Helping people

I know I am not extremely active on my blog lately, but I wanted to use this channel to try helping out someone who needs it. Help, if you can.

“Constantin Botezatu, or Coco as friends know him,2008-2009 President of AIESEC SIBIU, is in need of our help.

On the 29th of October he was diagnosed with a very aggressive type of cancer, which progressed too fast and he is currently fighting for anoher chance.

He needs to go to a clinic in Turkey for a proper medical care (an operation that costs 50.000 Euros). Whatever help you may offer, bellow you can find the data where you can make a donation:

Contact: Ruxandra Calinoiu
Cont: RO73ABNA0000001001312457
Banca RBS BANK, sucursala Sibiu
SWIFT code: ABNAROBU [1]

The world is always on...

This is what all of us, interns, have to say!

I won't waste a minute...without you!

....Snow Patrol and one of the best videos I've seen with Paris:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1XUbJEPShE

(check it online...sorry, but embedding was disabled)

Lucky...

Everyone is asking me if I am still going to continue my blog, if I am still alive :). Well, to tell you truly, I am more alive than ever! I am probably living the best times of my life until now, so I'd better enjoy it and make it last.

To keep it short and simple, I still have about 2 months and a half till my internship ends. Turning a quarter of a century (hihi) in some weeks. Closing an amazing personal past half of a year. And this is only if I look at quantity and if I count. But in the end, it all mixes up in a feeling of great content. It must be sounding cheesy or idealistic if I say that I am living the best times of my life, but it is by far true.

And to make it public for everyone, yes, it is true, I decided I want to stay in Paris and continue my life abroad for a while...don't know for how much time yet! I have not much of an idea about my future, but I am building it piece by piece. What matters is that I am not alone!

Hugs and enjoy your summer, accompanied by a cool song:


Jason Mraz - Lucky
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My bye's

Sometimes, only sad events teach us that we are just passers-by on this planet.
I learnt this one more time last week.
It was too sudden and sad.
It is painful to be left alive while the loved ones pass away.

All my best thoughts go to a great man who was my grandfather. He was a strong and hard-working man and for sure I will never forget all the moments we spent together!

To remind us of how we should spend our lives, I give you again a movie I adore (thanks, Stefan!)

Wake me up....

green day-wake me up when september ends
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If I were to sum up....

....I could say I had damn, good weekends!

Everything started with MY Romanian eXperience :). I went home for a weekend, to see my family. And to feel if it's the place to come back to! I had one of my best weekends with my parents, as we were celebrating my mum's birthday and we were having a long dinner with good food and music :)
Everything made me feel that I have 2 homes, that I do feel at home in Paris and that I do feel like belonging here!

The next weekend was relaxing; we went to Strasbourg, a city in the North-East of France, situated at the border with Germany. It is a half French, half German city, as it was under German occupation for many years! I enjoyed discovering another side of France, a quiet and calm city where people ride bikes and enjoy their walks in the street! After the busy, crowded Paris, this was like a break, like an escape!








The next weekend was dedicated to another country. We went to Bruxelles for 2 days and I must say it was a good choice! As a city, my conclusion is that it is quite "random" :), as I did not get an idea of what it wants to transmit or what is the core of the city; but in the end, I enjoyed a lot meeting old good friends and many people whom I haven't seen in a while!









And the first weekend of the month was dedicated to cooking and football :). After discovering that I can cook "sarmale" on my own :), on Sunday we went to the football game PSG-Nice (final score: 2-1). I enjoyed very much the atmosphere of my first ever football game watched live on a big stadium! And I enjoyed feeling partly Parisienne...Allez Paris!
















What do you do in your weekends? :)

If...

if you hadn't found me,
I would have found you
I would have found you

Angels

robbie williams-angels
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Scrisoare catre liceeni

O scriere ce m-a miscat si ma simt datoare sa o dau mai departe!


"Noi am pierdut. Dar voi, voi mai aveti o sansa. Noi am fost fericiti ca am descoperit Coca-cola si bananele si am crezut ca daca noi citim, si ei vor citi. Si ca toti vom progresa si tara o sa aiba scapare. Noi ne-am inselat. Unii dintre noi au plecat de aici. Castiga bani acolo si tanjesc dupa orasul asta imputit. Voi insa, voi aveti o sansa. Voi, aveti sansa.

Nu va ganditi la furat. E calea cea mai simpla. Stiu ca ati aflat ca asa te imbogatesti. Daca ai pamant sau daca faci afaceri cu statul. Stiti voi ceva despre tva si cum ai putea sa-l furi, dar nu va e inca foarte clar. Nu asta e drumul. Cu cat se va fura mai mult, cu atat se va construi mai putin, iar copiii copiilor nostri vor mosteni un imperiu de cenusa. Sunteti tineri si totusi habar n-aveti ce inseamna un Bucuresti in care se circula normal. Daca voi habar n-aveti si daca Ei continua sa fure, ganditi-va la copiii nostri. Nu e nici o sansa.

Cititi. Cititi mult. Cititi tot ce va pica in mana. Nu-i mai ascultati doar pe profesori. Cititi orice, fara discernamant. Nimic nu e mai important ca lectura, acum. Apoi, cautati-va intre voi. Vedeti care cititi aceleasi lucruri si inhaitati-va. Numai in haita de oameni destepti o sa reusiti. Unul singur dintre voi va fi mancat. Zece insa, s-ar putea sa reusiti. Ganditi-va de pe acum sa-i inlocuiti. Timpul lor trebuie sa se termine. Trebuie sa-i dominati. Dar nu cu gandul ca veti fura mai mult ca ei. Asta e calea simpla care va va sufoca mostenitorii. Ce-o sa faceti cu milioanele intr-un oras mort? Ce-o sa cumparati, cu banii gramezi? La ce-ti foloseste un Lamborghini cand n-ai o autostrada? De ce sa ai o vila intr-un cartier sufocat de inundatii?"

Continuarea pe:
http://tudorchirila.blogspot.com/2009/03/scrisoare-catre-liceeni.html

Printemps...

I wish you all a sunny spring, with warmth and love in your heart!






Vama (Veche) - Primavara
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Ce poate fi mai frumos si mai pur decat vocea unui copil?

Lost generation

(thank you, Sandra, for a great video!)

Intelepciune

Cuvinte de intelepciune. Stiu ca e un citat popular, insa "ne mai misca"? Ne gandim oare ca vorbele astea sunt atat de adevarate????


- Ai vrea sa-mi iei un interviu, deci… zise Dumnezeu.
- Daca ai timp… i-am raspuns. Dumnezeu a zambit.
- Timpul meu este eternitatea… Ce intrebari ai vrea sa-mi pui?
- Ce te surprinde cel mai mult la oameni? Dumnezeu mi-a raspuns:
- Faptul ca se plictisesc de copilarie, se grabesc sa creasca, iar apoi tanjesc iar sa fie copii; ca isi pierd sanatatea pentru a face bani...iar apoi isi pierd banii pentru a-si recapata sanatatea. Faptul ca se gandesc cu teama la viitor si uita prezentul, iar astfel nu traiesc nici prezentul nici viitorul; ca traiesc ca si cum nu ar muri niciodata si mor ca si cum nu ar fi trait.
Dumnezeu mi-a luat mana si am stat tacuti un timp.
Apoi am intrebat:
- Ca parinte, care ar fi cateva dintre lectiile de viata pe care ai dori sa le invete copiii tai?
- Sa invete ca dureaza doar cateva secunde sa deschida rani profunde in inima celor pe care ii iubesc...si ca dureaza mai multi ani pentru ca acestea sa se vindece; sa invete ca un om bogat nu este acela care are cel mai mult, ci acela care are nevoie de cel mai putin; sa invete ca exista oameni care ii iubesc dar pur si simplu inca nu stiu sa-si exprime sentimentele; sa invete ca doi oameni se pot uita la acelasi lucru si ca pot sa-l vada in mod diferit; sa invete ca nu este suficient sa-i ierte pe ceilalti si ca, de asemenea, trebuie sa se ierte pe ei insisi.
- Multumesc pentru timpul acordat, am zis umil. Ar mai fi ceva ce ai dori ca oamenii sa stie? Dumnezeu m-a privit zambind si a spus:
- Doar faptul ca sunt aici, intotdeauna.

Octavian Paler

How does COMPLICATED become SIMPLE?

How can I choose where to live in the future? Have any ideas to share?


Oradea - my hometown



Timisoara - where I spent my university years



Paris - the city I currently live in

Le reste du temps...

This song gives me a feeling of GOOD...PEACE...LOVE:)

I am sure now how much an internship outside Europe would have opened my eyes! Now I understand all of you who advised me to do so! But then as well it might not have been what I needed now for myself.

Anyway, let’s not switch subjects. Let’s stick to my trip in UAE. This week spent here has been absolutely charming! I’ve had the possibility to grow personally and professionally. I am not only the owner of a great overview on how an office of a multinational is being run from the HR perspective, but I also got the view on this region, its business, its strategies to attract foreigners to work and invest here. I had a “professional guide” in Nader (HR manager for ALU UAE and Qatar), who has talked enormously to me about the country and the region, the problems on the market, how the crisis affects them, why he is doing HR and what can you learn out of it! Wow, it has been amazing to work at such a high level with a great professional!

I’ve also had the chance to get close to Jinane, a French-Palestinian girl who lived all her life in Saudi Arabia! She studied in France for 5 years and now she is married, has a sweet little kid and lives here! It is amazing how much energy and personal approach I could get from her! I also understood better the people in the region; we’ve had talks about religion, life in different parts of the world, future goals, food, weather, books, etc. It is also incredible how fast we got close and how helpful and supportive she was.
















More than this, I had the chance to see 2 amazing cities. Abu Dhabi is more like a “family city”, pretty quiet and relaxing. It is also rather small, just a few streets, “locals” would say (“locals”=10-20% of the population, as majority of UAE inhabitants are expats, mostly from Pakistan, India or Philippines). On the other hand, Dubai is extremely “posh”, high-class, extravagant and fancy. I’ve had the best guide ever in Dubai and I’ve enjoyed seeing “another world”. Tops on my list of best things I’ve seen in UAE: Emirates Palace Hotel (a huge and beautiful hotel built to imitate a real palace; Durj Al Arab (the most expensive and famous hotel in the world); Atlantis (probably the second best hotel in the world, designed all around the aquatic theme); Durj Al Dubai (the highest building in the world – not yet finished, but it has more than 900 m high); Dubai Mall (the biggest mall in the world). As you can notice, Dubai and UAE is all about being the best and the first…mostly in hotels and malls! If you ask anyone what you should visit there, it would be out of these 2 categories! No museums included :)…well, the country only exists for 30 years and has been built by foreigners!

















I had so many a-ha moments in this trip that I can’t believe it has been only a week! So many things happened that I found it hard to catch up and arrange my memories in little “drawers”! In any way, it has been a beautiful journey teaching me about breaking barriers, breaking thoughts, thinking behind the line, asking for comfort and accepting differences! I have challenged again my view on my next choices and new criteria are getting in the picture.

And no matter what, the feeling I have now is: “mda, I could live there!” :)
Enjoy the pictures and be sure that I brought sun with me to Europe! We need it to be sunny and smiley each day! So, have a “smiley day”!


















LATER UPDATE:
Burj al Arab is the hotel and Burj al Dubai is the tower, building, highest in the world! Thanks Dragos :) I knew I mixed them up!

“Live and always discover”

I’ve always loved traveling! If you checked my travels map you would see I tried to explore each opportunity to see more places, more cultures, new lands, and new stories.

I’ve been given a great chance in my internship and in my project: I am traveling for a business trip to UAE (United Arab Emirates). Actually, while writing these words, I am flying towards Abu Dhabi, where I will spend 5 days! Of course, I cannot miss seeing Dubai, so I arranged that the last 2 days of my trip, the weekend actually, to be spent visiting one of the most famous cities in Middle East!

Everyone kept asking me if I am excited or scared about the trip. Now, I should say it is both of them :) I feel scared for going there alone! But I am more than this excited as it is my first time out of Europe (ok, the Asian side of Istanbul does not count much!). It will be a short time, for sure, to get to know the culture, but it is amazing that I can at least get a glimpse! It is something so different from “our world”, from Europe, from what I’ve seen until now! Will I like it? Will it feel strange? Will it feel cold or too much?

Will write impressions as soon as I get to form some!
Keep fingers crossed, this is such an important part in my project and I have to perform at high standards!

Greetings from the Middle East :)

Later update:
I have to write these thoughts now, when I am lying in my hotel room in Abu Dhabi! First of all, the flight was amazing! From the fact that each of us had our own TV and the latest movies or music; to the fact that you could watch a live camera with the landscape while flying; or to the fact that food and serving was excellent (we even got ice cream); or the fact that they even gave us pillows, socks or covers for your eyes so you can sleep :P…
I arrived at the airport where a lady was waiting for me (everything was arranged by the hotel); she took me through all the procedures (including eye scan, where they actually made me look to a machine and they made a digital scan of my eyes!); the airport is packed and crowded, but amazingly beautiful! Everything is in the Middle-East design…old and new!

But when I got the first “taste” of the city, I must say that the air reminded me of Istanbul! The city looks amazing – lights, palm trees, lovely, rich houses, huge sky-scrapers! It feels like another world…well, it is! And I started loving it! It is so much different from Europe!
Even later update:
I am now writing from the Alcatel-Lucent office in Abu Dhabi. I did not manage to get internet until now to post my thoughts. So I just wanna add how amazing this city looks like in the daylight as well! It is a small city, actually! Just a few streets! But inhabited by about 1 million people, out of which only 10% is local! This place booms with multiculturalism!
I can’t wait for the evening to go for a walk! Ah, and it is so so so so warm! You can wear shirts and you can actually swim in the sea :) It is like summer! I would have never believed that I would have lunch outside, on a terrace, in February, with the HR manager of Alcatel-Lucent UAE and Qatar!

Imagine: a 24-years-old “kid” gets sent to an amazing country to work with the people here! It is an amazing chance that I would not have imagined living some years back! Why are our hopes so low, I wonder?

Gros bisous from a hot, hot country! Soon, pictures!

“ Nu tot ce zboara, se mananca”

…in literal translation, “not everything that flies should be eaten”. But at least it can be tried out! One more lesson on my board, one more try not succeeded. One more choice between Yes or No – and it is No. I should stop trying once and for all and start succeeding!

But then again, as I said before also, you only get what you NEED in life, which should not always be what you WANT!

The latest version of...me

I thought you might appreciate some pictures with me and Paris...or with both :). More, on facebook :) long live the era of facebook!

Paris is..too much!

The words I have in my mind for a few weeks are exactly these: Paris is...too much!

I am living an amazing experience. I work with true specilists, with the most important people in the HR of Alcatel-Lucent in the world, I am given extra tasks and being sent to business trips (yes, I am going to UAE for a week!).

I live in the city of culture and art, light and love; I live in a real "melting pot" as you can hear 3 or 4 languages each day on the street (not only French or English). I very often hear Romanian while walking on the street or going by metro!
It is a city that you either fall in love with, or dislike! The same thing applies to the country: either you like France and French people, or you totally dislike them!

I hang out with people from all around the globe. We go out, throw in parties, have anniversaires, dinners and lunches together; we try out new clubs and bars and we go to the Opera; people come, people leave; it is both happy to know so many people, but also hard to integrate, hard to keep up!

With all these, after I draw the line, I still feel like saying: Paris is...too much!
As it is too sudden! Too much! Too much responsibility, too much work, too much into the unknown, too many people, too much lonelliness. I know for a fact that my cultural shock is in the anxiety phase :) which means I am somewhere down; but it is a nice time, anyway. I am analyzing a lot the world around me and what I am doing here and what I want to do next!
I have to take the most of everything and everyone, I know. And I will.

As to how France is, I have no further impressions...if curious, post a comment! I am not fully feeling the French spirit anyway as I am so much working and hanging around in a multicultural environment!

Last but not least, what you can listen to:




Anna Nalick- Just Breathe (2AM)
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Words

If I would put my holiday in a few words, those would be: a great sister, relaxing, new friends, frustration, dissapointment, anger on our society, fun, jokes, skiing, wine, amazing sceneries, enjoying, new thoughts, decisions and feelings, change, a new beginning.

I feel this year is going to bring me what I need, not necessarily what I want. As maybe what I want is not what I need. So, I will just wait for it while trying to grab it!

Whatever happens is the right thing to happen!
And the song for the beginning of the year is:



Queen - Don't Stop Me Now
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