Here I am! | EVS/ESC Review #1
So, here I am! In Warsaw, Poland as an EVS volunteer at Leaders of Change Foundation! Cannot describe how happy I am as this long-term international experience is the first in my life! I know that time goes really fast when you do what you love, so my primary goal is to fill these 10 months with as many useful things as possible. I am sure I will do it!Firstly, let's start from the very beginning for you to get the idea of how I happened to be here at Leaders of Change Foundation.
#1. A little pre-story
On graduating from the V.N.Karazin Kharkiv National University and getting my Bachelor's Diploma I knew that the following year would become a gap one for me to get international experience, implement all the skills I have in the international community and prepare for a new academic year.
That is why from the early June I started sending my motivation letters, CVs and all the supplementary documents to several organizations which were in a search for such active and passionate people like me. Though there are various topics to choose, e.g. work with children, work with disabled people, work at organizations and NGOs, assistantships and many more, I choose two core ones for myself: work with children and work at organizations. As I have a great experience in both of these fields it was not hard for me to adjust a CV for these particular purposes and write motivations the way I really liked - using Google Presentations (this is a free lifehack for you, dear readers :) ).
Time flew, I passed my state exams at the university, got my diploma and kept sending applications for EVS programs. However, the selection process is not so fast. Especially, it is not fast in summer when everything people think about is a beach, a sun and a glass of a cold lemonade somewhere far away from the workplace :) So I kept waiting for the response...
In the middle of July, I was lucky to become a participant of the ERASMUS+ Youth Exchange HONEY: Healthy Options: Nutrition and Exercise for Youth. That was one of my goals for a year to take part in the ERASMUS+ Youth Exchange and I was really excited that I was selected as a participant. But I was excited even more when the very first day in Greece I got a message that an EVS volunteer was needed in Leaders of Change Foundation! And they wanted this volunteer to be me! Of course, my answer was 100% positive the very first minute I read that message! But I am a person who does not uncover plans until everything is done, so that unbelievable piece of news became a secret for long 2 months.
#2. Necessary documents and other stuff
An invitation form, a visa and an insurance were not an issue for me as to get all these things you simply follow the instructions on websites or from your supervisor. But choosing the way of getting to Warsaw, omg :) As I was packing for a whole year, the luggage I took was a big case (~20 kg), a middle case (~15 kg), a bag with sweet presents (~2 kg) and a bag with a laptop (~8 kg). As the plane would have become really expensive with such heavy luggage, I was choosing between two options - a bus and a train. Hopefully, my supervisor Lena Prusinowska helped me with all the necessary stuff about the train and the way to Warsaw was easy and safe.
#3. My way to Warsaw, Poland
An extra chapter should be dedicated to all the people who were seeing me off in Kharkiv and all the people I met on my way to Warsaw. Firstly, the train Kharkiv-Kyiv was an ordinal one. As we were going at night all of the passengers were simply sleeping but even here some new things happened to me - it was my first time I travelled with the foreigners in the car :) Was it a sign that I would become a foreigner soon?
In Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, first of all, I visited my lovely Puzata Hata. Visiting this place in Kyiv is my personal tradition so I cannot skip this fact. Of course, when in most cases you come to Kyiv in the early morning, the only thing you can do is to eat, watch YouTube and wait for the weather to become a little bit warmer.
In the middle of the day, I met my sweet STP-friend Olha Kovalchuk who is the first person I call to when I come to the capital (and she has never said 'I am too busy'!). We started our walk around the city of Kyiv from the participating in All-Ukrainian Animal Rights March. So many people who are ready to change the world around! Also, at the end of the day we visited the European Day of Languages conducted by British Council Ukraine. We were lucky to meet there my soulmate Oleh Chuprynskyi! Thanks for jokes, stories and you not being late for the train because I worried :)
Finally, my trip Kyiv-Warsaw was spent with pleasure as I had 2 really good neighbours - Ruslan and Alexander. The former was Polish with Ukrainian roots while the latter was from the city of Merefa which was really close to Kharkiv. A sign again? I liked these two men as we shared many interesting stories, discussed lots of important things about Poland and simply had a nice travelling time together :)
The border was at night, approximately at 2 or 3 a.m., so I do not quite remember what it was in details. I only remember the phrase of a Polish customs officer 'Paszport, pani' and that was all.
#4. First days at Leaders of Change Foundation
On arriving, Lena Prusinowska met me right on the platform with a Study Tours to Poland bag :) It was so sweet and nice! I like all of these bags and I keep each of them as a collection, even here in Warsaw I have all of them with me :)
That very day, my first day in Warsaw, we have moved mountains! We've done lots of useful and responsible stuff like checking-in in the dormitory, buying a mobile card, opening a bank account, visiting several places I will work in and so on. The evening we spent together in Złote Tarasy on discussing prospectives and further cooperation.
The next day, October 2, 2018, I met all the stuff of Leaders of Change Foundation - two boards of Lane Kirkland Scholarship Program and Study Tours to Poland Program. All these people are making an unbelievable impact on the life of the youth not only in Poland, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus and Russia but on all the world as a chain reaction! I am proud of working with such talented, experienced, professional and passionate people!
I am sure you are interested in what I am going to do here in Foundation. So, no reasons to beat around the bush :) My work will include SMM strategies, administrative and clerical work, work with participants, work during the program visits and so on and so forth. Buuuut! That is not all :) My professional life here as an EVS-volunteer is not connected to Foundation only. We also discussed the opportunity of being a volunteer in the Ukrainian House in Warsaw. So, ta-daaaam!, I will also conduct English speaking clubs on Thursdays there. So if you are ever in Warsaw - welcome!
Probably, I will create or join some other activities to organize. If so, I will let you know ;)
#5. Out-of-office life
The first days in a new country, a new company, many new acquaintances, another culture, hearing, speaking and trying to understand a foreign language... And all these things surround you 24/7! Well, it may seem very difficult to handle at once... But not if you are Iryna Konoplianko! :) What is the reason for sitting at home and waiting for 'getting used' to all the new stuff? So, thanks to my supervisor Lena Prusinowska, I visited several interesting events in Warsaw, got new friends (actually, my first ones here) and lots of positive impressions!
Firstly, Jack Quiz in Warsaw, which I was a participant of, is an analogue of What? Where? Why? competition. The topic of the game I took part in was Films and Music. Though not all the questions were answered in a correct way, we won the third place and were really excited because of it :) BTW, the organizer of the game is Alexander Lapko - an alumnus of Study Tours to Poland Program and my mentor here in EVS.
Klub Literacki PO SĄSIEDZKU, the speaker of which is Sasha Iwaniuk, was a completely different event! We discussed the book Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets written by Svetlana Alexievich. The meeting was conducted in Polish (which was a great practice for me) and though I have not read the book yet, the discussion was really rich and interesting! I will definitely read it in the nearest future!
So, these were my first days in my new EVS-home. I feel you are a bit tired of my looooong story but in the future, I promise, I will put everything in small portions. Just so many great things are happening right now that it is hard to put them all briefly! :)
