Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.: June 2005

AIESEC: Over 500 exchange realizations in 1 month

A dream for many is today a reality! The first month to cross 500 exchanges since we have tracked realisations!

The good news doesn't end here, as we have crossed 2000 exchanges in the first 2 quarters of 2005. Historically, Quarter 3 is the biggest quarter so we can easily expect to cross 4000 by a big margin at the end of 2005!

Congratulations to everyone involved in making this happen! Lets open the champagne bottles!
Heres to incredible exChange Xperiences!

Best Regards,
AIESEC International

My sis blogs now in Nomadlife

Joined AIESEC in Feb. this year!
And now has a weblog!

Who would think that ... times change fast, I opened my first E-mail account when I joined AIESEC! If you wanna know who she is in the pic, visit her blog!

Members of AIESEC UNINORTE - Colombia. Which one is my sister?

Speech by Thomas Friedman of The New York Times....

"When we were young kids growing up in America, we were told to eat our vegetables at dinner and not leave them. Mothers said, 'think of the starving children in India and finish the dinner.' And now I tell my children: 'Finish your maths homework. Think of the children in India who would make you starve, if you don't."

MC COLOMBIA 05 06 KICKING ASS!

They will be the ones!

In AIESEC in genereal I have always been extremely passionate about election processes - I truly believe elections are the spaces in AIESEC when you simply STRECH the most, get out of your comfort zone, and your ambition - but al the same time - your humility, increases. Elections are the spices of the AIESEC life.

And today I just got one of this lovely spams annoucing a new team! And I was celebrating and feeling happy for them ... why?

1. It's my home country!
2. I'm responsible as AI Director for this country!
3. The selected people are simply mean to kick ass!

One cool thing is that since 2001 - 2002 the MC of AIESEC Colombia does not have any international MC member, and next term as you see we will have 2: DAVO from Peru and Juraj (Duri) from Slovakia. Davo, you are hilarious! I am happy that you made it, happy that Colombia and SSGN can count with you next term as well! Duri ... I am impressed! When would I imagine that this slovakian guy that was driving me crazy when building this EU grant proposal back in 2003/2004 when I was on the Austrian MC was two years after gonna be MCVP in my country? Enjoy Latin America!

Vivi, way to go! Good luck with this bunch of TALENT!

MC AIESEC COLOMBIA 2005 2006

On the way to getting fat again?

The past weeks have been quite diverse in terms of food :) Besides the team dinner culture, in general, every day you get to try or at leat get told about many special dishes from all around the world!

Last weekend we were invited to Lele's place for BRAZILIAN lunch: black beans, rice, chicken and some other vegi options ...

Today, we just bought some indian food - PALAK PANEER - that is this cool cottage cheese and spinach dish. I loved this paneer thing since I tried it it for the first time also last month at my boyfriends home, cooked by him and Naaz - but that time was Paneer Butter Masala (is it right?) Well, not that in the AI office this is something completely exotical, but rather normal food - with so many indians around!

By the waym take a look at the AI BLOG!

Brazilian Lunch: from left to right: Geta, Me, Sveta, Petroula, Albert, Abi, Mike, Sarika. Here we were eating brigadeiro!

PALAK PANEER

Indian Food in the house: Lele and Me havin Palek Paneer for Lunch

HOW MANY ORIANAS ARE OUT THERE?

Today I was checking my TAGBOARD (check the right side of my weblog) and it seems that I have "been found" by other Orianas around the world. God bless Google! Even the most random weblogs are able to be found.

Read from down to the top :)

Oriana(the new one ): yo además me gradué en UNINORTE, y bueno me encantará participar en Aiesec, qué puedo hacer?
Oriana(the new one ): soy abogada especialista en derecho del medio ambiente, me iré a vivir a Holanda pronto y espero tener amigos de latinos allü/span>
Oriana(the new one ): Hola, soy colombiana también encontré esta página por casualidad, me sorprendio ver mi nombre y ahora wow soy la tercera, que rara casualidad...
Lele: Decided to show up. It has been more than great to having you around here. Having tons of fun and learning a lot from you. You will rock as new Director! Your predecessor, Lele.
Oriana (the blogger): I am colombian - However my mother's family has italian rootes, that is the why of the name.
Oriana (also): Wow! Somebody else named Oriana! That's crazy. I'm Italian and Portugese, what nationality are you? I happened to Google my name and eventually came to your website.

Yeah basically we are 3 Orianas so far: one italian portuguese, and another one that graduated from my same University and that is coming to love in the Netherlands ... is that a coincidence, or what? I thought Oriana was not a quite popular name, and specially not in my country ot city! All the Orianas I knew before all this were or ficticious movie/book characters or famous people, like Oriana Fallaci, for instance.

Let's keep in contact girls, and looking FWD to find more Orianas!
More news soon!

DO NOT BLAME ROTTERDAM!!!

Another week in Rotterdam! My second week to be more exact!

In this poting I just want to act in defence of this city, that has been amazing so far.

Many people bitch about Rotterdam (or better know as Rotter-rain) and its shity rainy weather - let's face it... Even some people that at some point have thought on running from AI, think of Rotterdam weather as a criteria to take the desicion (how flexible and adaptable!). Even if this is not my first time in Rotterdam, not all the times before the weather has been particulary shity ... well, yes, it rains, it is coldish but it also has great sunny days, like the ones we have been having specially during the past week!

Bellow you have some photos that prove it!

Besides the weather issue, Rotterdam is an ideal city to take walks, admire new and old harbours, take a look at cool (and not that expensive) fashion, go to markets, and do all kind of sports ... foreigeners seem very integrated and it is just amazing to perceibe so much diversity in the streets!!!

Under the Table ... Lele's way to avoid the sun that comes from the window!

And this umbrella was used by Dey and Frances not exactly to avoid the rain, but the sun (well it is a litle bit exagerated!)

Sun glasses are even sometimes requiered! On the pic, geta (my room mate btw) and me

MY FIRST WEEK IN ROTTERDAM

Offline Blogging, the new option

It's been a while since the last time! Less than one month and 5 countries behind me: Brazil, Colombia, Spain, Austria and now finally The Netherlands! One week ago I arrived in Rotterdam, without suitcases (of course they kept lost somewhere in Spain and I had to be almost 3 days without fresh clothes) and after a crazy travel itinerario: BOGOTA - MADRID - BARCELONA - VIENNA - AMSTERDAM - ROTTERDAM. Not that I had really planed to flight over Austria (since there are dozens of conections that bring you from Madrid to The Netherlands) but for some reason at the IBERIA CHEK-IN in Bogota before lreaving, they made me change my route, since with my Austrian/EU visa, the only country that I was allowed to enter first was Austria ... seemed to be a big issue, I just needed to fly, so I went over Vienna. BTW, I STRONLGLY DISENCOURAGE TO FLLY WITH IBERIA, I guess it was my first and hopefully last time fliying with them.
Now I am here, sharing a little bit some experience so far! Only one week, but still many other to come to keep challenging my worldview. I must DO THE DISCLAIMER, that if I found time to blog AGAIN, is not exactly because the CRAZY TRANSITION AGENDA LEAVES PARTICULARY A LOT OF FREE TIME TO BLOG!, I guess I am able to blog because I just took a laptop home and am writting all this OFFLINE, so that I hopefully can just post it tomorrow - so if you are reading it, is because I managed :) !
One fellow AI member told me recently that he does not like blogging, since (some) people tend to post just the "cool things" or the "cool side" of the stuff they are leaving. And I totally agree, I even think I do :) I feel very happy, happier and more fullfilled that expected, I cannot deny it, but "when the friends are gone and the party is over", it is so clear how much I MISS THE ONES THAT ARE THE REASON AND THE ESENCE FOR ME TO BE HERE. As you can see I have my room full of you, full of your pictures, and I am fully convinced that WE ARE LIVING THIS AI EXPERIENCE TOGETHER! Finally - and as iit always has been, the random posts in this weblog so far, have been primarly for you. (am I in a sentimental mood or what???)

Find in the postings below some pics about ...
MY NEW HOME
VIEWS OF ROTTERDAM
AIESEC ORGAZATIONAL HISTORY AND CULTURE SESSION
WEEKEND AND SOCIAL LIFE SO FAR
MANISH BDAY
LATINOS in AI
GENERAL VIEWS OF AI OFFICE!

Just scroll down! :)

SERIOUSLY MANNNNNNNNNNN (as FEMI would say), I will keep you posted!

MY NEW HOME

My new flat in Rotterdam is really nice, I have nothing to complain, instead of that is one of the coolest places I have ever stayed. Basically the new AI team is living in three apartments, all of them in the same floor. Each apartment hast 3 and one of them just 2 rooms. In each room stay 2 people. I share my room with Geta from Romania, and all is just fantastic. Mike, Taco, Shantanu and Romas are also our Flat mates. One thing I just love from these place are the views when you look out of the window, you just feel so in Holland! Rooms itself are very comfortable, with enough space to set up all your personal stuff as you like and even put your own personal style to the half of the room. Even if I won't be based in Rotterdam the whole year, since by September I shall be out for country visits for some months in Latin America, I guess build your own space even for just 3 months and feel good in it, makes a big difference!

BB, my son, whose father stayed in Colombia, decided (as usual) to go with me also this time!

Less than one month ago I was sharing pics of my home in Brazil, now life pictures of my home in Rotterdam ...

My room

BEBE

KITCHEN

Direct view out of the window of my ROOM: Erasmus Bridge

View out of the window

FIRST VIEWS OF ROTTERDAM

These are just few pictures of Rotterdam (taken by us! no fake ones!) ... In rainy or windy or sunny days, this city keeps its flair given by the modernity of its architecture and the great "marine" environment that you feel everywhere.

ERASMUS BRIDGE WHILE OPENING! Incredible, but at the same time very practical!

Cube Houses in Rotterdam, just in front of the market place

This ship was during the weekend just in front of our house, in front of the ERASMUS BRIDGE

AIESEC ORGANIZATIONAL HISTORY AND CULTURE

One of the transition block that we have been though in tha past week, has been the AIESEC ORGANIZATIONAL HISTORY AND CULTURE. At the beginning you think ... oh, no ... again the same historical stuff! However I was positively surprised with the efforts put in the session. We just not only had the opportunity to discover this facts that nobody knew about AIESECV by searching in the library of the AI Office, but also we had the pleasure to had 4 so called "HISTORY CHAMPIONS" to tell us life their best memories of the organization - On monday 4 AIESEC Alumni of different generations joined us for a wonderful presentation where we could discover key inflexion points of the organization as well to forsee the ones that we see coming in the (near) future. We had Victor Lowenstein (who also was extremely engaged with the expansion process to Latin America!), Keith Bell, Marco Villa and Brenda!

You never know enought about AIESEC History, so if you think you know all, I guess you will be surprised if you browse in the AI old files! On the pic: Victor Lowenstein, Mike, Sveta, Me, Lanchanie and Dey...

Victor telling us about AIESEC pre-history, as he used to call it. On the pic: Elisa, Petroula, Shantanu and Victor

Victor Lowenstein

Keith Bell

Marco Villa

Brenda and Day

The AIESEC HISTORY from 48 to 69, according to AI 05 06

The AIESEC HISTORY according to AI 05 06 ...

FIRST WEEKEND AND SOCIAL LIFE

Thumbs up for Lele, who is managing the social life agenda :) As you can see in the agenda of last weekend, there were pretty abundant options of what to do ... so we all subscribed ourselves to the ones we felt more passionate about! From going for some welcome drinks at an irish pub, over watching Bollywood movies, visiting Rotterdam market till playing Volleyball, social agenda has simply brought extra fun (and relax!) to the tight transition times.

This is how the crazy weekend options look like! You just needed to sign up for your prefered activities!

Welcome drinks on the 1st of June in the Irish Pub, you can see my face expressing: I just need a shower and clean clothes, please!

First friday in Rotterdam, AI 04 - 06 watching a Bollywood Movie, drinking wine, chilling out ...

The Bollywood movie managed to keep everyones attention, but Vero's and mine, we chatted the whole movie (see the two girls in the back - me in red), instead of the part where dances came in, that we tried to identify key steps for the AI 05 06 team roll call (we mean it!)

Crossing the ERASMUS BRIDGE: Oriana, vero, Manish and Geta ... if the pic gives you the impression that it is cold and windy, you are right, this was a particulart shity day in terms of weather!

Oriana and Vero, somewhere in Rotterdam

Voleyball on saturday afternoon! On the pic Brodie, Pixi, Kshama and Lele!

MANISH BIRTHDAY LUNCH

Manish, our VP People Development, had birthday on saturday! Yes, we sang the "Happy B-day" for him more than 10 times a day. The following are some snaps of his B-DAY, first at home (yeah! I cooked for the team!) and then at DUDOK, one of the most visited restaurants (well, at least by AI) in Rotterdam, specially due to the delicious apple pie that is sold there!

Singing HAPPY BDAY to Manish, who was previously taking a siesta! On the pic brodie (you can see at least his head), me, Geta, Sveta, Abi, Mike and Manish,

Shantanu and Romas just are food devastors ... they finished all!

The guys just enjoying the food!

Barriga llena, corazon contento - as we say in Spanish, which means full stomach, happy heart! On the pic, me, Manish, Abi, Geta and Sveta.

Mike took the responsibility of washing the dishes!

Manish and his cake (that we all ate of course), I wish all next bdays we celebrate will be with DUDOK apple pies!

LATINO GANG in AI OFFICE

Well, in a group of over 40 people I am proud to say that we also have our small (but very representative!) Latino gang. As you see in the pictures we are: Veronica (Global Partnership Manager, my former fellow SSGN Board member and friend!), Lele (outgoing AI Director, my sucessor and practically my AIESEC mother since a couple of months), Elisa (Ceeder in AI and from Brazil) and me. Of course one important person is missing, Dey who is more Latino that we all together, but I guess you will be able to see him in other pictures. What is so fun of a Latino gang? Well, just having fun (and making fun) of things we see, joking, singing random songs and well, create big expectations around the LATINO PARTY that will take place soon!

Vero, Lele, me and Elisa, at a team dinners this week

SOME VIEWS OF THE AI OFFICE

The following are just some random mixed pictures, however in my opinion just reflect common views of AI office life, specially during transition ... meetings, meetings and more meetings, the best conversations I have ever had (and I MEAN IT), the most challeging team members I have ever had, notes, flipcharts, presentations, but specially more then 40 individuals trying to make a change in the world and in their own lifes, trying too cultivate an opinion, trying to discover and develop their potential ... just by wearing one more year, the AIESEC T-shirt.