Take a breath/Slow down adviser

/ No of words Time limit (4-6) /

Obje tives

!is overin" m# own $ath

The experience of living, working and studying in the US acted almost as a catalyst to my personal and professional development. It happened 7 years ago, I was 1 !ack then, "ust graduated from #S, and was !rave enough to leave everything !ehind and start a new life in the land of opportunities.$hat I would like to share with you and to point out in my speech is how this one%year venture&escapade shaped my !ehaviour and thinking. I'll give only three examples and may!e the most relevant ones I could identify. 1. I've !ecome more organi(ed ) to the point of !eing a control freak, seriously. I did have an agenda !efore and my daily schedule was !usy with going to school, to *ath lessons, teaching +nglish and other chores. Similarly, in the States I had to manage private classes, school schedule, playtime and planning other activities for an th year old girl. *eanwhile, I was going to college and developed a strong relationship with my host family. *y weekdays were passing incredi!ly fast, running from one place to the other. ,fter one year, after I left the ,merican territory, I found myself writing to%do%lists, how to do what is on the to%do%list, I always carry post%its in my !ag, and of course I have a !igger agenda that fits perfect in my over%si(ed !ag. -. The second accomplishment ) if I can call it as such ) is learning to set goals, to actually plan to achieve them, to take tiny steps to fulfil your dreams. ,nd what is of huge importance for me is that I have started, since then, to invest in my personal education and development.

.. Thirdly, I've !ecome more open minded as I started knowing people of different ethnic !ackground and I started to !e more aware of what's happening in the world in terms of development, economic ine/uality and charity work. This actually ended up with me working in non%profit organi(ations trying to !ring social change for those in need. #ow did it all start0 I saw a commercial on T1 which advertised giving donations to poor ,frican%,merican children. I guess you can imagine the images they were showing2 close%ups with sad children faces, tears in their eyes, misery around them and a white woman holding a skinny child in her arms. 3uite predictable/sleezy/kitschy I would say now4 5ut then, I was shocked to see that poverty exists in US ) I didn't reali(e at first if the children were ,fricans or ,fro%,mericans. I was /uite ignorant at that time and wasn't aware of anything that was happening outside of 6omania.

In the end, I know for sure it was during that year when I have decided what I want to do in life, when I have started to feel the thirst for more knowledge and the desire to work hard for what I want to achieve. So, when coming !ack home, it didn't take long, to my astonishment, to find children in the same situation as those on the ,merican T1 commercial. ,nd here I am, working in poor villages with 6oma children and trying to offer them a !etter start in life. In the same time I'm coordinating the local charity network and organi(ing my own personal life. $ell,I didn't use to !elieve in what my dad used to say 17 years ago a!out the importance of discovering other countries. 5ut now, I definitely agree that one has to get out of his&her comfort (one in order to experience living in a different culture4