost to bed. Then met up with Bieke, another friend of theirs, went for a beer, for dinner and then I moved to my place in Amsterdam - an awesome house with all facilities, even terace! I will upload pics at some point, it`s lovely! And the roommates are very nice - it`s Sigis (another Lithuanian! very sweet guy, helped me with everything here), Alicia (Spanish girl, ex-aiesecer as well) and Fernanda, a Brazillian girl. Also on teh same night there were another 4 Lithuanians staying over in teh house, was a nice evening in native language :)
Monday-Tuesday I had nothing much more than work. So far it has been very great - the team is awesome, we have meetings and I`m getting more and more into my role. The atmosphere is very supporting and positive, it`s so nice! Seems like it will be a great challenge, but also a very exciting 6 months ahead!
I`ve been relaxing for pas evenings, as my head is boomimg with new information, but I will keep you updated :)
In our transition pack last year there was a motto - 'welcome to the best year of your life'. Well, it was there also two years ago for the 3 previous MC teams, but it doesn't matter;). It really was the best year of my life. I am sure the coming MC gang is going to say exactly the same after their year!
MC transition party was massive! Soooo many people, all those wonderful people I got to meet and work with throughout my year in Belgium. When 5 of us gathered for the last drink, I realized, that it's never gonna be the same again. We've lived diversity through the whole term, went through good times and the ones more challenging, and all those people will stay with me in my heart. I'm gonna miss you guys, big time, but I'm sure our roads are going to cross again!
We've come a long long way together Through the hard times and the good, I have to celebrate you baby I have to praise you like I should...
This is an update about what I was up to recently. It has been exciting during past two weeks and more excitement to come.
12.07.2006: My Birthday. Thank you all again for remembering this special day for me. I will try not to forget any of yours, so expect BirthdayAlarm requests coming soon :)
14-16.07.2006: AI transition weekend in Rotterdam. What can I say - was great! It was a big catch-up event with my best friends in MCs all over, meeting new people, having some super great conversations. Also, the roof-party on Friday night, with never-ending keg of Czech beer and trying to race it, BBQ at the lake and football championship, traditional apple pie in Dudok, Saturday night in very artsy place in R'dam, again amazing talks with people, some gossip, a bit of a house party, stories from incredible life if Oxana, Poffertjes in the morning and good sleep after getting back home. Just very very nice.
21-23.07.2006: Weekend in Paris! Cheap offers of Thalys trains kick ass. I was not totally anxious about going to Paris for the third time, but after this weekend my opinion is completely different - I started liking this city!! I think it feels more homy for me now, first, coz I understand way more of French than I did the previous times. Second, we got to hang out with the coolest bunch of people living there - Subash (trainee from India, our lovely host), François from France (MCP France, our guide and entertainer for the weekend!), Karim (My ER colleague in French MC), Pedro (MC teammate), Mitja (Slovenian 'freshly baked' intern in Brussels), Audrey (MC France), Maria (trainee from Russia) and a few more. Third, we went night-sightseeing this time, an I just had to go to Buddha Bar, teh one which is famous for it's compilations as well. Very posh bar, but very impressive as well. We went for one-drink strategy, ordering an expensive cocktail and sipping it all evening. My next time in Paris for sure I'm going to try Hotel Costes. Strongly recommended for everyone into lounge music.
I would also like to include my upcoming activities which might be important for different people reading this blog:
24.07.2006-28.07.2006: Last week of MC transition. that means filling all the holes, packing stuff, hectic times, you know. I will be hibernated for the rest of the world. 28.07.2006: MC transition Party!!!! I heard a rummour that not everyone knows it still, also I heard that there will be aiesec'ers from other countries coming,a nd in general, it's going to be an awesome party! You just have to be there to see MC teams 05-07!
03.08.2006: My last Intern Drink in Mezzo, Brussels. For the ones who will nto make it to the transition aprty, for the ones who want to see me again before I leave and for anyone else who feels like dropping by :)
05.08.2006: I go to Amsterdam! My official start date in ING is 7th of August, I'm planning to go there earlier, though.
All you curious people, here is the answer for you...
Starting August 7th, I am going to spend exciting 6 months in Amsterdam, on internship for ING Group! I will be working in Global Graduate Recruitment department, working with internal communications as well as a global partnership between AIESEC and ING!
I am exteremely excited about the role, the city I will be living in and finally having a clear answer to the question 'What's next?' :)
it's still 7 minutes left until midnight, so I am sttill in my birthday mood.
Yes, today is my birthday. Yes, i'm officially one year older. And also, what is even more important, one year WISER! :D
I didn't have a party until the very morning, but yes, I did have great fun and a great day. And also some cute presents. We had chocolate cake. We had drinks. Fun. And A LOT of nicest greetings in I think 11 languages in total (thanks to Johnathan from LLN, he has covered 7 of them:) ).
Amritha, Jen, Kevin, Elie, Chrisi, Pedro, Makis, Tijs, Dan, Mitja, Ieva, Oxana, Elena, Matthias, Arnas, Vilma, my whole family with their families (miss you much!), Robin, Johnathan, Jornt, Paula, Bee, Rahul, Romas, Henrique, Gijs, Robin from Lugano, Goda, Vaida, Gutte, Kaste, Simone... i hope I didn't forget anyone, thank you guys so much for all those greetings!
... in addition to all the stuff that is happening here, I am also busy with applying for internships. So if I am not writing too often in this blog, I hope I will be understood :)
For the informal part - last weekend was Daniela's farewell picnic with football and ultimate frisbie matches, FREE concert of Apocalyptica and a crazy partey at a bar where everybody dances on the tables :) Was super cool time, with the coolest bunch of Brussels people ever!
So today with a traditional Belgian chocolate breakfast we have started a one-month 'conference' called MC transition.
We have almost all new team - Elie, Pedro, Dan (from Romania), Chrisi and Tijs in the office, Makis is on his way from Greece - arriving tomorrow.
I have one person to transition my knowledge and experience of one year and the past years - it's Chrisi, extremely smart and proactive girl. Today we have outlined a great transition plan, and we manged to fit everything in, so it seems like a good project and very realistic :)
For me it's also a nice way to reflect on my year experience and look it from the other angle. So I am looking forward to the upcoming 30 days!
It was not planned to be that busy. But it was. And it turned out to be very very good!
My dear friend Piret was in Rotterdam for SSGN board transition and planning, and it was the only spot when I could actually meet her before she goes all the way back to Brazil. So I had to make it! It was soo fascinating, I met her in Baltic Synergy in 2005, when we both applied for international MCs, and now we got to see each other after a whole year!! We had lots of things to talk about, to catch up with our experiences and news.
Apart from that, was also nice to come to the AI office and catch up with other people, with Lithuanian gang, with other long-time-not-seen ones. And get inspired again, I think AI office has something special in the air. There is about 60 AIESEC people in Rotterdam now, including task forces, regional boards and new AI team. Meeting the people that inspire - absolutely amazing, what else I can say! By the way, the African restaurant that Araz and Abhinav took us to, was excellent! Itw as in Dutch, I dont excaly remember the name, but it means 'Taste from Africa' ('Smaak van Africa'??, strongly reccomended.
I have spent way more time there than I've planned, but got to catch my last train to Brussels and still see Michal in his farewell party.
Next morning - sleep in, get up, shower, pack and back to the station. Luxembourg this time, and taht was a Rock-A-Field festival. And yes, it was totally in a field somewhere in the middle of nowhere in Luxembourg. Get off in a city, take a train to some village, walk for &.è km to parking lot, get picked up by bus, go to the festival site, walk another 500 m, get your bag checked, ticket, enter.
I was early, not too many people. Extremely hot. Everyone is baking and intensively consuming beer and other beverages. Bands start to play. First one - i don't know it, was average. It was cool observing the moves of the vocalist though. I should try to sketch something like this some time. Second band - some german one, also don't know, but I liked them very much!! That girl has a super good voice! Rocks! For sure i have to find out more about them.
Then we had an interruption of rain... then interruption of 2-3cm pieces of ice falling from the sky... man, it hurt! It went totally out of control, everybody started hiding anywhere they could, and there was not too much of a choice, as it was a grass field... well after the storm it became a mud field :) And all people had mud all over themselves :) Luckily i got around just with old jeans and shoes.
At any case, I didn't pay money for the rain, same as others, so we got to see the other bands as well :) Mando Diao. I didn't know them, but they rock!! The crowd went crazy, and their music is worth it! Raphael - French siple guy, very lyric and sentimental. Nice and soothing. Franz Ferdinand - frickin awesome!!! Since I love every single song of this band, it was more than great to see them rocking the field live - with Take Me Out, Matinee and Walk Away... ah, yeah! And finally, Placebo - the top of the concert. They were good. However, my expectations were higher than that. I was hoping to see that black-dressed mystic guy that i see in pics and videos, but I saw a guy in a suit! Mystery revealed. However, that didn't spoil the show itself - music was great, stage effects also great, and crowd also went crazy. By the way, crowd was surprisingly young - I even got to run into 16-year old Lithuanian girls and around 20 of their schoolmates. Quite funny :)
After the concert my adventures didn't end, as still I had to get back somehow. The transortation by bus from the field to the city was terrible, so luckily i got to meet a local family who kindly took me by their car to the station of Luxembourg. Where I also found out that there are no night trains to Brussels! However, it was more of a nice adventure, as Luxembourg was quiet, and I met two exchange students from the US who have missed their train to France, so having some conversations was a good way to kill some time before our first trains.
Monday morning I was happy to find my bed in place:)
I liked London the first time I went there, and the second time last weekend I fell in love with it! Me and Rasa took the Eurostar train, which was almost like an airplane - luggage check in with metal detector, then going really fast with my ears almost closed and passing through the tunnel very fast. We were easily falling asleep until... Suddenly there comes an announcement, which states mainly 'Ladies and gentlemen, due to technical problems, now the passengers going to Paris change with the ones going to London!' Yey, let's run, see who wants to get to their destination faster!! The arrival got delayed by half an hour, then we made it to Vilija's place in a cool section of the city.
...the weather was incredibly awesome - not a single drop of rain, +24 degrees all the time. ...it's nice to understand the language people speak in the streets ...catching up with the news in friends' lives ...girls night out in a cool Rumi lounge bad ...forgetting about everything and everyone that was giving me a hard time recently. At least for a bit. ...shopping!! Portobello Market, Primark, NEXT and everywhere else. My MC salary budget cannot hold expensivo brands, but it's about the shopping experience anyway ;) ...seeing the variety, the mixture, the liveliness of the city!! ...visiting Salvador Dali experience and realizing even more that this guy was a sick genius. I love his works, probably because they are so disturbing ...visiting Sherlock Holmes' house, which was missed the first time ...sitting on the bank of Thames with a beer and philosophies about the purpose of life. ...realizing, that I am not a tourist in London anymore, and this is a city I could live in.
I love to go to teh countries where I understand the language :) More or less, at least. After 10 months of planning we finally found a spot in our agendas to go to Bonn and visit Eva! Me, Amritha and Eric met up with Eva and Bonnie, another DHL/DWPN intern in Bonn, Eric's former teammate (as we joke 'boyfriend') in Malaysian MC.
Firstly, I would like to ruin your perceptions of German punctuality - almost all trains and buses there are LATE! So, Eric's train got delayed, out train got delayed and then we managed to get the wrong connection from Koeln, luckily, the conductor was nice and let us come back with no extra fee. First night we went to one of the cool restaurants in Bonn, then joined other interns for a drink. We got a chance to compare Belgian beer with German one, glass of which had a weird twisted shape.
To summarize the whole weekend, it was chilled out, a lot if socializing with local trainee community, former AI members included (seeing Amit always brightens my day :) ), got to visit two most famous things in Bonn (well, there is only two of them actually) - Post Tower and HARIBO store. First one was high, and it had a collection of post boxes from all over the world (I found the one from Lithuania!!), second one was big, like a wonderland of Gummy Bears and other sweet stuff. Eva was so nice to show us around and host us during our stay, it was super! Then we hung out in Starbucks (yey!) and Irish Pub, just chilling out.
BTW, about Starbucks. So strange, that Germany, as country which ahs it's own coffee culture, still has Starbucks chain there, while in Belgium coffee culture is not that strong, and there is not a single store here! And people still drink coffee, and still many internationals are here, I just wonder...
Cologne (Koeln) was way bigger and lively city comparing to Bonn. We met up with Chrisi's (my MC successor!!) friends, Adrien, Jana and Alexa, very nice people. We went out with Jana and her friends to have some Happy Hour Cocktails (they had everything there!). And their house looks like a lounge bar. And thanks to them and the football table in their flat me and Amach started liking football! (10:8 I win, 5:3 Amach wins). It was so in line with all teh FIFA fever that is all over Germany!
Monday Morning, Adrien took us to the station, we had some time for another Starbucks caffeine infusion, got the train and wents straiht to the office. Week flew liek crazy.
We had our last planning days in the middle of nowhere in teh Netherlands. Check Pedro's blog about teh place we stayed at :) The closest city next to teh camping place we were staying, was called Goes, which had probably us as first tourists in the history of the town. What was funny, that they have a Heart Break Cafe which is a nice copy of the famous Hard Rock Cafe chain :)
Uf, a lot of things happened since the last update. Just after I got back to Belgium I got to go to Leuven to say bye to Oli, an intern in InBev and a good friend as well. Leuven is one of those lovely small cities in Belgium, where you always find people to go with you for a beer.
It was nice to see all the people I haven't seen for ages - Oli himself, Dy, Ondra, Tom, Geta, Robin and all the others. We got Oli-style-classy surprise - a tour up the bellfry of the university library. Everybody was amazed. Then dinner, chit chat and giving the best present ever - Voodoo knife set. You have to see this. My blogspace picture upload function doesn't work so you will have to wait for me to flickr them ;)
Prepare for a million of posts to catch up with my life :)
Lithuania has 4 jazz festivals per year which is A LOT for country of this size. Since I'm in Belgium now, I have to look for my annual dose of live jazz in my life. And actually this is something that is not that difficult to find - lots of bars or clubs that play jazz are all over Brussels. And on 19-21 of May Brussels was hosting an annual Jazz Marathon, which, of course, wouldn't be complete without my presence :)
It was awesome :) Seems like all interns in Brussels accidentally gathered in the center and did a bar-hopping from one place to another, hearing everything from classical to funk or latino jazz, ending up four of us - Leon, Volodja, Boban, me and Osku, by this guy we were kindly invited to end the party at his place.
Jazz heals my soul;)! Belgium does have a good jazz, that's a fact. My discovery of the year is Larry, a singer with an incredible voice and super happy songs. And in her band there is a cute saxophonist ;) Even rain and cold didn't stop people from coming to to the square to listen for them, it made my festival.
Pictures will be flickring in my flickr in a couple of days... pls be patient;)
It was a bit hectic the past days, didn't have time to write about last weekend.
Nothing special. Nobody came up with any plans for weekend, or those plans didn't reach me, so I just chose chillout.
Sooo good to do Nothing once in a while (which was like 2 months). Yeah, well, reading, gym, cleanup, chillout with wine and BBQ at Rasa's place. Still seeing people, chatting around.. and no 'I have to do' attitude.
Very nice. And practical, having an intense working week ahead, and three weekends ahead booked for something: Brussels Jazz Marathon, Bonn and London. Looking forward to!
Tonight I went out to our garden after a typical Belgian rain. It had an amazing sense of freshness, it was almost like a tropical weather. It reminded me the evenings in Ocracoke Island in North Carolina, US, where I've spent whole summer a couple of years ago. One of the best feelings ever. Sometimes there are small things that matter :)
It's 4 days since I got back from ITC in Lithuania and my family visit. About this, there's another long post to come.
I got back to Brussels that I saw a long time ago - last July, when I came over here for the start of my MC term: It is blooming! It is green and sun is shining, and - what's up with t
