Self Discoveries through LEAP and a Slovenian Birthday Celebration

After an exhaustive travel weekend, we jumped head-on into an intense academic week at CIMBA to remain on track.  Running off less than eight hours sleep  from the weekend made the 8 am classes and full-day curriculum difficult, but the interesting material we covered in class and the LEAP seminars made it doable.  Just as my body began to recover, the weekend arrived and the “no sleep” trend continued into Slovenia.  Let’s start with the beginning of the week.

I knew the week was going to be difficult when it was announced that we had two hour LEAP seminars every night (except Friday).  It was already Week 5, which meant that quizzes, presentations, and exams had come into play and studying for them while completing homework left little free time for additional activities such as gym time. I had a quiz Wednesday morning, a pop quiz on Thursday (not prepared for that!), and an important presentation on Friday for my management team.  Given these circumstances  I was a not feeling  exactly motivated to attend the LEAP events.  That feeling changed after the first seminar.

During the first LEAP seminar the instructors coached my group through analyzing the personality assessments we completed prior to the program and helped us make sense of what the data was telling us.  When I was taking the assessments, I thought that many of the questions were meaningless and the results would not accurately portray who I am. I could not have been more wrong.  My Strengthfinder assessment results were spot-on with my top three strengths and it was interesting to see my NEO Personality Inventory results as NEO is regarded as one of the most accurate personality assessments.  The seminar passed quickly as the entire time I was learning more about myself and becoming more aware of the habits that shape my social interactions.  It was intriguing and valuable because now I am more aware of my subliminal thoughts and habits that shape who I am which means I can now change them to help me become who I want to be in the future.  For instance, during the rest of the week I was able to identify circumstances where I usually act in a way contrary to the goals I set for myself, but thanks to the LEAP seminar I was self-aware and able to respond in a manner that was more aligned with my goals.  The best part is that I can continue to shape my actions for the better until they become my new habits.

During the second LEAP seminar, I presented my findings from a self-test I was assigned that dealt with my mental speed before and after an intense 30 minute workout. Other members in my group did self-tests on their mental speed after drinking coffee, waking up an hour earlier vs. at their regular wake up time, in the beginning of the day vs. the end of the day, etc.  It was interesting to learn how simple it is to construct self-tests to become more self-aware.  I would like to have an instructor assist me with creating a test to determine my optimal study time because discovering my optimal study time would be unbelievably helpful when I am studying for final exams.  The final  two nights we completed our KT seminars which means we are one take-home test away from becoming KT certified!  Almost every large company is now requiring their employees to undergo decision-making and problem-solving training similar to KT (or KT itself) which means having a KT certification is a solid line on any resume.

After preparing for my presentation all night Thursday and successfully delivering it in class on Friday, it was time to unwind.  My group had booked a trip to Ljubljana, the capital city of  Slovenia, and I was more than ready to go.  Fifteen of us hopped on our shuttles to Slovenia at 7:00pm and following a three and a half hour drive (during which we threw a mini dance party in the shuttle when we had to stop for 30 minutes for an Italian woman to smoke a cigarette) we arrived in Ljubljana.  We booked dorms in Hostel Celica, the most famous hostel in Slovenia. It is a renovated jail and the staff are very friendly.  The hostel was located in a city within the city as it was in middle of the most “hipster” place I had ever been in my life.  We entered the area through walls covered with artistic graffiti.  All the buildings within the walls were likewise covered in graffiti and the locals in the streets wore the most outrageous outfits I had ever seen.  It was an incredible culture shock and there were plenty of populated hipster hangouts next to our hostel.  My friend, Seamus, and I ventured out into the unknown and immediately felt that we stood out for being too plainly dressed!  We decided to go to a popular club outside the hipster city first and on the way discovered the most amazing fast food: the doner kebab.  The doner kebab is a 2.50 to 3.50 euro (depending on the restaurant) sandwich that is stuffed with your choice of chicken or beef, lettuce, tomato, and two sauces, the names of which I do not know.  It is the perfect fast food fix that I would venture to say is somewhat healthy! The club was packed and Slovenian songs were playing which was cool.  After staying for a good bit, we decided to head back to the hostel area and check out one of the hipster clubs.  I do not know how else  to describe it other than bizarre yet awesome.  The females generally had shorter hair than us whereas the guys had dreadlocks and hair down to their mid-backs.  The DJ was blasting old-school American hip-hop such as “U Can’t Touch This” by M.C. Hammer and “Hot in Here” by Nelly.  It was quite the experience.

The next morning Seamus and I hopped on a bus to visit the famous Postojna Cave.  It is in my top 5 coolest things I have seen in my life.  It was massive and the rock formations were amazing.  The inside of the cave was white with orange patches where iron is located above and grey/black patches where soil had eroded through the stone.  The tour guide informed us that the Postojna cave tour is the longest cave tour in the world that is publicly accessible. It was a 5km tour, with 4km traveled in a small train and another 1 km by foot.  The only life forms in the cave besides a few insect species are white salamanders.  It is a must-see if you travel to Slovenia and take care that if you visit in summer that the cave will still be about 40 degrees Fahrenheit so dress warm!  Also, I noticed that the ticket office at the cave had an entire Pitbull playlist so I am assuming he is a popular singer in Slovenia (or the office manager recently bought his CD).

That night we reconnected with the rest of our group and enjoyed a feast at a local restaurant that Nina, an MBA student at CIMBA  and undergraduate campus life coordinator from Slovenia, recommended.  The restaurant was called “Das ist Valter” and for only 4.50 euro we were given a local cuisine composed of 10 pieces of meat between two thin slices of pancake-style bread with onions.  My only advice is to arrive with an appetite because it is a lot of great tasting food!  After dinner, we tasted a local honey liquor spirit that one of the group members had purchased.  I mention this because we had to heat the liquor before drinking it which I had never done previously.  I could taste the warm honey take the bite out of the kick from the liquor and soothe my throat as it went down.  It was not bad at all.  It was a beautiful night so our group decided to walk to the city center along the river.  Along the way, we stopped to enjoy some delicious gelato.  During the walk, a couple of the guys and I joked about possibly setting criteria for the night. We learned in LEAP and KT how setting criteria is the first step to ensure that goals are met and that night our goals were to have fun and meet locals.  Well, we actually did set some basic criteria to accomplish these goals and it seemed the night’s events shaped themselves around our criteria!

We arrived at an Irish pub that appeared very low-key. As we were deciding what to do outside, two Slovenian girls approached us for a cigarette (which we did not have) and we entered into a conversation in which they told us about a local disco bar.  We convinced them to bring us to the disco bar and we were led to a happening local hangout that was free entrance and free coat check.  A free entrance AND coat check is a student traveler’s pot of gold when exploring city nightlife.  We had a blast talking and dancing with the locals as we were fortunate that English is a common language in Slovenia.  We had pre-planned to meet other members in our group at another, more mainstream club, called Cirkus Klub,  so we went there after an hour or so.  On our way to the club, we became lost.  Luckily, we met a friendly middle-aged gentlemen who went 10 minutes out of his way to take us to the club.  This is where the fun starts.  Outside the club, we noticed a group of Slovenian girls wearing Mickey Mouse ears!  We found out that it was their friend’s 21st birthday!  We congratulated the birthday girl and spoke about the different and similar birthday customs in our respective countries.  I guess they thought we were cool Americans because they brought us with them to the VIP lounge in Cirkus for free!  We saw the other group members in the club as well and had a fantastic night dancing to a local band that was playing live on the stage.  After Saturday night, I am convinced that setting criteria can be beneficial before making any decision!

After an hour snooze, Seamus and I groggily awoke at 6am to take the earliest bus to see Lake Bled before our shuttle arrived to take us back to Italy.  It was raining when we arrived, but soon the rain stopped and we witnessed a rainbow over the island in the middle of the lake which was a beautiful sight!  For breakfast, we ate the delicious Bled cream cake that has become a symbol for Bled.  It was my favorite breakfast by far and a great way to cap off the stellar weekend.  On our way back to the bus stop, we became lost (again) and ended up at a different bus stop.  It was just our luck that the bus stop we found was actually the bus stop we needed to go to for the trip home!  If we had been more  mindful and not gotten lost, we may still be in Slovenia because we would have missed our shuttle!  I felt that it was the perfect summary of our weekend: being in the right place at the right time.

Overall, it was a tough academic  week, but the hard work was rewarded  with the awesome weekend trip.  Slovenians have been the most friendly people I have met thus far and I will miss their delicious food and interesting culture.  I have another jam-packed week ahead as coaching for LEAP begins today.  I signed up for two “Evenings with a Professor” events, an hour-long volunteer event on Wednesday, and there is a company tour Thursday morning.  Keep in mind,  I have not mentioned the exams this week, the papers due, nor the mandatory workshops!  It is hard work, but I feel pushing myself and being involved adds to the CIMBA experience.  Plus, it gives me a lot to write about in my weekly blogs!  Make sure to come back next week after our day trip to Il Carnevale!