My adventure on the road to Timişoara!
Before I start writing about my trip to Romania, I want to express my immense joy of being here because I have been waiting for so long to come here. I waited a year after I was selected, due to the pandemic and the closure of the borders. And here is how my journey started… […]
The monthly journal – Spring at its finest – April 2021
This month, the ESC volunteers enjoyed spring at its finest. They took advantage of the great weather and had picnics, were on treasure hunts, city tours, organised and attended various online and offline events. In a word, they weren’t bored at all. April started with a great learning opportunity for the volunteers. They had the chance to organise […]
An unprecedented spring
This spring is unprecedented… I can say that spring seems a little strange to me. In the spring, the flowers bloomed. With the wind touching your skin, hope spreads throughout your body. It did not feel that way this time. It came to me was like an endless storm that took everything. I felt as […]
Local volunteers – testimonials
As most of the long-term ESC volunteers from the project Set the Tempo are gone, we are glad that they have left behind some fantastic local volunteers who are happy to share their experience of working with them in the youth centre Aradului. Read the testimonials here: I really enjoyed being a volunteer at the […]
ROMANIA IS HOLDING ME TIGHT
Ciao, I am Fatih from Turkey, and this is my first post during my volunteering experience! They say that every person shapes their destiny. But I think sometimes we just can’t. At least the part of my life in Romania is happening out of my control. My family’s story with Romania began in 1996. I […]
You can learn from everything, even from the worst
“Learning Patience can be a difficult experience, but once conquered, you will find life easier” – Katherine Pulsifer As a person, I was never really involved with Erasmus+ projects — I always had a preference towards projects and conferences that were made by universities and other organizations. So, when I was accepted after 4 months of waiting in the project Set […]
The monthly journal – March motivation – 2021
Instead of sunny spring weather, cheerfulness and motivation, March brought moodiness and motivation drop to the ESC volunteers. But, as soon as the sunrays appeared, the work resumed. The beginning of March seemed hopeful to everyone. Two more volunteers, Fatih and Armando, arrived (you will read about their arrival’s experience soon) and the now four boys thought they could start to […]
Instant moments by Alisa
365 or maybe a few more days passed by, but I feel it was just instant when I’ve just arrived and now it’s time to say goodbye. Say goodbye to the city that completed the warm environment for a year for me, goodbye to the organization that supported us till the end, goodbye to the youth centre that in […]
MY ESC EXPERIENCE IN TIMISOARA
I remember stepping into that huge building, Casa Tineretului. My baggage was heavy and so were my feelings, faced with the fact that I did it, I came back. It looked like nothing has changed. Dimmed lights were illuminating the walls, the echo of my steps was filling the space and the memories began to return in bursts. Happiness was mingled with anticipation and I stood in front of my decision, wondering if it was right. One year later […]
If there is a beginning there is also an ending
It was five in the morning when I arrived after 6 months. I was feeling that I am at home, I was feeling that all the memories that I have left would come back again. My youth centre was my motivation; people that were coming to our events were giving me the desire to work and to do more and more. The secret of our (Aradului) work was teamwork. There is no place like home – we had a pillow with this text that […]
Moments of a year full of happiness and challenges
I feel like it was yesterday when this story has started. When I look back, even just for a second, I remember so clearly my arrival: I was entering a room which wasn’t giving me any warmness at all. But right now, when it’s time for me to leave, the same room is giving me so much warmness and it became so close to my heart, that it is so hard for me to leave it behind. Even if it […]
Making a change
In summer ’19 I got involved in a great adventure. I was among a hundred volunteers from different parts around the world who came to Timisoara with only one purpose. We built 5 youth centres in 5 neighbourhoods of the city, in order to help the local community of young people. To be honest, I was not very familiar with volunteering programmes in Europe and just […]