My second International Congress-Poland! ( Part I)
International Congress 2005 in India was absolutely memorable-mind blowing!!!
and of course as International Congress 2006 was coming nearer and nearer.. i just couldnt control my excitement and emotions!!! For me, going to IC 2006 in Poland was absolutely important. Why?
1) To meet my dearest and loving AP MCPs...
2) To provide me with the avenue to take back key learnings, strategies, thoughts, questions back to my country- so as to help me better perform as a president of my country!
3) To meet people who could further help me to develop and challenge myself :)
4) To get my inspiration and motivation to carry on.....
These were my 4 objectives prior to leaving to Poland! And i was not going to miss this once in a lifetime chance to take as much as i can from this conference, the people that i will be meeting and also my experience there in Poland itself!
On the 16th of August- my travel begins..
Due to the world cup and all...all of us found it very hard to get to tickets to Europe during that time, i only got my ticket confirmed a few days before the conference ( phew!!) but bad news was that i had to travel by myself, arrive earlier than the rest, and travel from Singapore :(
So i got a bus to Singapore on the 16th from Malacca, reached Singapore- met my fellow Singaporean AIESECers who were catching a flight to Europe also at that time. Even though we were not on the same flights, we planned to meet up after we had reached Poland. My flight had a 6 hours stopover in Paris ( for all of you who dont know, I LOVE PARIS!!!!- never been there
but i would like to go to Paris for my honeymoon because i think Paris is the most romantic place on earth!) Didnt manage to go anywhere, but just took a picture of myself out side the airport :P
Reached poland in the morning of 18th. I had booked myself a place at a hostel called Helvetia ( really nice place, nice people who always willing to help) so from the airport a very nice gentleman who recognised that i was malaysian through my passposrt helped me get a cab to where the hostel was located ( dont know his name- but he was kinda cute and had a Japanese wife!) Hmm... not bad for the first day:) It was about a 20 minutes cab ride to my hostel- the driver was really nice, he couldnt find the hostel and so he asked me if i had the number and he gave them a call. I thought he would charge me for the call- but he didnt! Thanks cab man!!!:)
Reached Helvetia, settled down and tried to contact Sharon but my stupid DIGI line wouldnt work! EVen though i went to the centre 3 times to get my roaming activited!!! I was soo pissed off! I couldnt only receive calls and MAKE calls.. EXPENSIVE!!!!!! So failing to reach Sharon, i decided to make myself some dinner. Took a walk around Helvetia- found myself a minimart, bought some bread, milk, spread ( choc) ! :)
The next day, i work up early- sent an email ( Yes Helvetia has internet access) to Sandy and got her to buy me a MAXIS sim card and used my current credit to call my dad and tell him im safe and sharon- to plan where to meet for that day.
The first day...gosh!
The first day was a cultural shock for me- why? Well just imagine this scenario
Helvetia gives me a map of Warsaw which is amazing- very detailed that i am able to use it to find myself the nearest Metro station. I walk towards the station and get into the station to find
that i am unable to buy tickets like a normally do in our LRT or KOMUTER stations. So i asked about 25 people- " excuse me can you help me" or " Excuse, do you speak english" and they would reply very abruptly " No English!!!"
But Finally....
Anisha: Excuse me, can you speak English?
25th person: Yes i do!
Anisha: Oh thank god!!! I was wondering if you could help me cuz i would like to buy a ticket for the Metro.
25th Person: Oh! I'm sorry, I cant help you on that- I just arrived Poland today morning myself :(
That was it! I took out my very trustable map and started walking to the direction i was supposed to meet Sharon and her team. And in 40 minutes i reached the station in which i was supposed to meet Sharon :)
Well one thing i learnt is that, the older generation in Poland dont speak that much of English and also they are very proud of their language, Polish- so they dont really need to know how to speak English that much. But if you really need help- the younger generation in Poland can speak some english la.. its whether they are willing to help you or not lor! hahahaha...
That day i had a great fi
rst day in Poland
and of course as International Congress 2006 was coming nearer and nearer.. i just couldnt control my excitement and emotions!!! For me, going to IC 2006 in Poland was absolutely important. Why?
1) To meet my dearest and loving AP MCPs...
2) To provide me with the avenue to take back key learnings, strategies, thoughts, questions back to my country- so as to help me better perform as a president of my country!
3) To meet people who could further help me to develop and challenge myself :)
4) To get my inspiration and motivation to carry on.....
These were my 4 objectives prior to leaving to Poland! And i was not going to miss this once in a lifetime chance to take as much as i can from this conference, the people that i will be meeting and also my experience there in Poland itself!
On the 16th of August- my travel begins..
Due to the world cup and all...all of us found it very hard to get to tickets to Europe during that time, i only got my ticket confirmed a few days before the conference ( phew!!) but bad news was that i had to travel by myself, arrive earlier than the rest, and travel from Singapore :(
So i got a bus to Singapore on the 16th from Malacca, reached Singapore- met my fellow Singaporean AIESECers who were catching a flight to Europe also at that time. Even though we were not on the same flights, we planned to meet up after we had reached Poland. My flight had a 6 hours stopover in Paris ( for all of you who dont know, I LOVE PARIS!!!!- never been there
but i would like to go to Paris for my honeymoon because i think Paris is the most romantic place on earth!) Didnt manage to go anywhere, but just took a picture of myself out side the airport :PReached poland in the morning of 18th. I had booked myself a place at a hostel called Helvetia ( really nice place, nice people who always willing to help) so from the airport a very nice gentleman who recognised that i was malaysian through my passposrt helped me get a cab to where the hostel was located ( dont know his name- but he was kinda cute and had a Japanese wife!) Hmm... not bad for the first day:) It was about a 20 minutes cab ride to my hostel- the driver was really nice, he couldnt find the hostel and so he asked me if i had the number and he gave them a call. I thought he would charge me for the call- but he didnt! Thanks cab man!!!:)
Reached Helvetia, settled down and tried to contact Sharon but my stupid DIGI line wouldnt work! EVen though i went to the centre 3 times to get my roaming activited!!! I was soo pissed off! I couldnt only receive calls and MAKE calls.. EXPENSIVE!!!!!! So failing to reach Sharon, i decided to make myself some dinner. Took a walk around Helvetia- found myself a minimart, bought some bread, milk, spread ( choc) ! :)
The next day, i work up early- sent an email ( Yes Helvetia has internet access) to Sandy and got her to buy me a MAXIS sim card and used my current credit to call my dad and tell him im safe and sharon- to plan where to meet for that day.
The first day...gosh!
The first day was a cultural shock for me- why? Well just imagine this scenario
Helvetia gives me a map of Warsaw which is amazing- very detailed that i am able to use it to find myself the nearest Metro station. I walk towards the station and get into the station to find
that i am unable to buy tickets like a normally do in our LRT or KOMUTER stations. So i asked about 25 people- " excuse me can you help me" or " Excuse, do you speak english" and they would reply very abruptly " No English!!!"But Finally....
Anisha: Excuse me, can you speak English?
25th person: Yes i do!
Anisha: Oh thank god!!! I was wondering if you could help me cuz i would like to buy a ticket for the Metro.
25th Person: Oh! I'm sorry, I cant help you on that- I just arrived Poland today morning myself :(
That was it! I took out my very trustable map and started walking to the direction i was supposed to meet Sharon and her team. And in 40 minutes i reached the station in which i was supposed to meet Sharon :)
Well one thing i learnt is that, the older generation in Poland dont speak that much of English and also they are very proud of their language, Polish- so they dont really need to know how to speak English that much. But if you really need help- the younger generation in Poland can speak some english la.. its whether they are willing to help you or not lor! hahahaha...
That day i had a great fi
rst day in Poland
posted by anisha at 2:27 AM
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