Do you enjoy being with people and exploring the world? Then the ESC experience is for you.
Have you lost faith in humanity and the future? Then the ESC experience is for you.
But let's start at the beginning, what is ESC? The European Solidarity Corps is the volunteer corps of the European Union. It is an opportunity for all young Europeans, but also for those from neighbouring countries of the EU, to have a volunteer, humanitarian and human experience.
Although I, Diletta, am here to work for the Erasmus+ programme, as soon as I arrived here in Baia Mare I was immediately thrown into the activities together with the young ESC volunteers. Fourteen boys and girls from a variety of countries, including Turkey, Egypt, Austria, Spain, Georgia, Switzerland, Finland, Mongolia, the Netherlands and fortunately for me, Italy. A jumble of different people, stories, characters and accents.
Among them are three long-term volunteers, who had been living here in Baia Mare since last year. While the rest were young short-term volunteers, who arrived in Romania about a week before me. Among them I could see that there was a great atmosphere of confidence and joking, and at first I was afraid that I would not be able to integrate. Instead, this is where the spirit that characterises the youth exchange experience can be seen: both the group and the individuals were careful that I was always involved in the activities and moments together, they were friendly, and it became easy to talk and joke together.
There were also many group activities that made it possible to spend many moments together/ I took part in three trips to three lakes around Baia Mare, (Lacul Bodi, Lacul Albastru and Firiza), and then there was the beach volleyball tournament. There, the tournament actually made us a solid team, sometimes a continuous mechanism, but we were not always so lucky, other times we were clumsy and indecisive. The best part for me was that especially in moments of fatigue and difficulty, this atmosphere of sarcasm and playfulness was created, making everything easier and more fun.
The experience of an ESC, however, is not only this, it is also the evenings out together, the gossip, the intimacy created with the favourite ones. Special friendships are formed between people born in completely different parts of the world, raised in different cultures and who until a few months before didn't even know the other existed.
So what does it take to participate in an ESC volunteering experience?
To be between 18 and 30 years old
Have a good level of English useful for communicating
Register on the European Solidarity Corps online platform, where you can choose from various projects with different themes and aims to apply for
Be open to the possibility of discovering the world outside your comfort zone, and to the possibility of loving it.
- Diletta