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.
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?
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 websitegives 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
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.
Today, 6th 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…).
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):
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.
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!
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 13th 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 22nd 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 6th 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!”
