World Refugee Day

While my internship was doing great at UNHCR, I decided to extended for two extra months so I can participate in preparations of World Refugee Day and work under supervision of Anahit. The experience I have gained in the past two months were nothing like what I thought it would be. It was crazy in all senses of the word! So much to do, so much to get ready for and most importantly, the amount of responsibility I got turned my life into something completely different.

There is a saying "Be careful for what you wish for 'cause you just may get it". I often forget this and wish things that I am not ready for. World Refugee Day was one of those cases. Don't worry, everything turned out to be good in the end. I survived!

I was very excited to start and honestly, I was very much prepared that I am going to "rock everyone's world". Two months prior to World Refugee Day (which is June 20th btw) we were already preparing the lists of events we were going to have. After long and painful hours of drafting the budget and crossing the fingers for its final approval, after so many cups of coffee in the morning, afternoon and night, gazillion phone calls, fights and made-ups, and whatnots, we finally came up with the very final agenda for World Refugee Day (WRD) which basically pretty big! In my blog I will just write about those that I was engaged in, leaving the rest of nice events out (sorry).

So, this is the agenda of the events for an entire week of WRD.

June 16 - Flash-mob "Texture of the City we Found"
June 17 - WRD in Darbnik Village
June 18 - Integration seminar (not really my thing, but I had to be there)
June 20 - A morning show "Aravot Luso" hosted UNHCR Representative, a Press Conferance at UN Hall with media representatives, exhibition and Umbrella march (I really doubted that I would survive that day)
June 22 - Media through Arts event by Eiva at English Park
June 23 - Streetball!

I have no idea how we were going to survive this week.

Honestly, I wasn't ready for so much. On the other hand, it was an interesting challenge for me - how well will I do as an individual, as an intern and as a team-member.

I only snapped like 20 times during the whole thing, so I did good overall (in case you haven't noticed, that was sarcasm :P )

I have learned so much about people, friendships and betrayal, punctuality and just taking things easy... I can't promise that I will not do the same mistakes in the future, but I will at least know what will go wrong.

You win some, you lose some

Before I proceed to writing about the warmest and most inspiring events of my experience in UNHCR and perhaps the whole summer of 2013 - let me just stop right here and look back.

Look at all the people that I have lost and all those who I have found. Honestly, lost only a few and found so many. It's progress, believe it or not. Still when I look back I realize that I miss the old ones too. By lost I don't mean they are dead, but rather we are not friends anymore. 8 years have passed and now look where we are: not even talking.

The reason I am open about writing about this in public is that I am sure she will not be reading this, just like she never read any of my previous blogs. I miss her, I honestly do. (yes dad, another emotional sentence). I can never stop being mad at her, even though there is not much to forgive. We both said some things we didn't mean, and at some point we both realized that we are very different and that our friendship was hanging by the thread for too long and that she basically doesn't need me... I can never stop being mad at her, because if I do - it will mean that I have nothing left from her...

How "Diversity for Change" was created

What I was talking to Mrs. T. from "Mission Armenia" was a opportunity to apply for a very small grant (1000 USD) to Open Society Institute, called "Youth Action Fund" given to non-formal groups who would impress them with a decent project proposal. Even though I had no experience writing a project proposal or at least coming up with something to propose, I thought I would still give myself a try and at least meet the "informal" group. What do you know, maybe something would come to mind.

Believe it or not - it did. Let me start from the beginning.

I was invited to a meeting of DAFI students. DAFI is an annual Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiate, funded by German government.

There weren't many of them present there. All ethnically Armenian students, mostly fled from Iraq quite a long time ago, with cutest Western Armenian accents... I knew we would go along pretty well.

While brainstorming about a hypothetical project proposal, looking for something simply, classy and worth implementing and wasting time on, I was hearing them talk, having slight difficulties understanding their dialect at first. And then it hit me! What is it that I am good at? What is it that I can do with no problem? What is it that I enjoy? Intercultural communication! DUH!!

So, not to bore you with 48-hour-long flow of ideas and proposal writing (finally all those IREX trainings paying off) we had the most flawless project proposal: trainings for local, refugee and expatriate youth in Armenia. You know how we named it? Diversity for Change!

While awaiting for the reply from OSI, another month came to its end. There, I have been an intern at UNHCR for over 3 months. I extended my internship for another 3 months. I wanted to make a change and finally I had hope that it's possible.

Spoiler! We got the grant!! Wanna learn more about it? Go to http://diversityforchange.blogspot.com/ to see how it all went. Another spoiler: it went amazing.

Before I start writing about my "kids" (that is how I call the participants from "Diversity", because when I am with them I feel like I they are all my kids, many of whom may act like they are 3-4 years old (just kidding) and I just have maternal instincts towards each and every one of them).

For the past 6 months we have had meetings with them, covering different topics like "Stress Management", "Time management", "Effective Communication", co-operating with different organizations like "Mission Armenia", "KASA" Swiss Humanitarian Foundation (the participants really liked the trainer, Marine. She ended becoming a very close friend of ours) and many more (please learn about them from the blog of Diversity for Change).

The project came to its end in June 2013. I will resist being emotional right now, but I would like to express at least what is on my mind right now, may my dad (who always reminds me to be less emotional when I write and pretty much for any other occasion) forgive me for this.

This project completely changed me, my values and my plans for the future. I have learned so much from each and every one of them. Refugees, expatriates or locals - does it matter? Our project was perfect even with its ups and downs, with long evenings and facebook conversations. It was made with love and implemented with passion, patience and one main goal - to integrate the refugees and expatriates.

The group not only attended the meetings and trainings, it became a team, something I wasn't sure I could make them become. They stayed together for World Refugee Day events, volunteered and helped me out so much. They are my biggest accomplishment. I am so proud of them...

I love you guys! And I will miss each and every one of you...

There. I let out my emotions. Sue me.

If you want to learn more about the project, please visit here.

Speaking of World Refugee Day... read my next post and you will find out.

The smoothest ride

It's been two months since I've been an intern at UNHCR. To be honest, after the first two weeks of being mesmerized by the fact that I am finally living my childhood dream, entering the shiny building of United Nations, the rest was pretty... casual. I knew that I was not going to change the world or something, but copying and scanning wasn't what I dreamed about doing either. My advice to you: before dreaming about working in one place or another, be very specific of what you want to do there. Me, I thought that just entering the building of UN will open new horizons for me. Apparently, not so much. I wanted to do more, much more...

One day, when I visited the office of one of our implementing partners: Mission Armenia NGO, a very "kind" organization who works with refugees in Armenia. I was present at one of their distributions, where they were giving out all kinds of goods to refugees. One of the social workers, Mrs. T. and I started talking and I told her how much I want to do more than just office work, and we were both brainstorming about how I can help refugees, especially the youth and we came up with something that turned out to be one of the most exciting and unforgettable experiences in my life.

I was thinking about it when I was given the smoothest ride in my life back to the office.

I knew I wanted and I could contribute. Just wasn't sure exactly how...

How I ended up where I did...

For those who are planning to follow the blog (thank you very much for that, of course) I will give you a heads up - it is going to be a pretty emotional blog. So, don't tell me I didn't warn you.

After BMI was shut down, I was at the crossroads of my life and didn't know what I was going to do with it.  I had a few options, either stay at Zvartnots airport as customer service agent (working not for an airline, but the airport) or start looking for a job in other field. Which field? That I didn't know the answer to. It took me a couple of days with no job to realize that I better hurry with my decision...

After searching for a couple of jobs online and asking here and there if they want a very dedicated employee, I decided to apply to an organization that I have admired since the age of 13. Why 13? I remember I was walking down the center of Yerevan one night with my father, discussing my future with him. We were talking about what job and profession would suit my already tough and goal-oriented personality. I knew remotely what I wanted, but I couldn't express it. I wanted a job where I could always be in touch with foreigners, travel, learn languages and get paid a lot... (duh! Who doesn't?) but I didn't know what the name of that profession was called... And suddenly we reached the United Nations House... A shiny and small building with beautifully blue fence and white cars with huge "UN" stickers on them. I didn't know what the UN was, but I can tell for sure - I felt that at some point I was going to end up there.

Years have passed, and that story was long forgotten (although I did graduate from a Linguistic University, faculty of Intercultural Communication). Now, I decided to try my destiny and try to apply to the UN for an internship (I knew that I would NOT qualify for a position of staff... thought I would save that for when I am 30)... now the toughest decision was yet to come. Which department?

I immediately thought of UNICEF. So cliche, right? I wrote an email to someone I knew that was working there, so that he could give me advice on who to turn to for an internship opportunity. Never wrote back to me :(

I looked through other departments, out of which I didn't heard of many. UNHCR? What is that? High Commissioner for WHAT? I had to look up the word refugee in the dictionary (yes, I do feel embarrassing sharing this)

But then, I discovered that it would be a great challenge for me to apply there. Besides, the organization just sounded so cool. I couldn't resist it and wrote the lamest email in my life, asking for an internship position, without even attaching my CV, waiting for no reply at all...

Meanwhile, I was researching scholarship programs, thinking maybe Grad School would sound interesting. Googled Erasmus Mundus, just to see what programs they have... Looked through it... and there!! Time stopped for a while, I felt the cold wind on my face... There it was: the program that I have been searching for my whole life, a program so perfect that no other faculty in Oxford or other top university could have (I exaggerated again) I felt that what I saw was made especially for me to apply and I immediately regretted about sending a lame email to UNHCR. I could have done a better job. Ah well...

I thought to myself that if I get a positive response from them regarding the internship - I will soooo apply to that Erasmus Program. Guessing what program it is? Yes, it's EMMIR! European Master's in Migration and Intercultural Relations. The program for me...

Three days, about 4 emails from Mrs. E.D. (will not write the full name of my "future" supervisor") and a 6 month internship contract later - I knew I was going to Germany for my Master's...

My BMI

I will probably write this story a little later...

Let's get started

Tam tadadaaaam...

Hi guys, Laura here...

So I am going to dedicate this blog "218 Stories" to the upcoming two years of my life. Why so? Well, something really awesome happened to me recently! For the second time in my life I got the opportunity to study abroad. The first time it was Global UGRAD, a US Funded program which sponsored my studies in Berea College, KY, USA for an entire academic year (had a blog then too, if you are interested)

So, this program is called EMMIR - European Master in Migration and Intercultural Relations, which really goes well with my Bachelor's degree in Linguistics and Intercultural Communication that I received from Yerevan State Linguistic University (oh, forgot to mention, I am from Armenia). To be honest sometimes I think that EMMIR has been designed especially for me, but more on that later...

There are billion reasons why I am so excited about studying at EMMIR, but the three main ones are the following:

First of all, EMMIR is a joint program among 7 different Universities in Europe and Africa, so basically  I will be traveling A LOT!! 4 semesters, 4 different Universities, plus an internship. How amazing is that, huh? :)

Second, the full scholarship that I received (which is covered by Erasmus Mundus) is going to cover EVERYTHING! It's amazing, because there was no way I would be able to pay for the entire program by myself.

Third, I highly value education, especially in a field that is not taught in any university in Armenia.

The third cohort (I mean the one that I am in) starts on September 1st and I can't wait for the years 2013-15 to be the awesomest and most educational years of my life!

If you have any questions - please leave a comment and I promise to get back to you :)