ESC Stories

Hi, I’m Ana! I came to Romania in October 2024, three days before my 21^st birthday.

Before coming, many people asked me “Why Romania?”. I didn’t have an answer to that question. When I decided to take a gap year from university and volunteer with the European Solidarity Corps, I never had a specific country in mind. I was looking for projects that seemed interesting but, most of all, projects that could teach me something useful for my future career as an educator. The A4ACTION Afterschool program immediately caught my attention, and I can not describe the glee I felt when, a few days after the interview, I received an email saying I got selected to be part of it.

In the beginning, there were three volunteers in the house. I met Emma at the airport as soon as I arrived, and Lara the day after that. From October to December, the three of us got to know each other, and grew closer by the day. In November, we had our On Arrival Training, a week of online training with other volunteers around Romania who are doing similar projects. Those first two months were intense, we started to understand how the Afterschool works, what kind of activities we could implement, got to know the children and learned how to live together, finding our rhythm amidst all of it. We also took that time to visit Snagov, Bucharest, and Brasov with its beautiful Christmas Market.

In December, we got new colleagues. It was shortly before our Christmas Vacation, but we did not take long to get comfortable around each other. We took our first trip together to Iasi in January. Our group dynamic was amazing from the start, and it just kept getting better.

In February, I started implementing Science Experiments with the kids and it was wonderful to see that they enjoyed participating in these activities just as much as I enjoyed preparing them. We also had our Midterm Evaluation around that time, where I was able to meet many wonderful people, learn from them and share bits of my own experience. It was an unforgettable part of my ESC.

March went by in the blink of an eye, keeping up the activities in the Youth Centre, but also doing many workshops in the High School (including a cultural event where I had the chance of presenting Portugal) and activities with the Primary School.

I saw snow pile up for the first time in my life and it was beautiful. We also had a great team building in Predeal.

And suddenly, between preparing activities, seeing the kids grow, travelling, cooking, teambuildings, karaoke nights, movie nights, walks in the forest, building snowmen, playing volleyball in the garden, going shopping, team meetings, learning new things, etc… six months have passed.

This experience was exactly what I had been looking for. I tried to come here without big expectations. I leave having learned more than I thought I could, having made great friends and feeling more fulfilled than ever.

Before coming here, I didn’t have an answer to the question “Why Romania?”. Now, after six months, I have a big list of reasons why it was everything I wanted and didn’t know.