To learn without learning, learning to learn

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