Monika Klinar: I'm giving five stars

5 reasons why you should be a part of the GROW experience:

1. Very fast, highly efficient learning experience

You get an opportunity to gain a substantial amount of new knowledge and experience, which would not be possible to gain in such a short period of time on your market. Yes, we all work in media companies and yes, in each company editorial and ad sales practices do not differ substantially. However market conditions can be so different from the ones that you are familiar at home, as well as other dimensions, such as the size of the company, the life-cycle of the business, and the company's culture that all influence your everyday work.

For me personally, there is no way I could gain all the market research knowledge and experience here in Slovenia, as our market is very small and different. I was joking with my boss at Bonnier Corp that at home I'll be one of the most experienced market research analysts in Slovenia.

2. Sharing and implementing experience at your home company and vice versa

You get an opportunity to benefit your own company with sharing applicable new knowledge and experiences with your co-workers. And on the other side, you have an opportunity to benefit your host company with your special competences and experience from a market that they are not familiar with.

I came back with lots of ideas for our home office (should start writing them down, before I forget them) and I think Corporate Research Department also benefited from my work and ideas, at least they said that when I was leaving (hope they were not just polite).

3. Meeting new people — making new friends and experiencing different culture

When being abroad, you are forced to meet new people and if you are lucky enough make new friends. At home we are all too comfortable with our lives and the friends we have, so many times we are not taking chances and meet new people. The GROW program gives you an opportunity to create relationships that will continue throughout your work once you are back at your home office, let alone enrich your set of friends.

I was really lucky, as everyone at the department gave me a chance to get to know them, as well as allow me to become friends. They really took care of me, not letting me miss a real American experience, from Thanksgiving Day to parades.

4. Having three months only for yourself

With the GROW program you get three months of after work time and weekends to spend just as you want them. Do not misunderstand me, of course you have that opportunity at home, but being away from your everyday life allows you to spend time for things that you don't do every day at home. For example exploring different neighborhoods, spending time in a coffee shop and just observing people walking by, reading a magazine in a bookstore that at the end you are not going to buy, going to art galleries or just not doing anything and sleeping in during a weekend and reading a good book. You really get an opportunity to "examine" your life and of course appreciate your family and friends at home.

5. It so much fun!

I think I do not need to explain this reason. Just to say that each day brings you something new, something that you can take home and share.

So, I'm giving five stars for the GROW program and five stars for my co-workers at Bonnier Corporation's Corporate Research Department that took care of me during this experience.  Thank you!

I can't finish my last post by not writing you about the Thanksgiving Day experience from last week. Oh boy, in short you eat lots, lots and lots of food. This holiday is celebrated by all Americans, no matter where you come from and what you believe in. So it's a true American holiday (it's also celebrated in Canada). I've spent it at my friend's parent house on Long Island. They had over 16 people for lunch-dinner. Such a number of people is nothing unusual, as also other families have big gatherings for this holiday. Before and after Thanksgiving Day, US experiences the largest migration of its citizens every year. We ate roasted turkey, bread-based stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy, sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, baked potatoes and some other food that I can't remember now. For dessert we had a pumpkin pie and other pies and desserts.

Thanksgiving Day is followed by Black Friday, when you get an opportunity to experience the best sale day in the whole year. So you can imagine that people go a bit crazy with shopping. Unfortunately, that was my day of leaving NYC, so I did not manage to experience it. Well, some things need to be left for my next trip.