Recently all
around the youth informational media the leading news was about the upcoming
transformation of the youth programs of the European commission. The idea is
that from 2014 a new program, called “Erasmus for all”, will start and it will
include the nowadays Lifelong Learning Programs (such as Erasmus, Comenius,
Leonardo da Vinci and more) and Youth in Action. There is already kind of
internet strike against this idea. And as a volunteer at this moment and an
ex-Erasmus student I can clearly see why.
The
education that a person gets in the university, while studying on terms the
basics of a certain profession, has nothing to do with the other one, the
so-called “non-formal education”. What it means to me, after some more than 12
years participation in non-governmental and non-profit organizations… It is the
attractive, funny, innovative, fresh and thus quite efficient way for the
people in their young years to learn from practice and experience, mostly from
each other - something that usually lacks in the state educational system.
Non-formal education could be the everyday life as well, especially when you
are put in front of new challenges or possibilities. Youth in Action gave me
and many more people that have been EVS volunteers one unique experience,
connected strongly with the process of non-formal education.
To learn is
something we do all the time, without realizing. One of the things that an EVS
volunteers gets from doing his voluntary work, is the so-called Youth Pass. It
is the experience you get written black-on-white. In other words, the formal
document of the non-formal education. This is why the Youthpass, written by each
person for themselves, is meant to have a big importance. So the institutions responsible for the
volunteers are usually doing their best to educate everyone in a slightly
unusual thing – the idea of “learning to learn”. Basically none is taking this
seriously in the beginning, but at the moment I started appreciating the things
that I had only the chance to start or to develop here, I saw it is may be not
just a bunch of complicated words as it first seems. And after all, sometimes, in the rush of the
time, day after day, year after year, it is good to stop, to look around and to
accept all the things you can get by this life, because it is easy for them to
slip away by the time you don’t pay attention.
All those
philosophical thoughts are coming to my mind mainly because all the time, just
like all the people, I am forgetting how fast everything is going, how
impermanent experiences like this one are. And it is good to take the maximum
out of it. The maximum out of the places, the people, the conversations, the
work, the time, of yourself. In a few
days Aleksander, the Estonian flat and
work-mate is quitting preliminary his voluntary service. This was a little
shock when I first got to know it. Of course, it is for a serious reason and he
is making the best decision for himself. Also very soon we will have to choose
the next volunteers for our project after us. Isn’t it amazing how fast things
come and go?! So, first thing I would say I have learned - to appreciate. And
to live NOW.
Another
thing that you learn with everyday is communication. Yes, we communicate since
we are children, but usually with people like us, with the family and the
friends and the colleagues we choose. But part of the informal education that
you receive as a volunteer I believe is the fact that you start to communicate
with people that you haven’t imagined before, with characters and personalities
so much different from yours! Our cozy volunteer flat on the last floor of La
Torre is a perfect example. The three of us are incredibly different persons,
from different countries, different background, different past and a common
present, which in the normal life could possibly know each other, but wouldn’t
think to spend together almost 24 hours/day.
Except for the flow of information you get from a new person, there is
also an important impact on your
perceptions about cultures, emotions, lifestyle and a new point of view on life
and how colorful it can be. Both the good and the bad moments we have
together are leading to something, and it is called experience. And this I do not
only see at home – the friends and people I meet every day at work or at a
party are so much different, everyone with their story, with their life and so
much to tell you about. And I am thankful for meeting all this variety of
characters, spending some time with them.
All those
positive things and many more which I don’t want to describe in details
now, are the reason I stand against
mixing up university with EVS. Because in this is in two word what is about to happen
if the new program starts working. Of course it has the good points, but as
long as Youth in Action is an independent program, the necessary
non-formal education will be the leading
topic of many more youth meetings and partnerships.
Thus,
realizing all the good points of being here is making me feel much more
comfortable. In the last month I also spent a lot of time by myself. I really
needed a rest, a little break from
moving around in the last months. This gave me the chance to do exactly
what I was speaking about – to look around and value the things. It is
important for a person if they want to develop also to have time about it… Unfortunately
in a country like Bulgaria it is hard to be part of the society, to work and
still to have time for yourself. This is why I give a specific importance of my
year in Galicia, a time to enjoy.
Of course,
also came the moment to ask myself if I miss my country. And to be honest… I
don’t, not even a little bit. Because the thing I miss are mainly my friends
and now I know I will meet them around soon. About the family - it is
amazing how sometimes you need the
feeling of being part of a something, of a group of people to love, to support
and to care about. But also such a feeling could be taken from an experience
far away from home. An amazingly sweet feeling gave me a visit in Asturias for
a second time in the middle of November. I visited my friend Aleksandra in Oviedo,
who had her mother staying for some days. It was a really pleasant weekend, the friend, the mother, the
slow walks around the hills over Oviedo,
the touristic visits of the town, and also Gijon and most of all - the big
happy family of Erasmus flatmates as well, spending time together, playing
music and having fun. This easily becomes an alternative family, if you let it be.
The idea of
self-development that has obsessed me a little bit recently made me also start
visiting French classes - something I do with a great pleasure because of the
language itself and also because of the comfort of having them for free in the
office of OMIX with the best teacher, a friend of mine called Susana.
Travelling together with her is just as nice! In the end of November we visited together Barcelos and Viana do
Castelo in Portugal so that she introduced me to some old friends of hers.
Susana is an interesting example of a local person with an objective point of
view about Galicia and Spain that only a foreigner could have. Or, such as in
her case, a person that travels a lot and that has lived in other countries.
And I find this a really important thing – to be able to THINK about your home
as a place, to have an opinion, not only loving it just because you are
supposed to. This is another thing you learn with the chance to live somewhere
else. Back to the topic – viva la Youth in Action J
