Merhaba!

We are currently having the 2^nd day of the CEE pre-meeting and we have still one day to go. On Tuesday there is the day 0 of IC meaning the open Global Village and other openings (both inside and external) are going to take place.

For the first 2 days all of us from the IC delegation and also Marina attended the Study Tour in Istanbul. We saw many interesting and beautiful places of this huge city. There are actually 11,008,790 inhabitants and it’s area is 1,538,77 km². For example we visited Hagia Sophia which is famous in particular for its massive dome, it is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture and one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. Also Grand Bazaar which is one of the largest covered markets in the world, Dolmabahçe castle (served as the main administrative center of the Ottoman Empire from 1853 to 1922) and other mosque’s and places.

Yesterday was the first days of the pre-meeting and it was about sharing the realities of the countries, understanding the timelines of all the 25 countries (extension included), getting to know the CEE GN board, becoming CEEtizen etc. Today we went more into our projects and co-operation points. The EnterCEE program was re-launched and I’m very proud that all the 3 LCs in Estonia are participating in it. We also went more deeply into the topics connected with CEE. For example with TM people we were thinking about the agenda of EnterCEE conference, other groups talked about matching, ER, tracking etc.

I have met a lot of new people and to my surprise I also have a lot of old acquaintances here present. For example the OCP of Study Tour – Melih – attended the CEEMOS/CEELDS 2007 conference in Estonia and I was VP delegates then of that conference. Or the Baltic Energy 2006 co-facis Tiger, Petra and Slavik. Or Rita from Latvia who is in the OC finance team. I’m extremely glad for seeing our Estonians who are abroad here – it is just great to be ablt to talk with Deniss and Helena, share the differences of realities and remember old times. It’s a small world.

I’m missing the cool weather of Estonia and the smiling eyes of you all. To keep yourself updated what is happening in IC check out the IC Live page here.

Always yours,

Kadi