1st week...What a rush.

I know I've said it before, but will continue to say it now, this experience is AMAZING.  I'll also continue to say, Blogging isn't easy and I'm so jealous of some of my teammates that make it look soooo easy.

As I mentioned before we had a wonderful kick-off and initial meeting with CEED and then it was down to work on Tuesday.  Here is a translated version of their site: CEED-Slovenia  We're focusing on some key "pain-points" for this organization, but they make it so much fun with their enthusiasm for their mission of serving, supporting and educating Entrepreneurs.  In addition to an enthusiastic CEED client, I have a really tight knit and smart CSC Sub-Team with whom I really really enjoy working and spending time with.   That part makes this easy.

We wrapped up the week with a review of the upcoming schedule, updated SOW and deliverables.  Overall I think they'll be happy.  Now it's just a matter of buckling down and doing the work.  We're accomplishing a lot of this work through document reviews, IBM Design Thinking methodologies and interviews.  It's been a great start.

In addition to our mission of supporting our CEED client we will be hosting workshops with a local High School here in Ljubljana High School, Gimnazija Poljane.  We will be presenting to some of the Seniors on 3 topics: 

• How to Create a Compelling Resume
• Project Management Basics Workshop
• IBM Watson Chatbots for Good

To cover these topics we volunteered to support each one which meant a different mix of the much larger team.  It really allows us to get to know each other and learn from a new set of the much larger group.  I will of course be helping with the Project Management Basics Workshop, one of my passions.

PM Workshop team: Brazil, US, Argentina, India, China {sooo cool}

As you know the trip hasn't been ALL work, there has been time in the evenings to enjoy a good meal with new friends.

Dinner at a Chinese restaurant.  Thumbs up from all.

Or a morning walk

Walk with friends to Tivoli Park

or the best yet.... a visit to a Skofja Loka (Medieval town), a bee museum, Vintgar Gorge and Lake Bled.

Skofja Loka (a preserved and active Medieval town)

Bee Hive box used to transport bees (several hundred years ago)

 Slovenia is one of the few countries with it's own type of bee. 

Vintgar Gorge. 

 This gorge and short hike was breathtaking.  As you can see the water is crystal clear (look for the trout) and the water in this pic is deeper than it appears. 

Bled Island is the Pilgrimage Church of the Assumption of Mary

 

 

Castle @ Lake Bled

 You'll notice in the picture above it was taken from the water...... there are several ways of getting out to Bled Island, one of which is to row your own boat.   Two members of the team and I decided to set out on the trek of several hundred yards to the island.  In short it was an ADVENTURE as none of us had rowed a boat of this size before.  We made it and watched our skills grow as on our way out it took us over an hour and in the return less than 30 minutes.

My adventurous boat mate; Rahul Gupta

We remain balanced between work, play and learning new things about the area and culture.  It continues to be an invaluable once in a lifetime opportunity.

~ Chris

PS....This evening we're attending one of CEEDs major events, Leadership Talk.  It's exciting for us to watch them plan, develop and prepare for the event.   Stay tuned.