Thank You All!

I am thrilled to welcome you, readers, students, teachers, and friends, to read this post. I write this post on the occasion of the celebratory event for the handover of the DAAD price¹ 2009.

This blog post is for you! It is about you, about the remarkable impact you have in my life and the everyday inspiration you give me. It is for you, to thank you for everything we learned and reached together!

First and foremost I like to thank my family for their everyday support and patience, for having faith in me and teaching me to have faith in me, for being always with me even if we are more than 2000 km apart.

I like to thank also my teachers and mentors, those whom I can trust and know that they trust me. I feel very lucky to have the chance to know them, work with them and learn from them.

Prof. Barbara M. Kehm is the coordinator of the International Master Programme Higher Education. For me, she is more than a coordinator or one of my professors; she is the person that always offers me support when I need it, the person that encourages me every time I come up with some new idea. She is the mentor I wish all students could have.

Prof. Ulrich Teichler is one of the most inspirational people I've ever met; He is a well renowned researcher all over the world for his contribution to the development of Higher Education. For me, he is the person that gives me power and faith and a special kind of motivation for my studies, my work and my life.

I also like to thank Mr. Harald Schomburg, for opening doors for me, and for offering me the opportunity to work and learn in a national research project, already from the beginning of my studies here in Kassel. He is always showing me the right way and encourages me to carry on.

More than one year ago, I met Dr. Florian Feuser. He taught me so much about intercultural learning, about living in another culture, about Eastern European Individualism, about my 3^rd identity and about myself. For me, he is a great motivator and a role model in many respects.

I like to mention my first mentor, Mrs. Simona Bernat, one of the most impressive teachers I've ever had, the person who encouraged me to carry on and follow my dreams. She is the teacher, I always wanted to become, and an inspirational role model.

I also like to thank my friends and colleagues, those people who make the sun shining in the darkest days of Kassel and those who enriched my life with many unforgettable memories.

My friends in Romania, Amelia, Andi, Sergiu, Angy, Oana, Vlady, Traian, Irina, Cris, and Violeta, are the people behind the curtains, that helped me finding my passion, help me developing myself and reaching my goals, they are those people who always help me see farther. We created our world, where everything was possible and we know that we can change education in Romania!

My dear "ASPR-isti", my friends in the Romanian Association of Psychology Students (ASPR) are the people with whom I had the best learning experiences during my undergraduate studies. Like previously written in a post, I've learned everything about interpersonal communication, students' projects, taking responsibility, voluntary work. We lived in a world where each of us was finding her or his mission in life. From that time on, I never left that world. Even if I am not an active member of any student association, I'm having the same motivation and the same thirst for learning, I use to apply and follow the same principles in all activities I am engaged in or involved.

I continue working voluntary because it is the most wonderful and useful experience that I ever had. So is it with e-MaHE, the e-Learning platform for MAHE students. e-MaHE is a project that takes some of my time here and inspires me very much; many thanks to Ernst and Bhina for the good collaboration, the mutual support and the great learning experiences.

The MAHE tutorship, is, as I said in a previous post, the activity I could continue for my entire life. I would like to thank Amanda, Queenie, and Jesus for the great work and mutual support, for making things possible, and for making the MAHE tutors team the one it is today! A special thank you goes also to Susanne Höckelmann, the administrator of our master's programme. She is the person we can always count on and keeps things moving, the person that shows us the right direction and a real professional in her field.

At the same time I'd like to thank the INCHER-team and the MAHE students, with whom I have the chance to share so many experiences, to learn a lot, to grow and to do all these with fun and joy. Especially, I would like to mention my friends Yemi, Cissy, Robert, Yasemin and Fadi, for the great conversations, and the mutual support and motivation, as well as my colleagues and superiors, Lutz Heidemann, Martin Guist, Kerstin Janson, Constanze Engel, Rene Kooij and Florian Löwenstein for their support and inspiration. Many thanks also to Christiane Rittgerott for always thinking one step forward, for being a great colleague and an inspirational person.

Last but not least "ein großes Dankeschön" goes to Mrs. Helga Boemans and Mrs. Marion Schomburg, for their faith and their support. I am looking forward to more fruitful co operations in the near future.

In the end, I'd like to thank the DAAD for offering this motivating price and the election committee for the work and time they invest in making a decision every year.

I hope I did not forget anybody, but if so, I would like to thank you all, also those mentioned above, for your support, encouragement, for your faith and your belief, for the wonderful friendships and the great experiences we share.

I'd like to share with you 2 quotes. The first one is the one my brother wrote me for my 20

^th birthday and that has a strong guiding force in my life, and the second I've read last year during the UNESCO European Forum on Higher Education and I think it fits best here and now:

"You should constantly try to climb very high, if you want to see very far." (Constantin Brancusi - Romanian sculptor)

"If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants." (Isaac Newton)

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¹ The prize honors international students at German universities, with excellent study performance and remarkably social and intercultural engagement.