Oui, je dois l'avouer, j'ai deja mange au McDo!
A McChicken and a chocolate shake have never tasted so good....meat! I'm to the point where when I see a cow in the street I start thinking "mmm, u know how many good steaks can come out of that"? is that bad?!
But other than that food has been great! Expecially this week! After McDonald's, I came back home and my roomate - who wasn't feeling good and took the day off work - had cleaned the kitchen! OH - MY - GOD! u know those shows like "Incredible makeover" or something like that? Yeah, it didn't even look like India any more! She really did a wonderful job (thanks Marsha!) and to celebrate that, Robby came and cook for us! ah, I've always said that Italian men were made to be in the kitchen, but now I'm 100% sure! As always, food brings together good company and a nice atmosphere...we had about 10 people over, we were having a wonderful time, just laughing, eating, talking...when all of a sudden....there is a RAT IN THE KITCHEN! ahhhhhhhhh you should have seen me, sitting on the pool table (oh yeah, we have a pool table at our house, how cool is that?), shaking my legs and screaming like a stupid girl! I didn't know I would react like that, but I guess rats are my little phobia (which esponencially increases when the rat is in MY KITCHEN - that had been just cleaned up!). So luckly we had some guys in the house, who managed to lock the rat in one of the bathroom so it didn't bother us for the rest of the night....the only thing is that the rat is still there....not sure if dead or alive and I couldn't care less, but somebody will need to check and put it out, cause I don't want our house to smell like dead rat!
Oh well, this was one of my indian adventure! The other big thing of this week is that I finally understand my way around Jaipur and I'm so proud of myself! So now I walk back home from work...the first time I tried (imagine that!) I got so lost and found myself very very far away, but now I know my way back to my house! It takes about an hour, and it's good to have a walk after 8 hours in front of a computer! But I didn't say how I get to work! Since I'm too lazy to walk in the morning (and remember, there are always 45 degrees and I cannot get in the office all sweaty!), I take a cycle-rickshaw, which is a sort of taxi (nonono, take the idea of the yellow american taxi away). It's a taxi in the way that it "drives" u around and u pay for the service (always bargaining, of course!), but it's a little bike with a little cart on the back. I sit on the cart (is that the right name in english?!?! mmm...not sure) and the guy rides the bike...it's kind of fun, and now I have my own personal rickshaw driver! He knows what time I get to work and he waits for me in front of my door...it's a very nice old little indian man named Raju, and he's so protective! When Indian guys bother me on the street, he starts yelling them in Hindi! How cute!!!
My last adventure of the week (I have tonz more but I really have to go back to work, and I still have to write about my job on this blog sometime!) was yoga at 6 in the morning! Don't ask me why, but Daniela (one of my flatmates from Mexico) and I decided to go one morning. We had only one bike so I was Daniela's personal rickshaw! It was quite an experience to drive a bike in the crazy Jaipur traffic! It took about half hour, and then we got to this place with no direction (well, there were probably directions, but in Hindi of cousre!) and we found this yoga class outdoors on the grass, both men and women (of course on separate sides), from all different ages, doing yoga! so we joined and it was really interesting! First thing, the instructor was speaking in Hindi and Daniela and I were just looking at each other with question-mark faces. But it's yoga, so we just looked what other people were doing and imitated it...I'm sure we missed the whole part "inhale positive energy etc", but it was fun anyways! And then at one point everybody was laughing and we thought the instructor made a joke, but it was weird cause Indian people don't really laugh that loud, expecially in pubilc! So we realized that it was a yoga exercise as well! And after yoga, we had a body massage! First of all those girls want you completely naked (just with your panties), then they spread this very stinky oil on you, but the massage was sooooooooooooo good! It was worthed waking up at 5.45 in the morning!!!

Alright, here is my post for the day. Namaste everybody!

So then us hardcoreres (Jan, Robby and I) decided to go up the hill and hike to the temple... doesn't it look tempting?


And was it worthed! So this is the view from up there:






The gorgeous oasis of Pushkar with its holy lake on one side








The Rajasthani desert with a sort of sunset on the other

Weekend trip to Pushkar with AIESEC trainees!

Here are some pics...








Marsha and I, already enjoying the Indian style;)









My colorful India!






Crazy AIESEC trainees! Harriot (New Zeland) is the girl taking the picture. Robby (Italy) and Jan (Germany) are the one....hem, flying;)








Yes, indeed, those ARE monkeys!

Some pictures of Jaipur...

Here I am back!
So much to say!!! Today I'm feeling REALLY happy! The incredible heat (45-45 degree Celsius...let me convert them in Farhenheit for some of u...113-119...yeah, I'm not joking!) makes me somehow happy...oh well! I think it's the sun, the sky, the crowded Indian streets...or maybe the party tonight;) haha some things never change;)
so I finally moved in the trainee house...it's called the black house, or for us AIESECers...the party house! I live with 6 other trainees: my roomate is from the Netherlands, then there is another girl from the Netherlands, a girl from Poland, a girl from Mexico, a girl from Portugal and a guy from...I don't remember! I've met so many people in the last few days that it makes it really really hard to remember names and countries! But hopefully I'll learn fast...so yeah, the house is fun! The kitchen not so much...it's sooooooo nasty! And I thought the kitchen at my house in Columbia was bad...no way!! People hide their knife and fork in the room so that they don't get confused with some of the silverware/plates/whatever is in that kitchen, cause it's absolutely disgusting! I have been eating out all the time, and I don't think I'll ever cook! It's for my own health!
So...food! One of my favorite topic....SO GOOD! I can eat a wonderful, tasteful, huge meal for 40 rupies (less than a dollar) and so far I haven't gotten sick yet....knock on wood! (or touch your balls as italians do;) oh yeah, and there is also a guy from Italy! His name is Roberto, his from Messina (Sicily) and he's so funny!!! There are about 40 trainees in Jaipur right now...we have a dinner together every wednesday (so we had one last night) and I think I met most of them...it's a very nice, fun, diverse crowd! A lot of hippish people (but who comes to do an internship in India anyways?!), a lot of fun fun AMAZING interesting people...now, do you see where all of the enthusiasm comes from?!!? Some of the people I've enjoyed the most so far: my roomate (Marsha): we have spent a lot of time together (we have met yesterday!) and last night she told me "I feel like I've known you for ages!". We have been getting along really well and I enjoy talking to her a lot! She's here for a developmental traineeship, helping out girls from an orphanage who work in a garment factory. Then there is Lidia, from Poland, who lives in the Black house as well...she is seriously AMAZING! Last night we were talking and I wasn't suprised to find out that she has been an AIESECer in Poland for 3 years! She does yoga classes at 6.30 in the morning (I told her that on a non-after-party morning I'll go with her...we'll see!) and then she's learning some traditional indian dances...and I think I want to try that too! And with other few girls we want to start to go to a cooking class...yummy! I know I'll make my dad happy next semester;)
What else....I want to travel A LOT!!! I don't think I'll have time and that sucks! I still have to ask my boss but I think I have to work on Saturdays as well....booo!! But I don't care, today I want to buy a guide of India (something like a lonely planet guide), figure out the weekend trips that I can go to, some longer trips, and I'll figure out a way to ask my boss a day off, I'm sure;)

I have so much more to say (especially about my internship!) but I'm at work right now and I shouldn't take too long of a break...thanks for reading so far! I appreciate your interest in my adventures;)

Oh and I have to write about the transportation here too...and bargain, of course;)

I'll make a post soon!
Jestes taki przystojny! (I think that's "you're handsome" in polish, but maybe the guy who taught me this last night was just bullshitting me;)

No mamma, I didn't ride on the crazy Jaipur streets on this boy's motorbike without a helmet;)
Anyways, this is Abhimanyu, my host brother for one more day and my "TN buddy". His description of TN buddy was: when u're bored, call me...I love it! We have been getting along great, we have spent the last few hours in front of the PC downloading AIESEC songs and talking about dances...I cannot wait to go to a conference and learn tonz of them;)
Tomorrow I'll start my traineeship...I've met my boss today and LOVE HIM! He's absolutely great, very direct strong man, still very sweet and thoughful, apperently with a wonderful network (he's friend with the Maraja;) and he told me straight in the eyes: you're smart, I like you. Perfect! He also said I have to wear t-shirt and not spaghetti-shirt (I wouldn't have wore them at work anyways) and he's like: if you don't have any, I'll buy them for you! He's going to take me out for lunch tomorrow for a non-veg lunch...see, he's super sweet!
Then I went to a Management ICX meeting...wow, it was pretty intense! I was at a AIESECer's house, and there I met her brother who's leaving for Rotterdam next week, he will join AIESEC International! The meeting was intense, some sentences like: there is nothing to smile about! Or "we have 30 days to match 20 trainees", or again "what would you do at home anyways? sleep? study? do some matching!" Ah, they are CRAZY!!!
But the motorbike's ride was my highlight of the day....of course after the camel "parked" in front of my house:) so random!
I also met other 3 trainees: Daniela from Brazil, Bob and Celine from Belgium. They say they do trips around India almost every weekends, and there is a trainees dinner on Wednesday, so I'll meet all the rest (there are about 40 trainees in Jaipur). They were talking about having dinner at Pizza Hut, McDonalds, Subway....crazy! Indian food is great! My host mom had been preparing the best meals (I also enjoyed the spicy sprouts for breakfast;), but they said after a while you get bored of it...let's see how hard core I am!
This will be my last night with my host family...tomorrow I'll move to the trainee house...I'm really excited to meet my housemates! And I have been really lucky, since it's only 5 minutes walk from my job (the girl from Brazil has to walk and take buses for an hour every day to get to work!) and it's close to some malls and movie theatres;)

Random thoughts will follow in the next days, right now I have to shower and go to bed...good night, fan club;)

Finally in Jaipur!
50 hours of travelling, a whole adventure that deserves a lot of time to tell...it's incredible and I already love it;) so different, I don't understand what's going on, I found asking myself WHY a billion times already...why are there camels on the road? why do people don't care about road traffic rules? why do I look so foreign? why, no matter where or when, AIESEC people are the sweetest, spiciest, interesting people I meet?

I'm staying in a host family for the next couple of days...it's an AIESECer family (an Indian family made by mama, papa, uncle, aunt, granma, granpa, and I don't think I've seen everybody yet;)...the AIESEC boy (man, I have no idea how to spell his name...let's say he's Abi) just now left to go do AIESEC work in the office...and it's 8 pm of Sunday night!!! I've already visited the office and it's super cute...can't wait to take pictures and post them;) I've also met a boy who is doing social events at International Congress...Landon, you'll have to meet him!!

Anyways, I'm ready for a shower and mostly sleep! I'll keep writing when I'm in better conditions...good night everybody, and if you get a chance, put yourself in a situtation when u have no idea on what's goin on, make urself unconfortable, and then look at how many question marks you have around you, and give yourself time to understand diversity, to answer the question marks from a different point of view

Un bacione enorme;)

My BEAUTIFUL housemates...I miss you guys! 

Last week in Columbia
lots and lots of tears....had to say goodbye to so many important people who meant a lot to me during this year, whom I'll never forget, and whom I'll hope to cross paths and see each other again...It's so wonderful to know that I met amazing people, and even if it's sad to leave each other, it was worthed getting close and share life for a while.
Right now I'm taking a break from packing...I guess that's the least sexy side of moving away...all my "material life" will be in two suitcases for India, two big boxes in Columbia and three boxes to Italy...wow, that's everything material I own! Now, my emotional possessions are spread even more around the world...what a wonderful feeling!!!
I'll move at Sarah's for the next couple of days, then off to Jaipur for the summer!!! I'll take a bus to St.Louis, another bus to Chicago, a plane to London, another to Delhi, and finally a bus to Jaipur. I still haven't heard from my TN manager there so I still don't know who's picking me up at the station, where am I gonna stay...but I'm still pretty calm and far away from freeking out...but that's just me;)
I have bought my plane ticket this morning (never too late;), got my business visa last week (pas mal when you're 20 and you get your 3rd visa on your passport;), got something like 10 different vaccinations, a suitcase ready with medicines, bug spray, a mind full of memories from an AMAZING YEAR, one of the best of my life, and a free spirit ready to go on this adventure. I don't know what to expect, I'm not sure what to look for...I'm just open to any new experience, leaving clueless and light as a feather...

Now I should go back to clean my kitchen before the new tenants occupy the house...even if we agreed with my housemates that we didn't care about our security deposit I still feel bad leaving the house like shit...so I won't! Then Hector is gonna call me and we'll hang out for a bit tonight. Him and Jessica are leaving for Peru tomorrow morning...I cannot believe they're getting married there! They're crazy, but I love them to death! They're one of the most spontaneous couples I know, and they're so random!!! I can remember when we went skinny dipping in a lake in april when it was freezing outside...crazy friends!!! We got so wasted and still couldn't stand the ice-cold water...good times!!!

I still don't know how long I'll spend in Italy when I get back...I agreed with Landon to hang out few days in London and that will be amazing!!! I've been at the airport in London a million times but never visited the city, and mostly never partied there! Landon and I will have a blast together!! But I think I'll need to get to Lyon at the end of August...my mom still doesn't know that I probably will spend not even a week in Parma...oh well;) what can I do...I don't know if I'll ever stand having a daughter like me...nop, probably not! But now that I talk to friends who are at home, part of me wishes I was there, just doing nothing and being spoiled...but life is so much more than that! There is a whole world to discover, something like 6 billion people to meet, no time to sleep and rest!!!

I was really sad for a couple of days, emotionally really instable (I could cry for anything at any time!) but now I finally feel stronger and ready...wow, let's chase life (as Sarah Steph and I were chasing Landon's car at the Cherry street parking garage!!!)

When people ask me if I'll learn Hindi, the first answer that I tend to give is "hell no! why should I? Everybody speaks English in India!" oh, I start to sound like an ignorant American! First, not everybody speaks English! Second, how cool would it be to be so integrated to be confortable with the language, food, customs, fashions, and all the randomness of such a fascinating place as India?!?!

Zeljka, the girl who was doing the traineeship before me, sent me all the work that I will be doing and I'm so excited! The traineeship sounds amazing, fun, incredibly interesting...selling weddings and honeymoons in India!!! She sent me a website from a competitor that looks amazing...I was seriously astonished and without words when I saw it....how beautiful!! I know I'll never get married, but in case I get crazy and I lose my mind, if not in Vegas with a gay guy;), I would seriously consider an indian wedding!!! All those palaces, those magic and enchanted places....wow, I really can't wait to learn more about those and (why not?) visit them and attend some weddings;)

I guess I'll end this post with a sentence in Hindi....actually no! Since my next post will probably be from Jaipur and I'll have chances to post something in Hindi later, let's end it in Serbian, in honor of my wonderful, super crazy beautiful housemate who's now doing an internship in New York City and whom I'll miss like crazy

Cmok! (Kisses)

Nothing big and intense today, my brain is frying!
I'm stuck on the first page of a french paper...I feel like I know exactly what to write, and yet words don't come out...it makes me so mad and frustrated! I think I'm just tired, but I can't sleep cause I wanna get this paper done!!!!! no logic whatsoever;)
oh well...the paper is on french colonialism. I'm giving a little historic background (the very boring part of the paper), then I'm talking about the effects of colonialism in general, positive and negative, quoting few people and their opinion, talking about the law that chirac proposed last year to recognize in school programs the POSITIVE ROLE of french colonialism in honor of the people who died and fought oversea (of course french people, cause the ones colonized are not important, right monsieur president?), and i end with my own opinion about overall colonialism, and how i think it impacted history and economic development in general. it has to be 5 pages, so i might include some specific examples in it. see? i have perfectly outlined, it just won't come out!!! mmm, it's making me nervous and angry!
other than that, Berlusconi is finally OUT of the italian government...era ora! the new government is very weak but we'll see what will happen
Last weekend I participated with some friends in the Global Night Commute, a walk + sleepover downtown to join for one night the kids in Uganda. There were about 200 people and it was very powerful to see so many people who cared! We all slept in a parking garage since it was raining outside...it was quite cold and unconfortable, so around 2 am Sarah Steph and I decided to go sleep in the car;) oh cheaters! A lot of other cities in the States participated in the commute....it's nice to see how the effort of people together can actually make a change! We'll see what will happen and if media will start giving more attention to the situation. There has been the big rally in DC for the genocide in Darfur, and I'm happy to see how people are becoming finally aware of this humanitarian crisis. The situation over there doesn't seem like improving, but at least it's moving in the right direction. Yesterday there was the general protest of mexian immigrants to show the US how important they are for the economy. It doesn't seem like it has done much rumor though....my old french ta told me about a website that I found really interesting, here is the link
http://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/Mexicos_Glass_House.pdf

it shows the hypocrisy of those who claim US nationality, holding signs such as WE ARE AMERICA, while they make it much harder in Mexico to give nationality to immigrants from other countries. Read the article, it's really interesting! Especially it hasn't had much attention, and I couldn't find anything about it on italian or french websites...enjoy!

My life will be super super busy for these next two weeks! I finally decided to go to India for the summer. I'll be working on a marketing traineeship in Jaipur, India, doing promotions and PRs for a company that sells wedding "packets" to non residential indians. It sounds really fun and I'll be living in India for 3 months!!! I'm really excited! In the meanwhile, I'm applying for a business visa, I'm looking for the cheapest airplane tickets, and of course I'm preparing for exams! In all of this stress, my purse got stolen last week in a club, so I have no more phone, camera, I had to block all of my credit cards, both here and in Italy...a real pain! but I got everything worked out, bought a used phone on ebay (this year I haven't had much luck with cellphones!), and I'm ready to go! There are only those 6 exams in the way that kind of bother me, but once I'm done with those I'M DONE!!!

I start being a little sad, I'll leave the US for 8 months and I will miss a lot of things. Especially people! And there are some of my good friends who will be leaving between now and December, and I know that when I come back it won't be the same. I get really attached to people and it gets so hard to say goodbye!

But I'm getting more and more excited about my semester in Lyon. I want to be able to speak french like a goddess, meet new people, live in a new environment, HAVE TONZ AND TONZ OF FUN! and mostly I'll be back in Europe! it's so closed to everything! I want to visit Steph in Spain, Yvon in the Netherlands, Brodie in Scotland, come home, ski (I miss skiing so much), and then Prague, Vienna...I just can't wait! Right now I can just see myself skipping classes and just go on random trips;)

Life is beautiful, no matter how busy we get complaining about it. I need to spend more time appreciating it...all of us should!
Dovizhdane! (that's goodbye in bulgarian;)