MC Team, ASSEMBLE!

So I haven't been posting too much in the past week since our team went to Rijeka, the largest port in Croatia and third largest city. We went down to meet up with our fourth and final member of the MC team (Member Committee = National Leadership Team) to do our business and year planning. We took the bus down and it took about 3 hours. Another interesting note on transportation: Here, it costs less, but takes longer to take the train from city to city, as opposed to most European cities and train systems. An equivalent train ride would have taken us about 4-5 hours and saved us around 10% of the ticket cost (200 kuna round trip). Below, you see a beautiful view of the lovely Rijeka!

We strolled around the city and checked out the University area, a church and a nearby Castle. Croatia is a Catholic country, so by default, there are churches aplenty here. I have yet to find an English service somewhere in Zagreb. As for the castle, parts of it were closed off for renovations. Luckily, we were able to sneak in and take a look around. For me, the city wasn't all that astounding, but what was exciting was the people here. We went out to one of the guys from Rijeka's weekend home and had a sweet bbq party. There was about 25 people there throughout the evening, and it was great to meet so many people from Rijeka. The spirit in that group was quite overwhelming, so I'm really looking forward to working and partying it up with them in the coming year.

But the biggest highlight of Rijeka was definitely to finally be united as a full team (of 4...)! It felt really awesome! And here they are:
From left to right:

Ana Komadina - She's our only native Croatian on the team is taking up the role of MCVP Exchange. She's the most energetic and enthusiastic person of the team, with a strong sense of optimism, which I find more and more rare in AIESEC.

Olga Tsyganova - She comes from Chelyabinsk, Russia, and is our MCVP Communication. More of a passive type, but once she's engaged in something, she becomes very passionate and focussed on the topic on hand. She's also a super night owl, always up til 5 in the morning doing something or other.

Owen Chung - The beast from the east, but I guess now I'm really more of a beast from the West. As the only person from overseas and the only guy, it'll be an interesting dynamics working with these 3. I'm taking on the role of MCVP LC Development, Projects, Talent Management, and coaching for External Relations... mother... MCVPLCDPTMER... yeah, we'll call it that...

Jelena Dujak - She's from Zurich, Switzerland, but her parents are both from the region, so she is able to speak Croatian fluently, and is our Member Committee President. She's someone who knows how to work hard and play just as hard. In my limited time working with her, she seems very direct and blunt. I've always wanted to be surrounded by these people, but we'll have to wait to see the extent to which she is this way and if I right in assuming I would enjoy it.

A few more noteworthy things about our team:

• We have no LCPs in our MC Team! WOOH! Jelena's background is LCVPTM and NST TM in Switzerland, while the other two come from being LCVPs in their own areas.
• Jele and Ana can speak Croatian, while Olga and I cannot. But with her Russian, Olga is able to comprehend and pick up the language with a bit more ease. FML.
• This is the first AIESEC team where I'm the oldest person on the team, though just by a few months.