Skills Matter 2009: May from Australia

My name is May Lew and this year I worked for the AIESEC project Skills Matter in Simferopol, Ukraine. After being actively involved in the organisation since 2005, I felt that it was time to take up the opportunity of international exchange. My decision to work abroad through AIESEC centred around two things. One, I felt that I had grown too comfortable at home in Australia, that I was sheltered in my way of thinking. I had a strong desire to remove myself from everything familiar and change to an unknown environment. Two, I wanted to explore Europe, particularly the East. I knew next to nothing about Ukraine and felt that immediately was as good a time as any to change this. For two months, I was able to live and work with interns from Germany, Hungary, Canada and Poland to deliver soft skills training sessions to university students. Through this, I developed my facilitation skills and gained new knowledge about the topics (e.g. financial management, project management). It was extremely rewarding for me when participants told us how they enjoyed the sessions and what they learnt. Working in the stimulating environment provided by this international team was new to me. Each intern brought a different working style, facilitation method, set of ideas, and shared experiences. These, along with their incredibly unique personalities, gave the project a fun and rich working atmosphere.
Beyond work, the cultural experience has been intense; Ukraine is certainly very different from Australia. Of course there are the obvious differences in the political sphere, languages, stage of country development, value systems etc. On a more personal note I can honestly say that until this internship, I had never showered in a bucket, washed my clothes in a vibrating bucket (aka Soviet style washing machine), been cured of a cold by alcoholic remedies twice, shared a bed with 5 nationalities for warmth or lack of beds, or appreciated hot running water so much. Also, thanks to quarantine I had ample time to travel around Crimea aided by friends who were wonderful tour guides. Highlights for me were the views from Novy Svet and Bakhchisaray, the first time I saw and jumped into the Black Sea in Sevastopol, and chilling out by the water in Koktebel. Crimea truly has a unique beauty. And, I should mention that watching Shaktar win 2-1 in the Donbass stadium in Donetsk was amazing.
I hope to come back for a summer, as I hear that Crimea is amazing and buzzing with life during this season. On my to-do list is to see the jazz festival in Koktabeal. Perhaps I will run into my fellow interns from Skills Matter at that time, as they too are tempted, or have promised the Local Committee, to come back. I feel privileged that I have been able to experience and see a part of the world that people my age and from my country wouldn’t ordinarily have the thought or opportunity to see. In the short time that I have been in Simferopol, I have gained an invaluable exposure to new ways of thinking, unexpected friendships and connections, lessons in life and memories that I will always cherish. An intense experience like this and the personal growth that you can achieve is almost addictive. I find myself prolonging my time abroad, and searching for another management internship.
It is difficult, really, to communicate everything that this internship has provided to me in this article. All I can say is, there is only one time in your life that you can be a part of AIESEC. Make the most of it, and take up any opportunity this organisation can offer you.

May Lew, Australia
intern in AIESEC Simferopol
project Skills Matter'2009

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World Without Borders 2009: Ben from Germany

I’m Benjamin, a student of Economics and Informatics in Karlsruhe, Germany, and I joined the World Without Borders project of AIESEC in Simferopol from mid-October to mid-December 2009. My task was to meet different schools in Simferopol and teach students topics like leadership, social responsibility and entrepreneurship. After the second week of my work, schools were closed for three weeks because of swine flu quarantine which meant an involuntary holiday for me. I was using the time to travel around Ukraine and meet Istanbul in Turkey with some of the other interns in Simferopol. After quarantine ended, I restarted working in the project, mainly supported by Agi, another intern from Hungary, who originally was working for the Skills Matter project. We conducted lessons in “School No. 9” and “Linguist School”. Additionally, I held some special lessons in German and went to Nikolaev in order to tell university students about education opportunities and students’ life in Germany. The project ended after eight weeks and I started on my way back to Germany. Finally, it was an unforgettable trip for me. I met a lot of kind people, made friends and learned to love Ukraine. So I want to say thank you and hope to be able to come back soon!

Benjamın Graf, Germany
intern in AIESEC Simferopol
project World Without Borders

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Skills Matter 2009: Matthias from Germany

Привет, AIESEC Simferopol. On arriving from Germany I spend two wonderful months in Simferopol working on the project ‚Skills Matter’. Together with interns from Poland, Hungary, Canada and Australia I enjoyed to work and life in Simferopol, the Crimea and beyond. Together with my colleagues and many of you I enjoyed the great weather on our trips, experienced many aspects of your daily life on various occasions and backgrounds, learned something about your culture and history and endured the quarantine. With all your effort and work you rendered my internship into an amazing experience I will never forget and I am glad that I met all of you. Ich hoffe euch irgendwann einmal Wiederzusehen und wünsche euch alles Gute

Matthias Detering, Germany
intern in AIESEC Simferopol
project Skills Matter'2009

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Skills Matter 2009: Agnes from Hungary

I am Zöld Ágnes from Hungary and I have spent the last 2 months in Ukraine, Simferopol. Why did I do that? I was there on an international internship with AIESEC, which might be the end of my experience in this NGO. In 2006, I started working in the AIESEC Local Committee of Győr as a student of the local university there. Since then, I have had the opportunity to work with international students, organize events and even test myself as a member of the leadership body in my LC. After these years, I felt a gap without going abroad and make a living on my own.

I chose Simferopol because I wanted to widen my knowledge in the field of training and development. This internship offered this opportunity to me. I held trainings 2 times a week as a part of an international team for university students within the project called Skills Matter. We had several topics such as leadership, time management, goal setting and others. I also had the chance to hold lessons in high schools within a project called World Without Borders. These activities helped me increase my knowledge in the mentioned topics through my exposure to different points of view not only from my teammates, but the participants as well. I got to know different ways of thinking and I think this helped me discover and better understand my own way of thinking.

I didn’t spend my time just working. I was in many beautiful places in Crimea. I visited great cities, like Sevastopol and Yalta. I experienced the beautiful nature near Bachcisaraj and Novij Svet, the history in Evpatoria and Sudak. I even had the chance to go to Donetsk. This way I would like to send a big thank you to all our guides, who helped us a lot. Without them, I couldn’t have known half of what I know now. If I had to mention the biggest temptation about Crimea, it is the people living there. I experienced so much kindness, caring, understanding, helpfulness and trust as I have never expected before I got there. This refers to the local committee in Simferopol and all the people I have met through other channels.

Of course, there are difficulties during the time spent abroad. I can tell that not knowing the language is almost the smallest difficulty. I could write about the differences in habits, infrastructure, weather and communication with locals and team mates. (As an example, it was new not to be able to drink tap water.) These are all lessons to be listened and learnt from.

Eventually, I got more than a challenge. I knew that I will have help, but I made new friends. I knew that I will work with trainees from other countries and now I have friends from Australia, Canada, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Egypt and from Turkey. I thought that I would get to know the country and the culture, but it was only enough to break the stereotypes I had brought with me. I need to mention that Ukraine tempts me to return as I feel I got to know only a small part of what I could.

I would like to finish by wishing all of you to find and live with the opportunities that are in front of you, because you might gain much more than you originally expect from yourself.

Zöld Ágnes, Hungary
intern in AIESEC Simferopol
project Skills Matter'09

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World Without Borders 2009: Kokos from Greece

Hello my lovely Crimean friends ;)

So right now i am in Greece and i decided to write you some thoughts and share with you some of my internship experience! Well by the time that arrived in Simfer i was a bit concerned on what to expect cause i really had no clue about Crimea !! The reception was the best tho and from the fisrt days it seemed that the people were the best, very warm & friendly and very good at parties (something that matters a lot for a stupid Greek intern). I still laugh with all the culture shocks that i had there either with ukranian culture either with the culture of my very good friends and roomates from Brazil, Turkey, China and Taiwan!! Of course i also had the best birthday party there and sometimes i wish i could remember it all, lol.. You people were the best guides for travelling around Crimea and whole Ukraine and always been helpfull with crazy interns that wanted to go on a trip at 11pm at night :D

I really miss each one of the people that i met and believe that all of you are very special with huge potential.. The opportunity that you gave me to become a facilitator in the Local Induction Conference in Sevastopol was a unique opportunity as well and sharing my exchange experience with some of the Local Committee people helped me realize that they are so many people who dare to risk and explore new cultures and are full of dreams for their lives :) I still have all the sugarcubes that i got from you at the end of the L.I.C and will keep them forever , hehe!

The project tho was the thing that we people call it AIESEC Lifechanging experience!!! Really words are very poor to describe such an experience cause that project helped set some new goals for my life, challenged my worldview and of course made me a lot more communicative and helped me understand and respect a lot of different cultures! The feeling that we had after delivering an effective presentation where children and students were talking with us and sharing their thoughts adn dreams was a really sublime feeling and hard to describe! You feel like a little hero when a child comes to you after a presentations and tells you that from now on he will think the things that we discussed in the presentation and i hope all of you can feel that sometime!

Well that is for now! I will write you soon again cause now i have to do a looooot of stuff for my Local Committee here in Greece! I really miss each one of you!

You are always welcomed n Greece! Kisses from sunny Greece ! :D

Kostantinos Kampiotis, Greece
intern in AIESEC Simferopol
project World Without Borders'09

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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

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World Without Borders 2009: Yu-fen from Taiwan

After knowing that I can took part in international internship program by AIESEC, I started preparing the application information for the English interview. Fortunately, I passed .

I’m really glad that I can have this opportunity to attend this project which is called ”World without Borders ”. The main job I have to do is to introduce my country to any levels from elementary schools to universities, also including some professional topics, like “Leadership”, ”Team Work”, “Goals and Values”…etc.

AIESEC in Ukraine develops this kind of project for their students to know more about different countries and cultures by practicing English abilities at the same time. Reciprocally, I practice speaking English persistently to foreign interns for communicating and discussing, furthermore, I interact with Ukrainian students in English, too. In our free time, we explored several Ukraine famous cities, like Yalta, Sevastopol, Backhchisaray…etc, the natural and beautiful scenery is so magnificent that made us enjoy ourselves so much as to forget to go home !

For me, using English to teach foreign students , communicate with foreigners all day long is such a big challenge. However, I choose to take this chance, and now I can say, this experience makes my life colorful !

Yu-fen, Taiwan
intern in AIESEC Simferopol
project World Without Borders'09

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World Without Borders 2009: Cielo from China

The two dreamlike months I spent in the remote country from China, Ukraine is indeed like a dream, so dreamlike that I even don’t see any proof now which could indicate my track in that faraway destination. I still remember clearly the moment I was approached by a girl whom later I knew a Crimean Tatar with a long name as Elzara Adzhimurzaeva, and with whom I made friends with.

My first month was quite fruitful, when I conducted several missions impossible assigned by El’zara with several interns from other countries, say Brazil, Turkey and Taiwan. The tasks were not so difficult but required some teamwork and especially because we were from different countries and had different cultural backgrounds, it also required a lot of mutual and general tolerance.

The main task was to visit various schools and sometimes universities and give presentations of some topics, such as cultures in different countries, leadership, cultural tolerance. These themes seem at the first glance to have no substances but as I started to amplify each point, I actually found many things to articulate. Through the entire period of my constant communication with people from different backgrounds with mine, and I got to know what it meant to be in a society, not university. I also appreciated my great courage I cultivated through this process, which was before I went to Ukraine not so determinate.

All in all WWB is a very fruitful program, and thus I hope the Organizing Committee of this program could also learn to improve it as it’s executed year by year.

Cielo, China
intern in AIESEC Simferopol
project World Without Borders'09

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World Without Borders 2009: Livia from Brazil

As I chose AIESEC I discovered this organization had the ideas I wanted to put into action in my life. I respected its mission and saw that by joining this organization I could play a role into making this world a better place. So I went to World Without Borders project and experienced the 5 AIESEC principles, not once, but several times throughout February and March. First, I Took an Active Role and prepared my classes, participated in discussions and attended conferences: I wanted to deliver the best experience to those involved in the project. By working with kids and students, and also with the conversations I had with fellow AIESECers and trainees, I realized I really enjoyed what I was doing, and by that I accomplished many conclusions through Self-Discovery, and some answers made me think even more about my future. Living in a foreign country, sharing a flat with foreigners made me Challenge my Worldview almost 24 hours a day! As I was delivering the trainings and attending to the events I put into practice the Learning by Doing methodology, and that has impacted not only me but also the AIESEC members of the Organizing Committee working directly with me. And after two months in Ukraine I met international trainees and fellow Ukrainian AIESECers and I can say that I could Build a Network in this period that I will bring with me forever. And now, looking back I am more than grateful for this two months I spent in this project and I surely recommend this experience to anyone interested in personal development in a challenging but unforgettable environment.

Livia Tiemi Bastos, Brazil
intern in AIESEC Simferopol
project World Without Borders'09

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