The exhausting struggle...

Who, what, where, when and how ?????


Five primordial questions, so basic but yet so needed to be answered before reaching your goal.


Who: How easy was that question? Me of course! Did I need someone by my side? Of course not. Remember that I told you that I like to throw myself in the unknown and find my way without help from the people I know? Well I guess I knew the answer to that question very quickly.

What: This one is more tricky.. What was it that I wanted to do? This experience...oh yes, going abroad! But what will I do there? What are the options? There are a lot of things you can do abroad like working, volunteering, visiting family, study, taking a holiday etc. I wanted to mean something and learn from my experience so a holiday was out of the question. Visiting family - that would be in Poland or Canada - wasn't my goal either. I went already many times to Poland but I still need to visit my aunt and her family in Canada, one day...no worries! I didn't want to work in a company totally non-related to my study and future carrier so working in a bar or zoo was also out of the question. Studying was also not my intention, in fact I think I have studied enough, after those five years, I really felt the impulse of starting my career. I chose to do a volunteering internship, not a professional one - that's for later on! - and so I started to think about my next question...

How: I chose for the organization AIESEC, present in 160 countries all over the world with many MANY years of experience. It is an organization that give student access to a database with all there internship offers (volunteering as well as professional ones) in exchange for a certain fee. They help you make up a profile and apply for the internships of your interest. The local offices of the AIESEC organization are run by students from the surrounding universities. This certainly has its advantages and disadvantages. It is fun to collaborate with students around the same age but when the board chooses the wrong people for the job, it can quickly cause a tedious and inefficient arrangement between yourself and the LC. I experienced that in the beginning when the LC NEVER returned my emails. NEVER answered the telephone...which led to signing my contract long after I decided to join AIESEC. Fortunately the president that took over in June was much more responsible and a great communicator.

When: Also not that difficult.. I decided to go in October/November - min of 6, max of 8 weeks - since I first needed to work in the holiday months and I still need to finish my thesis with deadline at the 15th of December so in between these crucial points lay my opportunity!

Where: I seriously had no idea where I wanted to go! At least one thing I knew for sure: I wanted to go out of Europe and not to Africa or North America. But Asia and Latin America is still big! Eventually, I only applied for the Asian countries since for internships in Latin America, you needed to master the language Spanish or Portuguese (I really did not have the time to take lessons before the internship because of my thesis). After I made my geographical demarcation, I concentrated on the profile of the internship.

Think I wrote enough for the day! It is 29°C in my home town Grimbergen, something that is very rare in Belgium so I am going to enjoy! See you next time!!!

Greetzz.

Where to begin, that's the question.

Somewhere at the beginning of my last year at the VUB as a prospective commercial engineer, I began to realize that I missed an opportunity of going abroad. A lot of students did an Erasmus during their years of studying in Belgium. It's an opportunity to study abroad in a university where you meet people from all over the world, somewhere where you really learn to live independently. "A life time experience", as they say!

I guess I suddenly realized that this was something I always thought I would do. I like to be thrown in the unknown and learn how to find my own way with no direct help from family or friends. I see that as the biggest challenge of all: trying to adjust to different environments without losing yourself...How far do you have to go to fit in, how much of your personality, habits and customs may continue to emerge without causing awkward situations? And which traits do you store in that little black box in your brain where nobody will notice it even exists? I think it's a game of weighing up in which you eventually reach a balanced lifestyle.

It must have been something that kept me from doing it. I thought a lot about the cause(s) of my doubt. Maybe I just did not realize how great the experience actually could be or maybe there was no friend to convince me during those years. I must say that I had a great time here in Belgium during my five student years and did not feel the urge of going abroad for that long and leaving behind everything what I had here...

So in March, after I finished my trade mission in Istanbul, my mind was made up. I HAD to go and meet the world, what was out there? In the far East...or West because - that's me! - I had not decided yet where I wanted to go and with what organization ....

See u next time!

My Blog defloration

Dear All,

Is it for every blogger a dilemma with what words to start exactly or am I the only one feeling like a Blog virgin? I suppose that starting to explain the title and thus the reason for writing this blog isn't the worst way to begin our journey right? You probably don't know what the title means, which is totally normal, it seems like I always have the urge to convey my feeling and thoughts in a weird way. I mean, I guess you can derive the country name 'Taiwan' from it but still, what is the story behind it? Why 'Taiwanated' and why 'totally'? Well here's the story...

I hope you will enjoy it!

GrtZ.