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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 🙂
