The beauty of Romania and my EVS – Baptiste Villevalois

  • 20 February 2015
  • Posted by: Team For Youth Association
  • Category: Volunteering Stories
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baptiste-villevalois

Meet Baptiste, a young man from France, experiencing EVS and Romanian culture. Not for the first time in Romania, Baptiste is constantly surprised by the beauty of this country, as well as by the opportunities that EVS offers.

Baptiste, 23:

Hi everyone! My name is Baptiste and I am an EVS volunteer in Baia Mare, Romania. I have been living in Baia Mare for almost 5 months now and I am still impressed every day by the Romanians and their culture (customs, habits, food, drink etc). Don’t get me wrong, I am impressed in a good way, like I love living here. So, I have adapted myself really easily and quickly to my new life.

I recommend people who don’t know much about Romania to visit this country. And even those who know it already, there is still so much to discover. It has a lot to offer – as the Romanians are warm, welcoming, helping folks who love sharing and so on. Maybe these are just some of the characteristics of the population which amazed me the most. Here, wherever you are, whoever you are, you can always find someone to help you, to give you a helping hand. It is something really different than in France. In Romania people help each other and don’t turn away on problems or difficulties of the others. I like that state of mind! All those things make me easily imagine living here!

[image style=”no-style” position=”below” width=”650″ src=”http://www.t4uth.ro/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/baptiste-evs-romania.jpg” alt=”baptiste-evs-romania”]

Concerning my project, it lasts 8 months. I still have little over 3 months to do. The main activities of it is to teach French in schools in the city, as well as in the rural areas around Baia Mare. That’s why my project is called ”Carnaval Plus – Rural Urban”. I am also working in kindergartens and other public institutions of the city to make activities with children and youngsters, allowing them to meet different youngsters from different cultures.

[quote]”By discussing and sharing your experiences, you travel without travelling and you discover things you would not think about before.”[/quote]

So far, it has been a great experience, both professionally and personally. Indeed, coming here as an EVS volunteer was, for me, an opportunity to have my first working experience abroad in a ”nonformal way”. It allows me to discover another way of working that I am not used to, opening my eyes and my mind. And doing all these activities also helps me learn.

I also grew up personally through living and working with volunteers coming from all over Europe and from other continents. That’s the beauty of the EVS program.