First and foremost, I will retain from this EVS: the people.
I met people from all over the world, we’ve shared many things about our passions, our countries and our differences. I remember having long useful conversations and I think sharing is the best way to understand others and gain knowledge so it was extremely rewarding for me. I had so much fun, I spent amazing evenings with people I never thought I would get along with and this is the best part because now I’m more open minded and I know that I can’t just judge a book by it’s cover.
Secondly, I will take from this experience “the worldwide team”, in fact, it was more that for me It was a new thing to work with people from different countries in the same room. Getting the work done and having this team-work spirit was kind of hard because each person’s work ethic is not always the same, so I had to learn and understand how to adapt myself to a group full of diversity.
Next, I will definitely keep with me the concept of volunteering, I actually didn’t really knew what it was until I had the opportunity to experience it. Working for an organization without getting paid has always been something that I wanted to do once in my life and now that I’ve done it I feel like I learned so much things about what is like to be a volunteer. I’m proud of myself for doing it and learning what it was at the same time because I was out of my comfort zone, it was scary, but worth it, and this leads me to another point that I will take from those two months it’s: taking risks.
Indeed, I realize that in life we had to take risks and try new things, even though sometimes it’s not always great experiences, I can still learn from it, so at the end of the day I gained experience and that’s what matters the most.
I will continue with the culture, I discovered a country with a lot of history through my personal research, visiting the town’s museum or just talking to local people. For two months, I really fast understood that Bulgaria was a country marked by so many traditions, I get to see it in the restaurants when I’m ordering “exotic food” for me or even through the souvenirs shops I’ve been to. To this end, it was really interesting to be in an European country and still be surprised by so much difference in the everyday people’s life here.
And finally, I will take from this EVS the travels, it was an important part of my experience so I’ll cherish forever the wonderful memories I’ve made in these trips. Each weekend I went on a trip by bus, plane or taxi and I discovered a part of the world that I didn’t know was this beautiful and full of cool human beings.
All in all, I am taking a lot of positive things from my volunteering, it was a great experience even though it wasn’t always easy I enjoyed it and if I had to do it again I will so I did an interesting choice.
This short term EVS for 2 months was difficult for me but very interesting.
At the beginning I felt really lost because I had low level in English; it was very frustrated to not be able to communicate with people. At the beginning I felt alone, and it was hard for me to adapt myself and live without my landmarks, my family, my friends.Also Bulgaria is really different from France, it’s not the same culture and I had to adapt myself for this, too.
Sometimes I wanted to give up, and to go back home. Then with the time, I realized that even if it’s not easy it’s an experience.
In the end of this experience I realize it was an opportunity for me to make something I never done before and I would normally never do.
I learned and I developed new skills during this volunteering.
I learned more about teamwork and about human relationship, I worked with people from different countries and it was really interesting to speak about our different culture and share our points of views.
I was discovering the field of communication, in the office i learn about digital competence creating a poster and many other things.
I learn about myself. I think, people are not the same in their comfort zone and in another country without their landmarks. It was interesting for my personal development.
I improved my English, now it’s just basic level but I can communicate better.
This volunteering project was also an opportunity for me to travel. I was traveling in the countries close to Bulgaria (Greece, Turkey, and Macedonia).
Also I was discovering a few cities in Bulgaria - I was in Sofia and I was surprise to see the beautiful architectures there. Then, I visited Plovdiv for one weekend and it was also amazing. It’s the European capital of culture for 2019. In this way, I had an opportunity to learn more about Bulgarian culture.My EVS Experience:
If I had to redo this EVS, I would be better prepared. For example revise my English language before this volunteering to be less lost in the beginning, and better organize my suitcasе.
In conclusion, I think making an EVS is a good opportunity for young people, to learn and make an experience before working. An opportunity to travel, open mind and meet people from all over the world. It was just 2 months experience but it was a learning experience and important for me. After this volunteering, I will make another EVS in Spain to 7 months. I think it will be very different experience but this volunteering helped me to prepare myself to the next long-term EVS. It’s a great opportunity to experiment living in 2 different countries during one year.
