EVS mid-term training and Málaga

Last week we had our mid-term EVS training. This time we went to the South, we were in a village called Mollina about an hour away from Málaga, close to the mountains. To be honest I expected nice spring weather down there, but of course as we were in the mountains it was quite cold most of the time. :P However it was very sunny and the few days we spent in Málaga afterwards were the warmest winter holidays I've ever had (not counting Peru, but strictly speaking I didn't go there in winter :)).

A glimpse of the "complex" where we were staying in Mollina, it was full of palm, lemon and orange trees :)

This training was quite different from the on-arrival one: first of all there were 120 volunteers in total, which was a looot compared to the nice family-like group of 23 in Santiago. :) However there were some people from the previous training, so I was very happy too see familiar faces. :) Secondly, the content was also different: the first training was mostly about getting information and this was more about reflecting on our experiences, evaluating our projects and think about the future (both of our projects and our own a bit).

Group picture of all the volunteers

Most of the time we were divided into smaller (~15-20 people) groups and my group was just awesome!! :) It was very diverse both in terms of ages and nationalities (not to mention personalities) and I think we were a good mix. We had good atmosphere and team dynamics even during the "serious and boring sessions". Our trainer Patri was very energetic and she managed us very well, I also think she was a good fit for our group. :) We even did a quite emotional goodbye: we formed a circle and each of us had to go a round with eyes closed and the others had to guide him/her or dance or hug or whatever they wanted to do, it was very nice. :)

The sessions were also interesting, of course we had a lot of games to get to know each other and not to fall asleep in between sessions. And then we were analyzing our projects, thinking of things we could do differently or better, figuring out some next steps, giving ideas to each other and so on, it was quite intense.

My group collecting what we learnt so far in our projects

On the last day we collected what EVS means to us and made a "hot-air balloon" 

For some parts of the training we were divided into different groups: on the second night we had a "CulturCreative" night where we had to present the communities where we are staying in Spain along with the other volunteers from that region. In my case it was Castilla La Mancha and we had quite a hard time figuring out what to tell, because this region has no sea or famous food... and we were not allowed to use a computer or a presentation, so we had to be creative. :) In the end we managed, we found a legend of El Greco and played a scene from Don Quijote (where he is trying to fight the windmills :)). The others were very creative too, some prepared with costumes, some with funny Spanish expressions or some things in Catalan and Gallego, it was a lot of fun. :)

Community of Valencia dressed up as paella and beach :)

Galicia - with rain and some expressions in Gallego

"Sightseeing" in Madrid

On Thursday we also had an activity in Málaga (with again different grouping :)), we had to make pictures and a video to make some publicity for EVS, here are what we made with my group:

And on the last night we made something like a flashmob: we were divided into 4 groups and each group had to learn a small choreography in a certain style for the same song. The categories were ballet, flamenco, robot and zumba. (You can guess which one I chose... ;))

After the training we decided to stay in Málaga for the weekend with Dilya and Theresa (a German girl we know from Santiago). On Saturday 2 other girls - also our friends from the previous training - Anna (from Austria) and Leonie (from Northern Ireland) joined us too. We also met up with some other volunteers randomly as we walked in the city. It was a very nice and relaxing weekend, the city is beautiful, the weather was quite good too (especially for February :)), I had a wonderful time.

As usual here are some photos:

My fake "summer" beach photo - though the kids in the background really went into the water :)

Amazing view on the sea and the city from each side of the castle

Roman Theatre

Inside the Alcazaba

In the Interactive Museum of Musical Instruments - we could try all kind of classical and "tropcial" instruments here :)

The obligatory group-selfie with Theresa and Dilya :)

Training in Santiago de Compostela

Last week I had a 5 days long “on arrival” training in Santiago de Compostela. The aim of the training was basically to help the volunteers who arrived recently to Spain to integrate a little easier: we had some sessions about the culture of Spain, practical information about EVS and the EU, some time to discover Santiago and A Coruña and of course many games to get to know each other better. :) We were altogether 26 people from many countries and it was really great; it reminded me a lot the AIESEC conferences we used to have. We had a very intense schedule, most of the sessions were in Spanish (though by the end of the week we spoke more of a mixture language of everything) and of course we didn’t get much sleep as we went out for some drinks almost every day. :)

I have to say I enjoyed this training more than I thought: at first I was a little worried, as most of the other volunteers are much younger than me (many of them are 18-19-20 years old), so I had no idea whether I was going to get on well with them, but of course this was an obstacle only in my head: everyone was very open-minded, mature and fun, so the age really didn’t matter. :) We had great discussions and I have to say it was very inspiring to see so much enthusiasm and curiosity for the world (which I haven’t seen much lately in the corporate world unfortunately).

I don’t want to describe each session we had in details, but only the ones I liked the most: we had a game to discover Santiago, where we were divided into 4 groups. Each group got a list of things we needed to accomplish: we needed to take group pictures in funny/hidden places in different parts of the city. We had a lot of fun: in the beginning everyone was a little lost, but after the first few obstacles we became braver and also felt more like a team.

We had also a trip to A Coruña: first we had an official presentation of one organization there and a panel discussion with different people who talked about their EVS experience. After this we had some free time, so we could go and see the city. The weather was amazing, so we decided to go to the beach (not to swim, but just to enjoy the view), it was great to “meet” the Atlantic Ocean for the first time not from a plane. :)

There was one more thing I liked a lot: we got a little book where we can define and then track our own EVS experience and learning. Goal setting is also something I had earlier in AIESEC (and even later in my life), but I still very much enjoyed re-learning the importance of this, as I haven't really thought it through regarding my EVS specifically. So now here is the time. :)

Here are a few more pictures of this amazing week:

The Cathedral of Santiago

Beautiful view of Santiago's old town

Nice park right next to the old town

Some of us enjoying the beach in A Coruña

The whole team at Torre de Hercules