Peace of mind July 10, 2008
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I am in Romania…enjoying my stay:) partially…because i also went to some doctors, which was not so fun since it is so hot outside that i could faint without reason…
so i almost fainted yesterday at the dentist…and because i was so scared (which is so “not me when going to the dentist”) i said the tooth feels ok but actually it doesn’t, it’s higher than the the others…so today i will go again, to fix my “yesterday cowardness”…
of course i went shopping…same prices here as in Italy when it comes to clothes. i actually bought some strappies that were made in Italy…but i am sure i got them cheaper here:P
the most important thing is that i work online and i can take my work anywhere…that i have some assistants and i can take some time off anytime…and i work as much as i want, which translates in i earn as much as i work. my earnings are decent, but now i have time…so i don’t care about my previous “Swiss salary”, because i have time for myself and i got back my peace of mind. Today i will go to pick up some blood tests results and i am really curious to see if there is any change (in worse) from the previous blood tests – from 2 years ago…which would probably reflect the “working in a multinational” effect on my body and mind.
I started writing my book…i am not 100% clear about its structure and how it will look like at the end, but this is how it always is, when i write something.
I am extremely happy and extremely peaceful. The last few years of living abroad have made many things clear for me, and now i am living the life i want. I found out the secrets of corporatism and many many other things about life and people, and cultures, and love…and i will put them all in my books and try to help the young unhappy people from this world…
well…this is it for now…and ‘don’t do it, if it ain’t fun!’…and you will have a happy life:)
hugs
just an update June 11, 2008
Posted by armina in Uncategorized.Tags: update
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well…
Last time when i was writing i was in Switzerland, waiting for an answer for my permit extension. I had a new job looking forward to it…and…it seems there were some tricks in the laws i didn’t know about and i didn’t get the work permit. Now am i so informed that i could actually open a consulting company on “how to get a work permit” in CH:)
The next option was to go to Italy and live with my boyfriend / fiancé. Which i actually did. So now i am an online freelancer. I can work from wherever. I got so much work that this week i got myself a part-time virtual assistant.
Is nice here…near him and near the seaside…just that i don’t go out that much, even though i am a freelancer i still work a lot. Mitsu and Tzighy came to visit on their way to the “EURO” to Zurich…we exchanged some business ideas…among which: “never buy a citroen”!
I will go to Romania at the end of June. On 30th, more precisely. Looking forward to meet as many as my friends as possible:) I will be around (Bucharest, Pitesti, Valcea) for 2 weeks and then i am coming back to Italy…
In August we planned to visit Adina and Jason and see a few European capitals…and then in September i am going to Romania again. I will deliver a one week training on leadership. Honestly, i am sooo looking forward to it! What i am not looking forward to is the exams session for my masters in September. I will have the last 2 ugly exams – work law and payroll. Then i will be writing my thesis – which again, i am looking forward to it. I have a cool subject and a cool teacher:)
On the way on…i want to write a book and prepare myself for GMAT – i want to try out some MBA scholarships next year…and that’s about it…
In between and above all…i really miss my friends back home…
hugs!
amazing video about the way we trash our world May 15, 2008
Posted by armina in Uncategorized.Tags: better world, change, consumerism, pollution, recycling, staff
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If you want your children to have a better place to live, you should allocate some time to watch
this!
It’s a website about the cycle of staff in nature. The things we buy – how do we make them and where do they go after we don’t use them anymore and throw them away. You will realize why recycling is important and especially why is so bad to buy staff that you don’t need!
and of course, after watching it, you should put some energy in changing things if this matters to you…we really DO have only one earth…
a new end, a new begining… May 14, 2008
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For the last 2 months i have been living in a total uncertainty…i still am:))…but now i am laughing about it. It took me a long time to relax and not stress about the uncertainty…i had to re-find myself…and re-become a careless teenager…and i love it. it reminds me of the days when i was in AIESEC: hitchhiking to some conference, dressing careless, ruling at school just “because”, still having my imagination, writing, traveling, dreaming big…
how did it happen?
i got a job…i think i applied for about 40 positions, and i finally decided. i ended my contract here sooner, to start the new job when they needed me (“yesterday”) but in Switzerland is not that easy – without a work permit you can have as many employment contracts as you wish. so i need to wait for an answer for about 4 weeks. on the other hand my rent contract ends and i have to move out…i can’t rent another flat, because without the work permit i will just move out…of the country…so while waiting i started dreaming…thinking about me, my life, my hobbies and so on…and actually enjoying the “being between contracts” and i realized the “end” has many good parts. and guess what, i have no idea where i will be next week, or the week after…isn’t it wonderful? …the planning and thinking just killed me for a while…but now i am back….creative, funny, enjoying it to the max…feels like i am finally acting like my age
If you want to help others…and make a positive change, May 8, 2008
Posted by armina in Uncategorized.Tags: change
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You CAN!
But I guess you already knew that:)
Here is also an ingenious way on how to help them. You can make a loan as small as 25$ to help entrepreneurs from all over the world. You can see their story and decide to whom to lend money.
Maybe is not the best way to help make a difference in the world but it is a good way…so take a sec to look at the website of the NGO that supports this: www.kiva.org
I was positively impressed to see that more than half of the entrepreneurs are women. Bravo!
Changes I love, changes that just happen… April 17, 2008
Posted by armina in Uncategorized.Tags: changes, job, switzerland
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I will have a new job. This means that I will stay in Switzerland more. After a selection process of 3 months I have a confirmation (of course it will take one more month to get the work permit)
Statistically speaking, I applied for 20-25 jobs, I got many “no”s and some “maybes”, I had about 6 interviews, out of which 3 transformed themselves in “no” after saying I am Romanian and only 25 years old (it seams I have too much experience for my age and this is weird and alienates recruiters). So I had 3 “second interviews”…which transformed in one “yes”. I like the job a lot and the story and people behind it seem reeeally nice.
The changes challenge me in a positive way. So I will end my contract on 16 May (instead of 30 June) and start the new job on 19 May. In between I have some days off that I didn’t take so I will have 9-18 May off. Which sounds great. Just that today i discovered I have an exam on 13th so I could go to Romania for a few days, pass the exam and see my family.
So I checked the flights. There is nothing under 500 francs :-s BUT…I am going to spend some time with Dani in Italy anyways…so I could fly from there…and I found a flight Milano-Bucharest for 70 euros. Which is actually great because anyways I need a haircut and here it would cost me about 50 euros, and home would be just 10…so…flying to Romania in this case means passing an exam, seeing my family and getting a haircut …all for a super offer of 40 euros. Isn’t this wonderful?
Many changes today…ending contract, agreeing new contract, planning trip to home…some of them I just love and some of them just happen (like the fact that I will have to look for a new flat). Sometimes I just feel I am a “changes” generator…and by generating changes I recharge my batteries..produce more changes…consume energy, recharge my batteries
) nice life, uh? I guess this would sound like torture for many people…and if you would only know the name of my new job… IT process manager – quite a change, uh?
hugs to my far away friends!
turn off the light! or The Earth hour Global Movement March 28, 2008
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As an AIESECer, driven by the AIESEC values and my way of being, i believe that changing the world is possible. We can take action in different ways for this, and i am writing this e-mail to inform you about a way of helping our planet with a minimum effort.
Did you ever think that you would like to make things better, but you thought you “are just one person”?
Have you heard about the “turn of the light!” event?
This is the moment when each of us can make a difference. On 29th of March, at 8pm, people around the world turn off all electricity consumers for 1 hour. Can we make this city the most “switched off” one?
Take a look at this video to understand how much this means for our planet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxu3MluKl8A&NR=1
For more details about this initiative, you can check the official site here:
www.earthhour.org (have patience it takes a while to load)
Job market motto:”please come home” March 19, 2008
Posted by armina in Uncategorized.Tags: education, gen y, job market strategy
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i read an article about an ingenious idea: a Romanian job market organized in Italy for Romanians that work there. They had 700 curious people and almost 7000 jobs. All of them in constructions.
i think this is great strategy…let’s see how it works…
but how about schools? these guys will get old, and i don’t remember hearing of “constructions high school” or something similar. is the ministry going to re-”build” these schools? and…also “re-brand” them?
in Switzerland almost 90% of the young people go to a “profession school” because they consider it takes too long to pursue an university and is too much theory…
on the other hand i guess Ph.D.s are most of the time pursued just to follow your passion or to get a salary in no matter what field…delaying the moment when you will have to “face it” and actually get a job…
so is the future going to bring us only 10-12 years of school? could it be that our kids will study gymnasium and than a “profession school”, gaining practical experience from 14 years old and than study an “online university” while being an employee? or maybe the employer, desperate for workforce, might offer them courses in exchange for a “10 years” contract?
i think the way things are in Romania right now contradict a lot with the spirit Generation Y has, and many changes have to happen in education and companies’ attitudes. and i bet these changes will be huge in 5 years from now…
i reached 15… March 18, 2008
Posted by armina in Uncategorized.Tags: satisfaction
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15 projects as a freelancer…i had bad clients and great clients…i had horrible moments and wonderful moments…i had 2 full months of excitement…i made many hours of underpaid work but also easy money…overall i feel wonderful..and today i have my first “Repeat client” – yuhhuuuuu!! it is such a great moment of satisfaction:)
PS: all these last 3 messages are actually referring to what i have been through the last 2 months…but i have no idea if i can change the date of publishing them or not…so …whatever, let them be all on 18th March
enjoying life and not giving a damn March 18, 2008
Posted by armina in Uncategorized.Tags: philosophy of life, relax
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and it feels so good:)
many things happened and i was so busy and exhausted…since 10 Jan i slept only 3-4 hours per night and i worked 2 jobs…but who cares when one is as a freelancer:)…i had extremely lazy weekends to compensate…i sent 20 job applications (and sending a job application in Switzerland is a huge challenge)…i had about 4 interviews…i refused a Ph.D. position…i eat the best ice-cream in Italy and i traveled through people each fortnight…i was happy to say “i have enough money and i don’t care for more”…i was so fucking stressed that i made my dear ones worry…i got fat…i cooked the strangest food ever…i negotiated salaries…i studied for my masters less than ever…i dared for the first time in the last 10 years to buy shoes with heals higher than 3cm…i stretched my knee for the 3 time in the last 8 years…i fell in love everyday and missed my fiance every night… i started to make the guest list for my wedding…and managed to detach from the feeling my stupid clients awoke in me…i am becoming a business woman…2 full months…very tiring and exciting…10 more to go until the deadline for my goals:)…i fell in love with Bucharest once again after i thought i will hate it forever, especially after living in such a great city like Zurich is…now i am back at home in Valcea and i am enjoying my work&study holiday:)) …is nice being home and receiving greetings on 8th of March…you don’t get these anywhere else than in Romania…and there are so much many more things you don’t get elsewhere than here…semplicemente tiamo…and it’s so great not giving a damn about anything…if i find a job..ok…if not…ok…if i get fat…ok…if not…ok…if i leave Zurich..ok..if not…ok…the most important thing will happen…end of June or end of October…after more than 2 years, i will finally live together with the love of my life…and nothing else matters…well…except my travel plans…