As a European volunteer at Citizens of Europe, I have been requested to attend a training during the first months of my arrival. That’s why I was send for 10 days in Würzburg, Bavaria in early November. This was also the case for the 21 other volunteers working with different projects in Germany and attending this training.The goal was to get us ready to handle our projects in the best way as well as to help us getting use to the life in Germany. Three animators organized workshops, talks, games and other events in this purpose. Whereas it didn’t bring me much in terms of input for my project, I had one of my best experience in terms of life in a group. With young people coming from Hungary, Spain, France, Turkey and all over the continent. We got to know each other, to share our experience and we made our own experience. Starting the day with an “Energizer”, we would discuss topic related to EVS or make a workshop out of it. One of those was to play a theater about problems to solve in our EVS project. All was made with humor and a lot of creativity. We also visited the cities of Würzburg and Nurnberg, learning about their history and their culture in the Nazi documentation center of Nurnberg or the Franken Kings castle of Würzburg. We tasted Bavarian food and wine.But we also enjoy the interculturaliy side Germany in a mosque and a Jewish center. In the youth center, we learned about each other backgrounds, each other projects in Germany and each other personality of course. Living with 22 people 24h a day during 10 days makes feel like you know them as well as if you would have known them for months. The final highlight of our training was the international dinner where everybody cooked something form their country. Delicious food and unforgettable memories. When Europeans meet Europe.
The European Voluntary Service is realized through financial support of the Youth in Action programme of the European Union.