“Recently, I participated in an ESC volunteering project in the organization Permacultura Cantabria. This volunteering was focusing on gardening, project writing and cultural exchange. It was the first such experience for me and here is my side of it. From the beginning I faced a lot of personal challenges. Organizers gave us almost complete freedom.

For the first time in my life I had to organize my own time and decide which activities to attend.

We attended weekly lectures about project writing, where we learned from professionals how to form an idea, calculate the budget and build every aspect of a project for it to get approved by the European Commission. 

My favorite activities were permaculture lectures and gardening. At the beginning we learned from a professional how to organize the space in the garden in the most sustainable way. After that we began to work in the garden of the organization, where we used our newly gained knowledge and made our impact into cleaning and making this garden beautiful.

The cultural exchange aspect was covered every day on every stage of the project. We lived all together and had to communicate with each other all the time, taking into consideration our cultural differences. Moreover, every Friday each country’s team organized a cultural day. We cooked national dishes, danced and had presentations about the country, its traditions and history.

During our free time we were travelling around our village, doing a lot of sports, working, playing and trying many different things that interested us.

Overall, I would say that it was not easy to go abroad for so long, spend all the time with completely different people and be independent. But it gave me an amazing experience, a lot of interesting stories, wonderful friends all over Europe and confidence in myself.

I recommend all of the people to try ESC volunteering. It may not be easy, but it’s completely worth it.”

Katrin Heinat

Are you curious to know more about the European Solidarity Corps and the volunteering opportunities it provides to young people? Read more here and #StayShokkin