The European Solidarity Corps is an experience that has marked my personal and professional life

Hi, my name is María, I am from Spain and I am 25 years old. Between October 2020 and May 2021, I did a European Solidarity Corps volunteering project in Rennes, France. When I was asked to write this testimonial, I thought I would tell you about a typical day of a volunteer. However, I realised that I did not have a "typical day" because each day of my volunteering was completely different, both in terms of work and personal life.

My volunteering project took place in the Lycée Professionnel Louis Guilloux, a school specialised in, among other things, the hotel and catering industry, bakery and pastry-making, reception, commerce or fashion. During the school year, I had the opportunity to run Spanish language workshops, environmental awareness activities and a video project to create a video for the school. I really liked the freedom of being able to propose my missions while always having a follow-up and a framework from my coordinator. This allowed me to develop to the fullest and to get involved as much as possible, because I only did projects that I wanted to do. I also really appreciated the hospitality and kindness of the entire team. From the first day, I felt very comfortable in the school and everyone (school life, teachers and students) was available to give me a hand with anything I needed.

On the other hand, I will not deny that during the volunteering I needed a lot of patience as it was during the COVID pandemic. Sometimes volunteering requires flexibility, a lot of adaptation and above all large doses of optimism. However, I was never alone on this journey. I was lucky enough to meet other volunteers and people related to volunteering (e.g. seminar leaders) who inspired, accompanied and learned a lot during my experience. All my exchanges were very rich and today I still have very good friends, which for me is the most rewarding part of volunteering.

The most important people were my roommates, who were also international volunteers. We lived 6 in a very big and beautiful house where several languages and cultures are mixed at the same time. During our cohabitation we did a lot of parties, travelling and also we decided to celebrate all our traditions and to discover the food of all our countries. Today, we all stayed in France to study or work and we still see each other from time to time in our different cities of residence (Paris, Lyon, Strasbourg...!).

A year and a half later, looking back, I am aware of the great impact this experience had on my personal and professional development. When you do a European volunteering, the 24 hours of the day revolve around this experience, you live in a house with other volunteers, most of your friends and acquaintances are in the same situation as you are and you are far away from your family and comfort zone, because you went abroad to live this experience. This means that, for a few months, everything turns around volunteering and thanks to the seminars, my coordinator and the network I developed, I had the necessary framework to ask myself the right questions and try to find the answers.

Furthermore, thanks to my volunteering experience in France, I was able to improve my French and develop my network, which then allowed me to find a job in the volunteering sector. After the end of my volunteering, I joined an association in Paris as a Project Manager, which allowed me to keep discovering this country.

So, my advice to all of you who are hesitating to do the European volunteering is the following: Do it and make the most of every day! It will most likely be one of the best years of your life!

Updated on Tuesday, 25/10/2022