One day I had the opportunity to spend the third year of my Bachelor´s degree studying abroad, with the Erasmus exchange programme. At the time, I was studying English, so it made perfect sense for me to spend a year in Britain, a country I´d visited twice before and which I´d always been attracted to. And I thought, well, a year in the UK is not so bad, it´s not too far from home so I can come back for Christmas, and it will look good on my resume. So I attended the meetings my university organised to talk about the programme, started talking to professors about recommending me for the universities and colleges I had chosen, and eventually applied (I´m not gonna lie, it was a long, tedious and chaotic process). By that point, I was really invested in this project and was getting more enthusiastic by the day. After several long months spent waiting, I finally received a positive answer. I was being sent to my first choice of a school, a somewhat prestigious college located in the centre of London, for one year.
Play this for effect.
Everything happened very fast then.There was a lot of paperwork to do, and I had to apply for both government and regional grants, and for a room in a university residence (the cheapest option, which was still outrageously expensive because that was London after all), not to mention selecting an arrival date and a lot of other things I´m probably forgetting. The D Day eventually came, and I was both ecstatic and, understandably, really anxious.
My very first night in London was essentially spent crying to myself and wondering what on Earth I had done. I was certain I had made a huge mistake, and I was already regretting my decision and picturing myself flying back home after two weeks because I couldn´t take it, couldn´t stay the whole year.
Long story short, the opposite happened, and after one year in London, I certainly hadn´t had enough of it! So I applied to do my Masters in Translation there, and after an even more chaotic, even more nerve-wracking applying process, I went back to London for twelve more months of hard work (and a good deal of fun). And the more I thought, the more I realised I wanted more of this type of experience and the EVS, which I had known about for years, was the perfect programme for me. I was about to finish my studies but didn´t want to settle down right away, I wanted to travel (and I knew exactly what country!) and gain more work experience: it was truly ideal. One year after I made the decision, I landed in Helsinki-Vantaa with three suitcases, ready for my next adventure!
The reason why I took the time to talk about my time in London is because I believe that, hadn´t I had such a great experience in the UK, or hadn´t I had that experience at all, I probably wouldn´t have ended up doing an EVS. Especially not in Finland, a country I had never visited and whose language I didn´t speak, and which I did´t know all that much about in spite of all the research I had done (Finland and its inhabitants are quite mysterious, so it seems!)
My first experience abroad made me more confident, more curious and definitely more adventurous, and most importantly, eager for more experiences. Of course, it helps that 2 times out of 3 I travelled with the help of a european programme: it gives you security and support, which I believe are very important especially for a first timer. In addition, both Erasmus and EVS include financial help and the EVS in particular is pretty accessible to young people with small monetary means. I´m lucky enough to have very supportive parents who covered some of my expenses which would have been difficult with only my EVS money (such as buying good winter clothes!) and so do many others; and it´s good to have some savings, especially in Finland where life is VERY expensive. That said, I do know some volunteers who rely only on their monthly allowance for their extra expenses and who manage that way.
The EVS is not a perfect programme - in practice, it´s not very consistent and there are big disparities between how the volunteers are taken on in the different organisations. Applying is long and fastidious, too. But it has so many pros that I would encourage anyone who is interested in a volunteering experience abroad to research it and, if you like the sound of it, to consider it.
My own EVS is ending in two months and I enjoyed (almost) every minute of it. It has been a wonderful opportunity to travel and immerse myself in another culture and I learned SO MUCH. About Finland and what it´s like living here of course, but also about working with children, and I learned a lot about myself, too (corny, I know, but true). I know I will cherish the memories I created here forever, and smile every time I look at the photos I took because they will remind me of my very brief, but very happy and fulfilling stay in Finland.
If you are potentially interested in doing an EVS, this is a good summary of what it is and how it works!
Thanks for reading,
Nahia
Long story short, the opposite happened, and after one year in London, I certainly hadn´t had enough of it! So I applied to do my Masters in Translation there, and after an even more chaotic, even more nerve-wracking applying process, I went back to London for twelve more months of hard work (and a good deal of fun). And the more I thought, the more I realised I wanted more of this type of experience and the EVS, which I had known about for years, was the perfect programme for me. I was about to finish my studies but didn´t want to settle down right away, I wanted to travel (and I knew exactly what country!) and gain more work experience: it was truly ideal. One year after I made the decision, I landed in Helsinki-Vantaa with three suitcases, ready for my next adventure!
The reason why I took the time to talk about my time in London is because I believe that, hadn´t I had such a great experience in the UK, or hadn´t I had that experience at all, I probably wouldn´t have ended up doing an EVS. Especially not in Finland, a country I had never visited and whose language I didn´t speak, and which I did´t know all that much about in spite of all the research I had done (Finland and its inhabitants are quite mysterious, so it seems!)
My first experience abroad made me more confident, more curious and definitely more adventurous, and most importantly, eager for more experiences. Of course, it helps that 2 times out of 3 I travelled with the help of a european programme: it gives you security and support, which I believe are very important especially for a first timer. In addition, both Erasmus and EVS include financial help and the EVS in particular is pretty accessible to young people with small monetary means. I´m lucky enough to have very supportive parents who covered some of my expenses which would have been difficult with only my EVS money (such as buying good winter clothes!) and so do many others; and it´s good to have some savings, especially in Finland where life is VERY expensive. That said, I do know some volunteers who rely only on their monthly allowance for their extra expenses and who manage that way.
The EVS is not a perfect programme - in practice, it´s not very consistent and there are big disparities between how the volunteers are taken on in the different organisations. Applying is long and fastidious, too. But it has so many pros that I would encourage anyone who is interested in a volunteering experience abroad to research it and, if you like the sound of it, to consider it.
My own EVS is ending in two months and I enjoyed (almost) every minute of it. It has been a wonderful opportunity to travel and immerse myself in another culture and I learned SO MUCH. About Finland and what it´s like living here of course, but also about working with children, and I learned a lot about myself, too (corny, I know, but true). I know I will cherish the memories I created here forever, and smile every time I look at the photos I took because they will remind me of my very brief, but very happy and fulfilling stay in Finland.
If you are potentially interested in doing an EVS, this is a good summary of what it is and how it works!
Thanks for reading,
Nahia
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