Yeah... I've been busy again :) But hey, it's not my fault people like me so much they can't stay away from me =)) Luckily, it's weekend (again!) so now I have a few minutes to publish this :D So, here we go - Bruxelles, mon amour! "Deux euros, deux euros, deux euros, deux euros, deux euros!" Imagine, if you will, this said on fast-forward by a loud, shouting voice. Now, imagine another one - it might be the same number, it might be "un euro" or "trois euros"... Overlap the two voices in your mind; now repeat the process a few times, until you get a deafening tremble of voices calling you to them, to buy their stuff for the lowest possible price, while you make your way through literally hundreds of people trying not to bump into anybody (and failing miserably every 30 seconds);  you might just get some sense of how the Brussels market looks like on a chilly Sunday morning of November 14th... The first thing you notice about Brussels is the crowd. People from all around the world, speaking tens of different languages, coming together in a city of one million souls designed for probably a little over two thirds of that. According to Wikipedia, almost 36% of its inhabitant

They're neither "the devil", nor some monopoly, they're not propcupied with taking over the world and also not in the business of "technological copy/paste". Because, let's be honest, that is what people currently think about Microsoft... Well, short piece of reality coming up :) for the past week, Microsoft was our host for a Strategic Meeting concernign the MyAIESEC.net platform (a bit more about our meeting in a future post). One of this week's highlights was a great opportunity to get a tour of their "Executive Briefing Center for European Innovation", to get up to speed with some of their latest technologies and plans, and, perhaps most important, to get in touch with some of the flesh-and-blood people behind the brand. The word of the week (and month, year and possibly decade to come) at Microsoft is EDUCATION . Because, unlike most mainstream companies, Microsoft understood two things: investing in education is investing in the future, and educating people to use your software insures you a steady and savvy base of clients - the kind of clients any company would like to have. Their virtual classrooms and online learning tools are, in all fairness, far ahead anything

A smile... A push in the right direction... A warm hug... A sincere advice... A wild idea put into practice... Trying every day to make a small difference... Getting your friends to give a damn... So many other ways to change yourself and the people around you. I was watching in the past few days a short movie from Seth Godin , called This is broken . And it got me thinking: so many things around us are wrong, for so many reasons, that we somehow became immune. Not caring is another thing that's broken. And day by day, we hope and pray it'll be better (and Seth's idea to point out things that are broken in the world is a great one) but we don't do enough to try and fix these things. As Steven Seagal said in a trip to Bucharest, " It's not enough to just talk the talk. You have to walk the walk! ". And, to complete this with another famous and very true phrase, " a small step for man, a giant step for mankind! ". So, don't wait around for others to change you and the world you live in. It's your responsibility , it's your privilege , it's your right . Make every moment, every gesture, every action count for something, and then add them together to create something huge an

So, let's start in the beginning... I was born in a small city in the North-East of Romania... HAHA just joking :D My NEW beginning ... Let's start with me stepping out from the airplane into the Vienna airport. Familiar path, after a previous trip here and two months spent in this dream city, so my one-night stop in Vienna, finding my way to Paul's place and then wondering around on my own was a breeze. Nice places, cool people - I was sorry to only spend such a short time there (though it was time well-spent, I met the new Austrian MC :) ). But I'm going back there for a weekend at the end of July, to see some old friends, so I'll catch up shortly. Now, let's go back to the true start of this message: the beautiful city of Linz, Austria . A small piece of Heaven here on the Danube river, a green oasis where everything (including the job) feels like a nice vacation. The same Austrian infrastructure, well-built and easy to use every step of the way, allowed me to march straight next to the dorm room where I would be staying. There, I was greeted by a very cool guy that came to greet me at the tram station and show me where I'd be living. His name is Vishant, he's from Indi

4 new challenges. 4 cultural heritages awaiting. India, China, Germany, Turkey. 4 fields to choose from: IT marketing/management finance and audit education 3 days 'till the deadline: 28th of February ! Global Exchange Program powered by AIESEC.

Echipa AIESEC Iasi e incantata sa te invite la o noua editie a proiectului BRIO, care in acest an ia forma unei conferinte de Leadership, beneficiind de 12 speakeri de renume national cum ar fi Mihai Leu , Bobby Voicu , Adrian Soare sau Radu Tudorache . What's in for you? informatii valoroase si actuale din 3 domenii de interes interactiune cu reprezentanti din societatea civila, educatie si mediul de afaceri 100 de alti studenti ieseni selectati pe baza intereselor similare recunoastere oficiala a participarii la program dezvoltare personala Nu vrem sa-ti rapim mult timp asa ca hai sa trecem la date concrete: Conferinta se desfasoara pe parcursul a trei weekenduri iar temele sunt: 27-28 februarie - "Comunicarea în contextul leadershipului." 6-7 martie - "Antreprenoriat si Leadership în Iasi" 13-14 martie - "Cum devii un adevarat lider?" Deadline pentru inscrieri: 24 februarie Restul informatiilor iti stau la dispozitie pe http://brio.aieseciasi.ro We give you BRIO. Are you ready? P.S. Vrei sa ne recomanzi pe cineva? Poti face asta aici!

  UNDE ? Vino in AIESEC si pune-ti in practica ideile. Vino in AIESEC si adauga experienta teoriei de la facultate. Vino in AIESEC ca sa inveti si sa te distrezi intr-un mediu international. DE CE ? Pentru ca altii s-au regasit aici, iar tu i-ai urmat mai tarziu. Kofi Annan, Bill Clinton, Jacques Chirac ,Mick Jagger .. Pentru ca AIESEC este o organizatie internationala prezenta in 107 tari si teritorii. In Romania, AIESEC se afla in 13 orase, iar AIESEC Iasi este printre cele mai mari. CAND ? Aplica pana pe 16 octombrie ora 16:00. CUM ? Vino in Corpul B al FEAA, la etajul 3 in sala B606 si ia-ti formularul de aplicare. Abordeaza-ne la infodeskurile din corpul B si C al Universitatii Alexandru Ioan Cuza Intra pe www.aieseciasi.ro si completeaza formularul de inscriere. MAI MULT ? Hai sa ne cunoastem pe 15 octombrie, la ora 20.00, in amfiteatrul B5 din FEAA corpul B al Universitatii Alexandru Ioan Cuza sa-ti povestim ce putem sa facem NOI impreuna in AIESEC.      

One month, yesterday. One month ago, I was arriving in Vienna at the invitation of one of my colleagues from AIESEC, to help the people here with creating some websites and updating their communications platform. Funny, but even after so many years of experience and working in countless projects with countless specifications, using countless programming languages and techniques... well, I still don't feel like an expert in my area, though people here often look at me in this way and praise my knowledge. I know that there are people out there better than me, but if I'm that person that they trusted to get the job don, I surely don't say no to something like this. So... I said yes: yes, I will help with the website, yes I will find solutions to some of your problems, and yes I will come and visit Vienna because I'm curious about living in a new city. I said it to myself and when I was convinced, I said to them. To be honest, I wasn't expecting this. At first, the city seems normal, ordinary, quaint. Then little things start to hit you, one by one, hour by hour and day by day as time passes. And they keep on hitting you: so many bikers here that you'd have better chances of bei

Amintiri rabufnite La cei aproape trei ani de AIESEC pe care-i am în spate, am fost la multe conferinte. Am fost la conferinte locale, la conferinte nationale si, evident, la Iashington. O conferinta internationala creata de noi, de AIESEC, cu scopul de-a facilita interactiunea mai multor culturi într-un mediu captivant, incitant si în egala masura educativ. Anul trecut eram înca "boboc" dupa standardele mele, necopt si netrecut prin evenimente mari, când am fost solicitat sa ajut cu crearea unui site. "Iashington are nevoie de putin ajutor, nu poate strica daca pun si eu osul la bataie", mi-am spus atunci. Am facut o treaba destul de OK, dupa parerea multora – un site usor de administrat, care se încarca rapid, oferea un design atractiv – multumita lui Dapac – si informatie de calitate. Era la început de vara, când cu tot serviciul meu full-time simteam ca nu prea am nimic de facut si nimic de câstigat din lunile care treceau pe lânga mine, astfel ca am decis sa ma ocup în continuare de actualizarea informatiilor si de optimizarea site-ului. Treptat, au aparut task-uri noi pentru care comitetul de organizare nu prea avea la cine sa apeleze: un mai

...cu multumiri si felicitari din partea unui oarecare Webilă pentru Geo, Anda, Bianca, Livia, Dani, Dapac, Ferdi, Maxim, Katy, Nico, Alina, Raluca, Cosmina, Ioana, Tzury si Tibi – organizatori grozavi, oameni extraordinari si prieteni pe viata! Nu stiu de ce am ales sa tac pâna acum. Poate pentru ca dincolo de ceea ce pot exprima prin cuvinte e o întelegere mai înalta a acelor clipe, un sentiment de apartenenta pe care doar cei care au fost în mijlocul evenimentelor îl pot avea. Poate, iarasi, e pentru ca am vrut sa pastrez ceva „doar al meu” din experienta aceea, ceva ce nu credeam ca „ceilalti” vor pricepe pe de-a-ntregul si mai ales nu vor trai pe de-a-ntregul. Poate pentru ca...

AIESEC Iasi organizeaza IASHINGTON 2009 , conferinta internationala ce va avea loc in Iasi, in perioada 20-26 iulie 2009. Proiectul isi propune promovarea valorilor culturale si naturale ale Iasului si ale regiunii Moldovei in randul tinerilor din toate colturile lumii, prin intermediul unei saptamani multiculturale. Conferinta internationala Iashington va reuni urmatoarele evenimente principale: Conferinta propriu-zisa , respectiv sesiunile de traininguri, intre 20 si 25 iulie . Conferinta se va desfasura pe patru teme: LEADERSHIP, LOHAS, ANTREPRENORIAT si COMUNICARE INTERPERSONALA . Sesiunile deschise în care oamenii de la companii, participantii si speakerii dezbat teme de interes comun. Evenimentele culturale Targul Intercultural (Global Village) , in ziua de 26 iulie , cand fiecare participant va avea ocazia sa prezinte particularitatile tarii din care provine. Inscrierile se fac pe pagina www.iashington.org/signup , iar deadline-ul de aplicare este vineri, 10 iulie 2009 . Printre speakerii care si-au confirmat participarea la acest eveniment se numara: Jim