A Trip to Understand the Project’s Life
by Rosie Probyn
We spent 6 days travelling by train through Romania, visiting different organisations and volunteers to observe how they operate and see if we could connect and motivate one another. The journey, which began in Constanta, took us to Craiova, Arad, Baia Mare, Sighisoara and Bucharest. Despite early starts, long days and tiresome and uncomfortable train journeys we had an unforgettable time, they do say that the journey is the best part.
There are numerous reasons why this trip has been one of my favourite experiences in the past 9 months.
Firstly it was wonderful to have the chance to see Romania’s vast and beautiful landscape. The natural beauty of Romania is astonishing and travelling by train through fields, valleys and mountains gave us the perfect opportunity to appreciate Romania’s charm and elegance. It was lovely to see how Romania changes once you leave the cities. Similarly, we all loved exploring each city as soon as we arrived. They all differed so much and this really surprised me – for example, the architecture, people and atmosphere in Baia Mare in comparison to Sighișoara is so different you could believe they are different countries. This reminded us that you can never generalise and taught us that in fact, Romania is very diverse with many distinct and contrasting levels within it.
It was fascinating to have the opportunity to see, first hand, how other organisations and projects function – especially ones we’d heard about from our on-arrival or mid-term meetings. Visiting and seeing things with your own eyes is very different from just being told of how things work, I believe it was an extremely valuable experience. We visited 5 organisations but engaged with a few more, it allowed us the opportunity to see how different projects with different goals, of different sizes, with different types of people, in different environments organised themselves.
A lot of projects (perhaps the unglamorous side) is heavy paperwork and admin, I found it extremely influential to see the different places approach to this and was particularly impressed with how one particular organisation in Baia Mare organised there huge amount of volunteers and projects. They recorded everything in a very succinct and efficient manner and it was aesthetically pleasing for my mind which is always active with dates and to-do lists floating around. Everything had a place in the office and was colour coded and attractive at the same time. I was hugely inspired and I have vowed to become more organised whilst also maintaining my creativity.
More than anything the people we met on this journey were the most influential part of the whole experience. Seeing people’s passion for the job they are doing is extremely motivating and awe-inspiring. It was fantastic to see how the volunteers worked and gave me a fantastic opportunity to see and appreciate both different approaches but also our own. As a group we gained many new ideas for activities, workshops and general EVS life.
All in all, this trip has had a huge impact on me and the memories and lessons I learnt in these days will stay with me forever. It has made me think more than ever that I would like to pursue a career in EVS or working with international volunteers in a similar situation.
