| AIESEC Exchange in Czech Republic | EDISON project

Nerissa Gunawan, student of Undergraduate Business Program Prasetiya Mulya batch 2014 shared her experience running AIESEC Exchange in Czech Republic.

To join some international organization like this is actually something that I’ve been wanting since a long time ago. And finally I got the opportunity to join the EDISON project at ÄŒeské BudÄ›jovice, Czech Republic. The project aims to connect young people of different cultures and nationalities. Their goal is to get to know the customs, traditions and realities of different countries.

I met with another 13 trainees in my group creating a very diverse group that was totally amazing. For me, meeting so many new people from across the world would totally be some experience that I will cherish forever. Rapid, brutal, beautiful, hurtful, colourful, amazing, unexpected, overwhelming and most of all constant change. Change in lifestyle, country, language, friends, parents, houses, school, simply everything. This is something I will never forget, something that will always be a part of me. It is something no one back at home will ever truly understand.

Moreover, to the EDISON project itself, I enjoyed myself to the fullest through the whole 6 weeks. Mainly, the project demands every trainee to present their country to several schools to widen their eyes to the world by sharing every culture that we have. Seeing the students are so excited to know more about the new culture is totally an upbeat feeling for me. EDISON project lets the cultural exchange taken in the two-way process. Because it’s not only me who keep sharing, but I also learned a lot of new things about their culture.

I couldn’t see myself as a teacher knowing the fact I stand in front of the class doing some presentation to the students. I assume myself to be their friends and I am sure they think the same. We hang together outside the class and just talking like normal friends. We tried to overcome the language and age barrier which makes me realized that everybody is the same, no matter where they’re from, that there are great people everywhere.

So does the host families. I was completely immersed in the country’s language and culture in ideal conditions because I was involved in the family’s everyday life. I can really see how it feels to live in Czech Republic in detailed. They treated me just like their daughter and I feel to be loved although I was 10,000 km away from home. They opened me an Atlas to show where is Indonesia exactly, asking what do we have, how do I like Czech Republic, sharing how does it like in here and there, what are the differences between Indonesia and Czech. And all thing things were just stretching my mind to the world.

The end of the project might be the saddest goodbye I’ve ever had so far in life. To say goodbye to the group that I’ve been spending all time with since the past 6 weeks which totally incredible. Not only my group, but also my Czech friends and families. I kept promising them that I will come back anytime soon to Czech Republic. Not because I want to give them some fake hope, but because I really feel I need to come back to take my wonderful experience and heart that I left. I just love to be there. I love the people; I love the country and the most important, my involvement in this country.