AIESEC in Karachi had the pleasure of sending 9 amazing people for Development Traineeship this summer to some of the most amazing countries of the world. They went through some life changing experiences and they would like to share it with all of us!

Here the story of Ahmed Maaz (Trainee in Slovenia) in his own words!

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"Like a story was once told… When everyone was studying, one boy was going to the European embassy to get his visa and then he succeeded and went to Slovenia.

            Well that boy was me alright but there is something missing from the story. First of all, AIESEC showed me this amazing country I hadn’t even heard of and most importantly Jawad, Iqra and Tabinda helped me in getting there. Iqra, my EP manager did most of the work. Thank you all.

Slovenia was certainly the best place to be in. The people are extremely friendly and polite. One thing I learnt there was if you want a ride, just ask a person for directions and they usually drive you there:p I know because I came from one city to another at 6.30 in the morning with some stranger. I knew almost every single person in the dorm and we used to hang out and party together all the time. The busses there are very huge but they come after 1 hour each so waking up early and running to the bus stop, dressing up on the way in cold temperatures was an amazing experience:D Not at a single point I felt like going home because I felt like I was already home. The shopping is a bit expensive but it doesn't matter because if you like big brands, Slovenia has it all. Slovenia has the biggest shopping mall in all of Europe. It is so huge that they have named it “BTC CITY” and this one mall has over 30 malls in it and has busses to take you around the whole mall. If you are a shopping fan, 2 weeks in that mall would seem as fleeting. Now I am not a shopping fan but I shopped so much that my luggage was overweight by 8kgs.

           


Partayyy after work 


After work, there was so much time in spare that we could’ve gotten bored in a second. But it was completely different because the people there do not understand the word boredom. We always went to some lake, castle, play sports, hanging out at some cafeteria, and the country is so well connected that we even used to drive for 30mins to get to another city. I was there on their independence day and that was the best weekend ever. We had off from work since Friday and Friday night, was their independence day and so was a friend’s birthday. We organized a 4 day road trip starting Thursday right after work. Sunday evening when we got back to our apartment, we were so tired that even breathing seemed too much of hard work but yet again we woke up on Monday and went to work. In these 4 days, we visited 5 different cities, and a lake. We also visited the beach there. I have NEVER in my life seen such a beautiful sea. Light blue, see through water where the water is not so cold and the weather so relaxing that you just don’t want to go back.

            Their language, Slovene, was very different from ours. The way they spoke, was something like a cross between Pashto and German but even more complex. Obviously, to suck a language, there isn’t anything common to our understanding that I could understand and for the first few days, when two friends were talking amongst themselves in Slovene, I

A unique incident           

 One thing I won’t forget was that I was in another city Ljubljana on a weekend and I was alone. I had just gotten off the bus and I bought myself a sandwich and I was eating it on the bus station. Ljubljana is their capital city and it had a lot of tourists. I had gone to Ljubljana to check out some old buildings which were very pretty and tourist attraction. So this couple walks by me at the bus station and they stop at a side n started waiting. I thought they were tourists. I finish my sandwich and as I was about to walk to catch the next bus, the guy comes up, shows me something and says something, I thought he was asking for directions, I said “I’m sorry I don’t speak Slovene and I don’t know the directions here, I’m new here” he said “I’m a police officer, this is my badge, can I see your passport?” I just froze there for a second and said to myself “Shit!” obviously I didn’t have my passport as always and so I gave him my student card of Slovenia and my Pakistani ID card which was in Urdu. They asked me walk with them somewhere I was just following them and we ended up in their car. Undercover cops with a hidden car, I was scared because all over the world Pakistanis are just blamed for terrorism and I didn’t even have my passport. I told them why I was there and everything and gave them my manager’s number. They called everyone whose authority I was in on in Slovenia and reconfirmed that I was working there. Then when they confirmed that I work there, they talked to me like friends and we sat and talked and laughed for about 20mins then they offered me to drop me to the place I wanted to go but I rejected because I was still stunned to what happened. Then the policeman told me that I should have my passport with me always because they just want to see the visa. Then I went on to the sightseeing. Two days later, the security guard came to my room and asked me for my visa. I was shocked to see him randomly asking for my visa but them he told me I was in trouble with the police and they asked the security guard to ensure I have a visa. Well I had everything in place but my manager forgot to register me in the dorm so that made me illegally staying in the dorm and the police charged the dorm 3,000Euros fine and the principal of the dorm 2,000Euros fine. It seems funny nut it was a huge fine. Thank God neither I, AIESEC nor my manager got blamed for it because it was the dorm’s fault to keep a check on me and ask for the registration.

The Quote:

“Slovenia, a country the size of Karachi. I had never even heard of it before AIESEC came along. It may be a small country but it is a completely different lifestyle there. Their culture, customs and moral values are different than ours and that is what made my internship there so awesome. It is astonishing to see a country this small is full of such friendly people everywhere. Even if you ask someone for directions, they walk you till where you want to go. They are so small but they love their language Slovene so much that you barely see road signs in English. This love for their language has made Slovene the official language of the European Union. A beautiful country, lush green everywhere, rainfall almost every day, ice cold summers, nice cozy beach, juicy food, amazing shopping and partying environment, even great sports and lying shoulder to shoulder to Italy, Croatia, Austria, Hungary and the Adriatic sea. This was one internship when I used to wake up early to go to work because it was so much fun and everyday I learnt something new. This adaptation of different cultures can change the state of Pakistan from where we are now. For this join AIESEC for it gives you an experience of a lifetime. As the Slovenian motto goes, I feel sLOVEnia:D”

What I learnt from the internship:

            Working in Slovenia changed a lot of things of which I thought and felt completely differently about. I was teaching the children English and taking care of them, helping the teachers and having fun with the children by going on walks with them, playing in the sandbox etc. By this I learnt that we should be proud of our language no matter how small a country or how poor a country we are yet we should welcome other cultures and respect no matter who the other person is. In my 7 weeks of stay in Slovenia of which 5weeks I worked, I never heard even one person calling me a terrorist or I was never even a subject to racism and I never saw even any  African Americans being discriminated in any way. I also learnt that children are the future and we should take care of them and make sure they are not growing up to be on the wrong path. We should take responsibility not only for ourselves but also for the ones around us. After all, it is not “I” whom we should be worried about but humanity that is the bigger picture. The smallest picture is to start with our country. We all blame Pakistan for how bad it is in every sense but when I was in Slovenia, I was also representing Pakistan and I realized how awesome Pakistan is and how much we barely care about it just because we care for ourselves first. It is our neglect that has been leading us down and it is only our image that makes us look bad. We must break out of it. Being used to to a western culture has taught me how to do that and appreciate all that Pakistan stands for. I say we all should do the same.

For me, this internship was a completely new life experience. Going from a developing country to a country which not many people know of and being able to work there and realize how good that country is. Actually it was living in the developed country so different that almost everything was so much inspiring that I wanted to take all of that and apply it to Pakistan because I know we are capable of all that. I saw so many good things which symbolize a perfect nation, remembering that they had their flaws too but still they were so happy with the way they live, and no wonder who wouldn’t. Their only bad part was that because of European Union, their taxes were very high, everything had a VAT (value added tax) 20% which made it 20% more expensive than the rest of the world. Yet they have a policy that if we are not European citizen, we can get all the taxes back when we are leaving Europe. So then again, their only flaw doesn’t remain anymore.

            I used to get off from work at 2.15 but the kindergarten allowed me to leave 15 mins early, at 2pm so I could walk and catch my bus on time. Now the kindergarten paid me 60 Euros more than I was supposed to get paid because I didn’t miss work or go late and those 60 Euros were what I had to pay for the bank tax. The government paid almost half of my rent of the room in the dorm and also half for every meal I had so my living expense was almost as much as I would pay to live in Karachi. The kindergarten also paid for my bus ticket which was extremely expensive.

           

Humor and amusement at their best :-

At a Global village, we went unprepared as we did not know how many children we were dealing with and we had not prepared any formal presentation. We also forgot our laptop in our room so we had nothing to carry out the global village properly but we could not let go at the last point. That is not how AIESECers go. The AIESEC spirit does live on and score till the last moment. So we played Pakistani music from our cell phones onto small speakers and taught the kids how to play some traditional Pakistani games suck as passing the pillow, chocolate chocolate, kings, musical chairs etc. we however managed to entertain the children and teachers for 4 hours without any preparations and so Ales Korosec said “AIESEC not only learn how to be different and make a change but also learn to improvise” (fellow AIESECer)

A day with our Slovene friends in our apartment. Our friends were totally crazy that how Pakistani people can be so much fun and interesting to hang out with. Mohammad Hassan said “lets get more Pakistanis to Slovenia next time and let Pakistan be known because they have seen nothing yet” (fellow internee)

Bor: “I told my dad we have a new teacher from very far away a country with white big mountains with lakes on the bottom, and a lake the shape of a tear and huge sea side with camels and horses and busses like rainbow and he said are you talking about Pakistan. I asked him how does he know that, he said he skies and he knows because K2 is there and he wants to go to Pakistan and ski there and he did his research about Pakistan on internet” (a 6 year old boy)

Principal of kindergarten: “Pakistan is my next stop for vacations in 2011”

Matej Pesec: “so you’ll be on the plane in a while and this is the part where we say goodbye but this is AIESEC and we don’t say goodbye, so yes, SEE YOU SOON!!!” J (My EP manager in Slovenia)"

Faisal Bahadur Khan's Trip to Russia

"I saw the World how the people of different countries behave, think and interact. The Expectation of the people from each other and the desire for doing something special for the people of the World. The most important the desire of serving humanity.  I reduce the misconception of the people about my country and showed the true picture and changed their perception about my country. I learned how to being optimistic help you to move forward and reduces the misunderstanding. Aiesec help the world to reduce the cultural difference and help them to create strong relationship. This internship helped me to become an independent person and this internship helped me to think beyond limitation. My life is incomplete without this Great experience and this was the first step in my life to learn about the World."

Here is faisal's Experience in his own words.

Moscow is very beautiful and very big. This city is very busy People are working throughout the day. People are very friendly but less talkative. First week I spend in Seliger their was around 4000 people in a beautiful lake people from around the world came together to learn about International Business, Media, art etc. When, I came to Moscow I saw a totally different culture and I tried my level best to adjust to the environment. The L.C Moscow people were really hard workers and supportive they are really hospitable and caring. This was the best experience in my life which made me a confident individual. Once I purchased 4 kilos of chicken and the shopkeeper didn’t understand English and I didn’t understand Russian it was a great experience. Even though neither of us could communicate by use of language, we understood implicitly what was trying to be said. Doing internship abroad is a wonderful experience because it helps you to interact with different cultures, it broadens your horizon and more in more lets you assist in reaching your potentials. Russia is a country that promotes its language, sometimes it gets difficult to communicate with the Russians due to language problem but as we say that “sign-language” is one that has been with human beings since the ancient era thus, it takes you out from this problem. By doing internship in Moscow, I can say that I have spent my time constructively as I learnt a lot from this life changing experience in a more vast cultured environment.

My Internship Experience:

I went for my internship to Moscow, Russia the name of the program was International Summer in Moscow and my internship period was from 28 June 2010 to 10 August 2010. In this program I had to attend the Business and Innovation lectures in the Seliger 2010 conference which only gave opportunity to three thousand students globally. I also had to give the presentation regarding my country Pakistan. This program also gave me opportunity to learn new things from diversified cultured people. I was also given a task by my officials to speak about the Corporate Social Responsibility in Asia. My session was attended by 30-40 people from different nationalities. In Moscow we were employed by CREATIVE VITA leisure club for its marketing purpose and a project LETS TALK in this I represent my language to people from different countries.

I prefer International internship over the local internship because it helps you to reach to your potentials as you will be surrounded by different nationality people each good at his specific field. You learn a lot from them and also you let others learn from you, International internship lets you become independent, broadens your horizon. International internship experience develops valuable leadership skills in a global environment. International internship increases youth impact in the world, as the society needs leaders who are entrepreneurial, culturally sensitive, and socially responsible and take an active part in their own learning. International internships offer you the opportunity to take on a leadership role in your careers.

My Global Network:

AIESEC gave me a life changing opportunity to increase my global network. There a lot of people with whom I interacted and learn a lot from them. First of all in this I would name an AIESECER of LC Moscow who was with us most of the time and his name is Atabek Anarbaev. He is really a great guy; he was responsible to manage us in Seliger 2010 conference. All the interns were use to report him and he use to assign us work on daily basis and sometimes on short notice. Short notice use to test our skills of how to tackle with a challenge. He was really a responsible guy during his duty hours but after the duty hours were over he use to hang out with us, he use to go cycling with us, rock climbing, bungee jumping in fact basically a tree jumping with all the gears that were needed for bungee jumping.

I would also like to talk about my employer of Creative Vita Mr. Denis Konyshev, he was a great and enthusiastic guy. He is very friendly and talks to his employees very respectfully. Sometimes, it was hard for him to speak in English so he starts speaking in Russian, then there we need a translator to make us understand what he wants from us. He is also very health conscious. Luckily, me and my friend Hassaan got a chance to stay with him at his apartment for two days and this helped us to understand what he wants from us. He was a punctual guy. It was hard for him to pronounce mine and Hassaan’s name so he used to call us “Hassy and Faissy”. He was responsible for business development of creative vita so he asked all the interns about how to market his leisure club. He divided all the interns in two groups with the help of me and made me the head for one group which has to create promotional strategies for the club. He was very impressive with our Branding strategies and he asked us to do branding of its club card in Train.

Mohammad Hassan goes to Slovenia

AIESEC in Karachi had the pleasure of sending 9 amazing people for Development Traineeships this summer to some of the most amazing countries of the world. They went through some life changing experiences and they would like to share it with all of us!

Here's the story of Mohammad Hassan (Traineeship in Slovenia!) in his own words!

"Slovenia, where do I start? There is so much to tell. Seriously! Well lets start from the beginning. The airport. Well I had a good flight I guess, the airline food sucked and I ended up eating at the Turkish airport for 25 euros. I was received well, they were waiting for me at the airport with my name tag and everything. Then straight from the airport we went for coffee and all. Had the ice breaking talks, about Pakistan and Slovenia , politics, economy and all. And ofcourse Thailand too because the Thailand intern was also there. This was probably the most interesting conversation I have ever had in my life, because all of us were just trying to share as much as we can about each other. Then we went to the dorm, they showed me around and my room. The room was good, it had a fabulous view.  One thing you should know about Slovenia is that everywhere you look its green, like everywhere, there are trees and grass everywhere and very now and then there is a beautiful little lake or river. There was this one apartment of our friends, her name is Andreja, that was like our head quarters to chill, if anyone wanted to chill you just go there and you would always find people already there. Almost every day started with breakfast and coffee in andreja’s apartment, and that was the best part, everyone lived like a family, over coffee everyone would talk about their day plan and. It was great planning your whole day in the morning, something I wasn’t really used to. The people were great, really great. They were very helpful and very friendly, I lived in their dorms like I have been living there for years. They didn’t even for a second let me feel like I was from somewhere else. Even though they have their own language, but when ever I would be around they would speak in English, even though it was difficult for them at times.


I started work after a week in slovenia. We had Global Village’s in other schools, where all the interns went, cooked food of their country and represented our respective countries, that was also a very interesting experience. The audience would ask all sorts of questions, which would always be fun ti answer. Work was good, well it was easy everyday. Im with the kids, I play with them, eat with them and try to teach them as much English I can on the way. The kids were also pretty good in teaching me Slovenian.

This one day we went to the sea side in Slovenia, and we could see Italy and Croatia from there. It was a very beautiful place, like mind blowing, and luckily for me it was a sunny day. It was a really fun day with all sorts of activities on the beach.

This is a great country with a very rich history. The buildings and monuments were very interesting to look at. They also have a lot of castles and tourist places. Its beautiful everywhere, everywhere you go, the next day you see something ten times better. The party scene is also great as you can imagine, afterall its Europe. Great place to party and have a nice time.

One weekend this girl from the dorm, Speela, took me to her home town to have lunch at their house and see how the families live there. I had a great time, she has a very nice family, especially her mom. They are very nice people, they barbequed chicken separately for me and took care of everything, knowing that I am a muslim.

Sloveina. If you read it carefully enough, you’ll see name encompasses it all. Love. I went to Slovenia and fell in love with that beautiful land. The hills, the lakes, the people and the food.  It was all mesmerizing. The school I worked at, with all its beautiful kids, helped me build a clearer and brighter perception to life. The best thing there was that work wasn’t work at all, it was so much fun that it felt like a daily party! I made friends that accepted me with open arms. The new faces, the new places, the new culture was so engulfing that pretty soon I felt I was home. Whether it was sipping European coffe at a roadside cafe or watching the sunset at the lake, I connected with the Slovenian roots; roots that are now deeply engrained in me.

Much of what I have leanrt I can not put in words, the experience has left a mark on my personality, my intelligence, my learning process and much more. All of what I underwent on my whole exoerience has moulded my character and personality in a positive way which I can not put in words.There is so much I have learnt from this experience of an international internship. Not just from the day I landed there, but my learning started from back home, even before leaving. Preparing was a huge task. There was so many questions in mind, so many ‘what if’s’. luckily I had very helpful managers in both my home country and my host country which helped me prepare for my trip. Preparation itself was a whole learning experience. I had to research all I could about Slovenia, and my job description, so I could be well prepared and confident.

One thing I learnt which I am really proud of is doing all my work myself. Back home we know how work is done, availibilty of servants and people to do your work for you. Apart from a little cooking I knew nothing. When I was living in my dorm, learnt how to clean my room and wash the dishes and everything. It was all very confusing and hard work at first, but I got used to it. The hardest thing was the laundry. The machines there are so high-tech with all sorts of options and types of washes. With the help of my friends I did my first laundry batch. The second time I tried it on my own, I ended up having all my cloths multi coulored, so I had to do a lot of shopping. Arranging food was no easy task either, I had lunch and breakfast at my work place, but if we weren’t going out for dinner I had to prepare something for myself, and I had to wash all the dishes afterwards. Even now, once I am home, I try to practice this as much as I can, and it really makes my mother happy.

Teaching English was no easy job, especially to the kindergarten children. Most of them knew only the basic English words, so enhancing their English took a lot of effort. I had to be really patient working with the kids. At home I work around people who are mature and old enough, so I did not have to take much care of my attitude and language. But around these kids, I had to be careful about everything. And it was really fun. Playing with them and eating alongside them. When they would be done with the English lesson, they would try to teach me Slovenian words, which they were really good at and I did learn a lot from them. They would come up to me and expect me to do something really interesting for them, as I was a completely new face for them. Apart from English I tought them a lot about paskiatn and even some urdu. Most of them could write their names in urdu by the time I left. At school I was one of the teachers, so I spent some of my time in the teachers common room for coffee or to just relax. There I had to socialize with the teachers, dealing with grown ups was also not that easy. They had all sorts of questions, which I loved answering. They would also teach me ways to make the children happy and to teach them more effectively and efficiently. With their help, I can teach any kid English.

Traveling to and from work was also quite difficult. Considering that I had never in routine travelled in a bus before. The transport system was great there though. I had synchronized the the transport system on my phone which made things really easy. But still waking up an hour earlier to catch the bus make me quite punctual and an early riser. I did have some mess ups. One time I got on the wrong bus and ended up in some far side of the country. I did panic at first, but luckily the place was beautiful. I took some pictures and found the right bus home.

Honestly I can say that I now know more about my country than I did before going. Firstly I had to do a lot of reaserch about my own country before going. I learnt stuff even before going. Then while I was there people had so many questions. At first I was not prepared, then I looked into them and I found all the information I needed to answer all the queries. And after this experience, I also know all about another country. Slovenia. I know the culture, I know the feeling and experience of living. I know the places to travel and visit. I have learnt all about their people and customs. Telling people there how great my country is actually made me belive too that my country is great. People are very confused about Pakistan especially after all the media attention. And people would be really shocked to hear that we live normal lives here too. All this process of representing my country helped me to love my country even more then I did previously.

Apart from all that, I have felt myself mature. Not just me, a lot of people have noticed this in me. The experience of living independenly. Managing and controlling your assets, especiallt your finance. Doing all your work yourself. The problems one faces while living abroad, and getting through them, really leaves a mark in your personality. The friendships and love you go through which leave a mark on your heart and soul. The things you learn from your friends and surroundings help you grow and mature.

One thing that draws the huge line between an international internship and a domestic one is not the work, but the environment you work in. working in a new environment with new people has a lot to learn in itself. Nothing can compare to that learning and developing experience. The things you pick up from your surroundings, the new things you learn and most, most importantly the new people you meet and the new friendships you experience. This experience has changed a lot in my life, especially the way I think. The experience of going abroad and working leaves a heavy mark on ones life, and my experience is one I will never forget in my life as I know how much it has helped me develop and learn.

  ‘I would love to visit Pakistan and eat all the mangoes’ this very good friend of mine said this to everyone when I would be with her. After hearing about the ‘real’ Pakistan and not just that on the news, and hearing about my life here, she was really impressed and she really wanted to visit Pakistan some say. I hope she does some day, it would be great to have her here."