Happy Birthday Europe!

Today we are celebrating Europe and all its values. A lot of us don’t know exactly what happened in this day, so some info from the official site of EU:

On the 9th of May 1950, Robert Schuman presented his proposal on the creation of an organised Europe, indispensable to the maintenance of peaceful relations.
This proposal, known as the "Schuman declaration", is considered to be the beginning of the creation of what is now the European Union.
Today, the 9th of May has become a European symbol (Europe Day) which, along with the flag, the anthem, the motto and the single currency (the euro), identifies the political entity of the European Union. Europe Day is the occasion for activities and festivities that bring Europe closer to its citizens and peoples of the Union closer to one another.

More information about the Schuman Declaration from 9th of May 1950 you can find it here: http://europa.eu/abc/symbols/9-may/decl_en.htm .

I think that this day should be celebrated together as a big family. Every country should prepare an event based on a European Union value. In this way, the countries from EU will be celebrating Europe in the same way emphasizing on a European value expressed in an original point of view of each culture. In this celebration, I would also invite Turkey, Republic of Macedonia, Croatia, Switzerland, Norway, Lichtenstein and Iceland.

In Bucharest, you can celebrate this day:
- By going to the festival of the European films (http://www.festivalulfilmuluieuropean.ro/ );
- By visiting the art gallery “Europa in oglinda cartografiei”- Europe facing its maps- that is taking place at the Museum of Cotroceni (from 9th till 30th of may);
- By partying at EuropaFest that will take place at Hard Rock Cafe starting from 20.30;
- By going at the Arch of Triumph at 15.30 to see the fanfare of the Romanian military service;
- The Arch of Triumph it is open today and you can visit it, there will be an exhibition of weapons;
- Other museum are opened, one of them is the Military museum where you can see military uniforms from 19th century.

So, if u are not into this kind of shit :P, you can still party in order to enjoy this wonderful sunny day!

What does it mean to be a volunteer?

Many of us don’t fully understand the idea of volunteering. Many think that to be a volunteer means to work without being paid or to waste your time helping others than yourself. This is what, nowadays, Romanians think about it. I am trying to change that perception and to make them understand that to be a volunteer means so much to themselves and to their society.

To be a volunteer has only advantages: to get involved in different activities that can keep you active and not be so connected to your daily job; doing something new and creative that can help you gather more information, enlarge your knowledge, taking on new skills; meeting new people, making friends and developing your networking; changing the scenery..not only work and home; participating at events that can improve your life style and changing your way of thinking: become open-minded, a sociable and caring person, develop empathy. You can be proud of yourself that you helped someone, you made a change in someone’s life.
Besides all these, you are helping the society to get more involved in civic matters.
European Volunteer Centre on http://www.cev.be/56-why_volunteering_matters!_56-EN.html is explaining exactly what volunteering means and why we all should do that as a European citizen.
I will show you just one paragraph from there: "Volunteering is an significant economic factor. The voluntary sector contributes an estimated 5% to the GDP of our national economies (according to a recent Johns Hopkins University Study) and many voluntary sector organisations depend heavily on the work of volunteers to carry out their activities”.

You can also work as a volunteer for a lot of international organisations like UNICEF, Youth Action for Peace, Service Civil International..all the list with the organisations you can find it here: http://www.cev.be/108-international_volunteer_opportunities-EN.html.
European Volunteer Oportunities: http://www.cev.be/105-european_volunteer_opportunities-EN.html; And for the ones who are internet addicted: online volunteering: http://www.cev.be/104-online_volunteering-EN.html .

In Romania all the organisations need your help. One in particular is IHTIS Independent life- association who helps youngsters with disabilities have a normal life. IHTIS wants your support in building a medical centre. Their new campaign is called: “350.000Euro= Solidaritatea a 350.000 de oameni”- The solidarity of 350.000 people.
You can help them raise this money if you make a donation of only 1 Euro in the following bank accounts of BCR- Dorohoi agency (fiscal code: 16690411).
RO14RNCB0044002865610001- for Romanian lei
RO84RNCB0044002865610002- for Euros
RO57RNCB0044002855610003- for Dollars.
If you don’t donate, you can become a volunteer and help them raise this money. You can start now by disseminating this information. See? It is so easy..
I think that everybody should be, once in their lifetime, a volunteer..so what are you waiting for??