My ESC adventure had been a dream of mine for many years, until 8 months ago, when I finally could pursue my voluntary service in the Netherlands. I thought I knew it all and nothing could surprise me along the way. Oh well, I was wrong! Even with years of international experience I still learned so much from my ESC journey and I would love to share with you, so you can be prepared for yours.
1. Inevitable culture shock
Yes, it is inevitable and I am not being dramatic! It doesn’t matter if you have been a chameleon your entire life and lived in many different countries like me, or if it is your first ever experience living abroad, it is going to happen. The culture shock will not be an event or a moment, it will be a process and you will go through its stages. (You can google more about culture shock stages).
But you shouldn’t be afraid of it, simply embrace the fact that you are going through a process and that it is totally normal to feel homesick, or happy, or sad. It is ok, because you are in a different place, and you need to adjust. Knowing the theory will help you to apply it to your own personal experience and understand why you feel the way you feel.
The fact that everyone is going through it might help as well. Just remember that everyone has their own way of going through it and it is perfectly fine if your fellow volunteer does not have the same experience as you do. Just focus on the good stuff, cause culture shock will not be there forever, and once you have gone through it you can really enjoy your ESC experience.
2. Sharing a flat with other volunteers
In most of the projects there is a good chance you will be sharing a flat with other volunteers. It can go two ways: either you become friends with them for life… or enemies. Ok I am being a bit dramatic here, I will admit.^^’ But there is a chance you might love your neighbours and get along really well, and also have conflicts with them. This is perfectly normal, and the odds are really up to luck.
Either way, it might be challenging sometimes to share facilities with other people, especially from different countries and cultures when you might have different perspectives about different things. Best way to figure this out is honesty and open conversation, putting some boundaries and ground rules on mutual understanding.
For example, on the first day at the house, sit down with everyone and discuss the cleaning schedule, find out how you would prefer to share the tasks, write them down and put them on the wall. It is important to communicate with your flatmates and follow the agreed rules and schedules to avoid conflicts.
3. Going out of your comfort zone
During your ESC experience there is a good chance that you will need to go out of your comfort zone and do some things that you may not be entirely comfortable doing. But this is perfectly fine, and even sometimes really beneficial for you to actually improve certain skills and grow along the way.
I hadn’t ridden a bike for over 10 years, and I was not quite sure if I was any good at it or if I even remembered how to ride it. I was scared to go on a bike, to fall down and to embarrass myself in front of others. So I took my bike when no one was around in the yard, and tried to ride it. It worked. I still remembered how to ride it and I got so much motivation. The next day I went on a bike ride in a park nearby with other volunteers and in a week I was already riding a bike to the nearest city. I felt so great when I could make the bike trip safe and sound to another city, I felt like I ran a marathon. I was very proud of myself. I am so happy that I went out of my comfort zone and actually faced my fears and succeeded. If I could do that, you can too!
4. Learning the language and culture
I think it is pretty logical that you should learn the language of the country you are doing volunteer work, and so its culture. But sometimes in some countries many people might speak English and you may not have a big need for speaking the local language. I would personally recommend to at least learn some basics, you probably will be there for a couple of months or a year, but knowing how to order in a cafe or talking to a cashier at the checkout in a store might be a nice experience. And you never know how knowing some basics can help you in various situations.
But aside from the language, in many cases it is easier to spend time with your fellow volunteers, because you might know each other better, have similar experiences. But you should definitely go out there and also make local friends, try to experience the culture to the fullest, celebrate the local holidays like a local, try all possible local foods and drinks. Because it is your chance to get to know the local culture. Time flies, so do not put it up to the “next week’s or “next month”s. Do them when you can, cause trust me, you might regret when you are back home that you missed out on that local carnival that everyone is asking you if you visited, or that famous city you didn’t made time to go see.
5. Making the most of it
And finally, you need to make the most of the experience. Aside from getting to know the local culture and language, you should make the most of everything. Learn how to cook that special lasagna from your Italian flatmate, learn how to knit from one of the people you are working with. Maybe you had a conflict with your fellow volunteer, learn from your mistakes and the negative experience and avoid it next time. Evaluate what all this experience has taught you, look back and acknowledge what you have learned, trust me, you will return home as a different person, most likely a better version of yourself, cause you have gone through the learning journey of ESC and you have made the most of it! Best of luck with your journey, and enjoy every bit of it!
Curious about the European Solidarity Corps?
Read more here.
Victoria Aliyeva
International ESC volunteer at Lava Legato Foundation
(The Netherlands, 2020-21)