Category: My EVS experience

This week started too fast. First of all, we have created some brochures and posters. Then, we placed them to the neighbourhoods which is close to our youth centres. As you know we wanted to introduce the events to the city. Now it begins ! 

Also, FITT Timisoara has created the newest indoor music festival in Timișoara to promote rock music artists, diversify cultural events in the city and encourage the public to participate in such events.

After not writing in the blog for some time, I started thinking that very hardly I would be able to remember what happened every single week, also considering that it’s not possible that every single week in the past 10 months had something minimally interesting to tell. News flash, it doesn’t. A lot of week are just… weeks.

So I decided to do something different and since I posted some volunteer call’s, I might as well share some tips that were useful for me when coming to EVS.

1. Bring something from home – with this, I don’t mean that I am expecting someone to come empty handed. What I mean is that you should bring something that usually you would not pack, for example, your childhood teddy bear that was staying next to your bed all these years. It might sound weird but at some point, it will feel good to just look at it and know that is there.
2. You will not magically speak the language and that’s ok – during my EVS I sometimes felt a lot of pressure to suddenly wake up and be able to speak Romanian, but more and more I’ve reminded myself that it is not like that. Of course sometimes learning a language needs to be a fast process, but I think most EVS processes don’t require this and, instead, it should be a context where you can actually learn a language in a fun way. Your host organisation will provide you with a course to learn the language, which for my experience and most volunteers I spoke with, will end up as you successfully knowing how to name all the vegetables. Don’t expect to be fluent and don’t pressure yourself. Just enjoy learning new words, making new connections and the fun of the learning process! It’s important to learn the language but it is also important to enjoy it as much as you can.
3. Meet other volunteers, they will make excellent friends – during your EVS there will be no one better to understand you than the other EVS volunteers that are going through the same experience for you. You will have two, or at least one, great moments to know more volunteers and share your experience (On-Arrival and Midterm trainings). Enjoy these moments, as the other EVS volunteers may become not only good friends but also amazing travel buddies.
4. Be friends with as many “locals” as you can – besides the other EVS volunteers, local volunteers, or students, can also be amazing friends. These will be the friends that will show the country in the way that other volunteers or even your organization will not be able to show. You can travel as much as you want, but nothing changes the experience of actually being with people that have lived here all their lives! I know a lot of volunteers that leave their EVS with not one single friend that is actually from the country where they went, as they get too accommodated with their fellow EVS and roommates. My biggest advice is not to miss on the place and, part of the place it’s its people.
5. Don’t be afraid to feel down – this advice comes from my personal experience. I came with very high expectations, that life would be a rush and I would have a lot of things to do, and everything would be fun and games. What happens was that the first time I actually had to stop and be on my own I ended up feeling very lonely, and this ended up sabotaging a part of my experience. So my advice is to take in consideration that there will be sad parts of your EVS. There will be moments when you feel sad, or alone, and that’s also part of the experience. Realising that life continues without you back home is also a hard feeling sometimes, but by embracing we learn how to appreciate the entire experience for itself, with all goods and bads.

Volunteering abroad is a huge rollercoaster, that teaches you A LOT about other and even more about yourself. It’s an experience that I recommend to everyone, as in the end of the day, everybody wins 🙂

After the project was finished, I got back in the office. This time to start working on writing my own Erasmus+ project, to apply for the October deadline.

Speaking honestly, this process might have taken me a bit longer than supposed, bearing in mind that it was the first time I was writing one.

Meanwhile, there was a very nice festival in Timisoara, called Plai. I was lucky to be there and meet one of the groups playing, Ifriqiyya Electrique, that know the president of my sending organisation, only to show how small the world is. 

During the week after, there was a big event in the Youth House with some known Romanian artists, that was really nice – even though I’m still not that familiar with Romanian music besides the most popular ones. 

Soon, some friends from Portugal are arriving to participate in a Youth Exchange here in the Youth House, and I am very excited about getting to see them again.

This week FITT hosted an Erasmus+ project in which I took part.

The project is about developing a network for youth organizations from different countries of Europe and, in these days, we worked together in order to discuss about it and “shape it”.

This was one of the training courses that gave me the most pleasure taking part in. Not only was the group amazing, but the outcomes exceeded my expectations.

It was amazing to see the group getting together in order to work on something aimed at young people and that so many can beneficiate from. For the first time, I felt like something great will come out of this, and I feel curious to see what is coming.

It was great to meet all these dedicated, smart and hardworking people, as well as getting to know their work back home. These are, for sure, the type of things that give me hope and make me want to dedicate more and more to the youth work field.

This week, from the moment since I arrived, was one of the most difficult for me. Despite being happy and glad for being here, the feeling that life also continues to exist back home sometimes is scary.

As typical Latino, I come from a big family and, what I suprisingly got to realize here, is that we are extremely closed and attached to each other.

Back home I have a niece and a nephew that are the apple to my eyes, and the idea that I’m not there to see them growing sometimes might haunt me a bit, together with the “fear” that they will not recognize me when I come back.

Of course these feelings and thoughts come and go, but I would be lying if I said that EVS is all about making friends and learning things. It is also about getting to know yourself, your limits and your fears.

For the first time I was away from home, for the first time I was separated from people with whom I lived my entire life and I cannot stop thinking how much this has impacted my experience.

I became more independent and I became stronger, just for the fact that I learned how to embrace feelings that I used to reject easily – as my family always defined me as a very cold person, until I moved here and started being so lovely to them :)).

After a few days, this down moment was gone, and I’m glad that I could count not only on my family’s support but also the support from the people that here work with me.

I couldn’t have been more cherished, and I’m very glad for that.

Timișoara is, in my opinion, a city that never stops. But behind all the culture and entertainment, there was something that caught my eye since the very first time I came here.

Unlike what I was used back home, students here seem to have a voice and, more than that, power of initiative.

There are dozens of activities made by students, for students. From concerts, to exhibitions and theaters. The students here seem to want to get active, and that fascinastes me.

During the past 10 days, a theater festival was taking place in the Youth House. The festival is aimed at high school students who belong to theatre groups, something that in Romania seems to be quite popular.

Despite the fact of not speaking Romanian as I wish to, one of my favorite things to do since I started my project is going to the theatre, which I’ve done quite often (I think I can say I went to more theater plays in these few moments than I did in Portugal for the last year).

It is an exercise for learning Romanian, and it made me realize that first, I’m good at reading body language, and second, theater is way more than what the actors are saying.

These type of events are very inspiring to me, in the sense that it makes me genuinely happy to see that there’s life among youngsters. It’s great to see how all these people have a passion and are getting together in order to show it to the rest.

Timisoara is preparing to be European Capital of Culture so, I don’t think there is a better place to look for these type of initiative.

On another topic, this week, I had the chance to interact with a Romanian public institution that I didn’t before: the hospital.

After twisting my foot in one of the dumbest possible ways, I took my chance with Romanian public health services and, what I have to say, is that Portugal has something to learn from it! Not only the service was great at every point, as it is free, totally free.

This might be trivial for some, but for me it is extremely meaningful to see that everyone has the right and opportunity to access health care when needing.

And that’s it for the week(s)!

One of the best parts of the EVS is the fact that we have the opportunity to discover the surroundings and the country we are leaving in. Being a person that has lived her entire life close to the sea (pretty much everyone in Portugal does), it was one of the things I missed the most since I moved in Timisoara.
The summers here are pretty hot, and not having the beach is super strange for me. So, for one week, I decided to head to Vama Veche, a small place in the coast of Romania, close to the Black Sea and, curiously, a city with my name – Constanta.

The trip from Timisoara to Vama Veche is pretty long and a bit expensive, but totally worth it. The beach is very nice and, unlike Portugal, the sea is pretty warm. Of course, once again, I’m considering the temperature of the water in my country which is pretty freezing.

Anyway, Vama Veche is a place I recommend for everyone when visiting Romania in the summer. You can camp for very cheap prices, going to the beach during the day and partying there during the night. It is full of people from all over not only Romania but also other countries and it’s the perfect place to meet different persons.

I’m glad I had the chance to go there and enjoy the sea after some months without even seeing it. 🙂

As I mentioned before, this week FITT hosted the event to commemorate the International Youth Day. To celebrate this, we sent a special invitation to the EVS volunteers who are doing their projects in Romania, and to everyone else that wanted to join us. Pretty much my entire week was dedicated to the preparation of this event, as we had to take care of logistical aspects, prepare the concert and even making materials like bags and t-shirts.

During one weekend we had the chance to get to know other volunteers, go through Timisoara both during the day and night, as well as having a concert. We also did a workshop where, using stencils with key words related to youth, we made our own t-shirts.

We closed the event with a barbecue made by all of the participants together.

This was a very nice event and, for me, the first time I was in charge of organising something. I won’t lie and say that it was amazing to organise it, but it helped me finding out something that I definitely don’t want to do in my future, which is organising events in general.

For this, it was a good experience and I think that learning about what we don’t like is also part of the EVS. I was happy that the participants told me they had a good time, and of course I had a good time with them also, but I think in the end of the day I’ll pretty much prefer to continue to attend to other people’s events! 🙂

 

These weeks were been quite calm, which is weird considering the rush of things happening in the past few weeks.

I took this time to do some office work, like doing feedback reports for the project’s that happened during the past months and decorating my house a bit, so it feels more “like a home”. I went to buy some frames to put pictures with my family and some candles, just to make it a little prettier.

In the end of July, we had an event in the back of the Youth House to release a project called POCA, aimed at public policies regarding youth. The event was for Romanian people, as it is a Romanian project, but I sure enjoyed the food. :))

 

Besides this, I also have been planning, together with some friends, a trip to the Romanian seaside because, obviously, it’s not easy to be a Portuguese person without a beach during summer.

Very soon I’ll have an event organised by me, with the help of some colleagues, to celebrate the International Youth Day, for which we invited all the EVS volunteers doing their projects in Romania, to get together and enjoy this day, while getting to know Timisoara. These weeks, I’ve been preparing this event, with settling all the details for it.

 

 

 

During this week, the Youth House hosted an event called “Cafe21”, promoted by Timisoara2021, the year when Timisoara is going to be European Capital of Culture.

This type of event is happening every month, in different places of Timisoara with different topics related to the project. It’s an event for everyone to come and have an open debate about the measures to take until the year when Timisoara has the title.

This week’s topic was related to youth, therefore it was hosted here in the Youth House.

I was really happy with this event when I saw the amount of people that actually came and were contributing to the debate actively, trying to make Timisoara a better place for young people to live in.

 

Besides this, we got a visit from the president of my sending organisation which was great for me because we get along very well and, as I mentioned before, I’m always happy to speak in Portuguese for a while! :))

We visited Timisoara and went to the Revolution Museum, where I’d never been before and that is quite interesting, even though needing some renovation.