F - Enter Your Future
This is a Project i took part in Poland through AIESEC, between March and June n 2009, going through different cities with Enterpreneurship Workshop and interns from different countries. I had an awesome time in Poland and wanted to share some facts, pictures n videos... hope you'll enjoy this!
sábado, 1 de agosto de 2009
arriving to Polska
bald trees, freaking cold days (i like to say it was "cold as hell"... but doesn't make much sense), unknown language, weird and squared buildings... couldnt avoid to ask myself: "what was i thinking about!?". just in the airport i felt i was in a waaay different world... but it felt much better when i was picked up and could saw how friendly people was :) thanks Gosia, Magda n Julita! when arriving to the AIESEC office i could confirm polish are friendly
of course at the beginning it was way harder to do anything that involved talking... even paying a bill! but i succeed on surviving thanks to my friends and to the few polish words i learned. but anyway, to get some detailed stuff in Biedronka, Eko or anywhere else with groceries... this very different language was a problem, but as i said... not critical: i can eat bread with butter for many days :P but thanks to my brazilian friend Nano i could make it to eat decent food... at least it looked decent :p i really had this feeling of being living in the USSR some years back.
getting to know Wroclaw was not that hard... after i catched the tram in the opposite way. i walked a lot with Nano on my 2nd or 3rd day and had some notion of where to go and get stuff. Basia (my buddie) was also very kind and i felt good she was taking care of me, felt very safe :)
Faci training in Wroclaw
:)
workshops - Legnica
with the students we watched this "7 pounds" movie with Will Smith and i could play soccer with some others. they knew this peruvian player in Lech Poznan named Hernán Rengifo and started calling me so (maybe because they didn't remember my name). Shou, i'm still sorry about this issue with the Sports Teacher :P
-
workshops - Białystok
this was a nice surprise: suddently Basia, the Coordinator (OC) in this city, told me something like "ok, so TV is comming today". hope u can understand how much i was surprised... i hope i don't look waaaay bad, haha. it was nice after all... the interview was a little longer, but seems i didn't say enough interesting stuff haha. sometimes there was some problems with a couple of words guys didn't know and we needed to explain a little, for example "entrepreneurship", "budget"... so i asked just to be sure we were on the same frequence
those were incredible weeks, not only because this 'tv (very fast) experience' but at the end of the last workshop one student asked me to sign the presents we gave them from the sponsors... i reserved a ball for the ones who took the "advance workshop" n after signing the 1st one i found some more on the desk :) in a way, it felt like being John Nash (a beautiful mind, seen that movie?) hopefuly for the workshop and not for being insane :P haha. we also went to make some climbing on a mall and also went to this spanish movie festival, that was very interesting :) we also recieved the invitation to the house of Ela, the english teacher in the VI LO, with Betty we had a lovely dinner and supper... and i couldn't eat more!
then, leaving Białystok was a little complicated because i took the bus on the wrong direction (yeah, i love taking transportation in the wrong way!) and my time was very thight... but finally i made it and Damian helped me to talked to the inspector to see if i could buy my ticket inside the train; this was specially useful because the train departed 2 min after i arrived to the wagon... then no time to buy the ticket on the window hehe. thanks for everything there! n Emilia... i don't smoke grass :)
i enjoy Bialystok a lot, bad luck i didn't have time to get to see the zubr around, it would had been awesome! but it doesn't matter because i had such a good time, and i even got a haircut there... wich, now that i remember... i needed to schedule an appointment to go, that was crazy! here in Lima you just go to get the haircut and make your queue until they can use their scissors on your head. (i wonder if it's the same in the rest of Europe). thanks Szymon for your help and for being such a nice friend!
workshops - Częstochowa
On our way to Kraków, inside Damian's car
the other 2 weeks i spent there were a little more calm, but this party we had at the end of the 2nd week... but it was very nice staying in Adrianna's house and dancing with her when we were not watching the Champions League games, not that she likes them... but she joined me to watched them with good resoults for my Manchester United :D (i will say nothing else about this cup version). hanging out with some students was nice as well, and because the city tour was kind of complete i could just take it calm and talk more with people instead of going from one place to another. by the way, i like the variety of beer there... i won't forget how shameful for me was to arrive the 1st day to the I LO with sandals and pretty much "just waken up"... we shouldn't had had this small party and drinking games in Damian house the previous night, hehe. took me a while to find the right door when i arrived (with all my bags!) but Maja and Asia were very gentle when i arrived and took me to the classroom :) i started taking pictures of the group this week and i'm very sad i didn't do it before (Bialystok's one was taken by my friend Qing), here you can see the groups i had in I LO and II LO (by the way, "LO" means "High School" and they have romanic numering by city)
Last week in Częstochowa... totally out of my expectations of going back (certanly, not because i don't like the city but i thought i'd be somewhere else) i talked to Damian while being in Slovakia and asked him if he needed help for the last week of his schedule... and he did, so i took my train from Banska Bistrica straight to Czestochowa, but without this lady's help i would had made it sooner than i expected :P that was one of the ocassions where i felt there is not need to learn polish hehe (go check the video!). i stayed mostly in Francois's house, where i felt great. it was nice to keep learning some french and share the spanish. we also made it to play some basketball (after so many years that i played last time!) a couple of times and we ate the biggest pizz i ever saw! the workshops this time were very good and after Kash's words, i had "good timing" to arrive there, because she was leaving before friday. as u can see on the "official picture", i improved taking this pic... sad i didn't get any sign of "Enter your future" for this time, but was a good week again (student were great in every corner of Poland!). this week was the last one i spent in Poland, after the weekend i returned to Wroclaw to take my flight to Belgique and go back to Lima through the USA... the workshop in Opole was before this week
workshops - Opole
we also were invited to Ola's house and i so loooved it! it was out of Opole, in a peaceful and relaxing village :) we had dinner with her family and it was a very nice time with them, and also taking the bikes to the creek :D
the workshop in this school (II LO) had the most organized students i think, they made all the work in groups very well and the virector Barbara Jankowska was great supporting both Varun and me with the coordinations in the school with the teachers and classrooms :) the funniest thing i saw in Opole, in the next video:
-
when not in workshop... during the project
When not in the project (sometimes just a weekend), i got into Lubin, Lodz, Kopaniec (close to Jelenia Gora), Warszawa, and Krakow... if not staying in Wroclaw. i was not alone in any of this locations due to i always visited someone :) all my friends helped me to have such a wonderful time everywhere, n as usual i forgot some stuff on these places... it was hard to go far away 'cause mostly i had only the weekend, but easter was a good chance to have more time to go around. by the way, some stuff:
Gulmaro: please don't forget to send me the jacket! and send greetings to the made :p
Kulka: thanks for giving me back the t-shirt :)
Katy: i know u are now n Belgium... so don't worry about the t-shirt i left in Krakow :p
Qing: i am still waiting for the pictures i took in Krakow with your camera!
Basia+Tomacito: thanks for everything in Lubin!
Greg: i'll practice MK! did i leave anything there? i mean, besides de Chicha Morada
the train is my friend
the meeting place
even when it was a little hard to hang out in the city at the beginning, it finally felt as home n Poland. i spent several days there, no workshop there though, but i got to hang out with the people of AIESEC (Wroclaw AE) n all of them were great n were very fiendly. the city is great, specially for this small islands right in river where people go to have bbq that i joined a couple of times. looooved the architecture and the cultural heritage it has... i didn't want to take many pictures when i arrived there (i arrived right to Wroclaw) it was so freaking freezing i didn't want to leave the dorm... just to Biedronka to buy food to survive. so, sightseeing came at the end of my trip... n i couldn't get to see all the places i wanted, but hope this is motivation enough to go back n take many more pics :)
1st city i landed in Poland... and the last one too. Wroclaw the meeting place... felt like home :)
so finally...
i have to say that students were great in every school i went (in general, of course), schools were very supportive and helped to have good workshops, the people from AIESEC in Poland was great and took a lot of care of me and the rest of EPs (exchange participants) and all this lead to have a unique experience in the proyect.
with time was no hard to get on the tram or take buses, ask for kurczak or pieroggi, get jeden herbata and say dzien dobry :D the weather became much better with no freezing temperatures, trees looked way better with leafs on them, sun came by more often... people smiled on the streets, kids went out to play... and i had to leave the country before summer, such a pitty. i am very happy i took my bag and went to Poland... it was a great adventure and i got so many good memories :) i am lucky my camera was better than last trip so i could get videos and take more and better pictures. i have more than 7 Gb on pictures (by July 2009 and for a non-proffesional photographer, thats a lot i think!) but i won't publish much... sorry if u were expecting more, but is better if we meet and i can show u way more ;)
dziekuje Polska :) and all my friends and the people who helped me and was nice with me on my trip, i deeply hope we can meet again and that i can remain longer in all the beautiful places i visited :)
see u soon ;)
...
if u lost the way
View F - Enter yout future in a larger map
AIESEC
AIESEC is the world’s largest student-run organization. Active in over 1700 universities across more than 107 countries and territories, our international platform enables young people to explore and develop their leadership potential for them to have a positive impact in society.
In partnership with business and higher education, AIESEC has over 60 years of experience in developing high-potential students into globally minded responsible leaders.
AIESEC' s innovative development process consists of unmatched leadership experiences,international opportunities and a global learning environment.
AIESEC uses an innovative approach to engaging and developing today’s youth. By offering opportunities to build extensive international personal networks and explore leadership opportunities, we provide a platform for young people to discover direction and ambition for their futures.