Romania... Same old things

I was wondering when these things will end in Romania. People from public institutions are trying to stop initiatives from the private sector sometimes using non legal actions. And all of these because some people have their personal interest in it...

I was reading a friend of mine blog, Stefan and I saw how the authorities are threatening a company which might be a competition for them.

No comment...

But these things just reminded me that in my country the old saying "if my goat dies, then my neighbor's goat must die too" it is actual. I was just thinking if I really want to go back and start a business in the future. I don't want to have the same treatment as Stefan has.

Keep going forward Stefan!

Chairing again! :) RIMT 2007

2nd-4th of March I had another powerful experience. I was invited to be the chair at RIMT (LTS) of LC Lisboa Catolica. Interesting thing... these Portuguese people were very different from people from Romania and also from the people from Poland. And this LC, Catolica has a different culture from the others, they are very focused on results, having in the same time a small number of members. We had a great weekend together, I was involved in the agenda also and I manage to maintain a good atmosphere during the conference. The facilitators were OC as well, so we needed double concentration during the event. Diana was part of the OC also and her presence really helped the conference a lot, she was responsible for conference's pictures and coffee breaks and she gives us good feedback as well. For the closing plenary she prepared a ppt presentation with funny moments. We love the OC, we do! ... :)

This was the flow of the conference, this is what happened day by day.

First day: a lot of Get To Know Each Other games, State of the world and AIESEC history. The sessions were ended with a really nice reflection moment. We had an interesting party, we called it "Cocktail party". One of the Catolica partners offered lots of alcoholic drinks and our job was to invent some cocktails for the company. Diana and I were part of the jury, so we had to drink from all the cocktails prepared by all teams :)) Phiooo... this chairing involve many responsibilities... :)) One of the drinks prepared was baptized "Toilet Please!" ... and it really deserved that name :)) I can tell you for sure!

Second day: usual AIESEC brainwash... departments presentation followed by a kind of @ simulation (where the delegates had to sell @ to a student, company and to take care of a trainee) and in afternoon almost 5 hours of Presentation Skills training hold by a TMI trainer. The training was very well prepared, had a logical flow and I'm happy that I learned new presentation techniques (the Martians) :)) even the training was hold in Portuguese language.

Third day: A very hard morning after boat races and all kind of drinking contests :) Somehow we began again with brainwash part 2. The closing was full of emotions in the air, and in the end we implement the Eastern Europe style of giving Sugar Cubes. Here is one of my favorite roll calls :) Maybe some of you can recognize it!

All in all, they said it was the best RIMT ever! And I think it was so... the facilitators, Diana an me put lot of passion in this and all of us tried to come prepared for everything could go wrong. The goals of the conference were achieved, same with delegates expectations.

When I got home and I read the sugar cubes I remembered what Stefan (S) told us about how did he felt when he read the sugar cubes from LTS 2003 Saliste (fire from camp conference). It's almost the same for me. It's my second time when I'm chair to a conference but the feeling is unique, like it is the first time again :) ... yeah! First time is always special!

Thank you guys for trusting me in this! Thanks Tiago, Ze and Sophia you for giving this wonderful opportunity! :) Shout Catolica! Shout! Shout! Catolica!

Short visit to Sintra

For a day we had a short visit at Sintra, having a view at 2 Portuguese castles: Pena Royal Palace and Moorish Castle. What to say about this 2 great buildings? They are located on a small mountain, very close one to another.

One step on a time...

Moorish Castle...


Constructed by the Moors in the 8th or 9th Century A.D., this castle is situated on two peaks of the Serra de Sintra, and from its walls there are magnificent views.


Surrounded by walls and several towers. It underwent various repairs, particularly in the Romantic period (about 1860), when King Consort Fernando of Saxe Coburg-Gotha restored it, afforested the surrounding areas and gave the ancient ruins new dignity.


The Moorish Castle was conquered by Dom Afonso Henriques (1147), the monarch who also built the Romanesque Chapel of São Pedro, of which interesting traces remain, next to the oppidum, where there is also a cistern, an Arab horseshoe arch gate and remains of houses.


If is a good weather, the ocean can be seen, as well as Cascais, one of the Portuguese well known resorts.



In a way it's walls looked like the Chinese Wall, only these were not so long...

Pena Royal Palace



The mother fucking guardians didn't let us to have some pictures inside, so here will be only some information about the castle available...
"Castelo da Pena" as it is more commonly known, is the most complete and notable example of Portuguese architecture in the Romantic period. It stands on one of the rocky peaks of the Serra de Sintra, and blends in a surprisingly fortunate manner with its natural background of greenery and crags.


The Palace dates back to 1839, when the King Consort Dom Fernando II of Saxe Coburg-Gotha (1816-1885) bought the ruins of the Hieronymite Monastery of Nossa Senhora da Pena and started to adapt it for use as a residence, according to his Romantic taste.


It was interesting to notice that every king has to have his own unique room... I mean they had to have their personal room distinct from the previous king, according with his personality...


I found many similarities with Romanian Royal Castle (Peles). On a wall there was also the genealogy of the Portuguese Royal Family and I noticed that they were related with the Hohenzolern-Sigmaringen Royal Family... what a small world... :)

After visiting this castles, we decided to eat something in Sintra. We promised Gaurav that we will visit him in Coimbra as soon as possible. I am just waiting for that! ;)