Better today!

I feel much better today then yesterday! In all bad things you can find something good as well:) What was good about failure of Ukrainian food is the fact that there is a lot of food left and I had a chance to eat today for lunch borsch and salad Oliv'e (which I really like) and not pasta!:)))

Since I feel quite good today I feel like sharing what happened yesterday in the morning! We had a nice teambuilding game:) I had few concerns at the begining (well, of course u can say that I always have concerns), but yesterday I even had a background for it.

Teambuilding started with leaving at home all money, mobiles and other stuff, taking only 2 tickets for metro and camera! We received tasks in envelopes so it all seemed like teambuilding in metro last year... You can imagine what kind of ideas and thoughts I had.

But everything turned out to be very nice - we were doing tasks in team of 4 people - me, Martina (NST member), Cardillo (bookkeeper) and Matteo (MCP). Our task was to go to Cimitero Monumentale di Milano (a big Cementry). There we were supposed to get to know history of the place by interviewing people (we had to have 4 video proofs), then make pictures of us cleaning toilet in bar, gain 4 euros and get to know each other by answering some questions!

So Cementry looks completely not like Cementry but like a Castle (at least for me). You can see pictures here and the history here. Unfortunately it was closed, so there were almost no people there. And we really faced challanges with finidng people who'd know at least something! I need to admit that I was even successfull in interviewing even tough I don't know Italian (well, maybe the one whom I was interviewing was a nice young guy?:). Later on we went to Garribaldi train station to gain those 4 euros. I think in Ukraine I'd work better (at least based on experience of last year). Buut I must say that nevertheless I was quite successful and managed to raise myself and amount of 1 euro (2 people gave 50 cents each) which I consider to be a good result for me with nonexistent level of Italian:))) I was so proud of myself yesterday!

A complete disaster

Today was a long day! First part was soo good - we had a teambuilding, I saw a very nice place in Milan. The second part of the day was Ukrainian and Romanian party.

Sometime I'll tell you more about challenges with finding cucumbers, beetroot and cabbage in Milan, but that's another story.

The main point of the day is the Ukrainin party which I was waiting for was a complete disaster. I spent the whole day in supermarkets, markets trying to buy all the stuff, then maybe 3 hours challenging myself and cooking. And in the end nobody liked it at all... Of course nobody said it, but I've seen it...

Presentation part was better I guess, but only people were watching and listening. The only one thing that everyone liked was vodka and Consume game (Zoom or as we called it here Puppa).

That was most probably the best part of the dinner for people.

I was waiting so much for this Ukrainian culture presentation and I was soo bad in it.

I go to sleep, disappointed today

Historical transition

Yesterday the event that we were looking for so much – historical part of transition started.
This part contains of few parts here – historical transition itself -MC members from MC teams from pervious 10 years (meaning from 1996 -97) are coming to tell about their year, achievements, problems, team experiences etc. The idea of this part is quite interesting, but the delivery seems to be not on the top. Most probably because people are experiencing difficulties with speaking English and that’s why sessions seem to be a bit boring (at least for me).
The other part of this historical block is historical football match that takes place each year between MC team current (previous, current and elect MC) with alumni of MC. That was a match that was expected, a match that was discussed. Quite a lot of people came to see it.
Despite the fact it was a football match I enjoyed watching it:) Of course MC team won with 5:4 score! I even started to think about the fact that we can once practice with girls to play football:) Of course we are (again at least I) tooo bad to compete with somebody else!
There is some kind of tradition for a team that looses the match to kiss the cup that is given to winners’ team, but I think I missed this moment yesterday! The other thing that is typical for Italian AIESEC culture is “formal dress” culture for boys – when they are happy (I think this word somehow unites all possible cases when it can happen), they take off their trousers and stay only in pants. I don’t really understand here, but it’s typical here.
After the match we went to very nice restaurant. I told you that I broke a lot of my stereotypes about Italians after I arrived. But this one got its confirmation yesterday – this party was exactly as I imagined Italians having meals – big – big table, a lot of people (of course speaking very loudly), a lot of food ( of course pasta or pizza) and vine! I tried pizza second time yesterday, it looked and tasted very – very nice:)
After that we went to city centre for drinks. Pubs here are quite strange – extremely crowded, people are standing on streets, inside there are huge queues, everything is of course very loud, and there is almost no chances to get menu. But anyways what I valued in this time were conversations that I had with MC members and alumni:)
As for my general impessions – I think I already pass the stage of being in love with everything. Language starts to be a major problem – they respect foreigners and try to speak English, but all the free time, during lunches and dinners, right after session ends they only speak Italian.
What I also noticed here is that there is no limit between saying something only to one person or saying something to everyone – whatever you say to somebody in few hours reaches the rest. I yet don’t know whether it’s good or bad – it’s just the reality;)
The next point is pasta – these people are really in love with pasta. Since I arrived here each day for lunch we have different types of pasta – it’s easy to be cooked for 20 people. But if it’s going to be the same till the end of the year I think I’ll not be able to fit into any of my clothes:))
Seems like these are all my emotions and news for today!

My Italian Contacts

Just in case you want to send me a postcard, call me or sms me:)

My address in Italy is
Via Andora, 4
20148, Milan, Italy

My mobile is
+393313421214

Good news!

Past two days were extremely successfull for me! Why? Because of 2 events(ok, let's call it events)

Yesterday I was elected as Chair of AI Exchange Quality Board 2007 -2008! The decision was delayed for 4 days, so all this time I was so nervous waiting for it. Thanks to everyone who supported me in application process and during this waiting period! We had a really nice celebration yesterday in MC house:)

Another good piece of news is that today was the first time when I tried Italian pizza! So many people were asking me if I tried it already! Yes, I spent 4 days in Italy, ate pasta 3 times and only today tasted real Italian pizza!!!!!!!!!!

You of course will ask whether it's really that tasty as people say. I'd take responsibility to tell you it is:) Pizzas are really big, I didn't even expect they are sooo big!

Ok, no more words, better have a look at it!

Discovering Italy

Yesterday was my first full day in Milan! I woke up quite late in the morning - only me and Anabella were at Via Andora, all the rest went to WENA PM. So I was chatting whole morning (and actually whole day- all the time when I connected to internet) with people, telling about my first impressions, the team, etc.
Then we were cooking lunch for delegates - around 60 sandiches, we made a nice sandivch production line, I'd say! :) Then we had a lovely trip with Anabella in the centre of Milan - we saw Castello Sfozesco, Arca della Pace, Duomo. Everything was so beautiful! Especially I was amazed by Duomo, as it was written it served as a symbol of Milan since 1387.
The story of Duomo is Here , I'd say that this is one of the most gorgeous and majestic places I've ever seen! These are some pictures of Duomo











Piazza del Duomo (a square in front of Duomo) is really crowded, you can see lots of tourists there. It brings you this feeling of internationalism, it's something that I have a chance to experience only abroad, unfortunately it never happened in Ukraine.
In the center there are a lot of people, foreigners mainly, selling different stuff - bags and wallets from "Dolce Gabbana, Cavalli" and lots of other falsifications.
We came back home tired, but happy! It was my first Get to Know Milan and I liked it a lot;)))
Today was the first real transition day, by real transition I mean physical one - it was even better then the virtual one that we had with Federico before!:)
Then I volunteered to go to Bonolla (a big shopping centre where we do shopping for a week). I went there with Cisco (current MCP) and I think I looked quite strange, because I was staring like wild person to lots of things ;)) Of course I didn't remember everything what was new for me - my biggest impressions so far are: the whole line with different kinds of pasta ( we took at least 4 different ones and I'm going to try the rest till the end of the year!), different sauces to pasta, 4 or 5 types of salads etc. What amazed me apart from prices (prices are really - really high) was the thing that people use gloves when they take fruits and vegetables (they put on gloves because some other people were touching this bananas or whatever). So by the end of our shopping tour I decided that next time I go for it as well, because I'm sure that there are lots of other things to discover!:)
Then we had dinner.. at 9 pm, was quite strange for me to eat so late. but seems like I'll have to get used to meals here - Italians have very light breakfasts, normal lunches and heavy dinners that usually start at 8.30 - 9 pm. A big room for changing and weight gaining:)))
The last but for sure not the least what I'd like to mention are people. Of course 2 days are far not enough to draw any kind of colnlusions , but here a lot of my stereotypes about Italians are broken. So far they show really good professional approach to evertything we do connected to work. And the same with personal approach and relations that they have. I really started to feel like home here (Anabella, you were completely right), I love this friendly atmosphere that is created here. I really envy, in a good way, to current team Cisco, Stuart, Cinzia, Gege, Laura and Carolina Boromero (Matteo will forgive this wrong spelling of his nickname:)) to the relations that they have within the team, it really seems like they value each other a lot, they know each other a lot, the way they make fun from each other. They are really like brothers and sisters here and I really hope that we can have same realtions and attitude to each other next year in the new team:)
So, maybe it's how the honeymoon stage of cultural shock looks like but I fully enjoy it for now!
And I feel happy, really happy!

First day in Italy

Finally it happened, yesterday I arrived to Malpensa Airport in Milan! And now I'm starting almost a new life, a new year in AIESEC Italy!

What was strange is that there were no surprises during my flight (usually I have lots of it).
The only one I had was connected to the fact that I was changing airport gates in Vienna from part for CIS countries to EU countries and I got a stamp in my passport there. So when I arrived to Milan I was expecting to pass lots of custom and passport controls. But it didn't happen, so I went out from there, nobody was waiting for me, so I had a strange feeling that I came to a wrong place:))) Everything was ok later, guys were waiting for me near arrivals of CIS countries.

Then a 30 min trip to home - I haven't seen a lot, was mainly talking then:) And finally arrived to Via Andora (Andora street) a place I'm going to live and work for next year!

Welcome from Via Andora was cool, and really unexpected - there was a big flip chart with Welcome Masha message on it, I loved it! Then Federica went out and told that she wants to take a picture of me and Ana entering the garden.. While we were posing for picture Eugeniu poured a whole wash basin of cold water on us!!!!!! This was the most original welcome I've ever had:)

After that I had a "house tour" - it has 3 floors, or 2,5 I'd say;) 1st is 2 office rooms, 2nd - living room and kitchen,3rd - 3 sleeping rooms! The house itself is really nice,well equipped comparing to what we had before:)

After some time at home , changing clothes at least, we went for Global village party at WENA Presidents meeting:) Guyes were going absolutely crazy:) I got a chance to talk to different people, dance andget to know WENA culture a bit. What is funny - I'm far not the best in drinking in Ukraine, but here I managed to be first I guess 3 times in "speed drinking competition". We are going to have Ukrainian night soon - and that would be definitely a place for people to try real Ukrainian vodka and get completely drunk:))he-he!:)

Then, completely tired and a bit dizzy we went back home to sleep! Before I felt asleep I was thinking about the whole day - I woke up in Dnepropetrovsk, managed to do a lot of things there, managed to see and say bye to a lot of people and move to other part of Europe and meet a lot of people here as well!

It was completely happy day for me!

Wait for more updates here and have a look at pictures at flickr!

Italy Tomorrow!

I don't know how to express my feelings! I told to many of you that I didn't have feeling that I'm leaving for one year abroad. Now, just 12 hours before the flight, this understanding came to me! I feel scared, I feel unsecured, I feel uncertain, like coming from terra firm to terra incognita.

But this is the way how it's supposed to be, this is the way I've chosen. All people say that everything is going to be great, so maybe I should realy on collective wisdom?:)

I'm trying to remember all the positive moments but eventually I want to cry when it all comes to my head.

Ok, so this is my experience and I'm responsible for what I make out of it, so I'll try to do my best to make the best possible out of it!

But I'm afraid anyways.

P.S. tomorrow I'll go to sleep already in Milan.

Bye - bye party in Dnepropetrovsk

Nice people, nice evening, nice talks! Enjoyed it very much! Very Dnepropetrovsk culture:)

No more words, I'll be missing them a lot!

Journey to past

I rarely walk alone, I almost never do it for reason, especially in Dnipropetrovsk, but still sometimes it happens. The same as today.. I had to go to a library (Tanya, I almost see your big eyes full of surprise now when you are reading that:))) On my way to library I was passing Kirova avenue – the avenue where all my EB 2005 – 06 lived, on each stop near smb’s house I was remembering us stories that we had in our flats – all our EB meetings, EB nights, drinking meetings etc.
While walking to library I passed by Dnepropetrovsk Regional State Authorities, and I couldn’t help memories coming to my mind - I had university practice there after my 3rd year. I was so proud to get there as that was a place where I was supposed to work after graduation. I remember being happy at the beginning of my first day, and completely disappointed after finishing the practice. Since that time I know what for sure I don’t want to do, and where for sure I don’t want to work. Fortunately, I found out it before graduation:)
Then city library - of course they didn’t have what I needed in this department (why wasn’t I surprised? :)) so I was asked to go to another one. It was too close to take marshrutka, so I decided to have a walk.
I had no urgent things in my head, so I just let memories come to my mind. Occasionally, I had so many memories connected to this street (apart from already mentioned). I was passing Yanka’s house – I clearly remember when I came there first – during lunch time at my practice, she cooked borcsh for me, I was afraid of her big parrot Gosha. But soon I felt in love with him – he was eating completely everything and enjoyed sitting on my shoulder or head:)) I remember the time when at her place we were cooking food for our LTS – I was cutting smoked sausages and cheese ( I guess around 5 kgs each), I wasn’t able to move my arm afterwards but that was fun:))
Then I passed the horror of my teenage years - children orthodontist clinic. But at least after all that it’s not possible to make me scared by any kind of dental units:)
Another stop was – old yard in soviet style, where we spent a lot of time with my LC when I was LCP. After walking in park (it is very close to our previous LC office) we usually went to this yard – it was always challenging because to get there you need almost to clime up to quite big hill, which was always not convenient for girls on high – heels because they usually were stuck in the mud of this hill:) Many times we were playing “bitches – bitches” in Ukrainian (yes, Ukrainian in Dnepropetrovsk) – «шльондри – шльондри», «з парасолькой» etc. these memories still make me smile;)
Almost near the library I was Pouline’s language school – most probably the best one I’ve ever attended. Sergey Ivanovich and Alena are heaven – born language teachers and I remember my time spent there as one of the best learning experiences I’ve ever had. I haven’t skipped any class during one year:)
They my journey ended up with librarian asking about my library ticket….
I think this walk and memories were one the best things that happened to me during past few days! I never thought that 20 mins walk trough just 2 streets can evoke so many good and pleasant memories:)

Last 3 weeks

Казалось бы как мало осталось – всего каких – то 3 недели или и того меньше. И ведь понимаю, что и это пройдет, и будет у меня написанный диплом, защита, оценка.. и мой последний день в 9 корпусе на Научной 13. но так это все тошно, что противно становится.