Hi Ragazzi, welcome back to SEMI´s Blog. Today we are going to talk about the midterm. To make it easy, I decided to explain answer the most common questions at once, show the program and further, I will give my honest feedback about it.

The Midterm is a short training happening in the middle of the EVS project organized by trainers to the EVS Volunteers.
The Mid is a opportunity for the volunteers exchange experiences, know their possibilities about what they could do after EVS which includes the Youth Pass, have a moment to reflect about the experience abroad, to meet new people and therefore travel during the summer, and talk with the National Agency in case there are some questions. In my case, my Midterm was in Rome. But anyway, regardless where is located, all the costs are covered.
If you are lucky, you will find friends you made in your arrival training or people from your own country for instance.

Program
Giorno 1
19:30 Arrivo dei partecipanti e sistemazione in ostello
20.30 Cena
Giorno 2
7.45 – 9.00 Colazione
Ore 9 Registrazione partecipanti: meeting point nella Sala Ovale
Mattina
9.30 – 13
Attività di ice-breaking
Attività di team-building
Presentazione dell’Agenda di formazione, metodi e finalità
Pranzo
13 – 15 pranzo e tempo libero
Pomeriggio
15-19.00
Le mie aspettative
Il mio viaggio ESC
Debriefing e riflessione sulle attività della giornata
Ore 20 Cena
dalle 21 Serata cultura italiana
Orari Attività
Giorno 3
7.45 – 9.00 Colazione
Mattina 9.30-13
Giochi energiser e team building
Le sfide nella mia esperienza ESC: attività in gruppi
Pranzo
13 – 15 pranzo e tempo libero
Pomeriggio
15-19
Lo SVE che vorrei
Usare lo Youthpass
Debriefing e riflessione sulle attività della giornata
Ore 20 Cena
dalle 21 Serata conclusiva
Orari Attività
Giorno 4
7.45 -9 Colazione
9 – 13 Valutazione finale del meeting
13-15 Pranzo e partenze

I found out that is very helpful in some many reasons. At first sight, traveling abroad could seem a “sea of roses” (translation of a Portuguese expression). EVS is a great experience although, you can catch yourself sometimes in a lonely moment. And having the opportunity to go to someplace where more people that are living more or less the same experience as yours and both parts have the possibility of sharing is awesome. You feel that all the thoughts, the struggles and the opinions that you might have are common shared.
All the experiences are different, of course with more or less the same structure, but all of them should be treated as uniques. So, don’t compare your experience with others. Discuss how you and your organization could do better the things that you feel that could be improved because you still have time until the end of your project.

The only cons about my Midterm experiences were more related to the organization than the experience per se:
– The 4 days and a half were too short to and intense: at some points, we ended the day exhausted, and we had no time to see the city properly;
– The midterm was more “end-term” because for some people that was only missing 2 weeks to finish the project.

Next post I will give you some tips and advice I would like to know before coming to EVS. So, see you next time!

A Faenza quest’anno arriveranno 2 volontari internazionali in più, dalla Finlandia e da Cipro. Li troverete all’Informagiovani a partire da Novembre 2019!

Ciao Ragazzi! It’s me, your favorite volunteer. And today we have a special guest: our Team Leader from the Youth Exchange – Play with me and Learn from me, in Greece in collaboration with You in Europe, a Greek Organization. From Italy, with love, Anna is not new in this kind of experience abroad, and I think, with a lot of great stories in her backpack to share.
C :So, Anna can you give us a little storytelling post about your life?

A:Hi Guys! I am 34 years old girl from Faenza and I work in communication as a freelance. I normally spend my working time being a social media specialist and content editor. When I was in college I took part in an Erasmus project (I studied 9 months in Barcelona) and after that, I also did an internship in a Web Agency in Spain, Valencia. I love to explore the World and I actually backpacked a lot around Asia, Europe, and South America.

C: Tell me please why you decided to start to participate in Youth Exchange, and when you decided to become a group leader?

A:For me was actually a random choice because I didn’t really decide by myself to sign up for this particular project but an I was asked to do it by a friend of mine. As I’m always interested in a new experience and European opportunities I got this one as well.

C: Just between us, which was your favorite and “less favorite” and why? By the way, can you give us any advice about it?

A: The project I took part was “Play with me and learn from me YE”. I actually enjoyed my time during the exchange, we played a lot (maybe sometimes too much and maybe this one was my “less favorite” part) and we spend quite good time knowing each other better and sharing some quality time, especially during the cultural nights of each country.

C: Shortly, can you give us the feedback of Youth Exchange – Play with me and Learn from me?

As I said, the experience was nice and the time over there actually flew. We had the opportunity to share a lot with all participants and we also had the chance to discuss about some important matters such as gender equalities, young employment status in Europe, personal and private issues and cultural differences between countries, but most of these topics came out during our free time chats and not during the activities itself. This last point I guess is the point that has to be improved in this project, because if not the games are just end in itself. I guess it’s necessary to find a way to relate more to the game to some important topics and reflexion.

C: Before finding you, we were looking for a group leader. Regarding the next projects, help to “define” the qualities that a group leader should have? Does the experience count more than the qualities?

A: I think that a good group leader has to be well organized and patient. Experience not always counts. Indeed, it’s not always necessary to lead the group I guess and, in my opinion, it’s better to give participants enough space to express themselves properly and I was very lucky because the Italians that took part to the project with me were just amazing and perfectly able to interact with everybody successfully.

C: For ending this interview, and you say a message for all the Italian people who are reading this post and thinking to apply to any kind of Youth Exchange?

A: For me was a new experience and my opinion about it is positive. I hope in the future the could have the chance to improve a bit this particular project, as I said before, and for future “exchangers” I totally guarantee that it’s important for improving personal skills and abilities, make good friends and know more about our wonderful Europe!

Hi everyone, welcome back to another “interview with …” and today we will have the pleasure of having our special guest: Igor Niemyski from ONG You in Europe. You in Europe has been our partner in some youth exchanges, as “Play with me and Learn from me” and “COMICS”. And in order to show you all the perspectives about youth exchanges and EVS, in this post you will be reading about the process of writing a project.

C: Let our readers know you a little bit better, and present yourself

I: Hello, my name is Igor and I am the brand new fresh member of the organization. I come from Poland. In May 2017 I participated in one of the youth exchanges organized by You in Europe. One year later I came again for 10 months EVS project and now I work in the organization as a mentor of EVS Volunteers. Moreover, I do some administrative work but I am still learning.

C: Can you explain a little bit about the organization, how it started, the concept behind it… and when you started to work in You in Europe, and what are you currently doing?

I: “You in Europe” is an NGO based in Greece. In the first place… Because “You in Europe” is a space for everyone who loves learning by doing and vice versa. And how we do it? By organizing activities and taking initiatives that promote active participation and life long learning.Erasmus+, Europe for Citizens, Creative Europe, are some of the European Programs that we participate. So far, more than 300 youngsters every year, have the opportunity to travel in Europe, learn, share experiences and good practices and broaden their horizons through the Youth Exchanges and Training Courses that we organize, always using the Non-Formal Education method.

More than 30 youngsters every year have the chance to offer volunteer services in European countries through the European Solidarity Corp platform, and change their lives, by getting out of their comfort zone, practicing new skills and contributing to the local society. At the same time, we host a group of volunteers to our hometown each year, in Nea Moudania. Thus we help participants to gain knowledge while they offer to the community. We believe that change starts from where you are. So we organize many local events that promote solidarity and give to our society an intercultural approach.

By developing a wide network of reliable and creative partnerships with more than 60 organizations around Europe, we reinforce the idea that together we can achieve more! Our aim is to promote values like solidarity, tolerance, mutual understanding, and active European Citizenship. We create the Europe we are dreaming of.

C: Did you participate in some youth exchange programs? Where and what was about?

I: Yes, this is what I have been doing since 2012 when I first participated in the training course in Armenia. This is partly how it’s started – partly because I have been surrounded by EVS volunteers since 2005 when I was 11. Training courses and youth exchanges, as well as the whole program of Erasmus+, is extremely addictive! The youth exchange which let me get to know with You in Europe was about creating musical instruments out of trash, rubbish, plastic and whatever we found on the street, beach… So far I have participated in more than 20 projects so it would take too much time to describe all of them but what I can surely say is that each project has its own spirit, team, beautiful moments and memories as well as a topic and place it’s held.

C: One thing that I was struggling with was the “gender equality”, just because normallymore women apply compared with men. Why do you think this happens?

I: Indeed most of the times there are more women or girls participating in the projects. I don’t know, maybe I am wrong but I would say that men usually prefer these kinds of jobs where you work for example as an IT specialist, an engineer or a manager in a big corporation rather than a social worker but ff course I know many great and inspiring men working in the field of social work, international projects and so on. This is how I think but it’s an actually good question to think about…

C: For those who are wondering how to the “youth exchange programs” are made, can youtell us about the process of the making one? How the brainstorming starts, most difficultsteps and how you overcome them, and of course some tips. By the way, any content thatmight help someone who wants to write one is more than welcome!

I: Before I wrote my own first project application I had gone to few other projects to see how it looks like, what is the structure, how the schedule looks like, what kind of activities trainers or facilitator implement. After so many projects the thought comes to your mind: „Maybe it’s time to change the roles? To become the facilitator and organizer ?” When you gather enough information then it’s so much easier to come up with the ideas and structurize it all. First, you must have the idea what your youth exchange could be about. If you can prove what participants will learn through your project and what impact it will have on the local society, then you can try to write the youth exchange application even about bungee jumping… You must be sure what you want people to gain, what are the goals and aims of your project, everything must be precise while answering the questions of the application. If you already have the idea, you should find partner organizations from different countries and send them the „call” which is a short description of the project. Then if you found your partner organizations (few, let’s say 5) then you can start writing your application but remember about the deadlines! You have to describe all the activities you are planning to implement, why, when, for whom and so on… Maybe it sounds difficult when you are reading it now but actually, it is not. If your project is approved, then you will think it was worth it! You will meet amazing people with whom you will be somehow connected with all the memories. Many of the participants during evaluation sessions were expressing their emotions by crying, being speechless… When it happens on the project which was your own idea then you can be sure that the lives of these people will never be the same – at least in a small piece.. 🙂

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Per info: ina.sasnauskaite@gmail.com