So, I am working on my New Year’s resolutions. ♣
I’ve started earlier this year .. I guess I am eager to change them into reality.
I came across Bogdan‘s blog today and I really really *heart* his posts; one of them was about his experience with EVS. I found his words motivating and coming from the heart, so I decided I will publish them on my blog also. They are in Romanian so far, but I will work on the translation as soon as possible.
Bogdan is this cool dude, that I’ve first met at this NGO – festival, two years ago-I think, and then two months ago at this training for EVS mentors. He is totally into my ‘romenglish’ language, so I don’t need any other reasons to like him ☺
Bogdan’s stroy about his EVS project [ http://www.voluntareuropean.ro/povesti_de_voluntari.php ]:
Q: What inspired you to become an EVS volunteer?
A: Since I was in college I have started dreaming about how my life would be living in another country, surrounded by strangers, where nobody would understood my language, my customs. I imagined that only like that, in those conditions, I would discover my true self, I would understand myself and to be what I was supposed to be. I discovered EVS through some contacts I had with different youngsters involved in Youth in Action program and I told myself that at the right time I will go abroad and fulfill my dream. The advantages of EVS convinced me that this is the best choice of being a volunteer in a multicultural environment and the stories of those that experienced the program made me start with my first steps in the journey represented by European Voluntary Service.
Q: What were you supposed to do as an EVS volunteer in the project in question?
A: I have applied to volunteer in the Atlantic Bridge, an international Christian youth organization. It was the only organization that I have applied for and my wish of being selected came true. I am the only EVS volunteer I know that applied only to one organization and got accepted. The secret is simple: you have to feel that it’s for you and then you must want it very much.
Atlantic Bridge’s mission was to create bonds of friendship, understanding and breaking down the walls of ignorance, misunderstandings, prejudices (‘Building bridges’,’ Breaking down walls’). The target group was formed by young people aged between 14 and 18, coming from different social groups, families with different beliefs and values and we were trying to build bonds. We were 4 EVS volunteers in the organization, me and three girls from Lithuania, Germany and Belgium and each of us was responsible for a given region, where we had to create a regional network of contacts and support, to meet with youngsters and to establish a youth club. My activities were diverse and I had a flexible schedule, which combined office work and research with organizing youth exchanges, writing Youth in Action projects.
Q: What new things did you learn and what skills do you feel you acquired during your EVS service?
A: My EVS experience offered me many things and I have developed on many levels. I learned to be more structured an organized, to plan and to forestall future actions. I have gained a lot of social skills, communication in a foreign language. I became more careful in managing time and more prepared in handling stressful situations. I developed my creativity and I look at things as an opportunity for ongoing learning. Perhaps the most important thing that I have learned in the Netherlands is that if you want something, through love, passion, hard work and reliability it can be achieved.
Q: – What about yourself, what do you feel that you have learned during your EVS experience? (eg: about your limits, your talents, your tolerance, your way of interacting with others etc.).
A: The mission of ‘Building Bridges’, ‘Breaking Down Walls’ had a big impact on me. I realized how much people limit themselves while dealing with others. Many times I have built walls around me and for those around me, although I was the one who had to demolish them. I have pushed my personal boundaries and I have learned what it truly means to build a genuine connection with those who probably you do not want to. I realized that to be understood you have to understand, for this I have gained more patience, tolerance and curiosity. This experience was the best personal development process that I had. Experiences, the people I met and coaching and training programs that Atlantic Bridge offered me, made me create my own vision of life, to establish deep values and to reveal my new talents, new passions that I want to follow with confidence.
Q: – Do you think you are different now than the person you were before going on EVS service? If so, how do you feel you have changed?
A: I have changed a lot, although I often feel that I am the same Bogdan. When you have developed your own values, you have created a vision and you believe in them, your life changes a lot. If before leaving I could have chosen several directions to choose to go by, now I can say I know the meaning that I want to follow. The experience that I had in the Netherlands gave me confidence, ideals and dreams that I want to fulfill. I also learned to appreciate what I have and be better to me, to people around me and the world in which I live.
Q: – Considering your career, how did you develop professionally?
A: Working with young people, I realized that I really like this and want to become a professional youth worker and I want to create social development projects. The training materials and documents used are starting points for future activities. The professional youth workers I have worked with inspired me, motivated and offered me useful experiences that will help me in future plans.
Q: – What else has this experience meant to you, outside of the project activities?
A: The EVS service has meant to me primarily fulfilling a dream. It meant joy and disappointment, cultural misunderstandings, but friends for life. It meant a significant diversity in thinking and habits. It meant “country living”, below sea level, in a Dutch village in the most conservative and religious province. It meant long and beautiful trips, with nights sleeping on mattresses in the rooms of EVS volunteers. It meant hundreds of miles of biking, lots of water and strong wind. Independence, freedom, faith, trust and love.
Q – You met, you worked and you made friends with other volunteers from different countries. But what do they all have in common, what kind of youngsters would you say are the EVS volunteers?
A: EVS volunteers? I met many and all very different. Some came in a new country to be as far away from their country, some because they could not start something at home and wanted to postpone this, some for the love of traveling and the charm of being in a foreign culture, some because they do not know what to do in life and came to find out the answers, some to learn a new language, others to save the world or at least to make it better and others just for fun. There are many reasons, but overall I believe that everyone has something in common: THE DESIRE TO DO MORE IN THIS LIFE.
Q: – Why would you recommend someone to become an EVS volunteer?
A: Why? If one read what I wrote so far then they would realize why 
Q: – How much do you think you will engage in volunteer activities in Romania in the future?
A: I want to get involved more and more. I have a number of ideas that I have to see how to adapt to the Romanian society or adapt Romanian society to my ideas. I want to be involved in the Youth in Action programs, helping EVS volunteers who come to Romania to have their life experience here. I want to build links between people and tear down the walls between them.
Tags: better, Bogdan Romanica, decisions, EVS, experiences, happiness
