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Picking up where my fellow student Falco Hartenfelser left off, with this blog post I want to shift the focus away from the European Financial Congress agenda, which by the way was very well organized, to a even more important aspect. Besides all the high-calibre guests (e.g. Joschka Fischer) from politics, financial institutions and corporations in general debating and discussing a wide range of topics, for me it was more about the people we met and the experiences we´ve shared together. About their background, about their ideas, motivation and plans for the future. They were all such genuinely open-minded that I really enjoyed talking to so many different kind of people. It was also very delighting to see that even guest speakers like WBK Bank Pekao CEO Mateusz Morawiecki, were seriously more interested in talking about finding one`s true passion, about regrets as well as struggles and about encouraging us to make difficult personal decisions. Those workshops where organized in a way that everybody could contribute and ask questions in small rounds. One of many examples is Mr. Mateusz Morawiecki. He elaborated on his very dangerous past when he was one of the key players fighting the old communist system in Poland and also about his political career before joining one of Poland’s biggest banks as an CEO. I honestly didn’t expect the congress to be this exciting.
On top of that, alongside the congress there were lots of interesting activities such as concerts, night events or visiting the exhibition of Poland’s history of fighting communism in the 70`s. Here we were honoured to meet and speak to Nobel prize laureate Lech Walesa who was the leader of the anti-communism movement in Poland. Which actually is a huge achievement for the polish people.
And again, it wasn’t history or his accomplishments he talked about, it was about what he thinks is important for our generation right now and that if he could, he would give up all his achievements for being born in our generation for all the opportunities that we are offered in today’s world. That it had never been easier to see the world and expand one`s own mind. In my opinion this very thoughtful advice contains a lot of truth, which we tend to ignore from time to time.
In the last days we were given the opportunity to learn about Poland in a totally new way. Besides getting to know the historic relevance of the cities of Gdansk, Sopot and Gdenia, we were able to get in touch with the locals and being introduced to several traditional polish beverages. In my case for example I highly recommend a variety of local polish vodka, but my favourite one is definitely the renowned Bison Grass Vodka (Zubrowka). Once you tried it, you will never go back.
By the way I want to mention that we not only had the chance to talk to Nobel prize laureate Mr. Lech Walesa, but we where also departing with him on the same plane from an airport which carried his name. Which was more or less funny.
The bottom line of this blog post is, whatever you do and wherever you are, it is always about the people you meet, the inspiration they provide for you, the ideas and experiences you share, the friends you make along the way and finally the impact you make to your surrounding.
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