Blink. Blink. Blink. – Some basics about EVS
Does EVS has any borders? I don’t think so! And I can try to explain this from my personal experience.
What do you think that EVS is about, apart from the entertainment, traveling and adapting to a new culture? Of course it is about work, about the great service that you are bringing into the society.
Regarding your work of course it is only up to you, and only you can decide, what is possible or not to do.
Talking specifically about EVS, you have a program that was already established for you. So is it meaning that all you have to do it to follow the plan that someone wrote for you? Well it is not really mandatory. The European Commission is handing you the skeleton, and after is up to you, and you can choose what to put on it and how to dress it up during your time in an EVS.
About my activities, my project is very flexible giving me the opportunity to develop myself in many areas, it was only my decision I choose this project, because before I used to have a fulltime job, so I know how it is, And I strongly believe that with the help of this project I will find new skills/talents that I always had but I was too afraid to look for them.
Sure thing, that not all the projects are such flexible as mine. Some of them might be very strict with an activity plan that can’t be changed, but usually this is related with the target group that you choose, also to your hosting place or the country.
But, once again it is really up to you what project to choose. Sure you can choose something totally different and this is up to you. You may decide to get out of the comfort zone and to work in a dog shelter even if you’ve always been scared of the dog, or even if you’ve never had any related activities in this area. And this is totally fine! European Union will support you. Because EVS is not about finding young specialists, but it is about forming specialists through non-formal and informal learning through the practice. And, even if you are a young person with less opportunities, doing an EVS might be a very good experience for you. And nobody will discriminate you.
Talking about youngsters with less opportunities, I do believe that I might be one of them, a youngster with less opportunity, regarding many criteria, but still, deciding to apply for a EVS, and starting to do one it was easy peasy.
As I mentioned in the beginning in this blog I will make updates about my service in Greece about some activities that I will have and so on.