ABOUT EVS AND ME
The EVS adventure begins from the moment you want to do it. It seems complicated at the beginning; you have to invest time to find the project which suits best what you are looking for, find a sending and hosting organization, through various documents and days of waiting ... but actually, the wait is worth the trouble and I feel happy of being part of, from my point of view, the best European program to go abroad, where you can choose your work area, all your needs are covered and a great team working for your welfare. It is important to assess this opportunity!
The EVS adventure begins from the moment you want to do it. It seems complicated at the beginning; you have to invest time to find the project which suits best what you are looking for, find a sending and hosting organization, through various documents and days of waiting ... but actually, the wait is worth the trouble and I feel happy of being part of, from my point of view, the best European program to go abroad, where you can choose your work area, all your needs are covered and a great team working for your welfare. It is important to assess this opportunity!
My name is Virginia and I am 29 and I was born in Toledo, a beautiful city in central Spain. Toledo is known as "The Imperial City" for being the headquarters of the court of Charles I and as "the city of three cultures", having been inhabited for centuries by Christians, Jews and Muslims. It is well-known also for his swords and marzipan. Strolling through Toledo is like stepping directly into a nice story.
My love for nature leads me to study Environmental Science. My other passion is working with children and young people so I have tried to combine it with environmental education in recent years. Before my arrival in England I was working in a "Youth Centre" combining it with teaching gardening courses and environment through an Environmental Association, Whittaker, founded by some friends of mine and me. I am a very active person, eager to learn and to teach and these are some of the reasons because of I decided to do an EVS. I have always worked as a volunteer with different organizations, mainly in social work with children and disabled people, but this time I wanted to focus my project on issues directly related to my degree, to get new skills and improve techniques in my work area and also to assist in improving a community.
I am looking forward of knowing a new country, its people and their way of living. Besides, I really think that learning a foreign language, in this case English, is professionally a great advantage as it is spoken worldwide.
Actually, the phone rang and ... yeeeesss! They were interested in me! I would work for Bradford Environmental Education Service (BEES)! What more could you ask for??? Environment, Education and English!
MY FIRST WEEKS IN ENGLAND
My first weeks here have been adaptive in every way ...
- The "Sorry, I don't understand" week : I arrived and I didn't understand anything, and if I thought I understand it, I was insecure because people talk very fast! First days were for documents, introduction and information from “Everything is possible”, hosting organization issues.
- The “-Hello, I'm a new volunteer; I’m Spanish –Oohh Spain?? Sun! Mallorca! nap time! bullfighting, flamenco y olé!” week: It's time to know the workplace and colleagues!. BEES is part of YMCA and they all work in a modern building with many facilities and opportunities for young people. They perform different all ages activities so this week there’ve been many pleasant presentations.
- The "Arrival Training" week: A fun week in a lovely town, Great Malvern, where we got the chance to meet more volunteers from different countries. We were more similar than we thought, we all had the same doubts and uncertainties, whiches Lorreine, the coordinator, tried to solve. Thanks to this trip I had the chance to climb the hills and appreciate the beautiful views of the English countryside.
In general, those days when suddenly you wonder: What am I doing here? or you wake up strong enough to take on the world! Days of changes ... leave your country, your family and friends to adapt another country where some things are different... I ask myself... why not using shutters? Why eating in 15 minutes, a sandwich and at 12:00 in the morning? Why British people aren’t cold?
All these days were much easier thanks to my flatmates. I'm living with Sara, another Spaniard girl, and, for a month, two Portuguese guys have been with us. We’ve had fun days together, trying to practice a new language, portuspanglish!, visiting Bradford, cooking together ... I like the long conversations with Sara about our impressions of life and, when it seemed a very serious theme, we ended up with a great smile. It amazes me how someone I’ve known so recently can quickly become part of my family, my family in England.
Actually, after a month, I’m happy, all seems more organized and I'm feeling at home here. Now, I would like to focus on doing my volunteering work, learning English and being part of British life for what I'd like to sign up me in some activity and get to know new people. Of course, I want to know more about Bradford and surrounding areas since it is a city that impressed me from the first day because it reminded me to Toledo in old ancient time, Britishes, Pakistanies and Hindues living here. I like finding several different cultures and I'm curious to know about them. Besides, I’d really like to visit two National Parks, which are close to.
ABOUT MY PROJECT
Are you bored? Come to work with BEES!
Julia is the coordinator, Nik is my mentor and other colleagues are Amanda, Rachel and Rob. They are a pretty nice team and we work all together. From my arrived they have done me felt one more in the team and they have been very patient teaching me. Since the first week I have been able to work on different projects, that’s because I love working here, you can learn a little of everything!
First, they do maintenance and gardening activities to preserve natural areas of Bradford. Honestly, I think it's a hard work, but also it is great because I can learn to handle many tools. Overall I think we are happy renovating areas where people would enjoy. It's also nice because I can learn about different places of Bradford and, in particular, meet people from here, because these jobs are done along with several volunteers from the city and since the first day, I was surprised by their companionship and desire to work.
I like travelling with Nick in the minibus and discovering the city. One day we were travelling and a man seemed slept while he was driving! My stomach clenched and I thought ... "Noooo!! He is going to crash!" But I quickly realized that he was sat as accompanist! It's really crazy driving on the left!
On the other hand, one of the things I like very much is BEES has environmental education projects with several schools where they try to join children to nature, taking knowledge and care of it. Some activities are planting plants, taking care of the garden, exploring and recognizing the environment ... I love this job and I really enjoy with the kids. Although it is still difficult because of the language, but they are very patient with me and they teach me a lot!
These days have been important in BEES. On October 7th the "Apple Day” was celebrated as every year, so I picked apples, cooked recipes and made an excellent fresh apple juice! It was a great day with pretty nice weather where everybody enjoyed it.
All this in just one month! So I'm sure next ten months I will have a lot of things to learn, share and enjoy!
See you soon!
Virginia, Long-term volunteer in Bradford.
Project part of With YOUth in Mind
and supported by the British Council
and supported by the British Council
and the Youth in Action programme
of the European Commission.
