Let me introduce myself real quick. I’m Coen from The Netherlands, a 26 years old communications & multimedia specialist and in Romania for 1 year to participate in EVS.
One of the most asked questions is “why EVS?”, followed by “why Romania?”. I’ll try to explain it a little.
My primary motivation is about getting to know other fields of work outside my own, being ICT and web programming. I want to explore other nearby professions in the Communications industry, like Event Management, video and audio projects but also more social work related fields like working in a hostel or teaching in front of a class. I have always had the feeling that working more directly with people is something that I like more than a desk job. I would also like to improve my social working skills and understand what it is like to really help people in need.
Besides the wish to explore other work activities, I love living in different places in the world (have lived in Amsterdam and Brussels before) in order to really get to know a place instead of only going there on vacation for a few weeks. One very important side effect of this is that I can learn the local language much better than any other learning method will ever be able to. Learning a language like Romanian is very interesting for me as this broadens my knowledge of the different languages spoken in Europe and lets me strengthen my Latin language skills. So far I have only learned French quite well in school and during travels.
That said, I love my EVS period here in Romania as Mirakolix and the PlayRide project offer a lot of creative freedom to do a lot of different things: teach, organize, travel, talk, help and coordinate. Not all EVS projects can match this and neither can they match the incredible people I live and work together with. I’m already fearing for the day that will inevitably come, the day the PlayRide project will end. However, until then: long live the project!
