Life as a Canadian on the MC of Slovenia
With a lot of you applying for international MCs right now, for those of you going abroad for any significant amount and especially for those of you who want to know how I've been for the past seven months, read on.

I went on an exchange to Uruguay seven years ago when I was seventeen, between high school and university. That was one of the most formative experiences of my life. I worked on a team of ten Canadians and ten Uruguayos, while we learned to be leaders and to learn from each other. Well, in Slovenia there are no Canadians and instead of having no leadership experience, I already have a lot.

So I come to a country where they consider a two hour train ride from Ljubljana to Maribor constitutes a weekend away, where everyone looks the same (as I mentioned in a Maribor newspaper during recruitment) and where people consider Jan Plestanjak a sex symbol. I took up my position as VP External Relations and Finance immediately and went along slowly. I had done research on the country and my job before coming but I tried to have no expectations.

The first thing I noticed was that everyone was white. Victoria may not be as intercultural as Toronto but there are plenty of different people there. Half of my friends in university were Asian. So I'm here eating three kinds of burek and pizza every day for three months while I lived in Ljubljana, the capital and biggest city in the country--colossal at 300,000 people--and doing AIESEC work. I quickly learned a lot about the business culture going on sales calls to some of the biggest Slovenian and foreign owned corporations here. And I learned the basics of Slovene since half of the people in the stores don't speak English. Spanish was easy. The basics of Slovene are so different from all the other languages I know so it's hard stuff.

Being away from my family and friends was always hard of course but I made friends here, mostly with AIESECers, pretty quickly. The people I know are mostly nice people and friends of mine. The people I don't know, so people in restaurants, the supermarket, stores, they're mostly jerks. The good thing is that most of them like someone who is actually trying to learn their language that's only spoken by 2m people. If you go somewhere, learn at least a few words and phrases: people appreciate it.

Slovenia is so small that after a couple of months I had seen most of the nice places to see. That's not to say they're not spectacular. I've been to Postojna Cave and Predjama Castle, the coast at Portoroz, Bled about a thousand times and everywhere I go is great. It's like all the nature of Canada (let's say of BC because it's the nicest part of Canada) but squeezed into like twenty square kilometres.

I ran out of money pretty quickly because the MC didn't have the money to cover my expenses (and they still don't--that's why I'm teaching English in Maribor). So I've been living a pretty frugal life to say the least. I prefer it this way now, spending as little as possible because it means that I save a bit. But that's just me. All of us on the MC are hurting for money. It makes it really difficult to get together more than once every two weeks (or once a month really), and I don't like it because I love my team and we could accomplish more if we were in the same city. It's not realistic now because we don't have the money, but it should be a priority of every year after this one.

The AIESEC culture is different in Europe from Canada. Maybe that's obvious because AIESEC culture varies with the people. Though there is very little money, experience and exchanges right now, that is a challenge I am learning a lot from. One difference I don't like is that in conferences in Canada everyone is dancing and cheering as hard as they can in every plenary, break out room and hotel room, and the energy in the conferences I've been to in Europe have looooow. Where are the cheers for all the LCs? Why doesn't the MC have a cheer? It's my fault for not starting more of an energetic culture!

I love that you don't just learn about Slovenia here. The people have the Slovenian perspective on Yugoslavia, socialism and communism and the European Union. The Yugoslavs considered each other brothers and sisters but now there has been so much violence in places like Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia that most people are quick to forget the past. I have had a lot of discussions on Yugoslavia and the war with people in Slovenia and Croatia, with Serbs and Macedonians and Bosnians. All of them remember different sides to the war and many other things. In fact, I think the main reason that nationalism came along and broke Yugoslavia apart is that no one can agree on anything. If I ask about a historical figure or maybe a food, I am given a different answer from each person. A Croat would tell me it came from Croatia, a Serb would tell me it came from Serbia and a Slovene would say, 'yes, it comes from Serbia but it has its roots in Slovenia.' So I've stopped asking those questions. And I've stopped trying to persuade people that nationalism is divisive and pointless, and that if no one can agree on what happened in the war then none of us really know the truth. I'm not getting anywhere.

I have three other Canucks on MCs in ex Yu: Matt in Zagreb, Steph in Belgrade and Patty in Skopje and I think we feel a certain bond through being here together, even though most of us haven't seen each other since we arrived. Maybe we'll meet up somewhere in the next few months.

I have changed so much as a person in the last seven months. All of the MC has but I think especially the three of us, Sandra, Darko and me, from other countries. I have spent so much time questioning my values and determining who I want to be. When you go home after a long enough time away, it's a foreign country. It has been hard being away but I am more mature, more clear of who I am, what I want out of life and how I want to get it. I have a big group of new and really good friends. And I never had to lose my old friends to gain new ones.

I recommend a international MC term, a traineeship and lots more life changing experiences like this to anyone wanting to know what they want out of life. Maybe you even want to apply for the MC in Slovenia. Or maybe you just want to invite me to facilitate your conference. Either way, hvala lepa in lepo se imejte.

Chris Haynes
Vice President of External Relations
AIESEC in Slovenia