Volunteer's Blog

Mid-Term training

Mid-term training – like everything in Italy I didn’t really know what to expect when I got there. I’d barely managed to get the flight tickets, let alone other information about the agenda. The preparation was barely adequate, but the actual training itself was very useful and great fun too!

The travel there was easy enough, with Jiri and I being joined by David at Bologna, and the hotel itself, a medium-sized, warm, light and well decorated place on the Adriatic seafront in Rimini, was amazing. Registration was quick and easy and we met a few friends from arrival training pretty much as soon as we walked in the front door.

Evaluation and development really were the key focuses of the training and everything was centred on self-analysis. All of the sessions were also carried out in Italian and most of the socialising was done in Italian too, showing us how much of the culture we’ve learnt as well as how far we’d come throughout the 6 months.

One of the days was focused around making videos about our EVS experiences and what EVS is to us. We covered the competences again then put our own spin on how it had changed our lives and gave honest opinions. Some people had had worse experiences than others, but generally the videos showed that many were having good experiences and had a brighter outlook on the future than before.

Some of the volunteers also had the opportunity to lead workshops on things they thought would be useful to know throughout EVS and after. There were workshops on more formal things such as using social networking websites for projects and informal things such as EVS couch-surfing, with many sharing their expertise with those who wanted it.

We spent the nights socialising outside the hotel, trading stories and jokes, and the last night was one big party. Things didn’t feel as in depth as in depth and I didn’t know everyone by the end of it, but it felt better to make a few close friends and spend the days with them this time round. I hope to visit a couple of them in the near future.

All in all, the mid-term training acted as a good way to consolidate everything from the past six months and prompt everyone to start looking to the future. I have a plan for afterwards which I’m currently putting together and am happy with where I am in this current point in time.