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My life has changed in November 1999, when I became a member of an European students' organization ESTIEM (European STudents of Industrial Engineering and Management). Being an ESTIEM member brings a lot of education and experience, but above all lots of new friendships...
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Gdansk Activity, June 2002
Between 14-17th of June 2002 we (ESTIEM LG Gdansk) were hosting few ESTIEM'ers: Yasmine, Peter, Misho and Magnus from Stockholm, Anti from Helsinki, and just for one day Bjorn from Linkoping and Balazs from Budapest.
On Friday noon the Swedes came with the ferry from Nynashamn, and what did they do right after arrival?... we went shopping! Yes! That was 'sightseeing' Gdynia... but they ended up with full bags and happy faces :) The next day, on Saturday morning, everybody went to see the Medieval Teutonic Castle in Malbork. Meantime, Bjorn and Balazs came. For dinner we all ate famous Polish pierogi and went sightseeing Gdansk Old Town. Saturday night we spent at Celtic Pub. I have to say that we were one of the attractions at the Pub that night, because guys were singing really loud different songs in English and Swedish (not saying about gesticulating while singing :) ). After a lot of talks, laughter and beers we ended with 'Mafia' in our apartment. Sunday was the day in Brodnica, where we were wandering across forest, eating sausages by the fire and having some sauna. Those were 4 wonderful days with loads of fun - some of you know what I'm talking about...
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Gdansk Activity, October 2001
In the end of September we got an e-mail that few people from Berlin want to come and visit us. A month later, on Friday morning (October 26th) we were very happy to see 7 people getting off the train :) During day we went sightseeing Gdynia where we stopped at the beach to drink our special warm beer (with juice and spices). That was the beginning of a big party, which was going to last for 3 days... In the afternoon we ate dinner in a nearby restaurant 'Chata'. After dinner Konrad took us to a club where not everybody was allowed to get in... Since the club was very small and more people were coming inside, we decided to have our own party on the beach. Yes! On the beach in the end of October! :) Guys went to buy some wine, beer and sausages and we all had a lot of fun. On Saturday we went sightseeing Gdansk Old Town, ate dinner at Sphinx and went partying to Blue Cafe. That night we all went to bed at 6am ... till that time we played Mafia in our apartment. On Sunday morning we climbed up the tower of St. Mary's church, ate dinner at La Pasta (where we played Mafia again) and at 1pm we had to say goodbye.
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Council Meeting Ankara, Turkey; April 2001
On Tuesday (April 2nd) Konrad and I went to Ankara for the ESTIEM Council Meeting. We were happy to see old friends and this huge city of Ankara. We had a plane from Gdansk through Warsaw to Istanbul, and then a bus to Ankara. Everything seemed wonderful, until ...
The whole trip, from the very first moment, was really crazy. First, we got almost late for the plane from Gdansk. Then it appeared that during check-in in Gdansk we got our tickets mixed with luggage and... Konrad was not on the list of passengers. And because of that the plane from Warsaw to Istanbul took off 15 minutes later than was supposed to. But finally, we were in the air. We took a big breath and relaxed. Konrad made a joke that now all we need is to have our luggage lost... well, he said that. When we got to Istanbul, we didn't find our suitcases. We spent over 2 hours at 'Lost luggage' office at the airport. But finally, we got on the bus to Istanbul downtown. We met a friend that was waiting for us. We went to buy tickets for the bus... we were supposed to be in Ankara by 10pm, but because of all the adventures we got on the bus few minutes before midnight. We had to wait few hours in Istanbul since there were no buses that get to Ankara in the middle of the night. But that was OK - we saw 'a piece' of Istanbul and had a chance to eat Turkish sweet specialties (they were really good). Finally, at 6am on Wednesday morning we arrived at Ankara bus station. 2 hours later the 1st General Assembly began. And since then, we had a lot of fun, despite the fact that we had to wait for our luggage till Thursday evening. We worked really hard, but also enjoyed Turkish Night with a professional Turkish belly dancer, saw Ataturk Mausoleum and met a lot of new friends. All in all, we came back home with smiling faces.
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Council Meeting Cambridge, England; November 2000
Council Meeting in Cambridge was very special for two reasons: 1st - it was the 10th ESTIEM anniversary, and 2nd - that was one year for ESTIEM LG Gdansk as an observer and during that CM we applied for membership.
I went there with Tom as representatives of our local group. The trip was very long - it took us one train, two buses and 36 hours to get from Gdansk to Cambridge. But it was worth it. We came to Cambridge on Friday night November 11th. We met everybody at one place. Soon after, it appeared that our host (and not only our) is not reachable. And so, we spent the first night together with 6 other people sleeping on the floor of one room and kitchen :) On Saturday morning the 1st General Assembly began, and in the evening a big event took place - the 'James Bond Party' to celebrate the 10th ESTIEM anniversary. But the big moment was waiting for us (me and Tom). On Monday we had a presentation for membership. The night before that day we went to bed really late, since we were preparing our last words for the presentation. On Monday morning, jawing but very excited, we went to the 2nd General Assembly. Few hours later we stood in front of over 150 people with our legs shaking and voices trembling. However, we made everybody laugh with our presentation and that was our aim. But still, we had to wait two more days for the voting. We enjoyed another parties, hard work during Working Groups and took part in different case studies. On Wednesday the voting session took place... and we did it! We were accepted as an ESTIEM member. That was a very happy moment for us. Since that was the last day of CM, in the evening we went to Gala Dinner held in Selwyn College. On Thursday morning we met everybody during breakfast and said goodbye to everyone. And that was over ... of the Council Meeting, but not over of the trip. We had our bus back to Poland on Saturday morning, and we didn't want to waste that chance. Thursday we spent wandering around Cambridge and admiring that very old and beautiful University. And on Friday morning, at 6am we got on the bus to London. We spent there a whole amazing day, walking around with a map in one hand and a camera in other. London is a beautiful city, however, one day is definitely not enough to see even half of it. In the evening, not feeling our legs, we got on the bus back to Cambridge to sleep a little bit and be back in London the next morning. We left London on Saturday at 10am.
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Council Meeting Linkoping, Sweden; April 2000
Council Meeting in Linkoping was my first big ESTIEM event. Not knowing what was waiting for us, we (Konrad and I) were the ones to represent our Local Group. We took a ferry to get from Gdansk to Nynashamn and then a train to Stockholm. As we arrived, we had a chance to meet everyone during the last party of Pre-CM. That first night we spent at Monika's apartment. The next day we gathered in one place at the Royal University of Stockholm, had a short lecture with the Dean and got on the bus to Linkoping. During the first evening, after 1st General Assembly, we enjoyed wild partying in style of 60s and 70s. On the way home, in the middle of the night, some ESTIEM'ers gave some other ESTIEM'ers (including me) a ride on bike carriers :) that was really wild. During next days we worked hard, and during evenings we had a chance to get to know each other. During last evening, as always, there was ESTIEM Gala Dinner. About 200 ESTIEM'ers were sitting in one big banqueting hall, and in the next room, behind a glass-wall, there were local students having an official party as well. Before dinner was served, the Board thank the organizers for the CM. And after that, a former ESTIEM member stood up and said how it all began. After his speech, he rapped the table with the rhythm of 'We will rock you' (by Queen). Of course, at once everybody started to rap the table with that rhythm and as he sang the verses, everybody shouted the choruses. It was really amazing. And as we finished singing, we could hear applause from the next room. After dinner we enjoyed partying till late. The next day it was time to say goodbye and go home. Since almost everybody had to leave from Stockholm, we all got on the bus. The trip from Linkoping to Stockholm took us 2 hours. Some of us were really tired and slept all the way. But on the top floor of the bus we didn't feel like sleeping. Hubert took out his notebook and we all had a lot of fun during karaoke singing. But as we arrived at Stockholm bus station, it was really time to say goodbye to everybody.
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Activity Weeks Poland - Gdansk part
ESTIEM Activity Weeks is a great way to meet new people and have a lot of fun. And that's what we did during our Activity Weeks.
The first AWP was 'Mission: Possible' in May 2000. We were happy to host students from Sweden, Russia, Estonia, England and Portugal. They spent about 2 days in each Local Group (Warsaw, Poznan and Gdansk). That was really wild... visiting companies, sightseeing towns and having great and unusual parties till dawn (and sleeping for about 2 hours a day).
On the way to Gdansk they visited vodka manufacturer 'Polmos'. On that day we were only sightseeing Sopot. The next day everybody went to visit Gdynia Shipyard. After that we ate dinner and wandered around Gdansk Old Town for some time. In the afternoon we got on the bus and went to Luban in Kashubian district. We experienced teamwork playing different games in the forest (and also on the picture on the right :) ), eating Polish specialties (bigos, smalec na skwarkach), having loads of fun playing different games i.e. Polish Roulette or driving a huge nail; and sleeping on hay. How did they survive all that? Well, it appears that the mission WAS possible ... but only with our brave agents :)
The second AWP was 'Lost in time' in May 2001. Once again we had a chance to meet new faces, show them our cities and spend great time together.
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BiG Vision in Berlin, Germany; December 1999
BiG Vision seminars (Business in Growth) held in Berlin was the first ESTIEM event that I went to. That was just one month after we became an ESTIEM observer and one week after the Board Meeting in Gdansk. Three of us managed to go to Berlin: Karol, Konrad and I. For the first two days we had lectures with different company representatives, ended with case studies; and the next two days we had a chance to visit companies, to go sightseeing Berlin and meet new people. During those 4 days I got the 'ESTIEM spirit' :)
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