Thoughts about my EVS experience

Puh, I never thought that eleven months (and one day) could pass by so quickly. I’m now back in Germany for a week, but it’ll still take weeks and months to realize what happened and what it means for me.

I remember the 2nd of October 2015 as it were yesterday. My nervousity and curiosity to go the first time abroad, meet all these cool people and volunteer for almost a year.  When I remember contrary my last day as I woke up, the flat empty, everyone left already and this important chapter of my life seeing to be closed it sets the in a nostalgic state of mind.

During my EVS I met so many people as never in my life before. Of course I didn’t fall in love with all of them, yet every single one was important for me to learn something new. Especially the many volunteers or Romanians I’m keeping in touch with are precious. My flatmates are just awesome in their own individual way. I worked, lived and travelled with them. One of the best things in my EVS was to get know to all the cool people, meet and talk. I have no plenty of motivation to visit them.

Quite tied up with it I definitely enjoyed the international environment. I learnt so much, ridiculous and profound stuff. It’s definetely enriching and helps oneself to develop.

Additionally, I achieved a new view on travelling, seeing it as enriching experience and tool to learn. I appreciate that I met so many people during my trips, all of them different and telling other interesting stories.

I also learnt a lot about myself, my strengths and weak points due to my work. I like explaining stuff, but I am not a very good teacher. I like children, but would not like to do it in a job on a everyday basis. My voluntary service made me braver since I started to run activities I had not done before. In the end I changed my mind and will study now another subject at university than planned before. Mostly due to my EVS.

EVS was a great time to enjoy life and work by meanwhile getting confronted with plenty of challenges and questions. I learnt about myself, made new friends, could experiment a lot, travel a lot and had a very well-balanced and diverse time. The experience is far too complex to be expressed in words. I remind now my EVS time and think about all I’ve done, seen and experienced. It makes me smiling, I feel happy about it. That’s what matters the most.

Open a box, open a mind.

Buna ziua guys! I’m Henri and since October 2015 an EVS volunteer in Bucuresti. In my project everything is about non-formal education, either with orphans, children in social apartments or young adults. Together with my colleagues I organize workshops seeking to improve & teach.

I spent a long time in this amazing country. I travelled a lot, I met plenty of people. Children, young people, and also older ones. I made incredible experiences and look back at the best time of my life. As the time passed by so quickly and then end of my stay came closer I thought about what I’ve learnt.

In specific I thought what I’ve learnt about Romania(ns). Besides the plenty of positive aspects I also discovered some downsides. One issue worried me the most is the lack of open-mindedness and opposition to immigrants. Pretty weird as Romania itself is highly influenced by a lot of very different cultures.

Since my project is about changing and rather than about complaining an idea popped up in my mind. By time and after advices of my co-workers and association a plan was born: I intended to make people aware of the foreign influences already integrated in their culture and life. What does it mean in concrete? I decided to start a treasure hunt in Bucuresti leading to places built by foreigners for instance. Even I became surprised during my research how diverse Bucuresti and Romania actually is.

For numerous years I do geocaching which is basically the grown-up and digital version of a treasure hunt. Check on the internet for hidden boxes close to your place, use GPS to find the exact location, search and find them.

What is geocaching?

Quite quickly I figured out that this was the most economical, sustainable & joyful way to realize my project.

So what I did (and I’m still doing, I see it more as a continuing project which I can also implement back in Germany) is the following:

Step 1: Finding the right places

I made researches about my neighbourhood and Bucuresti in general. What are places stamped by foreign influences? If so, up to which extent? Which of these places are worth to be discovered? I asked myself (and the internet) questions like these ones. After some time I had a list with various places which seemed to be promising.

Step 2: Visiting the places & checking for geocaching ability

In the next step I visited these places. Most important was to assure that I could actually hide somewhere a cache there. Very agglomerated and public corners are less suitable than hidden corners. In case that I found one of these places (which is easier said than done) I thought about the concrete place, seize and position to hide the cache.

Step 3: Placing the cache and publishing it

Surprisingly, the last step was the easiest one. I bought cache boxes and placed them at the chosen location. Last, but not least I wrote a description of the place and uploaded it on geocaching.com. Finished. It’s now accessible to the public.

 

Although it contained some work, it was a very pleasant and enjoyable project. I learnt a lot, even more than I initially thought.

Even more important though are the people. Geocaching for itself is a hobby requiring and provoking a lot of endurance, curiosity and thinking. Sounds like your last math exam? Not at all! It’s at the same time very funny and relaxing, not mentioning the feeling of awesomeness after you found what you’ve searched for. From my point of view it is easier and far more useful to learn something by doing something you like and which rewards you. Therefore, I think that people don’t see it as “lesson” or “course in open-mindedness”. They have fun and learn at the same time, in an informal and more subtle way.

Did you get curious? All it requires for you to play is a smartphone with internet andGPD. Follow for instance this link and search my first cache: https://coord.info/GC6NTA3

Read the description to figure out more about the place and the cache itself.

Here a though-provoking hint…

Enjoy it. Happy caching 🙂

Sunt din Germania

Buna ziua! Ma numesc Henri… blablabla… blablabla. Sunt din Germania.

Mentioning that I’m from Germany is sometimes interesting. Some people don’t care where exactly I come from, though for a certain amount of them it’s the starting point of a nice and instructive discussion.

So what comes up then?

Topic Nr. 1: refugees

Not only Romanians also other volunteers and people from other countries ask me about the refugee crisis. “What do you think about the refugees?” and similar questions are often asked. Mostly people are curious why we host such big numbers of them and especially what people in Germany think about them (welcoming, restrictive etc.). Quite often the conversation goes on and comes to very stupid point (refugees could be possible terrorists, aren’t they criminal?).  In Romanian I feel accepted and welcomed as a German guy living here. However, I can’t imagine the same situation if I’d be a Syrian refugee. Romania has almost no foreigners or even if there are foreigners they come from Moldova which is basically the same country (#Basarabia-e-Romania). So the majority of people here isn’t very welcoming to refugees, whereby it’s hard for them to understand other attitudes.

Topic Nr. 2: German mentality

That’s actually my favourite topic. It always becomes funny. Before doing my EVS I just read about prejudices about Germans, though now I can confirm that most of them are the most typical ones. Germans are seen as disciplined, in time, straightforward and focussed, utterly unrelaxed, working, perfect car builders, organizing  & rule lovers, polite, cold, not so sociable as others and aloof. By the way: Of course we don’t have fun or any (acceptable) sense of humor.

I do my best to fight against from images of Germany – in both ways. I mention that we have a lot of fun (which is shocking for a lot of people!) and also sometimes stop working and have a relaxed weekend. On the other hand I feel obliged to be honest. When I tell people about Cologne or the “airport” in Berlin I’m very satisfied to have destroyed their image of Germany as well-organized and performing country.

Anyway, it’s hard to generalize opinions about Germany, though I measured two main opinions (to make it easy).

On the one hand there are people who don’t like the plenty of rules in Germany which contain and prevent freedom and fun. Also they think we are very cold, don’t like people and socializing. So their image of Germany is one of a very good country regarding infrastructure and economy, though a very bad one when it comes to living and enjoying your time there.

On the other hand there are people who really appreciates a well-organized and strict way of living with a lot of rules and a solution/way for everything. Also they appreciate our mentality. We’re not seen as unsociable, but as people who are polite, not pushy and easy-going. Moreover, they are amazed how smooth things work in Germany and would like to come or live there.

Whereby we come to the next point…

Topic Nr. 3: Why the hell are you here? I’d love to live and work in Germany!

Sometimes, as I wrote also before, people wonder why I am here. A lot of them would love to work somewhere else (for instance in Germany) for higher salaries, with a higher living standard in a working state offering a future perspective. It doesn’t happen too often to me, but what should I answer then? I usually point out why I chose Romania (curiosity), that I like it here and appreciate a lot. That I also don’t really think about living here in the long run I mostly conceal.

In the end

I was surprised how many stereotypes exist about Germany. Both, the too positive ones as well as the unjustified ones. I lived for quite a long time in Germany and I know more or less how it is. For other people it’s the same than for me with Romania: Just go and see how it is in reality.

High school and social apartments

After a couple of months of planning and running high school activities and after a two and a half months of going to the social apartments here a glimpse of what I’m doing and reflection.

About the high school activities

Some basic information

• When: Every Monday one class (or sometimes two)
• Where: high school in the east of Bucharest (travelling for one hour…)
• Who: The others and me
• With whom: Working with a couple of classes in the 10^th (and 11^th) grade
• What: non-formal workshop about various topics

For every session we have a certain topic according to our interest, their wishes and needs. For instance we organized workshops about different genres of music or about cooperation (games). Not only from time to time it’s a challenge to figure out the non-formal, creative and interactive ways of designing and these workshops, though it’s definitely an interesting experience. I really enjoy the process of planning the activities, to think about the topic and how you can turn it into a workshop, to invent and to plan games. It’s very cool.

Every session another one of us is responsible for preparing and running the activities. The other ones provide then help and support.

When I go then to the high school the students behave in very different ways. Some of them are notably absent, some are very excited and some just unmotivated. The challenge is to get them motivated through the activities. It’s a pity that the relationship to the students isn’t as personal as in the social apartments, also due to the frequency of our visits.

Sometimes, or quite often, I’d like to run the activities in Germany, because the language barrier stays as an important issue between me and the students. Even if we translate the description of a game or the teachers or our high school coordinator help us, it’s still an indirect way of communication. Moreover, something gets always lost and questions arise. It’s frustrating to see students not to understand the task, because it’s somehow your responsibility to let them understand. So what did I do wrong? Why didn’t it work in a proper way? That makes it from time to time hard for me to keep my motivation when you go to the high school with the knowledge in mind that it’ll only work up to a certain extent as planned.

Nevertheless, there is also the positive side of this issue. If every session is a “surprise egg” it’s even more exciting to go and see what works and how. Only a few things are more enjoyable than seeing (some of) the students being motivated and developing their own ideas. That’s the reason why I go there. For me it is impossible to reach them all. A certain percentage is chronicle unmotivated is refusing any participation; other students start participating, but quit it after some time. However, there are always students who enjoy the workshop and have a high level of participation.

Definitely interesting is the fact, that I’m observing the students more carefully. Now I’m some kind of teacher, although I don’t see myself in this role. So I have to think what skills they have, and even more important: What they have to develop. Quite a lot of our activities are aimed at raising awareness of these issues and help them to develop their skills. Moreover, it’s very interesting to figure out what they need, what’s their background which explains their behavior. You only see a student, but behind the face there is a long and complex story.

About the social apartments

In social apartments live orphans in a flat together with two educators. It shoul simulate kind of a normal family life. They live, cook and spend their free time together (after school).

• When: usually twice a week for four hours in total
• Where: Somewhere in Berceni, quite close to our flat
• Who: Nicole and me
• With whom: We work with children in two apartments, they are 10-13 and 14-17 years old
• What: English and logical games

In the beginning we had to get known to their interests and character. In the ground floor for instance, where the children are older we focus more on logical games and puzzles to improve their skills in these manners. As we did English with them (which is seriously needed) we didn’t meet too much enthusiasm, though by time we modified the methods. For instance, we figured out that they enjoy a lot to compete with each other. They are very motivated then and we can easily teach them English. Admitted, sometimes they are too motivated and start to punch each other, yet we learnt in which way they prefer to learn.

In the third floor where the children are younger they are really into learning English, yet also here it depends on the method. They enjoy interactive games, so it’s our weekly challenge to modify games or to invent new ones. Usually it’s funny and I enjoy the games as well.

Also the language barrier is an issue. When we explain games (in Romanian) it’s likely that they don’t get it/we don’t transmit it to 100%. But in this environment it’s easier to corect the developements and help them.

It’s interesting to observe the children there and see how they behave. Additionally I could identify some of their problems. So they often have a problem to motivate themselves to do stuff. Instead of keeping on trying they quit and just leave. Happens quite often during our activities. Moreover, the educational deficits are immense. Those children are smart, but without education it’ll become very hard for them in future. Their English is mostly not existing, also in other subjects they struggle. Besides that they also tend to be violent. Often they punch and kick each other (for fun or because of arguments) and as you can imagine it doesn’t contribute to ease the situation.

A lot of reasons why I enjoy it come together: Their need, the fun, the flexibility, free choice of methods and topics etc. Working in the social apartments is one of my favourite activities. I’ll miss it for sure.

Thoughts after seven months of EVS

After more than seven months here in Romania, Bucharest, the project and the flat the spirit of the first months faded away, normality caught me. It’s time for a little review of my EVS experience.

Activities

In the first place my EVS is about the project. What I’m doing so far and how does it go?
It is still interesting to compare and contrast the non-formal education which I practice now with the formal education which I had to survive for the most time of my life. In the beginning especially it took quite a lot of energy to hold the activities in this non-formal way, though now it’s definitely better. It’s very cool that I can do things in a different way.

Especially in my language club I have the unlimited freedom in the way how to teach German. I can experiment a lot, just after the concept of trial and error. Up to now we did some pretty cool stuff… (let’s not talk about the failures)

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Moreover, the flexibility offered by our project is amazing. I only have a few activities fixed in my schedule. I can move the rest as I want. So I can decide on which day I’ll go to the social apartments, when to the abused children center etc. When I’m busy in one area I have the ability to focus myself on this manner and equalize it in the next week by laying the focus more on the others.

I enjoy that our activities combine a lot of cool stuff. The good purpose, flexibility and creativity, challenges and fun. Especially working in the social apartments is pretty cool (I’ll write a post about my work there as well).

People and travelling

I didn’t spend too much time on thinking about my time after EVS and how it’ll feel like. Though there is one thing I’ll miss for sure: The people and the international environment which is so awesome. As I was in school and back in Cologne all the people were very homogeneous (at least compared to now). During my EVS I get in touch with a lot of people with various backgrounds born in different countries. I arrived in this new normality. It’s so exciting, funny and instructive. I’ll give my best to keep at least a fractional part of it after my EVS.

There are plenty of people who travel more, plenty of people are more curious than me in these regards. Nevertheless, if I travel it’s always amazing, because afterwards I can always tell some funny stories. That’s what tempts me the most. For sure, it’s nice to travel to see a Romanian monastery, but what makes it worth an experience is not the monastery itself, but the five km of walking to the destination (with a heavy bag, minus degrees and snows) or hitchhiking, amazing experience.

Besides gathering stories and experiences travelling is also way to challenge yourself and come out of your comfort zone (and still I’m doing it not often enough). Going spontaneously to Moldova, or hitchhiking alone and negotiating then with the driver who wants money (I offered him my sandwich), it’s just exciting.

“Personal development”

A few words about personal development: One of my main goals for my EVS and also for many of the others quite important.

It’s a tricky thing with personal development. You learn a lot, you receive a lot of input without realizing it. Blow on blow things are happening. Always there is something new or different. Basically, in EVS you don’t have time to think. You just live and let things go with all its up- and downsides. So at the end of the month you learned a lot, although you don’t realize it. Little time to reflect and additionally you’re still caught in the EVS bubble and probably only afterwards you’ll realize how you changed. Meanwhile, I’m writing these lines I have no idea how much in learned and only a foggy glimpse in which manners. It’s just a better version of guessing.

The catch for me in this manner is that you’re basically confronted with two facts: 1. You want to develop yourself. 2. You can’t measure really measure the progress (in a serious way). Leads to the very vague and sometimes frustrating situation that you don’t know what you achieved. Some doubts arise; you question the decision to come here or yourself.

Here I developed some sides of mine more than others, I discovered well-hidden ones and almost forgot about the previously most important ones. There are times when you’re satisfied. These are (surprise, surprise) the good times. Unfortunately, the sun isn’t shining the whole year. For instance, I noticed frustrating backdrops and setbacks. Some things of mine changed and now I’m thinking whether these are good ones. I arranged myself more with the situation than seeking for progress (in any areas). With every step, from every attitude, there always up- and downsides, different ways of interpretation.

That’s what “personal development” leads to in my opinion. For any question I had – and answered – two new ones raised up. It’s just a hopping from issue to issue without ever finishing. My EVS brought me the uncomfortable conviction that’s a never-ending process without any final satisfaction which is still hard to accept for me. But hey, I’m one step further. I know it and now it’s time for the next one and figuring out a way how to cope with it. This is also one thing what my EVS taught me up to now: Don’t worry too much. And if you do so, search for alcohol and company (maybe also one of these dubious changes)

Bucharest and Romania

For months, I live now in Bucharest and Romanian. I gathered far too many impressions and opinions (partly reversely to each other) to point all of them out. Bucharest is pretty amazing, although I have to admit that it’s a question of taste. It’s in most parts ugly with ruins or communistic architecture, it’s also like Cologne (not a compliment, nothing get’s finished here), loud and a traffic which can be described from exciting until dangerous. Well, I’m in the lucky position to value the upsides higher than the downsides. It’s a very diverse city, full of contrasts; this is – in my opinion – what turns Bucharest in a very interesting city. The infrastructure is quite cool and this city offers you a lot of opportunities and events. Apart from that the night-life is also a nice one.

As Bucharest is diverse, so is Romania also diverse in a certain way. It’s marked my plenty of influences. I hadn’t thought about it before I came here, that’s what makes Romania so interesting. I don’t regret that I chose Romania as my EVS destination, not at all. It’s so cool, though it’s important (for me) to have in mind that a) I live the first time abroad, so I assume it’s normal that everything is amazing, b) I experience Romania as a volunteer which goes hand in hand with adventures and an unique lifestyle which is to distinguish from a common life here. Moreover, c) I’ll (probably) live here for a limited period, so I don’t worry too much about things I’d worry about if I have to stay longer here than eleven months (for instance my whole lifetime long).

Apart from that I’d suggest everyone to come here and experience the country. You can leave your prejudices at the airport and see by yourself how it is and probably you’ll come again.

I could write now some paragraphs about Romanian and what exactly is so cool about it, but I want to focus on some other, more abstract aspects.

Undeniably, Romania has some, well… let’s not call them problems, but issues someone should take care of whereby we touched the first one: Everyone is unhappy with the current situation. Sadness and frustration about the socio-economic situation is common. In Germany, we say that awareness is the first step to improvement, yet it seems that one step was made, but that people forgot about the concept of walking and stopped then. As I experienced it, there exists a strong feeling of resignation. People know precisely what should be improved, but instead of doing something they arranged with the situation. The common attitude is to accept the situation as it’s given and to become resigned a la “this is how things are supposed to be here. I can’t change them”.

This attitude is tied up with adapting to the circumstances here due to the history of this country. Furthermore, it’s pretty interesting how this attitude spread and caught me as well. On a different level, however I also became resigned and accepted the situation as it is. I don’t really care and worry about when new obstacles arise. I tend to think “well, that’s Romanian. Happens” Granted, my case is different, yet it’s fascinating and unsettling at the same time that it also worked this way for me.

Let’s draw some lessons. The good thing is that you learn here to accept that things are not perfect and how to deal with it. It’s a lesson for your life for sure. The bad thing is what you learn and which attitudes and behaviours you should avoid.

OK, one more lesson for free. Regarding problems existing here: I learned that many things highly depend on let’s call it “luck” and the circumstances. I was born in the “right” country, that’s the reason why I heard about passports only in ancient stories and Romanians have it far more difficult to travel. This is also one of the reasons why plenty of people want to leave this country and move, for instance, to Germany. It’s sometimes an awkward situation when I tell people that I’m volunteering here in Romanian which is completely the opposite of what they want. Working and living somewhere else. For me it’s a pretty weird situation and I can’t comprehend it to 100%. It’s driving me in a sad mood. Of course their reasons are legitimate and understandable, yet how shall you improve and build something here if everyone is saying “la revedere”?

So, to put it in a nutshell: How was my time here?

To cut a long story short, it was pretty amazing. Granted, I didn’t dance samba for the whole time because I was to 110% fulfilled with happiness. Though if I just compare what I did or experienced in my life before or estimate how it’d have been to spend my time now in university I’m almost before dancing samba. It’s unique, that’s the sad, yet even more amazing part of it. I didn’t make a lot of decisions in my life before going to EVS, though this one was definitely the best of my life.

(That’s a nice end I suppose)

 

New year, new places, new adventures (Part 2)

So safe in Suceava. We slept the whole morning as part of our well-desevered recovery program. Actually, I felt like on an Italian beach there. It was so warm! Granted, only warm in comparison with Iasi or Chisinau, but nevermind, I was happy.

In the noon we started discovering the city center. In a certain way Suceava had similarities with Bucharest: Most parts and spots of the city aren’t very pretty, but there were some nice places. Needless to say that we visited them. A lot of churches were on our to-do-list.

Definitely a highlight became our visit of a monastery almost located in the city center. Covered with snow it was undeniably marvelous. Especially I liked the paintings and the big yard surrounding the monastery.

During this travel I developed a strong appreciation for the orthodox churches. They are not as swanky and excessive designed with a lot of gold like the Catholic churches. Furthermore, I love the paintings inside and outside of the churches on the walls. They are very beautiful and makes the church more interesting, meanwhile the appearance is still staying modest.

After that we entered a restaurant to eat some stuff. It was supposed to be a short snacking session, but because of the Romanian working speed it ended up like a visit of a four hour theatre play. So we had to go meanwhile it was getting darker and darker outside… With all our good luck during this trip we had to climb, then a lot of stairs, very slippery ones by the way. Fun for the whole family.

We discovered the biggest Stefan cel mare monument ever seen on earth. There’s a true love story between Romania and this guy. Even in churches we found big paintings of him (bigger than Jesus, of course), needless to say that he’s a saint. Behind that massive statue we explored a path passing a graveyard and leading to a nice castle. Unfortunately, we came too late to enter, but not too late to take some photos. Finally, we decided to come back to our hostel which was a little bit tricky to find, so we ended up standing in the cold and darkness and searching for the right way. After a couple of hours we managed 😉 This evening we had very nice talks with our Romanian hostel owner. Moreover, we enjoyed the company of two bottles of wine and a Canadian tourist. She wanted to convince us to join her on her monastery tour costing 30 Euros per head. We didn’t have to say anything, but she went down and down with the price. In the end she offered us to pay only 1o Euros and to pay the rest out of her pocket. Awesome. Unfortunately the next day we faced a quite uncooperative guide who wanted more money than we were willing to pay.

So we did a tour on our own. We took a train, walked 5km through the cold to one of the most famous monasteries there. It was nice to see, especially because of its paintings on the walls. Besides this monastery there was no special building in the yard, a bit disappointing.

However, we very luck in the circumstances, because we visited the monastery on the 6th of January, so they celebrated it on the yard through a service. Thereby a lot of people filled the square. Of course we didn’t understand anything, but we saw an orthodox service.

After 5km back to the town we picked up a car there to drive to another monastery (for 5Lei per person). This monastery was nicer than the one before. The yard was bigger, moreover, there was one amazing tower Ania and me entered. It became one of the most adventurous moments of my life. In this medieval tower there were stairs, I never saw in my life before. Basically, these stairs shared more similarities with a wall than with stairs, because it was very steep. Moreover, to complete our bad luck, very slippery. I was so proud to survive and enjoyed so the panorama view at the top of the tower even more.

The best is mentioned last, but not least: We didn’t pay any entrance to this monastery 🙂 After finishing our monastery visit, we faced the follwing challenge: To come back to the town (to catch our train). Half an hour walking passed and our muscles became tired as we decided to hitchhike our way back. The third car stopped, picked us up, problem solved.

In the evening we took our train to Cluj. Never thought that 275km could be so long. 6,5h we survived in one of the worst CFR trains on earth.

Overall, we spent two whole days in Cluj. From my point of view, this city isn’t incredibly beautiful, nor are there impressive buildings to see, yet I’m convinced that’s very cool to live there (just like in Bucharest). During our first day we managed to find the main square (inevitably named “Piata Unirii). Besides that we had a walk (other sources claimed “we climbed the Mount Everest”) on the citadel’s hill. At the top of the hill we had a very good view above the city. Unfortunately, there were not plenty of spectacular things to see.

Later we continued our city trip, which included (again) a lot of churches. We finished at Piata Stefan cel Mare. A propos Stefan cel Mare: This dude is omnipresent in Romania, especially in Moldova (region & country). In Bucharest I was annoyed because of all the “Mihai Eminescu” streets, yet Stefan cel mare is another category. There is no second in your life without facing Stefan cel mare somewhere. A typical town trip during looked like this: We arrived at the train station “Stefan cel mare”, then crossed the “Bulevardul Stefan cel mare” and walked straight ahead.The first street we turned left into the “Strada Stefan cel mare” until we came to one of the plenty “Piata Stefan cel mare” where had lunch in the restaurant “Stefan cel mare”. Of course, as a curious person, I googled this guy and yeah, it looked like he did an awesome job as the former king of Moldova. He defended the country against almost every occupator: Polishs, Ottomans and so on. As we learnt from our hostel owner in Chisinau: “If you ask me, he was the best, best, best king ever! <3”. Meanwhile, she said that you could really the love in her eyes.

Ok, back to the serious stuff. We were lucky, Ivan, who we met during our on-arrival-training hosted us in his place. With him and a lot of other volunteers (almost German ones) we went to a place which was – depending on whom you asked, boys or girls – a Shisha bar or a tea house. Afterwards we started a party at one of the volunteers places.

Surprise, surprise, the next morning people were quite tired, dehydrated and had some headaches. As, of course single person without hangover I visited the city center a bit further on my own. That trip should be worthwhile. I explored some more medieval parts of the city and an impressive and even more slippery graveyard (after my visit of Sighisoara it became kind of a tradition).

In the evening then, Ania, Mallaury and followed a recommendation and visited the Ursus factory where I had one liter of Ursus black. Without words, only paradise or “Kölsch” could bet this experience. Moreover, we discovered during our walk in the evening some nice stuff in Cluj, so we have now plenty of reasons to come back.

Basically, our trip ended like it started: With an interesting travel experience. Our blablacar truck driver let Ania and me sit behind the seats. It was quite nice to travel as luggage, however, I could lay down and sleep in order to recover from this exhausting trip.

During this travel I had the sensation that I seriously arrived, after three months. Although we had to cope with a lot of difficulties, I enjoyed it a lot or to be more precise: I liked it somehow that travelling is so exciting here. Needless to utter that I’m still not a professional in the cities’/regions’/countries’ history. I didn’t focus too much on knowing plenty of things in these manners which I regret. Nevertheless, it was more about myself and enjoying the process of travelling with people I love (Ania and Mallaury! <3), meeting volunteers and new people and just experiencing. That’s the spirit of EVS 😉