#mastermindseminar

[taking-on-europe-blog]

Day 5 & 6

Going with the Flow 🌊

A lot of things keep randomly not quite going in our favor here, and I distinctly remember one thing my father told us before we left (aside from safety being the top priority) along the lines of: Don't stress when things don't go according to plan, just take the twists and turns as life throws them at you, and you'll find you'll probably have many more memories come out of it than you thought possible.

I'm actually rather proud of Melissa and I as we seem to be following my dad's advice better than I thought we'd be comfortable with. Melissa and I don't like things being out of our control or not go according to our plans, so the past 2 days have been both a good, but hard lesson in that.

Thankfully, we have had an amazing hotel employee helping us through the twists and turns Greece seems to like throwing us, which has helped this all seem a lot less intimidating. Melissa actually had a chance to talk with her today and found out she's going to school for a Marketing Degree. We're hoping we might be able to connect with her more, and possibly find more connections through her.

This place is a photographer's dream as well, and I'm hoping when I get home some of the photos I've taken both here and in Kosovo, will be able to make us more connections so we can fund future trips and have many more Mastermind Seminars throughout the world.

This whole trip, we've had to work on just living in the moment and not focus on getting the perfect picture at the perfect angle as well. I thought I would have more issues with that, since I'm always looking for an angle for the right picture, but surprisingly, Melissa has seemed to have more difficulty in that area. Either way, the things we're learning about each other and the memories we're creating this entire trip, are memories we will cherish forever, as every lesson we've learned, no matter how hard, is a lesson that's also helped us to think differently, and in turn, practice the things we "preached" in Kosovo.

[duppandswat]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by DUPP&SWAT (est. 2010) (@duppandswat)

crack vs cocaine ~~> new rules. #MasterMindSeminar #duppandswat (at dupp&swat)

[taking-on-europe-blog]

Day 3: The Purpose!

Well today was the big day!! The whole reason in coming to Kosovo was focused around today. The MasterMind Seminar happened today! I personally woke up at 3am and could not for the life of me fall back asleep. But we started our day off at 6am when our “taxi driver” who is also a former friend and student of Kosovo Leadership Academy picked us up and brought us to the school to prepare for the day. His car rides have always been adventurous as Europeans drive very differently than the US lol. They have more “suggestions” than “laws” when it comes to rules of the road. So things can be a little rocky at times. Motion sickness has kicked in multiple times the past few days but nothing Tums can’t cure.

Anyways, a short review on how the MasterMind Seminar went! We had a pretty good turnout, it was mostly parents of the students though. We had our 3 main students that assisted throughout the entire day and they had invited all their friends to attend but sadly none of them came. I could tell the students were discouraged at this but it helped that we had about 15 parents there to learn more about what we were speaking on.

Angela spoke on the DNA for Business & I spoke on DNA for People. Angela was incredibly nervous leading up to it but she got so many compliments on how great of a job she did. Nadine told her she had a natural talent for public speaking. :) I think I talked a little fast and a little long but overall, speaking on the personality masteries came pretty natural to me as well. We got connected to some of the parents as well which was awesome. Everyone filled out the Action Card which will help us get connected with them to help them with their biggest challenge in their lives right now. They all seemed to really be interested in trying to help the next generation with their future.

After the seminar, we connected alot of the parents then the whole team and Nadine went around downtown Mitrovica and tried this incredible italian restaurant that Nadine took us to. The food here has been an amazing experience altogether honestly. And I don’t think either of us are used to drinking so much espresso haha. They have these “coffees” that are super cheap and delicious and pumped with a ton of caffeine. I believe I’ve had probably at least 8 of them in a 3 day period lol. Probably why I woke up so early this morning. :P

Our next adventure of the day was something Angela was very set on making sure we do in Kosovo. So we set out on a mission that ended up very differently then what we had planned in our heads. We found directions to walk to the NewBorn monument in Pristina, Kosovo, about a mile away from our hotel. We walked for about a half hour until we realized we probably walked a little too far. Finally ended up finding it as we were racing for time before the sunset. It was funny trying to get selfies with it until a group of girls walked up asking in Albanian if they could get us to take a picture. We didn’t really understand but got the point so said yes and the look on one of the girls faces when she exclaimed “oh my gosh you speak English too! YES!” was exactly how we felt when she said that haha. So we got each others pictures in relief knowing there’s another american out there feeling just as clueless in a foreign country as we do lol.

We did finally make our downstairs waiter smile!! After 3 days of him absolutely scolding at us because we’re ignorant americans who ask stupid questions, we finished our pizza and thanked him with a good size tip, only to see him genuinely smile at us instead of the sarcastic smirk he’s been giving us the past few days. He continued to smile every time we came in there and we realized waiters here might be more alike american waiters than we realized lol. It was cool to see the transition though and its a good lesson learned.

Now tomorrow we head off on our next big adventure!! Our flight to Athens, Greece is early in the morning so we’re going to head to bed. We have alot of follow-up to do the next 24 hours so I’m hoping to get that done between layovers and such tomorrow. We’re enjoying every part of this experience an we’re excited to get some pictures up for everyone can see the beauty of Kosovo!!

[taking-on-europe-blog]

Through Sickness and Health

The past couple days have been a whirl wind of running around trying to fit in everything we wanted to do, and trying to make as many connections as we could. Today we are traveling back to Chicago and are currently waiting at Gatwick Airport in the U.K. after an all-nighter, two flights and two time zone changes already. We keep joking that we're going back in time all day, since we gained an hour when we landed in Denmark, and another hour when we landed in London, and we will be gaining 6 hours when we fly to Chicago.

To say this morning started out a little rough is an understatement. Since we had to leave for the airport at 1:30 a.m. it made more sense to just stay up since we still had to pack anyways. However, that meant at approximately 2:30 a.m., not only were we crashing, but we were both struck by food poisoning from our dinner the night beforehand. The first flight was both painful and unsettling due to our flight attendants being unsympathetic in every regard, and all but yelling at us along with punching us when we didn't move fast enough.

Denmark was truly beautiful from what we could see out our plane window, and our second flight went a lot more smoothly and despite them not having proper food and drink supplies, the flight attendant brought us some water which we appreciated a lot since we were unable to bring what water we did have through security.

Although we have loved seeing Europe, even if parts of it have been through a plane window, both Melissa and I are ready to go home and sleep in our own beds, even if it'll only be for a day or two. Our favorite parts of this trip have included sleep deprived laughing at nothing and everything, getting to meet the kids at the Kosovo Leadership Academy, the scenery and overall just vibrancy in all the colors in both Kosovo and Greece, and getting the chance to try so many new things that it's hard to keep track of all the things we both did for the first time ever in Europe.

Although we have both had on and off issues with altitude sickness or the like, it has made us all the more appreciative of when we've been healthy throughout this trip. I feel like every trip, business or vacation or family-filled always has it's downsides, but I think thats what makes the good parts all the more special and memorable.

Melissa and I are so incredibly blessed to have been a part of the first international Mastermind Seminar, and hope that there will be many more to come! We are so thankful to each one of our contributors for making what seemed like a pipe dream 12 weeks ago, into a very real reality, and for believing in us every step of the way. I will hopefully be able to post pictures from the trip sometime this weekend, so that every one of you can see what you helped make possible! Less than 5 hours until we're on our final plane and headed back to the States!

[duppandswat]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by DUPP&SWAT (est. 2010) (@duppandswat)

Attorneys Darlington&Davis revealing your rights. In other words, what you can and can't do! 'Politely say no and smile. Do not give them anything extra.' #MasterMindSeminar #duppandswat (at dupp&swat)

[duppandswat]

#MasterMindSeminar in session! #duppandswat (at dupp&swat)

[duppandswat]

#MasterMindSeminar starts at 3p! Come, ask questions and get answers! #duppandswat #Charlotte (at dupp&swat)