Simona Palumbo, 25 years, Palermo
Educational Internship in Turkey, Istanbul
February 2010 - till now

Responsibilities: work in Royal English College as an English and Italian teacher for managers.

"I AM LIVING MY DREAM..

Working in Turkey was my biggest dream and it came true thanks to AIESEC. It has been the best experience of my life for many reasons.


1. I have never been so happy and enthusiastic in all my life. Sometimes I feel like crying thinking of what I am surrounded by here.
2. I proved to myself that if you work hard and if you really believe in yourself and in your dreams you can get them.
3. I have grown in self-confidence and I have learned how to be a good teacher, how beautiful is to work close to people from every part of the world.
4. I learned how great is to discover day by day such a historical, deep, colourful and unique culture as the Turkish one is. How amazing and exciting is to communicate speaking Turkish; when you realize that now you a part of here.
5. I learned that, even in a very different country, some new friends can become your family and make you happy with their smile and pure friendship.
6. I understood that a country can change your life forever, leaving a deep sign in you.
7. I experienced also how hard is to understand some radical points of view, when you cry seeing some people burning another country's flag, or listening to someone who declares the inferiority of women...feeling so disappointed... but afterall I understood that the things that make me love this country are much much more than the few things that i don't like :)


AIESEC changed my life, giving me the best present of ever.
So every day when I meet my students, when I learn from them every feature of this culture, when I dance with my Turkish friends, when I drink raki, when I speak Turkish, when I listen to Sezen Aksun singing about Istanbul, when I look at the Bosphoros ...I FEEL ALIVE like I have never felt and I reach what I usually call "my pick of happiness".

THANKS AIESEC!"