Arantxa, 27, already prepares the suitcases for her twelve-month adventure in Poland as a participant of the European Volunteer Service (EVS). She says she has crossed out the days on the calendar for days to start volunteering with  Semper Avanti, one of our partners in Poland. She already prepares the bags and tells us her concerns, her expectations and her illusions. We leave you with your pre-departure words! Good luck Arantxa!

A few months ago I decided to temporarily leave my job as a social educator, and start traveling alone, to know the world, to discover other cultures ... And yes, I enjoyed it very much, but I realized that I needed to do something else. I wanted to dedicate my travel time not only to leisure, but to collaborate with a new project, participate in something different from what I knew. A new country, a new culture, a new world.

So I put hands to work. I have a good friend who a few years ago participated in a European volunteer program in Bratislava, and it was a life-changing experience, so why not try?

When I asked for information about EVS, they told me that there were about 6,000 organizations to choose from ... 6000 !!! Where to start Well, with time and patience, I decided in which countries and in what areas I wanted to work to reduce the options, and I wrote to the organizations that I liked the most, not knowing if they would accept me, if I would meet the requirements, if they needed a volunteer at that time ...

At first it was a bit bleak, because the first week only one organization answered me, and we didn't match the dates. But the following week: tachán! I received an email from the Ostoja coordinator. He explained the project to me, he even put me in touch with a Spanish volunteer who works with them to get to know their experience, provided me with all the possible information, adapted to my dates, and finally, we took the step, did the interview and began to formalize papers. And so, in a matter of a month, I went from living in Valencia to being two weeks away from catching a plane to Wroclaw.

For years I have worked with the field of intellectual disability. Ostoja is an occupational center that works with this group through workshops. I am sure that I will learn a lot from this experience professionally (new ways of working, different methodologies, innovative tools ...), but above all personally (new people, different culture, different environment, thousands of experiences ...).

The countdown has already begun, and despite the stress of the preparations and nerves for the unknown, I do not stop crossing out the days on the calendar, waiting for November 28 to start this new adventure. I am sure it will be an unforgettable year, a before and after, twelve months that I will make the most of. I'm keen to!