Thanridu's amazing experience in Poland

I joined AIESEC in March and I was very lucky to find a proper project as fast as I thought. Then I faced their interview and Klaudia (the person who interviewed me, a member of AIESEC Krakow Poland) said that I must join her project and she sent me all the documents that I wanted to apply for visa. Within three weeks I arranged everything and I got went to Poland on the 19th of May 2013.

I had 6 hours transit in Istanbul (Most boring thing I had to face during my journey) and finally I reached to Poland on 20th of May around 6 o’ clock in the morning. Most awesome part was that my plane went only to Warsaw Chopin Airport but my project was held at Krakow (230 KM away from Warsaw). Then immediately my buddy Natalia Feiga sent me some documents regarding travelling by busses and trains. Thanks to her help that I was able to go to Krakow safely and quickly.
Natalia came to the station and she escorted me the place that I had to stay and when I went there, there were another 7 interns from 6 countries and in a very short time we became good friends. The place we stayed was somewhat special because it was a 2nd world war bunker and now it is renovated as a motel (Fort 49). It provided us with a gym, and with the kitchen facilities. The place was actually great for me and I was really satisfied with the facilities they provided us.

Our project organizers said that they would provide us with Internet but sadly there were some issues when we tried to go online. As I was an IT undergraduate I did some work and rearranged everything and manage to get the internet connection. After that other interns called me the king of fort which I’m a little proud of and after sorting out the problem Sonia (Organizing Committee President of the project) sent us following E – Mail which I think was very concerning of her.




My first school was Salezjański Zespół and I worked there for three weeks. It was a big school and there were 5 interns including myself who was working in the same school. We had so much of fun but at the same time learned a lot. They supplied us with lunch which I missed most of the time which I think was very kind of them. When it comes to the project I went to another two schools and I think I was able to finish my job very well using my skills for the maximum. Why I feel that way is because right now I have more than 300 Facebook friends in Poland from the people I met from schools.

In the dorm I and my two best friends Shi Xu and Lim Wai cooked our meals together every day and once a week all interns in the fort would get together and party. Somehow I had to come right after we finish the project due to my studies and still I miss my buddies and other friends so badly.

Because of AIESEC I was able to learn about another culture and experience it and at the same time I developed my presentation skills and I made lot of new friends from different countries. Finally after all this is done now I feel that I’m a new born man and is not the same person who left the country.

Thank you very much AIESEC !!



P.S. Especially I must personally thank Mr. Asiri Weerathunga and Mr. Sumal Chathuranga for encouraging me to go for an exchange.


By Tharindu Athukorala
Undergraduate of Information Technology

HOW MUCH I MISS CHINA

In the month of April,when I joined the AIESEC University of Moratuwa ,my girl friend gave me the idea of going to China as an intern . She always thought it would be great for me to do extracurricular work and that such experience will make the vacation, an enjoyable and interesting one. I also liked the idea and faced the interview which I luckily got through. Then I got my documents ready and left to China.

At the first glance the place I saw was out of this world to me. Shenzhen was a very developed city with very good and polite people. I was hosted by a local family who used to live in an apartment. My fellow Aiesecer who lived there is a very friendly lad with lots of good qualities. Whenever I wanted something he never ignored it. During first few days he even cooked curries for me, thinking that I won’t be able to eat Chinese food. His family was not very fluent in English, so he had to be there with me to help me to communicate. They were one of the best families I have ever known in my life. I was given a room with all the facilities as in A/C, an attached bath room, a comfortable bed etc. I was also given so many tasty homemade Chinese food, which I do still miss for this very day.


In order to meet the other Aiesecers, I had to go to the University of Shenzhen by metro train which was a whole new experience for me. The University of Shenzhen is one of the most beautiful places I have been to; even though it was a university it was just an open space like a park. I ate from the University Canteen which was very clean, cheap and served tasty food. Compared to Chinese foods were soupier. In the University I stayed in a café called “The memory house” where all the Aiesecers used to hang out and talk. It was a very beautiful place, which was situated near a lake which really did inspire me a lot.

The Aiesecers, who worked with me, are some of the friendliest poepeI have ever met. Their enthusiasm towards voluntary service, energetic feelings, and their friendly attitude always surprised me and I have to mention that it was them and their great qualities which made my whole internship an everlasting unforgettable experience in my life.

The project in which I was enrolled as a volunteer was, the project Green Power Now (GPN). My task was to teach high school students about Environmental protection .I taught in six high schools in Shenzen. I always loved teaching, but by then I had no experience in teaching foreigners. However I loved that experience. They adored me a lot. I gave them Sri Lankan sweets which my mother made especially for them. They loved those sweetsJ. After teaching in schools, me and other Aiesecers, we used go out and eat. Sometimes we tried different street food which I still crave to eat again.

Even though my stay in China was very short I had the liberty of seeing lot of places in Shenzhen. I went to “Happy Valley” which was an amusement park, I visited the museum and the highest building in Shenzhen which was a skyscraper .Went to do shopping in different parts of Shenzhen with my friends. We went to watch 4-D movies which I had never seen before. On the last day of my stay in Shenzen, my Chinese buddies gave me presents and tears were rolling down on our cheeks which showed me how bonded we were.

The internship gave me the opportunity to learn presentation skills, to make new friends, and to live and experience a different country with a different culture. At the end of the day I just need to tell you that Aiesec Internships would surely give you a life changing experience.

Only now I realized the meaning of the café I stayed.”The Memory house”. I miss China and my buddies there.





By Akshika Wijesundara
AIESEC CS Return EP

MY JOURNEY TO THE KINGDOM OF PHARAOHS

My journey to “Egypt” through AIESEC started on the 25th of April from the Bandaranayake International Airport at Katunayake. Even though I’ve travelled a lot before, this was my first time travelling alone and therefore, it was quite a challenge for me.

The flight to Egypt was really amazing. Since I was the only teenage girl in the entire plane, I attracted a lot of attention. I made friends with a person who works for the Royal Security of the Sultan of Oman. Upon arriving at the airport in Egypt, I tried to locate my buddies from AIESEC. Finally I met 2 boys, “Gallad” (my buddy) and “Sawaaf” who welcomed me to their country and I was really happy to finally meet them whom I contacted for days through online.

We got into a car and they took me to “KHAN KHALILI”, which is the oldest street in Cairo. I was really surprised and excited as everything was very shiny and colorful. They had papyrus, souvenirs, clothes etc. I was introduced to 3 Indian and 2 Romanian interns. They were all very nice people and eventually we had dinner together. We had “CUSHERINE”, which is a traditional food in Egypt, mixed with rice, noodles, macaroni, garlic and chili sauce. Then we went to a café where we had “SHISHA”, a traditional smoke which uses dried fruit for smoking. I was having it for the first time in my life, so I found it a little uncomfortable at first and found it difficult to even stand upright. But I liked it. Everybody was a little excited, but it was fun, and from that day on, they called me “Shisha girl“.

I stayed at the TMA building, the NGO where I worked as a volunteer. It was a rural area but I really experienced the original Egyptian culture there. I loved those poor people whom were rich in good values and qualities. Everybody was so nice to me. “Fairooz” and “Hayem” was working with me and sometimes Hayem cooked me fish since I loved to eat fish more than meat. “Mukhaelith”, the lady who cleaned the building, treated me like her own daughter after I gave her some medicine for her illness. “Haleem”, the helper in TMA, was my guardian. I was addicted to “AYISH and BABAGANNOOG” another local food, so whenever I say “aizaayish o babagannog“(I need ayish and babagannoog), Haleem brings me them. During my free time, I often went with him to visit the street market. Sometimes I had shisha at TMA, but the flavor Haleem used was very strong, so I got high all the time and slept like a dead horse till late morning.

I had a single unforgettable day of my life during my stay there. At TMA, they had sheep, and I used to love them so much and was always cuddling them. One morning, Hayem asked me to come outside and so I did. There was this sheep, and I started to cuddle him. Suddenly, there came a man with a big knife. I didn’t know the purpose of it all until then. I screamed and begged him to stop, but it was an order from Dr. May. I closed my ears and ran away crying. I had never felt so helpless in my whole life before. After sometime, I saw that man’s legs covered in red. One minute, I was cuddling the sheep and the next minute he was gone. I couldn’t bear it. It was a real cultural shock and I had to admit it. I couldn’t eat anything for the whole day and I couldn’t eat meat after that for several days.

I used to ride horses since I love them. I especially rode donkeys and camels since I can’t have that chance in Sri Lanka. One day I visited a local wedding. It was so colorful and the music was so loud. Everybody was dancing traditional dances and I also joined them to dance.

Once I had to go for a company seminar representing TMA. Everybody who was present in the occasion was older people and I was the only girl with a fashionable dress, and I felt like sitting with “left brained” giants. After they found out that I’m a fashion design student they were surprised and one entrepreneur came to me and invited me to join his fashion projects. After the meeting, I went home with him by taxi and was talking all the way back. He was a very kind person and he told me and I quote that “you are a very good person and your country will be proud of you” which I really light a spark on me.

During my stay in Egypt, I did not forget to visit the pyramids. It was an awesome and unbelievable experience. Once I went inside a pyramid I felt I was witnessing the amazing history of the world. It’s very hard to explain that feeling.

“Maged”, an AIESECer and a good friend of mine, took me to the “TAHREER SQUARE”, which was famous for the big protest, and afterwards, we went to visit “ZAMALICK”, an area populated by tourists.

I went to the citadel, castle and military museum with “Asfoor” and “Bowo”. They were really nice. The castle was really big and decorated. Bowo bought me “SHAWARMA” since I said I wanted to taste it the Egyptian way. I went to “FALOOKA” on the Nile River and stayed there for a few days with some of my friends. There were Brazilian, Tunisian, Chinese and Indian girls. All of them were so nice to me and we were like sisters. It was so amazing.

Our AIESEC coordinator “Garhi” took me to “MAADI”, a green city, and we had shisha and played some old Egyptian games. He was a really nice person and a good friend. He even took me to the “Cairo Hill” where I could see the whole city. It was really beautiful and we had shisha and as usual I got high. My second buddy “Saied” took me to a place where we had “FUCKFUCKEENA”, another Egyptian food. When I heard the food’s name for the first time I was laughing out loud. I loved to make him angry since he is usually bad-tempered. But he was a really good friend too

I went on a 2-day trip to the black and white desert on an invitation from “Mostafa”. It was awesome. We had lunch in a cabana in the middle of the desert. While we were heading to the deep desert, we had a flat tire. It was so exciting and I felt like I was in a movie. But the drivers fixed it quickly and we camped in the white desert. We had barbecue and shisha in the night and slept in sleeping bags. I was watching the sky for a shooting star and I waked up to see the sun rise in the desert. It was so beautiful. I was lucky enough to see a small yellow sandstorm while I was at TMA. It was yet another exciting moment for me.

I went to the “SUKHNA” beach and swam with the jellyfish. It was really nice. Often, we were dancing to AIESEC songs in the middle of the highway. It was really fun. I went to a café call “Zenab Katon”. It is one of the oldest cafés in the area, and was built in the past by a prostitute for her customers, but nowadays, is used as a tourist attraction.

I learnt a lot of things during my internship. Cultural differences and how to be flexible towards them, which is probably the most important lesson of them all. I got to share experiences with different people. Sometimes it was so hard to bear some things that I felt so disappointed and lost while dealing with them. But what is more important to me is the happier moments I had. I enjoyed myself a lot and learnt new things while making lots of new friends. Mistakes can happen anywhere and what I feel we should give it a chance and see. I really want to go back to Egypt. Life is full of experiences and Egypt was one of the best in my life. Thank you AIESEC!!!

By Dhanushika Welagedara
      Return EP of AIESEC CS

                                                                                                                  

April's experience in project E - Gurugedara

Project E-Gurugedara was initiated by AIESEC Colombo South,Sri lanka to enhance the English literacy of local school children with 25 foreign interns from all around the world representing 6 countries.

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Website -http://aieseccs.lk

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Vita Vaitkeviciute's GCDP experience in AIESEC CS, Sri Lanka

The project for me was a great opportunity to develop in various areas. During it I gained new multicultural experience while working with fellow EPs from different countries, improved in cooperation, team work, organizational skills, experienced culture shock, which I think we all should experience, especially if you are an AIESECer. FEEL Lanka 3.0 was very well and professionally planned project, even though we didn't fulfill it completely, I believe both us and OC were satisfied with the outcome. The OC were cooperative during the project when we had problems with places or timing we were able to change it along the way. As always beginnings are the most difficult part of the project and us had a rough start too, but quite quickly we got to know each other and any disagreements and problems were easily solved, making the next few weeks of the project exceptionally great experience. The atmosphere of the FEEL Lanka 3.0 most of the time was great and we actually could feel the concept of this project.

Sri Lanka is as different from Lithuania as the country can be and beside the project it is one of the reasons I chose Sri Lanka in the first place. For me the adaptation was easier than I had expected, because of the fellow EPs. Most of them were from Europe, as we have similarities in our cultures and everyday life, it didn't take a long time to get to know each other and get along very well throughout the project, we helped and supported one another in many situations. There were some arguments and disharmony with two members of FEEL Lanka 3.0, it wasn't possible to solve it completely, but both us and the OC of this project put the most effort to make it the least disturbing. We also had problems with the place we stayed in and it wasn't solved completely as well, but some OC members and OCP showed the most effort to make the living conditions better. Consequently, even though there were unsolved problems and disharmony, we managed to overcome these difficulties and enjoy participation in the FEEL Lanka 3.0.

As this was my first internship, my experience was new and I can't compare it with anything else. For the record I can honestly say, that if I had a choice to go there again, knowing something about how it would be like, I would definitely go.

 

Sri Lanka is a very exotic country with a lot of natural recourses. Looking from the European perspective this country has a lot of potential and unused niches in its industry. Our team was able to explore and see Sri Lanka not only from the tourist perspective, because we ate the local food, which was quite often too spicy for us, we were traveling by buses, trains, tuk-tuks which are mainly used by locals. Before coming there, I wasn't expecting the country to be so variable. to sum up, Sri Lanka is a country for people who seek adventures and want to see real beauty of the pure nature.

All in all, even though there are some drawbacks, the experience was marvelous and unforgettable. I am satisfied with the project, the OC and, most of all, with the fellow interns that I lived with for six weeks.”