Getting to know the American culture. Celebrating Thanksgiving.

What are you thankful for?

Yesterday has been Thanksgiving Day in the American tradition and, for the first time, I also celebrated it. Webster University, the American university where I study, organized an awesome Thanksgiving dinner for all students, professors, faculty staff and alumni.

You may find below some pictures, for which I have to give credit to Webster and to its official Facebook page.

The first thing you can notice was the large amount of tasty food, starting from the symbol of this celebration, the turkey. What I also appreciated was the fact that the turkey has been actually served by the director of the university and one of the leading professors in the International Relations department. I guess this is a very good indicator of an American type of organizational culture, where the hierarchical distance is somehow closer than in the classically in Europe. And coming back to the food, there were not only American dishes, but also international ones, including the Romanian or East-European “Sarma”, giving thus a clue about the international environment of Webster. Desserts did not miss and for me the highlight was the chocolate fountain in which you could dip strawberries, bananas or cookies.  Eventually, cheering with a glass of wine together with colleagues made things even more enjoyable.

If we go to the essence of the story, I am asking myself, what am I thankful for?

… for living in Viena, Austria.

… for coming from a country free of persecution and secure.

… for having an amazing family.

… for the newly obtained internship.

… for having access to education.

… for living in a very cute flat which has been recently Christmas decorated.

… for keeping long-lasting friendships.

… for all the new good people that God put in my way and that became my friends.

… for all the opportunities I had and all the chances I took.

… for having trust in my future.

… for the life-long memorable experiences I gathered through my internship in Brazil.

… for the wisdom or at least the degree of maturity that I gained in my undergraduate years.

… for the energy, enthusiasm and optimism that I still keep with me.

… for loving and being loved.

… for having had the chance to impact people’s lives through AIESEC and not only.

… for all the help that people gave me at one point or another, without asking for anything in return.

… for all the family Christmas holidays around the Christmas tree.

… for me, my family and close friends being healthy.

And the list can go on more…and more…and more…

THANK YOU for reading this article!

A Christmas Message

Christmas is getting closer, we get excited with decorations, presents and all that stuff – I admit, I love them too, they are part of the Christmas spirit, but I would rather say it is also the ideal time to think about change and make our "every day" more meaningful.

Let me show you a story in a nutshell, presented in this Christmas WWI commercial. It will express what I meant to say. You may find an article about the video here.

I am not going to make an endless morale, but ask you a few questions. What did you always plan to do but never had time? Who are the people that you care about the most? Are they aware of your appreciation? When was the last time you have been happy like a child in front of a new toy? What is the first step that you need to take in order to accomplish your dreams?

I already started writing my Christmas story, I thanked today some persons for their friendships (Facebook application “Thank you” is awesome) and I made someone happy by making an invitation to Christmas decorating.… and I can’t wait to get home and prepare the Christmas Romanian cake, “Cozonac”, with my mother…

Perhaps Christmas stories are not like in the movies; maybe nothing absolutely spectacular will happen but, hey, why not use it as the reason to reconnect with yourself and make every day more special?

Stephansdom in Vienna

Discovering the Austrian natural beauties: Hallstatt!

Are you a foreigner in Austria, looking forward to discovering the country’s wonders? Then I would like to recommend you with all my heart Hallstatt!

It is a mountain-lake destination, perfect for a day trip or a maximum 2-3 days stay, either as a couple, family or just friends. I loved this place, so let me tell you why.

We planned the trip quite in a short notice, about two weeks ahead. The possibilities offered by Austria were many, so picking this one has been a matter of internet information and recommendations from friends who have been impressed it. Hallstatt is actually a village situated by the lake with the same name and next to mountains of heights of about 2000 meters. Apart from this spectacular location, the village is famous for being part of the UNESCO patrimony and the salt mine that you find here is the oldest one in the world. In this area, Salzkammergut, there is a series of small mountain villages, each of them offering different attractions, like glaciers or trekking trails. This website gives you more information about a few of the notable locations. However, Hallstatt is the most famous and, from my point of view, the one that is worth visiting the most.

We went there from Vienna by train, which cost 52 Euro/person/both ways, each time having to change two trains. It took us about 4 hours to arrive to Hallstatt and we have been lucky to enjoy a sunny and wind-less week-end. From the train station in Hallstatt, one has to take a boat to arrive in the village, but it takes only 5 minutes, costs only 2-3 Euros and is a very good opportunity to have another perspective of the scenery. As soon as we arrived, we have been impressed by an enchanting atmosphere with colorful houses built basically on the steep mountain, cafes and restaurants by the lake, elegant swans, clear water and autumn-like forest. However, despite its long history, I have to admit that nowadays it seems to be mostly a touristic village so this is not the place to go to if you are looking for an authentic place where only the locals go. But it has its own authenticity and unforgettable landscape. By the way, it was quite funny to find out that the Chinese people built an identical replica of this village in their country. This helped in building its fame, reason for which you will encounter numerous Asian tourists.

Concerning the accommodation, you should know that it is very difficult to find something and the best thing would be to look for it at least two weeks in advance. We did not have this time so we searched just in the week before going and we have been extremely lucky to find something. If you are curious about the prices, I think an average would be 50 Euro/pers./night, but there are also cheaper ones provided you look for them early. If you are in a deadlock, my advice is not to take as an alternative accommodation in another village if you don't go by car. They are not too far one from another, but the distance is still too large to be walked and the buses are crazy – there is a schedule but, as we experienced ourselves, it is not respected and even the bus drivers might give you wrong information.

So, what can you do in Hallstatt? I will tell you my own experience, but the website can give you more options.

• Visit the Salt Mine. The price is around 22 Euro/ pers., if you are a student. It is worth the money because you get to go with the cable car, you have a nice view from up there, including a panorama point, you also get to walk a bit, the cave is very interacting and also funny (the highlight for me was the means by which you went down – something similar to a roller-coaster).
• Have a walk in the village and take lots of pictures
• Go trekking. There are also marked trails which you do not have to pay for. My favorite was the stairs-one. You see some stairs going up and then you think “Let’s see where they lead” and at some point you expect them to stop. But they go and go and go… Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to discover the path until the end, but it was quite exciting.
• Take the bus to the villages around (they have as well some sights that might interest you)
• Have a coffee or a meal by the lake

Don’t expect any nightlife, not even evening-life to a certain extent, especially if you are going there during the week-end. If you are familiar with Austrian customs, you should also know that very few things are open on Saturday or Sunday evenings. At 9 p.m., you can already count by the fingers of your hands the number of the restaurants or cafes still open.

Of course, adventures did not miss from the trip! It started just from the beginning! Who could have guessed that one of the subway lines was under repair?? So, I had to wait extra time for a tram to get me there which, as you might suppose, takes anyway more time than the subway. Everything seemed fine when I met my friend in the second subway, but we soon realized that we our papers were actually not the tickets. Luckily, after a careful reading of the confirmation e-mail, we found out that we can print the tickets in the train station, at one of the QBB machines. We rushed there and, to our relief, we eventually settled everything. In 15 minutes the train arrived and we comfortably sat in our chairs, eating a free croissant and drinking coffee, excited and diverted like small children on a trip to Disneyland.  

There are many more places left to discover in Austria and this is just the beginning. But, in the end, Hallstatt was a good choice that could be described as relaxing, inspiring and simply beautiful.

P.S. This is a useful website for more travel suggestions in Austria: http://www.austria.info/au  

Life assumptions?! Time to refresh them!

Have you ever challenged your life assumptions? Have you ever thought about your inner perceptions about the world? If not, then you should give it a thought.

One of the effects that journeys have on me is to bring out my philosophical side and make me more aware of myself. You may wonder why life assumptions are particularly important. I see them as a set of unwritten rules, embedded in you, that govern your individual life and perhaps your social life. There is a theory that I like very much and can be applied here –constructivism -, saying that our identities are socially constructed.  Moreover, it also states that the structure and the agent construct each other.  Applied, these things can mean that the way you see the world shapes your identity and personal structure but, in the same time, you have the power of remodeling your ideas and assumptions. To add on, as long as you have the wrong or just inappropriate perceptions about the world, your social relations are also different and this in turn it affects your identity.

Maybe it seems twisted, but it is actually quite simple. To bring your life assumptions to surface, practically, you just have to think about your own decision-making process, about what makes you happy and sad, and especially about the situations that make you feel uncomfortable. Particularly these last ones have the potential to reveal hidden assumptions. And then, talk! Just find someone that you rely on, that is really close to you and that does not judge you, and talk things out!

It happened to me as well, though it is not to be shared here. However, it was an automatically generated inner idea that I happened to carry with me for years without even realizing.

In the end, it is a journey of self-discovery. Due to the fact that we are increasingly more dynamic every day, we tend to ignore our foundation, our history and the way we have been built. Perhaps it is the right time to give it a closer look and create a better self. 

Two months of living in Vienna! What's the news?

Today, 6^th of October, there are exactly two months since I moved to Austria… When did they pass? I don’t even know! But this makes it a perfect time for reflection, for doing a check if everything is on the right track.

Unfortunately, I did not write here for a month, even though I had lots of topic in my head. Many things happened, which left me little time to write. Also now, it does not mean I have time but, on the contrary, I feel the urge of writing, I miss the feeling of doing so.

Stadtpark in Vienna

What should I start with? Well, I began university! And now, my first term is almost ending. It is the right time to tell a few things about Webster, which I plan to develop in a future article. It is an American university and therefore it is structured in a particular way: the university year is split in terms, each having 8 weeks and one week holiday in between them; you can also take a summer break for one term. For this term, I chose to take only one course (the maximum is two), which is Introduction to International Relations. And apart from the class, I got involved in many university-related activities, such as being a Tour Guide for the campus, getting into the board of the International Relations Students Union, participating in campus events or applying for a work-study scholarship. Therefore, my conclusion is that if you want to do something with your student life, there are indeed many options. It just depends on you to approach them and to strive for excellence. However, my standing goal remains to find a full-time job in the IR domain and many of my actions have this driver.

Webster University at the official opening, 1st of October

My social life has also been quite interesting. It makes me happy that I did succeed to see new places in Vienna, such as Karls Kirche, the Zoo, and also travel outside Vienna, to Hallstatt, in Upper Austria. Amazing place this one, it is also on my list of future articles! One of the highlights has been as well the Vienna Night Run! Webster University organized a group to go together and it also supported 2/3 of the tickets costs. The evening was great! Beautiful weather, impressive architecture to run by, a nice new friend to go along and support me. The feeling you get after running 5 km in 32 min. is unbelievable!

The Zoo

Vienna Night Run, 30th of September

 Above and below in Hallstatt

And how could I forget to mention that I had already completed a new level of German, A2.1, at Deutsch Akademie? My experience here has been very good: an excellent teacher (Verena) and a multicultural and joyful group.

Champagne for the last day of our German course! Cheers! 

One may wonder also if I felt any culture shock. Actually, not so much, almost not at all. However, I believe that some important factors have been the facts that I received regular packages with food from home (some things that one cannot get from here :X), my parents visited me recently and I also keep in touch with people from Romania. Of course, not every day is a paradise and not everything is 100% wonderful, but this is how life goes no matter what corner of the world you live in. It depends on what side of the glass you consider: the empty or the full one?

Briefly, my life goes on the right track. Keep in mind: take care what you wish for because it will come true! Your thoughts have the power to attract those particular feelings, actions and events… (as the outcome of a conversation with a good friend was…).

Need inspiration? 11 TED Talks to make your life more exciting!

What about some inspiration and some fresh ideas about the world? One of my ways to get these things is watching from time to time a TED Talk. Maybe some of you heard about it and perhaps others did not.

Briefly, it is a website/phone application that provides short-length speeches of various persons around the world on a wide range of matters, from technology to researches or day to day life issues. Below, I would like to show you a list with some of my preferred TED Talks, in random order, and a short description of each of them (taken from their website):

1) Zak Ebrahim: I am the son of a terrorist. Here's how I chose peace.

If you’re raised on dogma and hate, can you choose a different path? Zak Ebrahim was just seven years old when his father helped plan the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. His story is shocking, powerful and, ultimately, inspiring.

2) Making peace is a marathon

In Lebanon there is one gunshot a year that isn’t part of a scene of routine violence: The opening sound of the Beirut International Marathon. In a moving talk, marathon founder May El-Khalil explains why she believed a 26.2-mile running event could bring together a country divided for decades by politics and religion, even if for one day a year.

3) Dare to educate Afghan girls
Imagine a country where girls must sneak out to go to school, with deadly consequences if they get caught learning. This was Afghanistan under the Taliban, and traces of that danger remain today. 22-year-old Shabana Basij-Rasikh runs a school for girls in Afghanistan. She celebrates the power of a family's decision to believe in their daughters — and tells the story of one brave father who stood up to local threats. (Filmed at TEDxWomen)

4) Hackers: the Internet’s immune system
The beauty of hackers, says cybersecurity expert Keren Elazari, is that they force us to evolve and improve. Yes, some hackers are bad guys, but many are working to fight government corruption and advocate for our rights. By exposing vulnerabilities, they push the Internet to become stronger and healthier, wielding their power to create a better world.

5) The Museum of Four in the Morning
Beware: Rives has a contagious obsession with 4 a.m. At TED2007, the poet shared what was then a minor fixation with a time that kept popping up everywhere. After the talk, emails starting pouring in with an avalanche of hilarious references—from the cover of "Crochet Today!" magazine to the opening scene of "The Metamorphosis." A lyrical peek into his Museum of Four in the Morning, which overflows with treasures.

6) On being a woman and a diplomat
Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright talks bluntly about politics and diplomacy, making the case that women's issues deserve a place at the center of foreign policy. Far from being a "soft" issue, she says, women's issues are often the very hardest ones, dealing directly with life and death. A frank and funny Q&A with Pat Mitchell from the Paley Center.

7) Global power shifts
Historian and diplomat Joseph Nye gives us the 30,000-foot view of the shifts in power between China and the US, and the global implications as economic, political and "soft" power shifts and moves around the globe.

8) The key to success? GritLeaving a high-flying job in consulting, Angela Lee Duckworth took a job teaching math to seventh graders in a New York public school. She quickly realized that IQ wasn’t the only thing separating the successful students from those who struggled. Here, she explains her theory of “grit” as a predictor of success.

9) The psychology of your future self"Human beings are works in progress that mistakenly think they're finished." Dan Gilbert shares recent research on a phenomenon he calls the "end of history illusion," where we somehow imagine that the person we are right now is the person we'll be for the rest of time. Hint: that's not the case.

10) Your phone company is watching
What kind of data is your cell phone company collecting? Malte Spitz wasn’t too worried when he asked his operator in Germany to share information stored about him. Multiple unanswered requests and a lawsuit later, Spitz received 35,830 lines of code — a detailed, nearly minute-by-minute account of half a year of his life.

11) Everyday leadership
We have all changed someone’s life — usually without even realizing it. In this funny talk, Drew Dudley calls on all of us to celebrate leadership as the everyday act of improving each other’s lives.

You might also want to know that TED conferences are organized worldwide so you might have the chance for one to take place actually close to you. Check it out because it is worth taking part in it. I participated at one such event in Bucharest, Romania, about 2 -3 years ago and I really liked the atmosphere - dynamic and bringing in new ideas.

I believe that our preferences show in fact who we are and these stories outline some of my views, each in its own way. For example, they reflect my passion for international relations, my interest in education, my belief in the high value of personal leadership or the importance I give to reflection and understanding yourself. All in all, they are a way of saying “open your mind”, listen, learn from other people’s stories and then act!

What are your favorite TED Talks and what do you like about them? Sharing them in a comment would do perfectly!

A life story - in memoriam Alina Procopiescu

Perhaps you met Alina [Procopiescu], perhaps she has been one of your best friends, perhaps you only heard of her, and perhaps you have no idea who she is… Whatever the case might be, let me tell you a story about a life lived at its maximum, a person that tried to make this world better… a narrative about the life lessons that we are given unexpectedly.

She was one of my best friends, my room-mate in the dorms for almost two years, my group colleague in university, my hard-working partner in the projects we had to deliver… And now she is not here anymore.  She passed away in a tragic car accident on the 13^th of March 2014. I remember that night so clear, standing on the chair, in our room, scared about what might have happened and hearing the voice in the phone: “Alina is not anymore. She died.”… and then starring at her bed, incapable of processing the information… While now, after six months, I became accustomed to the idea in a way, I still find the event unbelievable. 

What did she leave behind? A lot… a lot… considering that she was not even 22 years old when the accident happened. She was committed to bringing change in the world, for her it wasn’t just an ideal scratched on paper; it was something she believed in. Alina thought that the best way to accomplish her mission was through the international youth-run organization AIESEC. She loved this community and she dedicated so much time to it! When she passed away, she had just finished her one-year experience in the Executive Board of AIESEC Bucharest and she had just been elected for a position of vice-president at the national level.  In the future, she dreamed of travelling to India. She was so ambitious and hard-working that I am sure she wouldn’t have stopped here… she would have gone really far! She was dedicated especially to the area of Outgoing Volunteering Exchange(GCDP) so, in case you will ever follow such a program of AIESEC, think of her! And, of course, Alina was also one of the best students in university and all the professors knew her. Who could not remember that long-haired girl that always sat in the first row, raising her hand constantly and trying eagerly to find answers to any problem.

I remember all the small things that made our relationship unique. We were in the same time very similar (ambitious, hard-working, energetic) but also different regarding the daily habits. She always strrrrronly disagreed with me waking up so early, like 8 a.m., because she always wanted to sleep as long as possible and me, with all my activities in the room, disturbed her sleep. Actually, a few days before she passed away, we had reached an agreement that I wouldn’t wake up earlier than 9 a.m.… I keep in mind the days and nights that we spent planning and doing our projects, carefully splitting our work using even spreadsheets (which she loved, by the way). She always left for me the introductions and conclusions, she did not like them. And I remember one of her favorite meals: salad!! I guess due to her I also got now this habit of eating salad as a meal itself almost every day. And there are so many more small things I remember about her, that I would probably write a book…

This article is a tribute to her memory, an attempt to pass on her legacy. Do everything you like, everything you are passionate about, now!! Set high goals for yourself and work hard achieving them! Always care about the people around you, help them, try to be an inspiration for them and as well get inspired by them. Believe in leadership and try to lead by example! I did not mention yet, but the cause of her accident was the fact that she had been hit by a car while passing the street in a forbidden place, not on the crosswalk, at 1 a.m., in a very central and busy area at night. So, take care about these things – we always think it is not going to happen to us, until one moment… She died happy! – Just a few hours before the accident happened, she had talked to her sister briefly, telling her how happy she was… Well, in the end, you cannot predict what is going to happen tomorrow; you cannot be sure 100% about anything, so live your life happily! Real life shows these are not just some random inspirational words.

This picture has been taken just a few days before she passed away (with her new haircut).

Alina was known and loved by incredibly many persons… At a moment when many of us were still grieving and in a day when she should have celebrated her 22^nd birthday, we launched lights (Ro: lampioane) in her memory. We have been there about 40 persons. I hope that these lights at least made her smile up there in the sky… Here you have a short video from our meeting.

Some days ago I watched a movie that made me question myself again about the way we live our lives, about the way I live my own life in the end… It was a beautiful story of a young surfer who dreamed to surf mavericks and who eventually work tried to achieve his dream. Unfortunately, a few years later, when he was only 22, he died in the Maldives while free diving. What remained into my mind about this person was his happiness, his passion, his determination and courage… I totally recommend you to see this movie (“Chasing Mavericks”). It has a very strong message and the story, through its beauty and tragic, quickly connected to my memories of Alina.

On the 6^th of September, her family will commemorate 6 months from the moment Alina passed away. Unfortunately, I will not be able to be there, since I am currently in Vienna, but I decided to write this article with the hope that one of the best things that we can do is to try to keep alive the memory of the ones that we loved... In the end, I want to leave here a citation that Alina loved and which, in the end, reflects her life…

“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars!”

 

Accommodation hunting in Vienna

If you find yourself in the situation of having to move to Vienna in the next period and you are concerned about finding accommodation, or if you are just curious about how my experience was in this matter, than you should read this article.

As a very organized person that I am, I started researching the topic a few months before I had to move to Austria… from May if I remember well, so 3 months before. I can say this helped me in order to get to know the market and discover what my needs and wants are. However, I find it 99% impossible to rent something without being personally in Vienna because the chances to have a mismatch between the internet and even the phone perspective and the one of the reality are extremely high (basically, to be cheated). My experience stands as a proof that you can find a very good place to rent, according to your criteria (assuming they are realistic), without using a real estate agency, but rather your own work, knowledge and perseverance. Indeed, it is a competitive market, where the good places “go” almost instantly and you have to keep your eyes and ears constantly open to any opportunity and your mind aware of the wide range of possibilities. From my point of view, it is not worth paying the high commissions of the real estate agencies, which usually amounts to the rent for one to few months and/or a percentage of the contract value, when you can just invest some time and effort and find it yourself.

Whatever the solution you choose, to find a flat by your own or to use the help of a real estate agency, it is highly important that you visit the flats before renting. In my case, I came with two weeks earlier in Vienna and I stayed for some days in the flat of a friend of mine who was in Romania during that period. If you don’t have friends in Vienna, you might choose to stay in a hotel, aparthotel or hostel.

Going back in time and space, I tried to speak to as many people from Vienna as possible, to join Facebook groups for accommodation, FB groups of Romanians in Vienna (such as the one of the organization LSRS Austria for young Romanians abroad), I posted on my personal FB page, told my parents to ask their friends and acquaintances, talked to the university representatives and so on. The key point here is: get information from as many channels as possible! Someone might help you with a useful website, someone else might have a friend that rents his flat or a friend that might rent you the house while you visit flats… you never know where the opportunity pops out!

Therefore, I would like to give you some useful websites:

Ø  http://www.jobwohnen.at/  - this is the website where I found my place to rent. Really useful, offers are posted daily. It is only in German, but you can deal with it if you learn some key words and afterwards use Google Translate. It has offers only from private persons.

Ø  http://www.wg-gesucht.de/ - also an useful website. It has both a German and an English version, though some descriptions of offers might be only in German. It has offers only from private persons.

Ø  http://www.willhaben.at/iad - It is only in German.

Ø  http://www.bazar.at/ - It has offers from both private persons and real estate agencies.

Ø  http://www.provisionsfrei.at/ - It has offers only from private persons and it is in German. The drawback is that you have to pay in order to be able to contact the owner of the flat, otherwise you don’t see any contact information. Someone told me that he found his flat through this platform, so I decided to give it a try, but I found the offers quite little in number and new ones are posted rarely.

Other websites of real estate agencies indicated by some people are:

Ø  http://www.findmyhome.at/

Ø  http://www.immobilien.net/

Useful Facebook groups where people post about the flats or rooms they rent are:

- Wohnungen und Zimmer in Wien/ Rooms and Appartements in Vienna

- Wohnungen in Wien privat zur Vermietung

- Ich brauche bzw. habe eine Wohnung Wien

You have two big options if you are planning to move to Vienna: renting a room in a larger flat, known commonly here as WG, OR renting a flat, be it a studio or a larger apartment. For me, the best alternative was finding a studio. In the preparation phase, at home, you should also discover through your own research what are your required and preferred aspects about the accommodation you plan to find, such as the districts, the type of accommodation, the budget for rent and guarantee (known in German as “Kaution”), proximity to the transportation links or to university etc.

You should know that in 99% of the cases, when renting a room/studio/flat or anything else, you are required to give a guarantee (“Kaution” in German), which will be given back at the end of the contracting period, if the place is in the same good state. For larger flats, a transfer fee (“Ablȍse” in German) is also required for the furniture and everything contained inside. The guarantee is most of the times above 1000 Euros or equal to the value of the rent for 3 months, in the case of studios.

If you plan to live in Vienna at least for a year, I advise you to take into account both a short-term rent and a long-term rent for the beginning. Of course, the long-term is preferred, but in case you don’t find what you want in the required amount of time, than renting something for a month or two can give you extra time to find something convenient for the long term. You should also know that during the summer period, including September, a lot of people are still on holiday or abroad for other reasons, so your chances to find something on the short-term are higher.

In my case, I succeeded to find exactly what I wanted and the reason is probably a mix of various ingredients such as hard work, divine help, perseverance and luck.  About one week before coming here, I started giving many phone calls in order to establish appointments. Overall, I had 4 appointments before finding the flat that I wanted. You have also to be prepared for owners to call you and cancel the appointment because the flat has already been rented meantime, as it happened in two cases for me. The appointments themselves are the biggest adventure! One of the places had a horrible entrance of the building, another one was terrifying placed next to a night club with spices and the flat itself was very dirty, another one had the bathtub, believe it or not, in the kitchen, and another one was very dark, required a high guarantee and was available only starting September. As you may see, there is a great deal of things that you can’t foresee, so take your time and explore!

After all the work and the uncertainty, when I finally found this amazing studio, it was unbelievable. Now, it was all over! I can focus on other things! What I learned from this experience is that hard work pays off! You just have to research, research, research and never give up!

Good luck with your quest!

Life at crossroads: from Romania to Austria!

What it takes to change your life? Courage and trust. In this way, I embarked on my journey to Austria. I arrived here on August the 6^th, knowing only where I am going to study and where I am going to live for the first 10 days until I find a place of my own to rent. However, it is not my first time in this country, but I dare to say the 5^th time. Somehow, different reasons kept bringing me back here once in a while, from the 9^th high school grade.

I felt in love with Vienna right from the beginning. Who would have guessed that I was going to move here, for an indefinite number of years? I find it useless to set a specific number of years, when only the opportunities and the turning points of life will determine this. In high school, I started thinking about doing my Master abroad. As my mind was trying to figure out in what city I would like to study, Vienna always popped out. You see, for me, the lifestyle of a city is very important. I just can’t move to a country just because it has an extraordinary good university if I don’t feel myself at least a bit attracted to that culture, people, weather and so on. Later on, when I conducted a solid research concerning my studies abroad, Vienna turned out also this time to be the solution. Here, I had a good faculty with the profile I was looking for, taught in English - Webster University, International Relations -, I loved the atmosphere of the city and the architecture, I was willing to learn German, which would use me very well in the future, I had the possibility to find a job since it was an international city, it was not as expensive as other European capitals and it was relatively close to Romania.

So, here I am: a new resident of Vienna! Now, 10 days from my stay have passed, 10 days in which I learned once again to deal with uncertainty, to have faith and to enjoy a new beginning. Luckily, a friend of mine, to whom I thank very much, allowed me to stay in his studio from Vienna while he was in Romania, in order to search a studio for myself. Therefore, in the first 4 days I had appointments for visiting flats and eventually, on Sunday evening, I found a great one to rent! But finding a flat here is another story, which I will develop in a future article, including also practical suggestions for those interested in finding accommodation. On Tuesday, I moved to my new place and from there on, I settled. However, I did not waste the days and, taking advantage of the first sunny days, I got familiar once again with the city, with its spirit. Museum Quartier is a great place to go in the evening, it has a lot of cafes, but also benches and shapes to sit on and enjoy the conversations, movie projections and so on; Stephansplatz is always vibrant of tourists, but walking on its small side streets, one can discover dozens of antiquities shops and galleries; Nestroyplatz is a chic place, leading you to the Danube, to many cafes and displaying an architectural combination of old style and large multinational futurist buildings. One of the highlights of my stay here remains the visit at the United Nations Headquarter, at the Vienna International Center. Celebrating 35 years since they have been working in this building, they had a free visiting day on the 15^th of August. Having in mind that UN is one of the organizations where I would like to work, this opportunity was more than welcomed. Despite the fact that, of course, there was a relatively long waiting line, and that the tour was limited due to time constraints, I enjoyed being there and getting in contact with the UN.  After three Model United Nations, I got to actually enter a conference room and take the seat of the Director – General. Life has its own mysterious ways.

Let’s not forget to mention the people of Vienna! It is an incredible mix of cultures! I encountered incredibly helpful people, right from the beginning, when a young women just passing by showed us how to buy the right tickets and after a few minutes came back in the train station searching for us because she forgot to say something important regarding the validity of the tickets. But I have also seen all kinds of weird of people; especially the area Praterstern which, even though an important transportation hub, can turn out to be dangerous and thus it is worth avoiding it as much as possible (however, maybe due to the high number of police men, I never witnessed any incident).

After all, why take this step and make such a big change? Well, there are many reasons, but, behind them all, there is an irresistible attraction in living for a while in another country. And what better moment to do that other than now? For me, it really seems like the normal course of action, I feel like I should have been here and I should have done things this way; I don’t feel strange and I don’t feel a lack of adaption; I just feel like HOME. Don’t get me wrong, I still love Romania and it will remain my first home, I will always pride with my home country but now, I am ready to have for some time… two homes.

The secret of adaption lies in the feeling of being at home… wherever your head lies…

Power of youth - the UN Youth Delegate program

I have always believed that the power stays in our hands, the young people, to change the world that we live in. Not because more aged people are not capable, but because we are gifted with the energy of youth, with the drive given by the fact that we believe that our future is in our hands and there is still a lot of time to fulfill our dreams.

Having this thought in mind, I found an opportunity which is worth spreading the word about. I would have joined the program myself, but I am at a point where I decided another course of life for myself. Therefore, I want to write about the program “Youth Delegate at United Nations” from Romania. However, if you are reading this article and you are not Romanian, you have to know that it has also been implemented in other countries; you just have to research about it. 

It has been launched by the Ministry of Youth and Sport and it implies that two young people, a girl and a boy, will have the possibility of representing Romania in New York at the UN General Assembly from September/ October 2014 and at the Commission for Social Development from February 2015. However, having this position requires your involvement for one year, period during which you will have meetings with young people round the country, as well as be involved in other related activities.You can find more details about the program here.

As basic requirements, in order to be able to candidate, you must be a Romanian between 18 and 25 years old and you must have spent at least 6 months in Romania in the year before the moment of candidature. You can check here the stages of application, the requirements of the application file, the profile of the candidate, the role of the UN Youth Delegate, as well as other details. You can also join the Facebook event.

This short description from the official website of the UN Youth program may answer some questions regarding the global movement. : “Since 1981 the United Nations (UN) recommend Member States to include Youth Delegates in their national delegations in order to ensure direct youth participation. The inclusion of Youth Delegates in the work of its Mission to the United Nations gives a country legitimacy in representing the views of its young population and promotes the voice of young people in global decision making”.

And after all, why do this? Why run for the position? It is a chance for you to act, to intervene in the society, to bring up front all your potential and, nonetheless, have a year marked by personal and professional development.