Amy on EVS in Sweden - 2012

"...I have grown in confidence and it has been a brilliant experience..." 

My name is Amy, I am 23 and currently on EVS in Sweden. I live in Stockholm and work for a youth exchange organisation called Youth for Understanding (YFU). I have been here for 7 months now and it has been a fantastic experience thus far. I am part of a project called `World Coloured Glasses´. Along with three other EVS volunteers from Germany, Turkey and Mexico our job is to travel around Sweden, visiting schools and holding workshops with Swedish students. We inform them about the opportunities to study abroad with YFU and discuss topics such as stereotypes, prejudices and discrimination, to enhance intercultural understanding and celebrate diversity.

In effect, we are like substitute teachers for an hour and a half, and have the freedom from YFU to devise a workshop that we feel is interesting and insightful for the students, whilst at the same time bringing a little bit of our cultures into the classroom. In the beginning, the prospect of having to present and talk to a classroom full of Swedish students was a little daunting, but that was part of the challenge of taking on this particular project. With every workshop I have grown in confidence and it has been a brilliant experience to meet with so many young, motivated and interesting students, whilst gaining lots of practical experience and personal development in such a short period of time. I would highly recommend readers to participate in EVS. I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to live in the beautiful city of Stockholm, make friends with people from all over the world, and help the organisation to spread an important message of what the European Voluntary Service stands for; mutual understanding, peace and solidarity.

Fly the flag for volunteering around the world! The Video!

Last year Concordia and many of our overseas partners took part in The Flag Tour 2011.

The Idea…. was for a flag to travel around the world visiting many international volunteering projects. For 9 months, from March to November 2011, three flags travelled all around the world visiting 60 projects and events of 33 voluntary organisations involving more than 1600 volunteers. Concordia finished with the flag in November for our big General Assembly that we hosted in Southampton (the flag is now hung up in our office).  The flag raised awareness of volunteering, The Alliance, promoted international volunteer projects and ran alongside the European and International Year of the volunteer 2011.

Concordia was very much involved in the whole process, from the design of the flag, to co-ordinating the flag around the world and making sure it didn’t get too lost (it did disappear a few times and got stuck in customs) but this was all very much part of its journey!!

Finally we managed to put all the pictures and comments into a small film.  Enjoy!

Tugba on EVS in the UK - 2012

"Before I came here I heard about England; there are red phone boxes at every corner , double deckers are all around, nobody go outside without an umbrella , people drink tea at 17.00"

I am 29 years old and from Turkey. I have been in Brighton in England for over 7 months.There is a cliche among EVS volunteers which is ''Time flies when you are doing EVS.'' First I have to tell you this cliche is very true , yeah it really flies!

Here I work for YMCA which is a charity organisation for community and young people. Mostly I join the sport sessions to support youth workers, recently I satrted to run my own sessions as well. The variety of social activities is really wide here.So I gain many experiences in different areas. Actually this is the biggest important thing about EVS, you cannot even imagine how many new different experiences you could have and how much they teach you during your EVS. As an example , I was an extravagant person before and I never managed to organise spending my money wisely. But here, I have learnt how to use my money effectively. So even the factors you might consider as difficulty (like EVS Money is limited) can teach you a lot.

I want to mention about my time in England a bit more. We all know there are some stereotypes about cultures , nations and countries. Before I came here I heard about England; there are red phone boxes at every corner , double deckers are all around, nobody go outside without an umbrella , people drink tea at 17.00 and English people are a bit cold and formal... I cannot say telephone boxes, double deckers disappointed me but it made me suprised how friendly and welcoming English people are, the opposite of their grey and cold weather. EVS gives you the opportunity to experience it on your self.


And of course the main purpose of EVS...
Yes, working as a volunteer gives you the sense of fulfilment and real satisfaction as you would not expect. Especially I felt in this way when I worked with kids with special needs. It is so easy to approach them, you can even communicate with them by eye contact and it sometimes tells much more than verbal communication. This is an experience which you have to have it on your own to comprehend what it really means.

I can tell you even more about my own EVS experience and elaborate it, but it would be boring. I hope you will enjoy your own EVS experience.

Happy Student Volunteering Week 2012

Hello everyone,

Happy Student Volunteering Week. This week Feb 20-26th we have been looking back at our volunteer stories from last year and are so happy to announce that in 2011 Concordia sent and hosted a total of 331 volunteers making a grand total of 5145 volunteering days!


To celebrate this and Student Volunteering Week we have a facebook competition to win one of our brand new bright blue hoodies. Like our page on Facebook for more details...

Heather on EVS in Hungary - 2012

The Jetsetters Guide To Christmas and New Year in Europe :-)

At first the prospect to spending Christmas aboard saddened me. I would miss the annual round of parties and dinners with friends and family. However, I'm learning that EVS life is never dull!

I went to Vienna and Bratislava for four days with five of the other volunteers. We stayed in Vienna for two days and in Bratislava for one night. Vienna is so beautiful. On the first night we went to the Christmas Markets and had punch. Mine had cream and chocolate on the top :-) I also tried a dessert made with thick pancakes, fruit and apple sauce. It was so tasty! The sissy palace was huge. It wasn't very exciting inside the Palace. I guess that I'm used to the wonderful houses/castles that we have at home! The grounds are so pretty. If you walk to the top of the hall, you can see great views of all Vienna. In the evening we went to see a performance of Daphne at the state opera house. We got standing tickets for 4 euros. I enjoyed it but found it difficult to follow because it was in German!! The hostel we stayed in was cool. Bratislava is a nice place. Its very small. We looked around the castle and the City Centre (there was a small market - mostly food and punch).

For Christmas and New Year, I went to Romania to stay with the family of another volunteer. It is a very pretty country. The mountains are beautiful in the snow. However, it is very poor and there are signs of formal communism rule everywhere. The train journey from Budapest took 14 hours. Still, we saw a lot of the country, so it was good. We stayed in Budapest the night before. Sarolta studied in Budapest and she showed Annelie and I around the city by night. The view of the City from the river is lovely. I would like to go again in the summer and see the City properly. We stayed in an all night beer tent next to the train station all night (our train was at 6.40 am). It was ok because the bar sold tea and we sat by the fire :-)

We stayed at Sarolta parents house. Her grandparents also live there. They have cows, pigs, chickens, dogs and a cat. We ate sooo much food while we were there! I tried loads of traditional Romania dishes. On New Year's Eve, we went to a house party (friends of Sarolta's brother). We were the oldest people there! Lol It was fun. At midnight, we walked around the village and wished everybody a Happy New Year.

It is certainly one Christmas and New Year that I will never forget :-)