After three weeks in Romania, I left Timisoara for the first time, in order to attend the On Arrival Training, in which all the EVS volunteers participate once they start their projects.
I headed to Bucharest and the trip was an interesting experience. As I said, it was the first time I was living Timisoara, therefore, it was the first time I was using the train in Romania. Here is where the “interesting” begins:
When I got into the station I only had about 5 minutes left to the train departure and I was confused on where I was supposed to go. With that, I entered the first door that appeared in front of me, to get to the train. I started walking around the train and I could only see some normal seats (which was not pleasant, bearing in mind I bought the sleeping one). Eventually the train started moving and I was even more confused on where to go. I went through the same corridor 3 times until I found the employee that was checking the tickets and, surprise, surprise, he didn’t speak English. I managed to understand from him that I was not supposed to be there, which was quite obvious for me at that time, and I should look for his colleague to take me to my place. I went on to look and, when I found him, surprise, surprise, he didn’t speak English as well.
At this point I was starting to feel nervous, which now I notice I didn’t have a reason to. Anyway, in gestures, he managed to tell me that I could follow him. We literally crossed the entire train – I was in the last wagon, my place was on the first – but at least I got there. So: challenge overcame.
Back to subject, as I said before, in this week I headed to Bucharest which was amazing because on of my biggest objectives when coming to EVS was to explore the country as much as I could. In this case, with a big surplus of participating in the training and having all of the expenses covered. In just one day I visited a big part of Bucharest and reunited with a friend I met some months before in an Erasmus+ project – she was my guide through the city and together we walked 18 Km that day.
The On Arrival Training, mandatory for all EVS volunteers, lasted about 5 days and was a great way to know people that are now staying in all parts of Romania. It was also an amazing opportunity to learn more about different projects and share experiences, despite the fact that all of us had just started our journey. It’s always great to see that a lot of what we are feeling during this early beginning is also shared by other volunteers and I was lucky to have a group that was getting very much along.
So this was my third week as a volunteer in Romania. Let’s see what comes next!