Introducing Əli, our ambassador – Part one

“Hello ! My name is Əli and I’ve been an AIESEC member for almost one year now! It’s very nice to meet you! I am the main character of the autumn promotion campaign and I am here to tell you my story and answer your questions!

So, today I’ll begin to tell you what is AIESEC all about, how I became a member and what happened during all the time I’ve been there.

Last year I entered university and I didn’t know what to do except studying. I wanted to see something new, and bring new challenges into my life, so that I can make more of my student life.

But I had no concrete idea of how to do this things, I was sad and lonely. However, one day I saw AIESEC poster in my university, just like you have posters in your universities now. I had many questions in my head (“AIESEC?” “Leadership?” “Development?” “Internships abroad?” “Maybe that’s what I was looking for?”). I went to the web-site and filled the application form.

But that time I still didn’t know what AIESEC is all about yet. After group and personal interviews we had trainings in Baku and after a month we went to a conference in Quba. During those 3 days there I met new friends who are my best friends at the moment! We had trainings about leadership, self-improvement, communication, games, roll-calls, AIESEC dances and many-many activities that gave me new skills and new view to the world.

So this is how I became a member of the biggest student-run organisation in the world with over 60.000 members around the world and 110 countries! At that moment I thought: “yes, man, you did it! new doors are open to you and this is just a beginning to your AIESEC experience.”

Comment to this post or on my Facebook page if you want to know more about how I joined AIESEC and the first few weeks, I’ll be back with part 2, which is even more exciting!”

Friends, leadership, internships abroad – GET THEM ALL!

You know what we did last weekend.

As you probably saw on our Facebook page or in our e-mails, this weekend we were in the a2students International Education Fair, organized by Akare.

We met there some of you and talked about the benefits you can take advantage of as an AIESEC member, how to apply and we shared stories from exchange and projects developed in the last year.
For those of you who were not there, we summarize:
- the application form for becoming a member is open here: http://aiesec.az/en/students/join-us/ until 15th of October
- our membership is free, including specialized preparation (on areas like Human Resources or Communication), trainings, involvement in international projects, conferences, etc.
- we answer to any questions on our Facebook page or here: azerbaijan@aiesec.net
- we provided internships abroad for over 40 students in the last year, and we will continue to do so.

We’ll be back tomorrow with a post about our mysterious yet central character of the autumn. Stay tuned!

It’s up to you to change your life! We’re here!

We end. We begin. We rock!

On 15th of September, two significant things took place regarding AIESEC:
1. we closed the applications for the exchange program – we congratulate all the applicants and we’re looking forward to publish their “exchange stories”.
2. we opened the applications for AIESEC members

If you’re still confused about the difference between the two of them, please read this post: http://aiesecazerbaijan.wordpress.com/2011/08/30/current-types-of-recruitment-in-aiesec-baku/
We suggest you to stay tuned to the blog and to our Facebook page [AIESEC in Azerbaijan] for updates – such as events we are organizing or participating in – and also look for us in universities, we’re already on our way to be all over the place!
Allow us to also remind you our e-mail address in case you have any questions, suggestions or requests: azerbaijan@aiesec.net .

Friends, leadership, internships abroad – get them all!

Tahmina’s summer

I decided to go to internship after presentation in AIESEC about internships. I wanted to go only to Eastern Europe: to Poland or to Romania. Finally I was selected for internship in Romania-“gROw” project (nationwide youth development program) as trainee. When I was in Baku I even didn’t understand the importance of this project.

But everything changed when I came to Romania to “Train the Trainers” Conference…I really got at this conference how huge is my responsibility because the main role of this project is to make changes in teenagers…and we – trainers have to do it through our trainings. It was a bit hard for me because I have never delivered trainings before but I’ve learnt how to deliver trainings during the conference. We had professional trainers who trained us and shared their experience with us. This conference was like a dream for me because here I met people all over the world, it was awesome to communicate with them. All participants of the conference were interns for “gROw” project. Most of them were AIESECers and it was amazing to have the same values, the same dances with people from all parts of the world…We had two parties there and now I can definitely say that these parties were the best parties in my life
After conference we went back to Constanta (city where I was trainer).We had great time there..I was trainer for 11th grade and I enjoyed all sessions with our participants. It was life-changing experience for me… I really developed myself and I saw how we changed them – our participants..I can’t even express my feelings that I felt when they thanked me for everything and we promised that we would never forget each other.
I can’t say that I had only nice days in Romania but now when I’m remembering them it doesn’t seem so bad as it was it’s even funny now For example I spent one night in the same apartment with big dog (I’m afraid of dogs so it was awful moment for me), I was freezing all the time in Predeal (the city where conference was held) because the summer in this city was like the winter in Baku I didn’t take warm clothes with me to Romania. Because of weight of my suitcase (it was too big) I fell down in metro in Bucharest, my leg was between the platform and train and so on.. But now I think without all these “bad situations” my internship wouldn’t be so interesting
Now I have friends almost in all parts of the world and this is amazing feeling for me ☺
I’m missing Romania, Constanta, Conference days, international trainers, ”gROw” participants …everything…
… and I’m really happy that I had all of it!

Zaur Khalilov and his blast in Serbia

My name is Zaur. I am a second year student in Azerbaijan State Economic University and I am currently the Vice president on Talent Management in AIESEC Baku.

This summer I went in exchange to Serbia. I knew something about this country before visiting it, but most of the stuff that I heard from my friends and media was negative. There is a stereotype about Serbia, that peole there hate muslims, they are racist etc. I can tell already you that this is just not true!

People on the streets are very polite and always ready to help. I did not see any skinhead even I always was walking in the city at night. Belgrade is very safe city. So in first days I broke all the stereotypes in my mind about Serbia. I met a lot of different people from all over the world .Lived in one house with 8 people from different countries , gained a lot of friends and established good network.
About my internship, I was part of a project called “Live without borders”, we worked with gypsy children that are a bit isolated from society. We tried to help them to integrate them to society , tried  to show them how big the world is. And I think we did it. I did presentations and prepared some workshops about environment and ecological problems. Also I did a country presentation. Most of all, they liked the advertisement video of Azerbaijan that goes on CNN with the flying carpet. They were asking me “Do you really have flying carpets in Azerbaijan?” and I told them that even I came to Serbia on a carpet. They were so motivated to visit Azerbaijan. I liked the project, it was fun.
Another thing that you need to know about Serbia is that it is known in the world as one of the most craziests, because of their parties and other crazy fun stuff. I just can remember 2 or 3 nights when I slept in Serbia, all the other times we were just partying till the morning and meeting sunrise in the city. I did so many crazy stuff with my friends from Hungary, Tunisia, Egypt, Russia, Romania , Turkey and of course Serbia, that I can not write all of it (and honestly I’m too shy to write about some of them).
I met a lot of people from AIESEC Serbia, gained a lot of skills from them. The VicePresident Talent Management of LC Alfa shared his experience with me and I learned a lot of useful things from him about HR and it really helps me now.

Maybe I am not good writer and can not transmit all the feelings and fun that I had during my internship in Serbia. But I can promise you that it was for sure the best summer in my life!!

Zara in Iasi, Romania

Hello,

My name is Zarangiz Huseynova and I am Local Committee President in AIESEC Baku, 18 years old, studding in Oil Academy, BBA Management.

For about 1 month and a half I lived in Romania, Iasi – the Romanian capital of culture.
During this 1,5 month so many things happened to me, which I will never forget. If I need to describe my experience in a few words I would choose : challenge, deep personal and professional growth, emotions.

I worked in Local Committee of AIESEC in Iasi, met people from all over the world, shared my experience and gained a lot from them. In Baku I have my own team, and I was learning not just for myself but also for them, to bring new knowledge in AIESEC Baku and grow it. So I learned a lot of new and useful information about Managing team, Human Recourses, Marketing, Finance, Sales and so on, and now -  as I am back in Baku, I already started to implement all of this.

I visited a lot of amazing, beautiful, ancient and modern, in one word different places here. I travelled to Bucharest, Brasov, Sinaia, Constanta, Galati and of course Iasi.

Before coming to Romania I wanted to go just to the capital, but after coming here I understood that it is not like in Azerbaijan, when you can see very big difference between Baku and other regions. So another important lesson I’ve learned is that in order to get to know a culture you have to see and enjoy the other cities as well, cities that are often just as beautiful and interesting as the capitals.

This experience made clear to me what I want to do and achieve, it taught me one more time to never give up and go for what I love.

I see exchange as the key in understanding your limits, overcome them and follow your life path.

AIESEC exchange was the best mix of personal and professional growth, I got to know incredible people from all over the world, I shared ambitions, dreams, problems and I had a lot of fun.

Wish to all of you to experience the same feelings and see the world with AIESEC!

Eltaj’s experience in Moldova

~Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.~

Isn’t it boring when you talk with the same people every day and see the same places? Isn’t it boring when you only study and study without having a rest? Sure! And what can you do for that? Of course, you’ll not talk with your computer. Yeah, it’s just a bit joke, but what is true is that I applied for the internship in the Summer Camp in Moldova. The reason why I applied is that I wanted to have something new in my life. Make changes. Make action. But, as soon as I’d been accepted for internship I wondered: “what I’m gonna do there?”, “what’s gonna happen?”, “is it safe to go alone to the country I’ve never been?”. So, when I came to Moldova after a long trip with the buses and the train (4 days on the road!) I met AIESECers in Chisinau who had quite huge experience and within a week they introduced me their culture, national cuisine, traditions and my future new friends from different parts of the world who were going to work with me in the Summer Camp called Sadovo. Our job in the summer camp was about making English lessons for the kids. During the internship we had amazing moments with the smart kids who were learning English with a great desire. Truly, I didn’t expect that the lesson we’ll have will be so cool and full of interesting moments, because we’ve never made English lessons before, especially with the kids who were curious about us, about volunteers who had different cultures and never met before.

During our staying there we had a Global Village project in Chisinau and I represented my country with national costume and cuisine. I’ve also met Azerbaijani family there and I was proud that I represented my country worthily.

It was a huge experience and huge adventure to prepare English lessons for the kids in the summer camp. So, in the last day it was hard to say goodbye to them knowing that it’s the end of the days of fun. However, after we had a free week in Moldova. So, I wanted to make it full of adventures to remember forever. So, I went to the museums ( and took some pictures with dinosaurs there ), rock concerts, parks. We also went to Orhei, which is situated nearly 35 km from Chisinau. It’s very beautiful place, full of trees, gardens. Around that place there’s a river and on the hill there’s a monastery which is quite popular among the tourists.

So, you ask me: “what did you get from it?” “was it worth to go there?”. My answer is: now we have new Eltaj in Baku. With a new view of the world, with a huge work and traveling experience, with the new skills and with new international friends whom I’ll meet someday maybe in international conference or even in another country I’ll go next year! I’m proud to be AIESECer! Because it changed my life so much, that I’ve never dreamed about it!

Now I’d like to ask you: Do you want to go abroad and get some life and work experience? Do you want to meet new people from all over the world?

Apply for internship!

AIESEC Re-Integration ceremony took place on the 3rd of September

AIESEC members who were separated from each other after internships in different countries gathered together in “Re-integration Ceremony” to talk about their new experiences, their stories in different countries and to discuss future plans in AIESEC.

President of AIESEC Azerbaijan – Alex Apetrei made the opening speech. Local Committee President of AIESEC Azerbaijan – Zara Huseynova talked about the ambitious plans and projects of the next year. New MCVP COMM of AIESEC Azerbaijan – Lavinia Iosub also made a speech and wished good luck in AIESEC acitivities.

After that, the members who were abroad for internships during the summer told their stories about experience they had and appeared in the “made-up” TV show that was held by active and precious AIESEC member Lamiya Korchiyeva. Then the members were separated in 2 teams and played different funny games and danced roll-calls. Thus, now we declare the 2011-2012 AIESEC season open! You can take our word when we say it’s going to be our best one so far and we invite you all to be part of it!

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Dunya’s experience in Poland

Arriving in Poland was like a fairy tale to me. I got off the plane in the very early morning but there was a Polish girl was waiting for me to help to get a bus to Bialystok and in Bialystok there were several Polish girls who came to the railway station to meet me. That was the start of an amazing 6 weeks in Poland where I learned and experienced many new things that I will never forget.
I had lots of wonderful memories and some bad memories, however that was an amazing experience both in my professional and personal life.  I worked in 3 Summer Camps and 1 Orphanage and I stayed at Orphanage.
Working with those children in Summer Camps was great. They were very enthusiastic, motivated and interested in me and my country. I made a presentation about Azerbaijan before I go which everyone liked and I presented it wherever I was even when I was in train..))I taught Azerbaijani dance, some Azeri words, Azerbaijani
numbers and I also played Azerbaijani games with those children. The funny part was that they were talking to me non-stop and I was not understanding so they were trying to explain with their hand or saying the sentences in a different way or using lots of synonym words, I really liked it.
Working with students at Orphanage and staying there was also very nice. I got chance to taste different kinds of polish food everyday and to learn polish culture, people and even polish language, so I really liked staying there.
I had a Brazilian roommate and 2 Chinese flatmate that was very nice to get to know them, their culture and to cook Azerbaijani, Brazilian, Chinese and polish food together. There were other AIESEC Interns from other programs that was so good to get to know all these people from different countries. I made lots of friends from a lot of different countries as well as Poland. All my polish friends were very helpful especially my buddy and the assistant of the program’s manager. I am very thank full to them.
I have always wanted to go to Europe for an internship or an exchange program and I did it by this way I also got chance to visit some other European countries (like Nederlands or Germany) during weekends ….that was so nice.
I want to thank to AIESEC in Azerbaijan, all the people who helped me in AIESEC to give us this chance to participate this kind of programmes to improve our professional and life experience it’s a very big experience and I want to thank all the members firstly Mihai Adrian Negru, Alex Apetrei, Zara Huseynova, Gular Ftali, Abbas Zahidi and specially Aynur Aliyeva who helped me a lot to get this internship and was always with me during my internship.

I am willing to apply for a new internship for the next summer inshallah. I suggest all the students to join AIESEC programme who want to have an internship abroad that is a very nice opportunity given us by AIESEC programme in Azerbaijan!

Piri Babayev in exchange

Only a few weeks passed. You’ll say that it’s only the beginning, but I’ll say that for me time passes quickly.

What is Exchange for me?
When I just entered AIESEC I thought that it is trip to another country, it’s sightseeing and having a rest.
When I became a member of AIESEC Azerbaijan I was thinking that it is how you’ll improve your language skills.
When I was signing the contract I thought that is how you get experience for future life.
Now I understand that I was a little bit wrong. It’s everything in one package.

It’s travelling: when you’re getting lost in the airport, when you discover new cultures and understandings.
It’s the difficulties you go through. I’ve came to the unknown city at 5 of the morning and reached my place myself.
It’s negotiations with people and that means getting friends from all over the world : Switzerland, Czech Republic , Malta, Slovakia , Ecuador, Germany, Greece, Ukraine, Thailand , Hong-Kong , Mexico, Austria, Portugal and so on.
It’s getting the experience of working in a team and getting ready for the future life.
It’s nightlife! Do you know what is that? It’s when you’re visiting beer factory, bunch of clubs and pubs and getting to the bed at 4 of the morning.

What is Exchange for me now? Travelling. Experience. Discovering. Friends. And if you’re as lucky as I am you’ll find someone else.

Hugs from Timisoara, Romania! The text ended. So… when you’re going to pack your stuff for Exchange?