Reservation made - Istanbul here I come :)

March 16th is the date... If I get my visa done by then, of course...

"Have faith and pursue the unknown end." Oliver Wendell Holmes

...ok, not that unknown actually... :) Turkish culture is quite similar to Serbian, we share many customs and words, for Serbia was under Ottoman rule for more then 500 years...

But still, a year away from home... Heh, I joined AIESEC in 1999 and have convinced many outgoing trainees that they shouldn`t be afraid and... well... you all know the story... :)
And now I finally feel what they told me they felt before going abroad... :)

Quite a funny feeling... I know that everything will be just fine, that there are many trainees there already, that I will have a buddy in AIESEC Istanbul, that I have my personal friends there already... But yet, I feel that little waltzer in my stomach... I guess that`s positive...

Anyways, if someone wants to give me a tip or two about being abroad for a year or so, please do... The longest period I was away was a month and a half in Calgary, Canada, when I was a teamster in the CC of IC2002... This is kinda different, I suppose...

Going to Istanbul!!!!!!

Just got accepted for a fantastic traineeship in Microsoft Community Affairs and Citizenship Middle East and Africa in Istanbul! Shoould be there in 2-3 weeks...

So, I got a traineeship of my dreams! CSR and ICT in the same time! woohooooooooooo :)

will write more later... my brain doesn`t work so good at this moment :)

Self-Awareness

Click and fill in if you have a couple of minutes...
Simply click on words you find appropriate (word is selected when field becomes white)...

http://kevan.org/johari?name=Nikola+Jovanovic

Thanks!

Financial Times - Belgrade is a city of the future

Nice news indeed... Someone actually noticed that Belgrade is growing :)
In the next round of voting, Belgrade will be fighting for the title of City of future in South Europe and then hopefully get to the final round...
More at FDI Magazine

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The votes for the first round of the European Cities and Regions of the Future 2006/07 have been counted. Charles Piggott reports on the locations that scored highest in the 28 individual criteria across the seven main categories.

A total of 89 hopeful locations filed bids with fDi to join the magazine’s list of Cities and Regions of the Future.

SOUTHERN EUROPE/SOUTH-EAST CENTRAL EUROPE:

Winner: Belgrade, Serbia

Serbia’s economy grew at 8.6% in 2004 and GDP growth is expected to exceed 6% in 2005. Total investment in Serbia in 2005 is estimated to be €1.65bn and significant recent investors include Italy’s Banca Intesa, US company Ball Packaging and Germany’s Metro Cash & Carry. Metro’s facility in Belgrade was the largest greenfield investment in south-east Europe in 2004. In addition, Microsoft has established its first software development centre in south-east Europe in Belgrade.

Negotiations over Kosovo status have began...

...yesterday in Vienna...
I`ll write more about the proposed solutions later, but until then, check out this BBC Belgrade video on "Why are Serbs reluctant to give up Kosovo". It doesn`t cover all the reasons, nor it is expected from BBC though, but it is still a nice presentation of what Serbs think about it...

Click here and then click on video file on the right side.

Traineeship....

I have officially became an SN... :) (it feels strange, I must admit :P)

...and am looking for a position in CSR, Sustainable development, marketing, HR...
well, CSR is what I`d prefer, but anything and anywhere I will consider...

Check me out - SN-In-YU-BK-2006-1252 - and match me :)