World Without Borders 2009: Onur from Turkey

Story of a Trainee in Ukraine

Once upon a time there was a Turkish guy. He decided to go for an internship to Ukraine and participate a project called World Without Boarders (WWB). He wanted to develop his communication, self presentation skills. He wanted to speak better in front of crowd. But he didn't know anything about this country. He didn't expect so much from the country. He was an adventurous man. He thought that he could do it.

On his first days he was surprised about hosting and reception activities. Organizing Committee team was excellent. Members were always with him. And they helped him when he need. Also he met all "unforgettable" Local Committee members. They were lovely. He loves them.

He was very happy about his flat-mates. He had a very nice team. Livia, Cielo, Yu Fen, Hshao Ting, Kostas, Frida, Phill. They were all unique and very nice. He shared not only a flat or classes with them also he shared his two months of life. He learned a lot from them and shared his knowledge.

They made a good job at schools. They tried to do the best under any circumstances. Our guy loves all the schools that he worked but he loves some of them more than the others. Sometimes classes were challenging but he could handle it. At schools he developed his skills.

Beside the experiences which he had at schools, he had some experiences in some special events.

Global village was one of them. He cooked his traditional food and he had a chance to taste different traditional foods from different countries in this event. Also he presented his traditional food all over the Crimea by the help of local TV. Also he participated round table discussion about problems of youth in Ukraine and world which organized by government. He had a chance to compare youth in diverse countries. He had some conferences with other interns. He met a lot of people from different countries. He learned a lot about different cultures.

He traveled a lot. He had been in many cities. Kiev, Lviv, Odessa, Franik, Yalta, Sevastopol, Kerch.... He saw the differences between west, east, north and south of Ukraine. It was a great experience for him to understand the conjuncture, socio cultural structure and politics in this region.

He had fun a lot. For sure. As I said before he had a very nice team. He called his team as “my family”. They traveled a lot. They partied a lot. They laughed a lot. They took pictures a lot. They did stupid things a lot. They ate, drunk a lot. And they love all members a lot. He never forgets parties at his flat.

Eventually it was time to go back to Turkey. He was upset about leaving Ukraine but he was happy about being in Ukraine. He developed his skills, learned a lot, met new people who were lovely. Now he has great contacts. He is glad to been in Ukraine as a trainee and he loves Ukraine.

*** The End ***

Onur Can Öztat, Bursa, TURKIYE
intern in AIESEC Simferopol
project World Without Borders'09