EVERYTHING IS PERSONAL. INCLUDING THIS BLOG.
How to survive as an ESC volunteer?
20 tips to make the most out of this experience
Here’s for you some tip on how to best handle this experience and how to enjoy every single second.
1: BE SURE
Before you take the decision to try and do this experience you have to be sure. Doing a year of volunteering could be the best thing for you, it could be so satisfying, and you could have a blast and the best time of your life, but before you do anything you have to be super sure that you are ready and that you really want to do it, because you are going to spend several months away from your home. You will be with people you don’t know, in a country you don’t know, and it could be so different than you home country. You are going to sleep in a bed that is not yours, in a home, that is only a house. You are going to do a work that, maybe, you never did before, and you will be away from your friends and your family, and it can be a lot. So before anything else, you have to know if you are ready because it can be an amazing experience, but time to time it can be also difficult. My firs tip is to be absolutely sure!
2: CHOOSE WISELY
When you decide that being an ESC volunteer is what you really want to do, you must choose the right project. You will find so many and different projects in different country. Maybe there’s some projects that are similar, but in different places, so you have to know yourself. It’s important that you know your strengths and your weaknesses and that you know what you like to do or what you are good at. If you want to work with little kids, but you don’t like nature, don’t choose a project with kids, who spend a lot of time camping or making outdoor activities. If you don’t like the cold, the wind or the rain, don’t choose a project that takes place in the north of Europa, choose a sunnier and hotter country. If you know yourself, you should know what the best project for you is, so don’t choose the first project that you see, keep searching and at the end you will find the best solution for you. And don’t be afraid to try more times. If you’re lucky you will be selected for the first project you apply for, but if it’s not the case, don’t worry, you will find another project and you will be luckier. For me it was! I applied for three different projects, two of them were in Germany and the third one was in Spain. They were project about schools and students because that has always been what I wanted to do, but after the application and the Skype interview, they didn’t select me, but I didn’t slacken off, and at the end I ended up in right place. So, make the right decision and keep going, you will be kissed by fortune!
3: BE PREPARED
Once you have decided on your project and know that you've been selected and where you are going to, you can start to do some research, because you are going to spend almost a year in an unknown country and city. I think it’s important to know where you are going to go before you arrive in the new country. Just take your computer and type on the internet the name of the place you are going to go, and you will learn a lot of different things. You can learn a little bit about the culture, the people, the celebration, the festivities, the typical food, so once you will be in the place you will be able to enjoy everything to the fullest. You can also learn some words, just to be able to say something or just to present yourself, because it can be seen as positive, that you have already made an effort to mingle and to be a part of the new culture. Just search things that you can do, like cities you can visit that aren’t so far from the place where your project takes place, find some museums that can be interesting for you and some nice things to do during your stay, like events, festival. By doing so, you will be well prepared!
4: PACK THE RIGHT THINGS
If you decide to give it a real try and you choose to do a volunteering experience for 9 or 12 months, you will experience different weather and seasons, so it’s important that you pack for every climate. If you are going to a north country, where the fall and the winter are colder, don’t be afraid to pack an extra sweater or a nice wool scarf. And if you are going to a hotter country, you must pack for a very hot summer. Also remember to put in your suitcase something typical of your home country for your host family or for the people who you are going to work with. And if you are not sure what to bring, don’t worry and just ask to your receiving organisation or to your project’s contact person. And don’t forget something that can help you felling like home. It can be anything, but if you have something that can help you feeling better when you are alone and away from home, don’t forget to bring it with you. During my long stay away from home I always bring with me some photos of my friends and my family, my favorite book and my bracelet which is made up of several charms, because each charm is a gift from someone who is important to me. These are the thing that always help me feeling at home, even though I’m not home. When you start packing be careful not to forget anything!
5: DO NOT BE AFRAID
You will find yourself in a whole different city and the first days can be a little scary, because you are going to be alone with people you don’t know but try not to be too frightened for too much time. You have to brave, even if you don’t feel brave, you should put yourself in the game right away. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes, just be yourself and everything is going to be fine. Speak English, if you don’t know the language of the country you are in, even if you think you are not good at it, speak with everyone, ask questions, be curious about the people you are with and about the country in which you are going to live for several months, ask questions about the food, the tradition, the culture and about the work you are going to do. Learn and use a new language and make mistakes speaking a language that is not yours. Be interested in the things you do and if you don’t know just ask for help. You will be surrounded by a lot of people, you can ask the people you work with or your contact person, or you mentor or the organization for help. Don’t be afraid to ask stupid questions because there are not stupid questions, if you want to be sure, just ask and everything will be clearer. It is a new experience for you, and no one is born knowing everything, so you are just like everyone else. With time you will learn, and you will be better, but in the meantime don’t be afraid!
6: DO NOT BE SHY
Do not shut the world out. It’s important that you participate in all the activities of your job and that you give to it your best self. Do not spend all your free time in your room talking with your friends or watching Netflix. Be with the people you work with, go out with the other volunteers. Just talk, mingle, bond, and learn. Tell everything about yourself and share your life with your co-workers. Just be happy, be curios and laugh a lot. You will find another time in your life to be shy, and living this experience is not the right time to be by yourself, and if you are usually shy don’t worry about it, the volunteering will help you to become a more courageous and extroverted person. Another important part of living this experience is that it will make you discover parts of your character and yourself that you didn't even know you had. At the end you will be a new whole person, therefore don’t let your shyness rob you of the wonderful things that the volunteering offers. Trust me, it’s worth it!
7: BE YOURSELF
It can be so easy to decide to change yourself to fit at best with the new people and in the new country, but you shouldn’t lose who you truly are, because when you were selected for the project, they decided they wanted you for all your personal and non-personal attributes, so continue to be the person they first met. Changing to please more the people you don't know is a natural thing, but people should like you just for being you, and if they don’t is only and always their loss. Changing is important, especially during this huge experience, but you should change for the “right” reasons, you can change becoming more mature, more self-confident, you can grow up and learn new things about yourself and about the world, you can change your taste and your path in life, you can change personally and professionally and after all this changes at the end of this experience you will be a new and different version of yourself, but I think it’s important to be true to yourself. Everyone will love you for who you are, and because of that you will get to experience one of the greatest moments of your life!
8: TAKE YOUR TIME
I know that being in a totally different place can be very challenging. You will find yourself in a unknown city where you may not understand the language, not know the people, and where you suppose to do something, you never did before. All of this can be annoying and frustrating, but you should know that you don’t have to learn everything the first day. You can take your time to understand how you can do the job at best and to know the people that are going to be part of you daily life for a long time. It’s important that you don’t be in a hurry because you will find your answers during your stay in your own time. If you start out anxious about having to do everything right and as soon as possible, you will probably ruin the experience. So, take your time to learn and always try to be committed. The important thing is to put your all into it and do your best!
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9: LIVE EVERY OPPORTUNITY
You just have to live every occasion this experience gives you to the fullest and this means participate in every events that presents to you. The receiving organization will propose different activities and events, at least one per month, where you can meet other volunteers or where you can just experience a new tradition. I recommend you do as much things as possible to live at best this experience. Go to the ESC camping where you will have the opportunity to party and have fun with other volunteers, and in the meantime learning something new.
Go to the arrival, mid-term and final training camp, where you have the possibilities to know better all the other volunteers. During this training camp you will spend a whole week with people that are your age, are from different countries and that are doing your same experience. You will find some amazing new friends and you will learn a lot about yourself, the volunteering and the country you are in. It’s always great being able to talk with people who are doing what are you doing, because share the experience can help you a lot. And you will meet volunteers that are living in different parts of the country you are in, so you will have a friend who can host you when you want to visit a different city. Participate in every social event, go to eat a pizza or to drink a beer with the other volunteers that live close to you or with your co-workers. Accept all the invitation of the people you work with, go to their house for a very traditional dinner. Try to do everything, go to a party, to the cinema, to a festival, to a concert and don’t waste any occasion. Live at best every occasion that your volunteering offers to you, that your project gives you. I’m volunteering in an Efterskole in Denmark and this volunteering gives me the chance to do three trips during the year: I went to Berlin. to Sweden for skiing and to Budapest. All of this can happen to you once in a lifetime, so you should try and live every occasion to the fullest. I promise you that you won't regret it!
10: EXPERIENCE A NEW CULTURE
One of the most important parts of doing a long experience in another country is the culture in which you are going to live in. The culture of your new country could be very different from your own culture, so it could be so difficult to understand the people you work with and to fell integrate. You can’t understand a new culture right away because every culture has his own specific things, but with time you will learn. Living in a totally different culture can be so very challenging, so it is important to ask questions and not to feel down when something happens, because something that can be so natural in your own culture can be very different in another one. You should learn not to take everything too personal. For example, I’m Italian, and in my culture is very important to show respect to older people or to people that are in a higher position, and I'm used to knowing what to do and how to do something because I've always been told and explained everything, here in Denmark it's not like that. There's not this big difference between people and it's important to be more active and have more initiative, because very often nobody tells you what to do and how to do it. So, I just had to change a little bit of myself to be a part of the Danish culture, and this helped me to grow up. And learn new stuff about a country and people is always interesting and fun. The culture of a country is made of different things. A culture is shaped by traditions, holidays, religions, way of life, food and other little million things. And during your stay it can be very interesting to learn as much as possible about the culture of the country where you will be living for the next few months. So, try to live every cultural occasion. If you can spend Christmas or Eastern in the new country to see how they celebrate you should do it. Learn all the festivities that don’t exist in your home country and taste all the different food. You should eat all the typical dishes of the country and appreciate new flavours and new type of food. I’m a little difficult with food, I don’t like much stuff, but I always try everything. Here in Denmark, I eat at the school, and I tried so many different things and I found some delicious dishes. Most of all, I found one of the yummiest cakes I have ever tasted: the Brunsviger cake, and for this reason alone I am happy to have chosen Denmark. It’s a very simple cake, but so good, if you don’t know it, you should absolutely try it.
I also tried all the different and very traditional Christmas Danish dishes, like the Risengrød, that you can see in the picture, and that I really don’t like, but it was really nice to try and to know the culture a little better. You should learn all the typical things that are parts of the culture of your new country and enjoy every single new thing. And tell your co-workers or the other volunteers your own culture, because learn the culture of every country is very interesting. I’ve been in Denmark for months, and I have learned a lot of stuff about the Danish culture, things that are so strange for me because they are very different from my own culture.
I learn that when a Danish person has a birthday it is tradition to raise the Danish flag in front of the house and at the school where I work a small Danish flag is given to the student for his/her birthday. Another cultural thing about Denmark is that when a person turns 25 and is not married yet, they are tied by some friends or family to a pole and covered with water and then cinnamon. And finally, I learn the word Hygge, that is impossible to translate into other languages and is part of the Danish culture. It’s a wonderful world that describes being with someone you love and watching a movie or enjoy a peaceful candlelight dinner or just talking with your friends and not having a single problem. All these things are particular to the Danish culture, and I would never have discovered them if I hadn't chosen Denmark as my volunteering destination. And because of that I know more than I knew before, and for that I’m really glad!
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11: LEARN THE LANGUAGE
For me one of the most important things to survive this experience is to learn the language of the new country. It is important because the language belongs to the culture and because learn to speak it can show respect to the people you work with, it can show how much effort you put in this experience and how much it means to you being in the country to make something wonderful and helpful, that not many people can live and do. You can’t experience the volunteering at the fullest if you don’t learn the language of the country you are in.
It can be so very much difficult, especially if your language is so different than the one of the city you live in, but you can do this. There is no better place to learn a language than to be in the country and surrounded by people who speaks that language. Use every occasion you have to learn a new word or to try speaking it, make mistakes and laugh about it. The learning process can be fun, you can just enjoy the experience, and learn the language is a part of the volunteering experience. In life you never stop learning, so use this time to learn something new. And no matter how it goes, just be proud of yourself for trying!
12: TRAVEL
Maybe you will not have another occasion like the one that you are living right now. I don’t know if it will happen again to you to be able to stay months in a foreign country, so use this time to travel in every part of the country you are in. When you are free and have the occasion to go somewhere else, just take it, don’t stay only and always in the city where your project takes place, take a train or a bus and go visit the closest cities or the most beautiful attraction, go to a museum, to an exhibition, to the beach. Take a walk or go hiking, go everywhere and do as much things as possible, because after this experience you could start working or the university and
you probably will not have so much free time. Use your free time wisely to explore as much as you can and to really experience the whole country.
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13: EMBRACE THE CHANGE
Change is good, don’t be afraid to change. You won’t most likely be the same when you return home. You won't like the same things you used to do, nor will you be interested in the same topics. Don't worry if you've changed, that's okay, it's almost always for the better. Because during this experience you will learn a lot and you will grow up, and all of this can really change you. And there is nothing bad in that. Change is a big part of life, it can be scary and unexpected, but it can also be so good. You will discover other sides of yourself, and you will glad about it. So, you just have to go with the flow of your changing and enjoy it. You will like the new parts of yourself, and so will the people who have known you forever!
14: LOOK AFTER YOURSELF
Don’t overdo, you should already know how much you can handle. When you are feeling overwhelmed just take a break and do what you need to feel better. You can be very young, and this can be your very first abroad experience without your family and your friends, so take some time just for yourself. That can mean making a video call with your family or friends, reading a book, listening to your favorite music, going for a walk or a run, seeing a movie or watching that TV series that always makes you feel good. You can also experience a culture shock, that can happen when you find yourself in a different country and culture. It’s not easy to understand when you are living this shock, you can just fell very tired, or you can be homesick, you can be bored, and angry with the people that are around you and with their culture, it can happen and it’s totally normal. And especially in this case you have to be able to look after yourself to get over it. If you feel this way you can ask for help or you can take time for yourself, but not too much because it’s important not to close in on yourself. You just have to know that it’s not going to last forever. So, take your time when you are feeling a little down and don’t worry about what the other people may think, it’s your body, your mind, your experience, don’t waste this time being unhappy and try to find the best way to look after yourself!
15: DO NOT CUT TIES
It can be easy to lose contact with people who are from your own country, maybe because you are feeling so good in the new country that you don’t need to talk so much with the people of your home country, or maybe because you find new people or just because be in touch so much with the people you have known forever can hurt and this can feel you more homesick than you already are. There could be many reasons to just stop talk to people, but I think it important to keep in touch to the people you know, even if they live in another city and they are far away from you. This experience last one year and after that you will be at home again, so if you just cut your relationship, you will probably regret it and that goes for both the people you already knew and the people you could meet during this experience. You will meet other volunteers and with some of them you will probably become friends, because it can be so easy to meet new people and just feel good around them. You can cultivate your friendship during the volunteering year because you are in the same country, but after the year everyone will go back home. Most of the new people are probably from another state, and it will be difficult to keep the friendship and stay in touch, but not impossible. If you feel that you have met a really great friend or something more, you should try to keep reaching to them, even if you live in a different country. At first it can be hard to go from seeing each other very often to almost never, but in the end, I think it will be worth it, because every friendship is worth living!
16: DO SOMETHING TO REMEMBER
A lot of things can happen in this little time of your life. One year in a foreign country can feel like a lot of time, but when you are living it, you realize that it’s not that much time. If you feel that the time is going too fast and you can’t find enough time to live to the fullest this experience, you can try to do something that can help you to remember everything and to really recollect all your thoughts and feelings about what you are living. You can start to write a journal or a book, you can take a lot of photos or video, you can write a poem or a song about your experience, you should do something that you like just to remember every single day of this year of volunteering. This can help you to really understand what you are living, but one day can also help you to remember what this experience was like and what feelings you felt. Or it can be like a way to tell other people how this experience meant to you.
17: RELEARN HOW TO LIVE AT HOME
The time will come when you have to get back home. After you spend more than a half year far away from home, it can be difficult to come back home. Because back at home all the people that you know before can’t see that you are no more the person that you were before leaving. It can be strange to come back to you usual life, with the same people and in the same house, and it can be totally normal to want to leave again for another adventure just because you feel different and you understand that be in another place is better for you, or you will be feeling yourself again in your home, and you understand that travelling is not for you and you prefer to stay in your home country with your family and your usual friends. In the first days you can feel confused, disoriented to come back to your life after you lived something so big, that not a lot of people can’t understand, you can feel a lot, but don’t worry is totally normal, you will always have the people that you met and the experience that you lived. So, you'll always have someone to share your year of volunteering with, someone who has experienced what you've experienced, and who can help you to readjust or who you can talk to about what it was like. As you've gotten used to living in a new country, you'll be able to get used to living in your home again.
18: BE PROUD OF YOURSELF
It doesn’t really matter if it this experience has been the best or the worst of your life, you should be proud of yourself for trying. Not everyone has the courage to leave their home to do something completely different and without knowing how it is going to be or what is going to happen. Not everyone is brave enough to decide to spend a whole year alone in a different country, but you were bold to decide to do this, even if you were scared. Doing a new experience, any experience, can be very challenging, but I think that this one may be one of the most exciting, especially if you are really young! So however it went, whether it was the best time of your life or it could have been better, be proud of yourself for trying to do something that not many people do.
19: SHARE YOUR EXPERIENCE
Once you’re home and your year of volunteering is done, don’t keep your experience just to yourself. Maybe someone needs to do this experience because they just feel a little lost and they don’t know what their next step in life could be, and maybe they don’t know about European Solidarity Corps and they don’t know that there is this possibility to spend a year abroad and they just need you to tell them. Share what ESC is and what it means, tell other people what you did, talk about the people you met and the things you learned and taught, just share your whole experience with someone, you might change a life! There is a saying that says: “sharing is caring”, so by telling what you have experienced you can care for so many people. I bet there will be plenty of people who will be curious and interested in your story.
20: ENJOY EVERY SECOND
Just enjoy it! My last and more important tip is to enjoy this year of volunteering, that can be so easy to say, but not to do. You should just try not to think too much about the future to really live the present and the volunteering because you can live this kind of experience once in a lifetime. It could have been the best experience of your life or the worst, but either way you have learned from it and thanks to it you are more culturally and personally rich. Nothing will be the same once you are back home, you are going to feel different because of the experience you have just lived. Try to not live with the regret that you didn't do something, and enjoy every single thing this experience offers you, because when you will be at home again for good, you will miss everything and everyone, even the things that you didn’t like. Maybe you will want to leave again and start the same experience all over, but you won’t be able to do it, so live every second to the fullest!
This are my advice to live the volunteering experience as best as possible, every person can live this experience in different ways, but I based this tips on my own experience, and I hope they can help you to understand if you really are up to this and to enjoy it.
As for my experience, it was just really really great. And now that I’m back home I miss everything about it and I miss everyone; I miss even the little things. I miss mispronouncing Danish words and seeing students laugh, I miss teasing them because they eat pizza with pineapple or pasta with ketchup, I miss simply sitting with professors and students and talking, I miss the feeling of "hygge". It was one of the best experiences of my life, and I would love to do it all over again, exactly everything I've already done, I wouldn't change a thing. I met people that will be always part of my life, even if I will never see them again, I did different things for the first time, that maybe I would never have done, I lived a culture, that is totally different from my own, and I loved every tradition and celebration. I learned a language I never thought I would learn, and I was so happy almost every time. Like in life, even during this experience, I had ups and downs, but the ups were much more than the downs, and I’m glad to have experienced some downs too, because nothing can be perfect, but this experience comes very close, because even in the most difficult times I was surrounded by such awesome people, that just understood me and helped me in the best way possible.
So, if you are reading this, I really recommend you to try, find the best project for you and leave to live a great experience, and I hope and I know it will be as wonderful as mine!