In that sunny white winter, Alexander climbed the mountain for the last time. He’d had to leave soon. This was his good-bye to those such wonderful mountains and green forests, familiar places, friends and family… his old life and old thoughts.  After three months on the road, backpacking through all the Europe, he’d be on the road again, this time with a purpose. A purpose that will change his life…a purpose that will change the life of all the people which he will encounter.

   He had his first contact with volunteering activities exactly two years ago, when together with an unknown multinational group, decided to make a great hiking trip for a weekend in Carpathian Mountains. There is where those people all around the world talked about ideas, ways of living, ordinary people with simple lives, but with amazing ideas about freedom, most of them volunteers or nomads that ‘get lost’ in Romania, people that want to bring their contribution for the world to be a better place. In that moment he realized that he wants to be more, he wanted to be like them, the moment when he realized that in order to do that he will have to break the corporatist chains, and get out of the crowd, get out of the society with its strict and stupid rules and let himself evolve. That was the moment for a change. So right after that amazing experience, he got involved in some volunteering activities around Brasov city, together with seven European volunteers, who would later become his friends. Together with them he could rediscover his city, his country but more than this, he could rediscover himself among them.
Finally, when the time came, Alexander quit his job and left to the sunny island of Cyprus. For one month, together with volunteers from Romania, Italy, Slovenia, France and Cyprus they were helping the villagers to pick up their products in the fields, they were helping them to cook traditional Cypriot products, they were painting stables, but moreover, they were helping to develop themselves into better persons and to promote that further around them, to make the world a better place, for them and for the others. When he was back on Romanian soil, he understood how happy you can be when you are living a simple life and when you are enjoying the little things. So this is how he decided to get lost in the small Europe. With a small amount of money but with a big heart and lots of hope, with a backpack, a sleeping bag and a tent, he started the journey of more than 10 000 km…only by hitchhiking.

That was the begging of his new life, but the real story was just about to happen.

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-I would have a croissant and a coffee please, he said, while he was starting the integration process in the French culture without knowing it.

-Can you please put your seatbelt monsieur! We are preparing for landing.

“God, those air-guardians they can see everything! “

  Although it was the beginning of March, the weather in Paris was warm, the fields were green, the people were nice and the french language it was tickling his ears. All of this was reminding him the beautiful adventures he had passed through in this marvelous country, not so long time ago.

    Dijon was even nicer, a place that fit perfectly to his needs. As it’s a medium size city, Dijon is one of the most appealing cities in France. Filled with elegant medieval and Renaissance buildings, the lively center is wonderful for strolling, especially if you like to leaven your cultural enrichment with excellent food, fine wine and shopping.

   “On va se voir plutôt just a côté de la boulangerie” was the message he just received on his phone, which in his translation was: “Probably we will see each other somewhere in an undetermined period of time in an unknown place for you”. This and the bomb alert that just happened in Gare Ville de Dijon while he was in the arriving  train it was what intrigued him even more. But the hope that in a very near future he could speak with some completely strangers in an unknown language, strangers that later they will become his new friends.

    This is how the beginning of Alexander’s adventures as an EVS volunteer for the City Hall of Dijon started.

 What is EVS thing, you might wonder!?  The acronym refers to the European Voluntary Service. This is a program set up by the European Union to promote youth mobility. Especially for this famous lost generation Y, who’s hanging on their smartphones all day long. If their flaws start from a foundation of truth, for Alexander was impossible to deny the effect of the meetings he was able to do across the continent, meetings that have given serious ass kicking to the prejudices that he had himself.

    Meetings, small projects, big projects, conferences and seminaries, unknown people that he will meet, all of this things will change Alexander’s perspective about the world, will change his life principles and his way of living.

  Finally meeting the coordinator of the project at the train station after one hour and a half delay of the train was the best thing that happened the all day. After a weird French-English conversation, he manage to find out the first things about Dijon.  Exhausted but really excited about the new city that will adopt him for the next seven months, finally he found the peace in his new bed, in his new house. A new day in a new city, in a new country was just about to start.

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   Six months passed like the wind and here he was, again, at the beginning of a new adventure. No fixed destination, just the road in front of him. Six months living a new life, with new friends, old friends and…future friends!

  You might wonder if it worth it!?  It totally did. He discovered within himself new skills that he had no idea before, skills that he could use and apply in a totally different language. He felt in love with an amazing girl…a happy story with a sad end, again! But they will meet for sure at some point in their life and they will rememorize their summer love. They lived!

 “It is amazing how this experience can change you” he’s saying. “If I would have the chance again I would totally do it one more time. Living alone or with other volunteers, being on the road traveling with friends or unknown people, all of this improve your social skills and your self-confidence. You get out of this experience a brand new person, richer, for sure not wealthier, but happier, that you brought your small contribution to the world, to make it a better place”

The bottom line of this story is: DO your own EVS project! Write your own EVS story!

By doing so, you will change people’s life without knowing it, and they will change yours. Take the challenges and use them in a constructive way, build something. Go above your limits and you will grow. Use your skills to do well, use other people’s skills for making yours better. Share and receive wisdom, share and receive kindness, that’s all about being a volunteer!!

That is the road…to another me! A better ME! 

*  Alexander :  Latinized form of the Greek name Αλεξανδρος (Alexandros), which meant “defending men” from Greek αλεξω (alexo) ”to defend, help” and ανηρ (aner) ”man” (genitive ανδρος). In Greek mythology this was another name of the hero Paris.

More to discover about Andrei’s EVS journey:

http://www.erasmusplus-jeunesse.fr/blog/192/17/La-chronique-d-Andrei-un-jeune-volontaire-europeen-a-Dijon.html

https://www.facebook.com/914304171923509/videos/939649966055596/

The second step was selecting the fitting ideas and search for a way to promote them; that field was fitting my graphic skills, so I had the chance to create poster, flyers, header events and of course set up the design of the brand new Mirakolix blog http://cdjmirakolix.blogspot.ro/.

We finally started our activities: I’ve been the master of two different work-out workshops per week (one high intensity interval training and another one based on strenght skills), and of course i helped with the other activities, that were:

-Cineforum (all year long)

-Spanish lessons

-Body percussions

-Board game nights (in team with the volunteers of the other Mirakolix’s projects)

-Slacklining workshops (just during summer)

-international cooking (with the Mirakolix’s group “Inside Reshape”)

Of course during that period we didn’t stop communication: at each event we took photos and posted them on FB, with a brief description of our adventures; another good experience was  when we went to several schools to have my workout workshops and promote EVS and our activities.

When spring arrived, we set up an outdoor event called Brasov De Poveste  in collaboration with the volunteers of the other Mirakolix projects; We had the chance to have slacklining, games and DOY workshops in parks, and these events granted us a big participation.

For the Main event of the Year (Ceva de Vara Festival) I did a huge communication work, passing by flyers, posters, email banners and of course facebook, with the Ceva De Vara page.

The 2 Ceva de Vara days (18-19 –July) were for sure the highest peak in my developing process; except helping with the organization of it, I had 2 workout workshops per day, integrating the help of  the teenagers of Brasov Street workout, and I also could have every days some face painting sessions: it was really nice to communicate with children while painting on there faces anymals and monsters!!!

For the dissemination part i couldn’t do a lot  -since I’m leaving before the EVS end-, but  i provided some descriptions of what I did for the website and I will of course write articles for my sending organization blog; i will also have chance to make some speech in Bologna for people interested in doing an EVS.

Overall it was a wonderful experience, and I feel that we fulfilled the main aims of the project.

Brasov,               12/08/2015

It’s only few days since I came back to Barcelona after my 12-months EVS project called “Inside Journey” which took place in Braşov. At the beginning we were 4 international volunteers from Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Catalonia, although for different reasons we lost some members on the way.

To be honest, when I landed in Romania I didn’t know so much about the country, its traditions… (in 3 weeks I applied to the last call, did a Skype interview, got accepted to join the team, signed all the documents needed, packaged my luggage and flew to Dracula’s land). However, I guess it was better, as I didn’t have time to create expectations and I could enjoy better this amazing experience that the EVS is.

Besides “Inside Journey”, there were other 2 projects in Mirakolix: “Inside Ride”(IR) and “Reshape Urban Places”(RUP), with whom we collaborated in different activities and events. So suddenly you found 12 volunteers from 7 different nationalities, new in the city, with different expectations, backgrounds and habits, but willing to enjoy and take advantage of the 11 months of their EVS in Braşov. With the time passing, we became a family and we were spending more and more time together in the terrace, sharing nice dinners, hiking and travelling around Romania…

The beginning of our stage was a little unclear as we didn’t have a fixed target group, so we went to different high-schools to introduce Mirakolix and the activities we were planning to start. Maria mastered a body percussion workshop (with its Christmas flash mob) and Mirco trained us and other youngsters in his work’out. Also, played different board-games and traditional games from the different countries we are from and we learned new techniques of handicrafts within the “Sezatori Urbane” of RUP.

The new year came with lots of new activities: we watched movies and documentaries in the cineforum and discussed them with Thomas and Pierre; Mirco added a strength workout to the conditioning workin’out; we discovered the gastronomy and traditions of different countries in the International cooking workshop I was doing with RUP; I started to run Spanish lessons for beginners; Thomas and I did different team-building games and emotional intelligence activities with youngsters in Colegiul Grigore Moisil, and I collaborated with IR for the hiking day in Întorsura.

Also, when the warm of the spring arrived at Braşov, all three projets went to the park to do different activities and workshops, as well as to play some board-games and to walk on the slackline, as a previous step to the 2^nd edition of the festival Ceva de Vara.    

During 4 days, Eglé and I organized the Fest-camp in Acriş, in which local volunteers from Braşov, Întorsura Buzăului and Predeal took care of the decoration and the area of the festival while sharing a nice experience, building new friendships and enjoying the nights around a bonfire.

Just after the camp, it took place in Întorsura Buzăului the second edition of Ceva de Vara, a two-days alternative festival in which more than 750 guests had the chance to play board-games, do different handicrafts and active workshops, do an orienteering and bike contests, climb a tower of beer boxes and cross the area of the festival in a zip-line, relax in tires-seats or slack-line and enjoy different performances and concerts. It was a lot of preparation but the result was a success and many local volunteers were already asking for a next edition.

To sum up the three projects (IJ, IR and RUP) we adapted the idea of “Braşov de poveste” into “EVS de poveste: the story of international volunteers”, where we challenged our guests to experience different activities and workshops in the different lands that represented the different stages of our EVS and the projects. 

Finally, in September, when the other volunteers left Braşov, I wrote the youth exchange project “Traditions cross the borders” with the help of Alex. With that project I wanted to bring to Romania a space where young people from different European countries could experience outdoor activities to promote Cultural Identity, Multiculturality, Participation and Volunteering.

Looking backwards I realize that I did many things in the last twelve months, I’ve learned a lot about myself and also new skills, and I’ve met a lot of people from around the world (my “Brasovian” family, volunteers who were doing their EVS around Romania, people who were attending the CS meetings I was organizing, and the youngsters from Braşov, Întorsura Buzăului and Predeal who came to our events, the camps and the festival Ceva de Vara). Moreover, I had the chance to visit many places in Romania, to hike different hills and to enjoy the amazing landscapes that Romania offers.

This is an experience that I’ll never forget and that I would repeat without hesitating. Because I fell in love of this country and its people, and I’m looking forward to come back again!

Therefore it will also be with mixed feelings that I will travel home. I regret, however, none of the choices I have made, or the development I’ve done along the way. My project took place in Brasov, Romania, where we have been working with children and young people, Romanians and Romas from both rural and urban areas and through non-formal activities and games, we are working with themes such as science, the world, nature and try to increase their attention about a clean nature, it’s resources and recycling.

In the last months, have we worked with weekly activities in the park, major events in the local communities, as a last goodbye before our projects will end. The way people have reacted to the events, gives me hope that our time and work has had a small effect on the local community and all our work has not been in vain.

Kristine took part in the Science Playgrounds project, which aim was to bring science closer to children and youngsters. The 2 EVS volunteers involved in the project developed and implemented different in- and outdoor playful workshops, experiments and non-formal activities in order to initiate children and teenagers from rural and small urban communities in the fascinating world of science. They worked mainly in schools from rural areas, with children from isolated or discriminated communities, but also in poor urban areas in order to diversify the opportunities for leisure activities.
The volunteers were also involved in organizing different games events, such as games afternoons in the park or board games evenings in a café, as well as in developing and implementing their own initiatives: like a big Catan event in a small, isolated village or a kite workshop initiated in the frame of a one-day summer festival that we organized together with other EVS volunteers and local volunteers from Brasov and surrounding communities.
Besides this, the project was a great learning experience for the 2 EVS volunteers involved.

Milda took part for 12 month in the PlayRide project. The main goal of PlayRide project was to promote responsible outdoor recreational activities through in- and outdoor games, in particular, and different non-formal education methods, in general, and to increase recreational activities for children and youngsters from marginalized or isolated rural communities. The project involved teaching kids and youngsters the beauty of informal and non-formal education in schools, organizing cultural events, giving presentations on EVS in the local community, exploring the rural areas for unknown and undiscovered activities or sights that should be more known and promoting the learning through playful activities. One of the main successes of the project was the festival Ceva de Vara, organized in Intorsura Buzaului by the EVS volunteers together with local volunteers from different communities. The festival gave the opportunity to more than 500 people from rural and urban communities to experience alternative leisure activities, focused on non-formal methods, playful workshops and different concerts in the evening. Besides this, the project was a great learning experience for the 5 EVS volunteers involved.

During my EVS in Brasov I was most of the time working wit  kids at schools from isolated communities – gypsy kids and kids from small villages. We were also exploring area around Brasov and surroundings and trying to create interesting route with some points of interests. – for this we create special web page.

On the end of our EVS we hold festival in Intorsura Buzaului „Ceva de Vara“ where we had several activities for kids, youngsters and also for adults.

During my EVS I learned how to deal with people, how to work in team and how to prepare valuable activities. I learned a lot, I don´t even know how to describe it but I know that I will be able to use it in future…for my career, my future life and I am glad that I decided to go especially to Romania and especially to Brasov, because Brasov and surroundings are full of great people.

Michal took part for 12 month in the PlayRide project. The main goal of PlayRide project was to promote responsible outdoor recreational activities through in- and outdoor games, in particular, and different non-formal education methods, in general, and to increase recreational activities for children and youngsters from marginalized or isolated rural communities. The project involved teaching kids and youngsters the beauty of informal and non-formal education in schools, organizing cultural events, giving presentations on EVS in the local community, exploring the rural areas for unknown and undiscovered activities or sights that should be more known and promoting the learning through playful activities. One of the main successes of the project was the festival Ceva de Vara, organized in Intorsura Buzaului by the EVS volunteers together with local volunteers from different communities. The festival gave the opportunity to more than 500 people from rural and urban communities to experience alternative leisure activities, focused on non-formal methods, playful workshops and different concerts in the evening. Besides this, the project was a great learning experience for the 5 EVS volunteers involved.

Coen took part for 12 month in the PlayRide project. The main goal of PlayRide project was to promote responsible outdoor recreational activities through in- and outdoor games, in particular, and different non-formal education methods, in general, and to increase recreational activities for children and youngsters from marginalized or isolated rural communities. The project involved teaching kids and youngsters the beauty of informal and non-formal education in schools, organizing cultural events, giving presentations on EVS in the local community, exploring the rural areas for unknown and undiscovered activities or sights that should be more known and promoting the learning through playful activities. One of the main successes of the project was the festival Ceva de Vara, organized in Intorsura Buzaului by the EVS volunteers together with local volunteers from different communities. The festival gave the opportunity to more than 500 people from rural and urban communities to experience alternative leisure activities, focused on non-formal methods, playful workshops and different concerts in the evening. Besides this, the project was a great learning experience for the 5 EVS volunteers involved.

Maria Frias Corius took part in the Science Playgrounds project, which aim was to bring science closer to children and youngsters. The 2 EVS volunteers involved in the project developed and implemented different in- and outdoor playful workshops, experiments and non-formal activities in order to initiate children and teenagers from rural and small urban communities in the fascinating world of science. They worked mainly in schools from rural areas, with children from isolated or discriminated communities, but also in poor urban areas in order to diversify the opportunities for leisure activities.
The volunteers were also involved in organizing different games events, such as games afternoons in the park or board games evenings in a café, as well as in developing and implementing their own initiatives: like a big Catan event in a small, isolated village or a kite workshop initiated in the frame of a one-day summer festival that we organized together with other EVS volunteers and local volunteers from Brasov and surrounding communities.
Besides this, the project was a great learning experience for the 2 EVS volunteers involved.

During the project we worked in different schools, primary schools in small villages as well as gypsy primary schools and high schools in rural areas. We had non-formal education activities with the children during school time, like crafting, dancing and playing games, learning about geography and tolerance in non-formal ways, assisting in English lessons.

We worked in an orphanage all year long and had afternoon activities with the children, like crafting, playing, going outside, doing sports and in the end we practised small theater sketches with the children that we performed at our festival.

We explored a lot of villages around Brasov, in order to build a touristic route, which includes local traditions and beautiful places in the nature and the villages which people from the city and tourists could explore by bike, by car or by foot. For the things we discovered we created a webpage and I hope that this route will be more developed and promoted by the next EVS volunteers!

After this we concentrated more on organizing small events like an intercultural evening for Christmas where all of us presented traditions from our countries and prepared food, doing board game evenings in bars in a village. We took part in the “Non-formal-education-week” in schools where all schools all over the country tried new methods of teaching for one week. We organized park afternoons with games and workshops for families in Brasov, also in order to promote EVS and our events. For the International Children ́s Day we organized an event to play a big version of the board game “The Settlers of Catan” with more than 100 people in a small village called Holbav, where we also worked in the schools. After that we were really busy organizing our big festival “Ceva de Vara” (translated “something summery”) for the end of the project, which was a great success, with a variety of workshops, sports, contests, water fights and games during the day and concerts, star gazing and campfire with music in the evening.

All in all for me EVS was a great experience, by getting so close to people in another country and meeting international people I learned a lot also about myself, things I could not have learned in my own country. Having time to think about what to do with my future, while doing a different kind of work and being out from my comfort zone helped me to develop myself and my way of thinking. Romania is a beautiful country to experience all these things and I will miss this time of my life and all the people connected to it!

Kathrin Schmitz