Tuesday, May 01, 2007

3 months in 20 bullet-points

A Chronological update about the last 3 months, in 20 bullet points:


February:
  • worked 100 hours (cleaning) in one month, enough to make enough money to survive here
  • excellent lectures and discussions on systems thinking, organizational understanding and an amazing workshop on Proactive Planning (personal planning)
  • Started the 5-weeks course on Creative Business Design, and together with a colleague we designed Alegria Imports, aiming to bring cachaca de alambique (aged quality handcrafted cachaca) to Denmark

March:
  • a major snow storm transformed Aarhus in a beautiful chaotic town. For the first time in my life, I hitchhiked to get to school (no buses available and my bike got frozen)
  • the snow storm was probably brought by Vija, my third visitor from the Netherlands since I came to Denmark (Margreet and Colm also came to visit me)
  • after the storm, I got a terrible flu, got down in bed for 4 days
  • because of the flu and the terrible weather in Denmark, I considered for the second time the option of leaving school, get a job and pay my debts, moving to something else. Boring work like cleaning was driving me crazy. I sent my CV to many companies in UK, Netherlands and even Brazil
  • Spring finally arrived here, and a couple of days with sun and 12C was enough to make me change my mind, and I decided to take the risk and simply reduce the workload, in order to enjoy school and social life better
  • Sent application for Student Grants from the Danish Government. Low chances of success.
  • Oslo: the whole Team 13 moved to Norway for 4 days, working and having fun with Team 2 from Kaos Pilots Norway. Great time, great support and my 350-euro-camera got stolen. No insurance.

April:
  • Idea of a Final First Year Project in Brazil, and three amazing and beautiful girls from my Team wanted to join me. We had first to fundraise 8,000 euro in 14 days
  • My request for Grant refused by the Danish Government
  • Laptop (new MacBook), mobile, 512MB-pen-drive and notes from classes stolen from inside the school. Never seen afterwards. No insurance, no backup. 1 year of digital information lost (all photos taken in Denmark, all contacts, all documents, all videos, all music, etc etc). No perspectives of getting a new computer in the near future.
  • For the third time in the last 4 months I considered giving up on the Education and searching for something else less "unlucky".
  • the first 24 bottles of cachaca arrived from two Brazilian destillaries (Bento Albino and Profecia), for tasting and focus-groups. The results were below expectations.
  • Back to an AIESEC Conference after two years, facilitating the National Event in Denmark, simulation for new members :)
  • After 20 days trying hard, over 200 organizations approached, we gave up on Brazil and decided to take a project in Rotterdam.
  • In the same day, two companies replied, sponsorship of 80% of the project guarantteed!
  • Admission Workshop for team 14: as traditional for the Kaos Pilots, the students themselves are key players at the selection of the next team, being facilitators and observers of the 2-days workshop. Great experience, perfect delivery! And a new Team with full potential selected!
  • A third company decided to sponsor our tickets to Brazil. A fourth company is considering our proposal. For the first time in my life, I have more money than needed for a project!

May:
  • On Thursday afternoon we fly to Brazil from Copenhagen airport. Destination: Porto Seguro. The group: myself and three gorgeous Danish blonde blue-eyed girls. The mission: investigate the possibility of starting local-based tourism in Porto Seguro, around the Pau Brasil National Park, and kick-off the social entreprise as a sustainable solution for the area. Website: wiki.homebase.dk/PauBrasil

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