Journal

List of different life, career, fun events & milestones

JANUARY 2025

Ski holiday

First time skiing in Austria, Sankt Anton is awesome.

DECEMBER 2024

NYE in Mexico

Warmest NYE I had so far 🙂

NOVEMBER 2024

Gave a TEDx Talk

Gave a TedX Talk in Vienna, called “Why travel is the worst passion you can have”.

NOVEMBER 2024

3rd Place - Pixel Product Management Hackathon

Won the 3rd place in the Pixel Product Management Hackathon alongside my 2 UI/UX colleagues, for our AI solutions that helps you extend your lifespan. More here.

NOVEMBER 2024

Sensidev Podcast

Discussed about career, life and more during the Sensidev podcast. More here and here.

OCTOBER 2024

"Shape Up" Workshop - ProductTank Bucharest

Organized the a “Shape Up” workshop alongside my colleagues part of the ProductTank Bucharest. More here and here.

OCTOBER 2024

Speaker at How to Web 2024

Presented at How to Web 2024 alongside Aleodor Tabarcea: “S.C.O.P.E. – A framework that delivers”. More here.

SEPTEMBER 2024

Balkan Roadtrip

In my attempt to get to 50 visited countries, I realised it could be a quick win traveling to the Balkan countries closed to Romania. Small roadtrip through Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia and Montenegro. Total countries: 49.

JULY 2024

Speaker at Stories of the Web

Been invited to present during the Stories of the Web event. More here.

JULY 2024

Iceland Roadtrip

One of the nicest trip I had, doing a roadtrip across Iceland in a camper. Loved the landscape diversity (volcano, ice, waterfalls etc.) and the special experience: snorkeling between two tectonic plates. More here.

JUNE 2024

EURO 2024

Long time since Romania qualified for an EURO championship. Lucky enough to see the first match, 3-0 against Ukraine.

APRIL 2024

Perugia & Tuscany

Small weekend escape visiting my sister which had an Erasmus year in Perugia. Would lie to say I didn’t miss her.

MARCH 2024

Romanian Endurance Series

Been the team manager for a team winning P1 in the Romanian Endurance Series at their class. Loved sharing a race with one of my best friends.

MARCH 2024

Boys trip to UAE

The once in a while “boys trip”. Highlights: biggest building in the World, driving a 500+ hp car in the desert, visiting Yas Marina Circuit & Ferrari World. More here.

FEBRUARY 2024

Formula 1 "Drive to Survive"

Been highlighted in the Season 6 of the Netflix series “Drive to Survive”. Not on my bingo list, but loved it.

FEBRUARY 2024

Geneva trip

Visiting one of my Uni colleagues that moved to Switzerland. Cool weekend spent with close friends.

JANUARY 2024

Ski holiday @ Les 3 Vallées

First time spending my birthday outside Romania. Celebrating my 27 at Folie Douce was awesome. More here.

JANUARY 2024

NYE in Tirana

Spending the NYE with 23 friends in Tirana. Even if I tried planning it this way, still sounds crazy.

DECEMBER 2023

Switzerland & Liechtenstein trip

Visiting one of my Uni colleagues that moved to Switzerland. Fun few days, trying to ski in Zermatt, not the best weather tho. More here.

NOVEMBER 2023

One day trip to Rome

One of those bucketlist experiences: get a flight somewhere for one day only and come back. Totally recommend it. More here.

OCTOBER 2023

Solo trip to Prague

Long time no solo trip somewhere outside Romania. Spending few days in Prague was nice. More here.

OCTOBER 2023

Ran my first marathon

Did this for my bucketlist (4h8m / 5:53/km), not particularly into running, but enjoyed the consistency developed in the process.

SEPTEMBER 2023

PERU: BEST TRIP I HAD

No doubt Peru was the most incredible country I visited so far. Experiencing Machu Picchu, doing the 4 day Salkantay Trek, climbing the Rainbow Mountain to 5000+ m, seeing the Nazca Lines from the plane, while having amazing food. Peru = wow! More here and here and here and here and here and here.

AUGUST 2023

Vf. Moldoveanu: Romania's highest peak

Crossing Romania’s highest peak from the bucketlist. More here.

JULY 2023

Tomorrowland

Attending the biggest festival in the World, loved every single second. More here.

JULY 2023

Athos mountain

My father’s bucketlist dream was climbing to the top of Athos Mountain, sleep there and come back. He had a point, this was a great hike doing 0m -> 2033m -> 0m in 2 days, while also having me carry the heavy stuff of course. More here.

JULY 2023

Corfu holiday

Nice summer beach break in a group of 12 friends. One of the funest short trips I had. More here and here.

JULY 2023

Grand Slam 3/4: Wimbledon

One of the best sports events I ever attended, pure magic. Also loved attending a full Wimbledon Center Court doing a live ovation for Roger Federer, my favorite athlete. More here.

JUNE 2023

Interview at ProTV

Sharing my thoughts on travel at ProTV. More details here.

JUNE 2023

Egypt

Giza Pyramids & a cruise on the Nile should be on everybody’s bucketlist. One of the things you really have to see at least once. More here and here and here and here.

MARCH 2023

Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

I love F1 and this particular Grand Prix was amazing. Love how close you can get to the pilots, got my T-shirt signed by Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, and visited the cool AlUla region of Saudi Arabia. Amazing trip. More here and here and here.

FEBRUARY 2023

Ski trip @ Dolomites / Val Gardena

One of the coolest Ski trips I had with my friends. The views in the Dolomites are just … wow. More here and here and here.

DECEMBER 2022

NYE in Tel Aviv

First time spending the NYE somewhere a bit warmer than Romania. Quite interesting going to the beach in December not gonna lie. More here.

NOVEMBER 2022

23M views TikTok

One of my TikTok videos just made it to 23M views. Definitely worth to be added on my bucketlist. More here.

NOVEMBER 2022

Exploring Thailand

5 weeks spent in Thailand, purely amazing. From Ao Nang’s beaches to Bangkok’s streets to Chiang Mai’s culture to Khao Sok’s jungle. Thailand is wow. More here and here and here.

AUGUST 2022

Boys trip in Croatia

Croatia was fun. One week with the boys there made it even more fun. More here and here.

AUGUST 2022

Sziget Festival

Completely unexpected, but a visit to Bratislava turned into a 1 day trip to Budapest during the Sziget Festival, seeing Arctic Monkey. Nice festival to attend.

MAY 2022

Grand Slam 2/4: Roland Garros

Grand Slam 2/4 on my list, while also being highlighted on the Philippe Chatrier screen during an evening match. More here.

APRIL 2022

Childhood friends trip to Valencia

Those moments when the plans really make it out the group chat. Syncing with two of my best friends to finally reconnect in a trip together worked out in a super cool weekend. More here.

MARCH 2022

Snowfest festival @ Val Thorens

The Snowfest festival with a cool group of friends, a bit late skiing in March, but this was fun. More here.

FEBRUARY 2022

Malta

Little roadtrip across Malta, nice warmer escape in Europe for February, really wanted to see Popeye’s village. More here.

NOVEMBER 2021

Solo trip to Belgium

Long time since I had a solo trip. Belgium during the Christmas Market season was quite nice, Brugge is quite cool. More here.

NOVEMBER 2021

ATP Finals Torino

First time seeing Novak Djokovic playing live + getting a ball signed by Rublev. Nice tournament. More here.

OCTOBER 2021

Boys weekend to Moldova

Randomg weekend escape with the boys in Moldova, super fun learning more about the wine culture and visiting different wineries. More here.

AUGUST 2021

Portugal Roadtrip

Portugal in August was wow. Lisbon, Porto and Algarve are definitely cool places to see during the summer, had long on my bucketlist getting to the most western point in Europe. More here and here and here.

JULY 2021

Hungarian Grand Prix

First time attending a Grand Prix and managing to get a selfie with Charles Leclerc. I would call that a big success. More here and here.

JULY 2021

Skydiving

First time trying skydiving, this was….different. More here.

JULY 2021

Boys trip to Greece

First “major” trip after the pandemic travel restrictions were over. One of the coolest boys trips I had doing a roadtrip in Greece, Lefkada was wow. More here and here.

JULY 2021

Published a research paper

Published a research paper on “What Are the Latest Fake News in Romanian Politics? An Automated Analysis Based on BERT Language Models”. More here.

JUNE 2021

Completed my Masters Degree

Completed my Masters Degree in Computer Science & AI, with an NLP Thesis on “Romanian Fake News Detection”.

NOVEMBER 2020

My first Research paper

Published my first research paper on “A Literature Review of NLP Approaches to Fake News Detection and Their Applicability to Romanian- Language News Analysis”. More here.

OCTOBER 2020

Best Business Award

Won the Best Business Award as part of the ogor.ro startup, during the Innovation Labs accelerator. More here.

MAY 2020

Started my podcast

Started my career & tech podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcast and Youtube. More here.

FEBRUARY 2020

First time seeing Messi & Barcelona

Seeing Messi play live was for sure on my bucketlist as a Barcelona fan. Super happy I managed to do it on time. More here.

DECEMBER 2019

My first professional camera

The moment I started getting serious about photography and bought my first camera. One of the best hobby decisions ever.

NOVEMBER 2019

Student of the Year in Romania

Been shortlisted for the “Student of the Year in Romania” award by LSRS. More here.

SEPTEMBER 2019

Jordan Roadtrip

One of the wow-est countries I visited: Petra & Wadi Rum are amazing. More here.

SEPTEMBER 2019

US West Coast Roadtrip

One of those one trips everybody has to do at some point: the Pacific Coast Highway Roadtrip, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Hollywood, canyons in Arizona and Utah, Monument Valley. Better than in pictures, more here and here and here.

AUGUST 2019

Grand Slam 1/4: US Open

First time attending a Grand Slam and getting a selfie with Grigor Dimitrov. More here.

AUGUST 2019

Riding a doors off helicopter above Manhattan

One of the coolest things I’ve done, riding a helicopter with no doors above Manhattan. More here.

JULY 2019

Six Flags Great Adventure

Entire day full of fun rides and rollercoaster, riding the highest & 2nd fasters rides in the World. More here.

JULY 2019

McGee's Pub

Crossing off the bucketlist McGee’s, the inspiration bar for my favorite TV Series: How I met your mother.

JULY 2019

Completed my Bachelor's Degree

4 years of study to finally call myself an Engineer. Celebrating here.

JUNE 2019

Living in New York for 3 months

Doing an internship for Bloomberg and living in Manhattan for 3 months was no doubt the best summer of my life. More here and here and here.

DECEMBER 2018

NYE in Italy

Finally managed to those type of fun Tower of Pisa pics and spend a cool NYE in Italy. More here and here.

OCTOBER 2018

Morocco

Long time since no big cultural shock. Morocco was wow! More here and here.

JULY 2018

Living in London for 3 months

My first tech related job outside Romania, a summer internship at Bloomberg in London. Lucky enough to experience a non rainy summer in London. More here and here.

MARCH 2018

#1 Place at MobilPro 2018

Won the first place at MobilPro 2018 for our mobile app that identified the fastest route for your shopping list, taking into account passing by multiple shops you needed to visit in order to find everything. Built it alongside 3 of my best friends from Uni.

FEBRUARY 2018

Teaching Assistant

Started my contribution as a Teaching Assistant at University Politehnica of Bucharest, teaching the following subjects: Human Computer Interaction (Introduction to Product Management), Introduction to Programming (Language: C), Data Structures (Language: C), Object Oriented Programming (Language: Java)

JUNE 2017

Summer internship at Amazon

My first experience working in a big tech company: summer internship at Amazon Web Services.

JUNE 2016

Work and Travel

Joined the Work and Travel program on my first summer break in University. Working in a restaurant and living on Hilton Head Island alongside two of my best friends was a summer to remember no doubt. More here and here and here and here.