The very first LCM this year

We had LC meeting last Wednesday. It was the very first one of this year and we had some interesting conversations there.

Firstly we discussed shortly about LC meetings in general - why are they important? Why is it that usually there aren't so many people attending? How come there were hardly any people from Exchange side? What made those 4 team leaders come to the meeting out of 11 team leaders that we actually have? Some interesting thoughts came up and now the hard work starts to make conclusions from them and really make the meetings more interesting and worth the time.

We also received some information about Annual Conference - what's the status with the organizing? What kind of difficulties have come up and how are they dealing with them? How many people have already registered and so on. A lot of information there as well. Liise also shared with us what is happening from the agenda side.

Some more information about MC elections - the applications are out:

(http://myaiesec.net/content/viewfile.do?contentid=10003713)

and two AIESEC Tallinn EB members have also applied: Marina Vilop, our VP Exchange has applied to become the next MC VP Exchange and Cristo Pajust, our VP ER/PR applying to become the next MC VP ER. You can ask them questions and for that post all your questions here:

(http://myaiesec.net/content/viewforum.do?contentid=10003185)

If you have problems getting into myaiesec.net, let your team leader know immediately!

Just before our guests arrived, there was briefly information about applying to AIESEC Tallinn EB as well. The elections will happen a bit earlier this year - March 7-8 and this year AIESEC Tallinn is organizing the event. We will keep you updated on that topic as some preparations have to be made still.

Last but not least - we had some alumni there telling us their stories: Siim Juks and Jaan Aps. They shared with us funny stories from their time in AIESEC, where and what are they doing now and how being in AIESEC has helped them to get there. As we didn't have much time to chat, they said they'll answer all our questions at Annual Conference - so be there ;)

All in all, I felt quite happy to see all of you who came - I hope you got something out of it and you also had a chance to share your ideas what we could do better for next LC meetings.

PS. The next LC meeting is happening Wednesday, February 13 - more detailed information will be available soon ;)

Congratulations, Helena!

A person is a success if they get up in the morning and gets to bed at night and in between does what they want to do.

Bob Dylan

Just few moments ago I found out that our dear Helena Rebane from AIESEC Pärnu has succeeded big time - she is the President of AIESEC in Finland for 2008/2009.

On behalf of AIESEC Tallinn I wish you the greatest successes during your year and the greatest failures to learn from ;)

Best of everything for your term!

5 actions that can change your life in next 5 months

In my previous post, I was talking about importance of making plans, thinking things through and trying to find out what's the best thing you can do for yourself, for your own good. Well, here you have 5 opportunities all brought out for you to think over and perhaps even to act upon ;)

• Members Committee applications for AIESEC Estonia MC 08/09 have been opened. It's really one-of-a-kind opportunity to make things happen in the whole AIESEC in Estonia. (1)
• AIESEC Tallinn is searching for the people who have the most courage and willingness to work on the Spring Recruitment 2008 campaign. It's specially designed campaign to recruit new members who wish to experience the life of AIESEC. (2)
• Do you have a great idea for a project based on exchange? Want to see how your idea could become one of the greatest things in AIESEC Tallinn history? Are you ready to become the a Project Manager in AIESEC Tallinn? (3)
• Become a facilitator in Baltic Conference Synergy 2008. The target group of participants consists of newies, elected leaders (Coo., OCP, teamleaders, project managers), elected EB members, EPs and all other active members (current EB, current leaders, MC, NST, NTT, other active members who are members of the teams). (4)
• If your resolution for 2008 is to find out how you can positively impact society and experience another great AIESEC conference abroad, then Solution 2008 in Austria is something for you. It's a conference about "Sustainable Leadership" with a very special atmosphere and purpose to find your inner calling for positive impact on society! (5)

(1) Deadline is Tuesday, 22.01. You can find more information about it here:
http://myaiesec.net/content/viewfile.do?contentid=10001313

(2) Deadline is Wednesday, 9.01. Detailed information will be sent to the list. If you're interested already, e-mail Siret.

(3) Deadline is not set yet. Action starts next week with project planning. Detailed information will be sent to the list. If you're interested already, e-mail Marina.

(4) Deadline is Friday, 11.01. Detailed information can be received from Liise.

(5) Deadline is Sunday, 20.01. Detailed information can be found here: http://www.aiesec.at/solution/community/

I wish you the year full of great actions and emotions. In the end of the day, it's not the things you own, but the things you have experienced, that really matters :)

The Unknown

It is absolutely good to be back in business, the feeling is awesome :) I have managed to relax a bit, be with my family and friends, thought about my next steps and so on. I have to admit, my year so far has been quite bumpy, but also refreshing. I have had time to realize that making plans is necessary at times, but absolutely pointless at other times. You know what they say "life is what happens while we're making plans" ;)

Anyhow, plans are still important. For example I cannot imagine making new year resolutions without a bit of planning. It's one thing to write down what I want from the coming year, a whole lot of other deal is to really make it happen. To see the dreams come true. No, I won't write down my own dreams here, sorry to disappoint you :) I'm only here to provoke your thoughts ;)

I remember the time lets say about 5 years ago - it was quite the same, quiet new year's eve with family, missing the loved ones, etc. Then I decided for the coming year - that's the one where I renew my relations with my good friends. Guess what?! Didn't quite happen, cause I just thought that thinking about it is enough. It wasn't. It never is! It's the action plan that will make it happen! That year I lost quite a bit. Some friends, lost touch with family, just minded my own business instead of focusing on what is important.

Then another picture - Christmas 2005, at Kivi talu (you know the place where the traditional AIESEC Tallinn Christmas party takes place), I hardly knew anyone, but I had a blast. The evening was wonderful, I felt almost like home :) I guess I knew it already there and then that I have given my finger to AIESEC, it's now up to AIESEC to take the full hand :) And it did! Step-by-step it got me into everything more and more.

January 2007, exactly one year ago - whew, I had to start thinking what's next! It was a tough call, I was sure that I won't apply for president, then I was sure that I was absolutely the only candidate and I must do it, then I started to feel that it's actually something that would really suit to be the next step in my own growth. Today I feel that I'm the luckiest person to be in this position and it took me about 9 months to realize that. The good thing is that for the first time I feel that my family has started to appreciate it. They are finally beginning to understand what it means to me, what it means for the organization, heck, what it means for them ;) To have your family support you in what you are doing - I really wish all of you to experience that - the feeling is awesome :)

What is the meaning of all this?! Well, we all give the meaning to our words and our actions ourselves. And most of the time it's just a matter of time when we are able to put it to reasonable words when we explain it to others. Once I'm able to talk in my parents' language and explain what is it exactly that I'm doing here, I'm on top of it, because then I can be sure that I really know what I'm doing and it's not something totally random.

So feel free to explore your options, think things through, act on your emotions if needed and find the best (or the next best thing if that's going to get you the best thing) available action that really helps you get to the point where you can say - it's great to be back in business, my friends and family support me on my way and the feeling, the feeling is totally awesome!

AIESEC Estonia MC 08-09

Applications to MC 08-09
of AIESEC in Estonia are opened!

This is your chance to...

- work in a country with fastest growing economy in Central and Eastern Europe and that is globally ranked on 20th place by IT sector development

- grow professionally in ambitious, financially sustainable and well established organization

- get more than you expected from the next year. You will be positively surprised, guaranteed.

We are looking for young , ambitious , adventurous and skilled people, who want to make things happen in a dynamic and growing organization.

Our goal is to be number one organization in Estonia to be appreciated for its leadership experince opportunities and role modelling among small AIESEC countries in global network.

If we have a match check out the application package here http://myaiesec.net/content/viewfile.do?contentid=10001313

Send the application by 22nd of January to

marjam(.)vaher(at)aiesec(.)net

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by.
And that has made all the difference."

Robert Frost

AIESEC Estonia MC 07-08
Marjam, Inna, Kadi, Alisa, Inga

Keep it simple and make things happen

Klapid eest: juhiomaduste hindamine tööintervjuul

AIESEC Tallinn esitleb!

Aeg: 13.12.07 18:30 - 20:00
Koht: Estonian Business School (Lauteri 3) ruum 309
Esineja(d): CVO Recruitment värbamiskonsultandid Heli Zilensk ja Kerli Tiik
Dimensioon: Ettevõtlikkus ja CR, Tallinn
Kirjeldus:
Kujuta ette, et sul on vaja läbi viia tööintervjuu otsimaks ettevõttesse keskastme juhti.
Kuid mille järgi otsustada, keda valida?
Käid ise ülikoolis ja mõtled, mida enda tulevikuga peale hakata?
Tahad kasulikke näpunäiteid, kuidas tööintervjuul edukas olla?

Pane end valmis, sest üritusel leiavad aset rollimäng ja juhtumianalüüs, kus pealtvaatajad on tööandja rollis ning peavad endale uue töötaja leidma. Lisaks sellele räägitakse üritusel ka tööjõuturu olukorrast ja trendidest üldisemalt, peale mida toimub arutelu. Teadmisi jagavad seekord CVO Recruitment värbamiskonsultandid Heli Zilensk ja Kerli Tiik.

Teid ootab ees hulganisti interaktiivsust!

Üritus on kõigile TASUTA!

Registreeru üritusele:
http://klapideest.aiesec.ee/kalender?evt_id=24247

Kohtumiseni,

AIESECi õppesari Klapid eest!

MyAIESEC.net launching soon!

Snapshots from the World

This is the first time away from home and the first time for me to spend it in warm weather. I have to admit, it has been quite different and strange. Christmas decorations, sunshine and brightness just somehow don’t match with Christmas. Nevertheless it feels fantastic. I love going outside and not having to spend 10 minutes to get dressed. I’m happy because I can finally enjoy summer after 1,5 years:)
-----
The year 2006 has been an interesting and a life changing year for me. It’s hard to describe the whole journey, it’s hard to find the right words...It’s been a year of success and failures, a year of progress and unfortunately also disappointments in myself. It’s been a year of travelling and exploring, growth and reflection, a year of answers but also a year of more questions about my life and where I am heading...
-----
Instead of Estonia, I ended up in New Zealand, instead of internship, I ended up dedicating yet another year to AIESEC. I sometimes wonder what my life would be like if things would have turned out differently. But there are no regrets, actually the opposite...
-----
Read more about Kristi's journey in New Zealand:
http://kristiausmees.nomadlife.org/

I actually have become more Nigerian every day. For example, I felt cold one morning (although it was probably around 25 degrees)… I also really like to go around here on my own as much as I can and try to speak yoruba as much as possible (although my vocabulary is still very limited). And my skin is not that white anymore – at least when I look into the mirror, but when I compare it with others skin in pictures then it still seams too white, but I’m working on improvements!
-----
On the first days I was really feeling some overheating moments, but now it’s already quite ok, as long as I have my sun-glasses with me. But it’s still funny that instead of heaters there are big air-conditioners in houses. And one thing that I never thought about is that what’s the sense of bringing some Estonian chocolate with me when during unpacking my things I discover that they are all melted… Hmm, well yes, at least the taste is the same…
-----
Read more about Helena journey to Nigeria:
http://helenarebane.blogspot.com/

It’s amazing how balconies are built. The ground is with a small angle so the water you poor on the ground for cleaning all eventually runs out from a small hardly noticeable pipe. Very high tech. I suspect cleaning ladies were the ones who told construction men to do it that way.
-----
I am not living under a palm tree in case you wonder. We found a really nice flat in a nice area with reasonable price. But of course you can’t have everything, otherwise you start getting suspicious. So I am proud to announce that we don’t have hot water. It wasn’t part of my New Years Resolution to have a refreshing cold shower every morning but I guess I need to include that to the list now.
-----
Liisi bringing updates from Egypt:
http://liisiots.blogspot.com/

These are just few snapshots from Estonians all around the world living their life and challenging their world every single day by being far away from home.

Have you ever thought to step out from your comfort zone?
Have you ever wanted to get professional experience in another side of the world?

If you want to know what you can do, ask for more information! It's the least you can do :)

E-mail: tallinn.ee (at) aiesec.net
Website: aiesec.net/snci (that's also where you can fill in the application to be part of this)

Pictures from EuroCo 2007

The official dinner was a success, wanna know why?

• Food was great - after whole week of eating Lithuanian traditional food, we got something really different
• People danced AIESEC dances wearing suits and nice dresses - how odd is that?!
• Really good cake!
• People were given time to talk with each other instead of having an evening full of speeches and performances
• The main sponsor was really youthful and his speech was something totally different from what I expected
• There was no "This is table nr 1..." and it's the first event when I've seen that happen :D
• Amazing people, lots of cool conversations, some good-bye's...

I really liked that evening, it took everything together so nicely :)

Practical Leadership - after EuroCo

I was thinking about the title of this post for bit longer than I usually do. One of the reasons being that I wanted to write about two things that seemed at one point totally different deserving different posts. No, it will be under one topic and that's it :)

Coming back from EuroCo

Imagine - it's 5 in the afternoon and the conference ends, people are leaving home (airports, bus/train stations, etc) and 2 Estonian girls know that they have at least 5 more hours to "kill" before they can start heading home. So, we made it to Vilnius, found a place to hang out, enjoyed good food and some tea. Everything is still quite fine. Then comes the decision to rest in the car while we wait for the others and almost the same time comes information that 2 Latvian girls are now ready to join us. Okey, so we meet them, they want to go to this party, I want to sleep in the car, so be it. (Just for your information, McDonalds parking lot near train station is not the quietest place to be at trying to sleep).

If you managed to think along, you'd know that there is one girl trying desperately to get some sleep, 3 girls at a party and 1 girl still not with us and the time just goes by. It's past midnight when we first hear from her, so we managed to get nearer to the place she's at. And that's when it really strikes me - all of us waiting in the car, we are absolutely widening our limits, our minds. There is high tension, because all of us are tired and can't wait to leave this city, but still - no one says a word.

Many times when we come across these situations, we find it hard to keep our mouth shut or just avoid certain topics in order to keep the thin line of balance. That to me is leadership in practise - always recognizing the situations around us and acting accordingly. Realising that we are not leaders only when we are with our own team but also in our everyday life.

The role of the leader should never be put 'on hold' - it should reflect to ourselves and to others in all of our actions!

Stay tuned for part 2 ...

LTS, Student Days opening Parade, Global village

Hey, I just wanted to share briefly what we've been up to lately.

Local Training seminar a.k.a Sügisseminar

So first is our favorite event which lasted almost two days and was even better than we expected. You may ask: "Why so?" But of course because our member-candidates are so cool and crazy, just like we planned and secretly wished. You can see how they look like by checking this link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/markosiller/LTS2007

Student Days (Tudengite Sügispäevad 2007) opening Parade

LC Tallinn's participation in Student Days opening parades (Spring & Autumn) is nice tradition and continues so long while we're having cool people in our LC = at least forever, riiight?!! :D
In this time there were just right amount of coolest people, about 15 - who can count them anyway :) They were the people who rocked everybody's socks of and that's only opening parade .. Here are some of the pictures to bring back the great night:

1. @mobile


2. Human chain

3. @ heroes
We have some more goodies, check out our video material:
http://ajaviide.delfi.ee/news/kuum/article.php?id=17004621
http://www.etv24.ee/index.php?0534940011
---> choose 24.09.2007 Aktuaalne kaamera 21:00 (minutes 20:30-21:37)

Global Village

You know what we're talking about, right? All our coolest interns were there to promote cultural understanding through visual presentations, food, dances and traditional garments. This time there were 10% of our network countries represented:

1. Czech Republic,
2. Armenia,
3. Germany,
4. Georgia,
5. Venezuela,
6. Russia,
7. Turkey,
8. Romania,
9. Estonia,
10. Ecuador

Here are also some pictures from this event:

P.S If you have some more pictures, videos etc you can hint us so we can upload those here as well !!

VPPRERLnC
Cristo

Ready, steady, GO!

Regristration to AIESEC Tallinn first round member interviews has started!
(Only for those who participated in "Sügisseminar")

Available times (max. 4 people in each interview; write Your name in comments!)
30.09.07@Foorum kaubamaja, St.Patrick (2nd floor)
11.00 - Tarmo, Ivar, Tatjana, Risto //list is full
11.45 - Eneli, Jaan, Julia P.
13.00 - Olga, Julia, Jelena, Ott//list is full
15.00 - Nele, Valdar, Laura

NB! The ones who missed Tallinn Sügisseminar, but are still interested in AIESEC please contact me!

In case you have questions according to interviews contact Liise (liise.valma@aiesec.net)

Siret :)
siret.sepp@aiesec.net

Registration to Local Training Seminar

Hey potential new member,
You have arrived safely to AIESEC Tallinn blog :)

As you already know 22.09 - 23.09 takes place
Local Training Seminar (Sügisseminar) that is specially meant for You to see deeply to our organization and meet some cool people (logistical information coming soon to your e-mails)



For that You need to register yourself. Please write Your name to comments of this posting (and add e-mail if You haven´t given it already in our info evenings or other events)
+ don´t forget to pay the fee (information sent to Your e-mail)
Deadline: 20.09!

Are you somebody that steps asides or steps forward?

See You soon,
:)
Siret
siret.sepp@aiesec.net

About recruitment:)

Dear LC Tallinn!!!
Lately I know many of us have been involved in recruitment a lot. Many of us might be tired of it. I personally feel silly because the first thought I have when I get home tired as hell is that I should wash the orange recruitment shirt now instead of resting, because otherwise it won't be dry tomorrow so I won't be able to wear it:) We are all making long days and spending lot's of time in coridors of different Uni's doing recruitment. Sometimes it might seem a monotone work.

I'm writing here now in order to remind you and also myself that it is by far not just a monotone work.

Each day we're giving out flyers in the coridors there might be someone whose life we're going to change!Recruitment is one of THE processes about changing lifes, being agents of positive change:)

It's silly to think of this as a mission, but all in all, using my own example, I think that the person who completely accidentally lead me to AIESEC changed my life sooooo much. Let's change lifes people!WE CAN!!Let's just DO IT:)

I have felt soooo much team spirit in our latest recruitment activities..thank you guys for this..but there is sooooooo much more we can do!!!!

In order to achieve this, let's cheer up eachother when we're tired, let support eachother, let's not let us forget our message - creating a special story, and let's not forget that what we're offering is one of the best experiences!!There is one more week we really need to shine..so let's wear the orange shirts, let's ask people to join our infominutes, let's inspire ourselves and our potential new members and let's rock!! Together WE CAN..let's DO IT:)))

...So..let's MAKE IT HAPPEN!!!!!!

AIESECly yours,

Marina

AIESEC Tallinn Picnic

Efka has uploaded some pictures of AIESEC Tallinn Picnic 2007, you can find the album by clicking on the image :)

la presidenta AIESEC Tallinn

Huuh, it's been almost-almost one week that I've been officially la presidenta and it feel quite good already :) Although most of my energy still has gone to my studies because of the exam session, I've had few things on my mind and todo list.

It's always so hard to know exactly what the president is doing because a lot of P's work doesn't really stand out or show out. So I just wanted to share what I did during my first week ;)

Last Friday, my very first official day, I got a message from one of our members that she got a message that her membership in our database has expired. So the very first thing I got to do, was to update all members in our database. Some of them needed to expire, some of them will be around in AIESEC for at least another year, right :D

Also on Friday we had our AIESEC Tallinn picnic which was organised by our cute&cool PD&HR Liise and Siret. They had done really good job ;) Anyways, my task there was to first give a short speech and later fill some different tasks with my EB team. We succeeded quite well, I think :)

Then almost endless e-mails with the new P-Club regarding different issues in AIESEC in Estonia. We're going to have our Team Days during coming weekend and of course many things needed to be cleared out for that as well.

Of course the data in the AIESEC.net Tallinn community needed to be changed as well. We have our EB picture up and also our contact information. First things first right ;)

No way I can do without e-mailing someone - so I've sent many e-mails to my EB as well regarding different topics (recruitment, transition updates, planning, conference opportunities, etc), now all I have to do is wait for the replies :D

There was also a deep discussion with Marjam, our lovely AIESEC Estonia president, about different important topics such as where AIESEC is heading to, how to change our mindsets, who are we really and how to become the most powerful youth organization in Estonia.

I guess pretty much last, but not least - it was brought to my attention that a lot of people in AIESEC.net Tallinn community had not been approved for their membership status. So, I did that as well, pretty much making a lot of people happy and getting even more e-mails than ever before :)

So, that wraps up my week quite nicely, I'm sure :) There are loads more to come once my exams are over and I don't have to worry about them anymore. Of course there's more transition meetings coming as well (one of them already tomorrow afternoon), but I'm exited and really looking forward to them ;)

And just one more remark before I close this post - watch out, AIESEC Estonia! Tallinn is going to rock your socks off! :D

And so it began

Some emotions from the Group Transition :)

Experience is a comb which nature gives to men when they are bald.

Linnar Viik had a blogpost about Thailand proverb - Experience is a comb which nature gives to men when they are bald. If you think about it - this proverb definitely has a meaning.
But I want to get the comb when I have potential that my hair will grow again - I am trying to loose my first set of hair in AIESEC :).

Cleaning the office

“He who wants to change the world should already begin by cleaning the dishes.” (or EB office for example :))
(Paul Carvel)

Last Saturday I joined Siki´s cleaning team to get rid of trash in AIESEC TTY office. At first I was hesitating a bit, because of the recent AC experience, where there tended to be A Lot of cleaning, but in the end I didn’t regret my decision at all and had an opportunity to spend some good time with friends and be useful. Luckily the office is quite small, so there couldn’t be much trash, at least I thought so… but there ended to be a quite large amount of trash outside of the office. Mainly we found many old papers, flipps, posters etc. especially behind one cupboard J Seemed to be a nice place where to hide not useful things. Anyway, now it’s empty again.

It reminded me one incident of my childhood. I wanted some cornflakes, but accidentally I put keefir instead of milk in the bowl. I couldn’t eat that, because it was disgusting. So I decided to get rid of it and not to tell mom about that. And guess what seemed the best place at the moment? Kitchen cupboad of course. So I poured all the cornflakes with keefir behind the kitchen cupboard hoping it will disappear eventually. Well, obviously it didn’t, and honestly I don’t remember what happened next. Probably mom found it and cleaned it up. So much from hiding things behind the cupboard :)

I want to thank our small office cleaning team for the nice Saturday evening: Siki, Gertel and Marina and hope the EB feels gooood in their nice clean office.

Keep it clean! :P

Siret

Winds of change

It's not that long since the New Year's Eve when everyone makes promises for the coming year. Almost two weeks of this year, fabulous 2007 has gone by and what has happened since? It is clearly the time when people look to the coming year and decide what they want to get out of it. From my point of view, I guess it's even more important to do this in the first days of the year, rather than spending last days of the previous year for it.

So have I started to look into the future and I have started to believe what all the astrologists have been saying in different forecasts for this year - year 2007 will be a lot better than the last one, it will bring great success for those who know what they want and know where they want to go. So it's time to set our compasses ready, for that will be one of the things that lead to fulfill all the expectations we have.

However, in the sense of AIESEC, some setbacks that are common to happen in January, have already started. I think that for a People Development responsible, the hardest times are firstly in the fall, sometime in October when you find out about first people who at first thought AIESEC would be cool, but then decide to focus on something else. The second time will come around in January, where people look back to their schoolyear, what they have done in AIESEC so far and decide that it really isn't for them. I do believe that the time is not over yet, it has only begun.

The last period will be the end of May, when the term ends and you're no longer sure what's going to happen with all these people under the new EB. Will they stay, will they go? Will they find new challenges in AIESEC or do they want to achieve so much more in their personal lives? These are tough times for any person in leadership position in AIESEC, but most of all, for the one who really cares for each and every one of the members and doesn't want to see them go at all. The best thing to remember at times like these, is to make sure that I know - it's nothing personal - it's not about what I haven't been doing, not caring enough - it's about people developing so fast these days that they grow out of their own ideas so quickly.

Well, I'm sad to see any of you go, but if you really have to - it was really great to get to know you and I wish you all great success in the future and I do hope that you have found something great out of the times you got to spend with us ;)

God speed,

your PD girl Riina