Story from Roswitha Hirzberger (Austria) who took part in social project "World Without Borders" in Mykolaiv (Ukraine). She was a participant of AIESEC Exchange Program.

1. Internship in MykolaivRoswithaHirzberger Social project “World without Borders” (July-August 2010)

2. Hey guys! My name is Roswitha, I’m from Austria and 21 years old. I decided to go to Mykolaiv/Ukraine to improve my language skills because I study Russian Language at the University of Graz. Furthermore I wanted to get to know Ukrainian culture and mentality. In this presentation I would like to share my “AIESEC Experience” with you and let you know how I live and work here. So just enjoy it! 

3. My first week in Mykolaiv After going to Mykolaivby bus, Anja, Igor and Kolja from AIESEC Mykolaivwere already expecting me to welcome me to Ukraine and to take me to my accommodation where Jola, the polish girl was already waiting for me. Saturday, 21stof August At about 11 o’clock I arrived at the airport in Odessa. Here I’ve already met Marcus, the guy from Germany. It was actually very funny that the first person I meet in the Ukraine was German.

4. My first week in Mykolaiv But not in a negative way, that’s actually the reason why I chose to go to Mykolaiv, because I knew it’s different and at the same time very interesting. Guys from AIESEC Mykolaivdid everything to make me feel comfortable here, and they succeeded. Sunday, 22ndof August After the first night in Ukraine, I have to admit, I was victim of cultural shock. I thought I was quite well-prepared for this situation, but obviously I was wrong. There are just to many contrasts between Austria and Ukraine I guess.

5. My first week in Mykolaiv Monday – Friday, 27rd -27th of August First days at the camp. As Marcus, Jola and I decided to take part in the project ‘World Without Borders’, we went to the Camp ‘ZolotoyKolos’ on Monday to work there with children from whole Ukraine and to tell them about our home countries und cultures.

6. My first week in Mykolaiv Monday – Friday, 27rd -27th of August In the evening I met my group of children (from Luhansk) for the first time. With this children I spent the rest of the week on swimming in the sea, playing volleyball, chatting, presenting my home country and drinking black tee.

7. Zaporizhia& Dnipro Saturday - Sunday, 28th- 29th of August After our first week in Ukraine and also in the camp, Jola, Marcus and I decided to go to Zaporizhiaand to Dnipropetrovskto do some sight-seeing and to visit a conference, or maybe, it was more like a celebration of the anniversary of AIESEC Dnipro. So we went to Zaporizhiaby train and spent there one day visiting the Kosaks museum and the famous damn of the river Dnipro.

8. Zaporizhia& Dnipro Saturday - Sunday, 28th- 29th of August At about 4 o’clock we went by bus to Dnipro,where this celebration took place. It was quite cool to meet there some interns who attended their internships in other Ukrainian cities. With them together we went by ‘marschrutka’ to the City Center next day, where we had lunch. In the evening hours we arrived in Mykolaiv.

9. Monday, 30th of August 31th of august - 4th of September Back to the camp Today is a sad day: It’s the last day for Jola, she will leave tomorrow and go back to Poland. So in the evening we celebrated her ‘Goodbye’.

10. Awesome time in Myko Anyway… it took us almost three hours to take a look at all animals which live there. Sunday, 5th of September Today we’re going to the Zooooooo I’m very excited about it, just because I love animals and because I was told that the zoo in Mykolaiv would be the largest and most interesting of whole Ukraine.

11. 6th - 8th of September 9th - 10th of September Returning back to the camp. Tomorrow my group of children (from Luhansk) will leave unfortunately.. I’m really sad about it, they were like my first and lovliest group (I already know that). I’ll miss them a lot, but I’m lucky, that someone in this world invented vkontakte.ru Our first two days at university...here we are participating in classes of German language. We’ll present our home countries and of course talk German to the students to support them in improving their language skills. I hope they will learn a lot from us.

12. Weekend in the Crimea 11th - 13th of September Early in the morning we arrived by train in Simferopol, where we first had breakfast. I really like Simferopol, it’s a very beautiful city with a lot of interesting things to see I think. But above all I liked the art museum which contains also paintings from Aachen (Germany). After a long time of searching, we finally got to the restaurant we were heading for: the armenianresturant ‘Chest Prudy’.

13. Weekend in the Crimea On Sunday we already at 10 o’clock visited the Tschechov Museum, which was the summer house of the famous writer. To me, it was very impressive to see where A. P. Tschechov has lived, slept, eaten and written some of his most famous books. 11th - 13th of September From Simferopol we took a bus to Jalta where we booked a hostel for 2 nights. Jaltais even more beautiful, but also more expensive than the rest of the Ukraine. But it’s worth it.

14. Weekend in the Crimea The following day (our last day on the Krim) we decided to visit the Liwadija palace where in 1945 the ‘Conference of Jalta’ took place. There Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill devided Europe in certain zones, just as Austria was devided in 4 zones. 11th - 13th of September After I did some shopping in the center of Jalta (some girlie stuff)Marcus was waiting patiently for me to go to Massandra Beach, where we enjoyed our meal at a Thai restaurant. Highlight of the day: We tried the wine of the viticulture of Massandra.

15. Back to Myko & to Camp 16th - 22th of September Back from the Crimea I fell ill yesterday, so Marcus and I decided to stay one more day in Nikolayev and to go to the camp from 16th to 22th of September. This has already been my 5th week here. Time is passing by so fast. But the last week will be awesome as well, I’m sure of that. A 3-day-trip to Kiev, where I hopefully get to see a soccer match of Dynamo Kiev. And the last days I’ll spend in Odessa, the first city in which i have been, and the last city I will be during my stay in Ukraine. .

16. Last week in Mykolaiv 23th- 24th of September Our last 2 days at university. I’ll miss the students of the German lessons. They were just so interested in us and our cultural habits in Austria and Germany. But on 28th of Septemberwe’ll be back for the AIESEC presentation and the Global Village at the university.

17. In Kyiv The following 2 days we enjoyed our time in Kiev with watching for example a soccer match between Dynamo Kiev and Arsenal Kiev and a lot of sight-seeing. 25th- 27th of September Kiev we’re coming. Arrived in the capital of the Ukraine on Saturday morning, we were just picked up by Vitalij from AIESEC Kiev, who took us to university, where a presentation about AIESEC and some interviews with the ‘Newies’ took place. Quite exciting to be on the other side of such an interview (I had mine only a few month ago). After this we did our city tour with a tourist bus through Kiev. It’s a very beautiful city, I love it. It reminds me of my home country.

18. Tuesday, 28th of September Back to Mykolaiv. We are busy today, what is good. We get to know so many people here, above all at university. After Global Village we went to eat something near our flat. Then, unfortunately, we had to say goodbye to Marcus I really enjoy staying and travelling with him. I hope we’ll meet again soon. Within 2 days I’ll also leave the Ukraine.

19. It’s time now for me to go home I guess although I had such a great time here in Mykolaiv. I’ll never forget anyone of this nice and kind people I met here. Above all I’ll always remember the members of AIESEC Mykolaiv.

21. http://vkontakte.ru/id94351981

22. http://www.facebook.com/AIESECinMykolaiv