Mid-term training in Toruń

Dzień dobry,

In February and March, it was time for our EVS mid-term training! 
This time, this one week meeting was taking place in the beautiful city of Toruń, famous for its delicious pierniki (gingerbreads) and for being the birthplace of Mikołaj Kopernik.

Marie had her meeting first, at the beginning of February and Tuğçe and I (Julia) a few weeks ago, in March. The mid-term training is an occasion for volunteers to look back on the first part of their EVS and to reflect on what they have achieved and on how they can enjoy the rest of their EVS to the fullest. It is of course also an opportunity to meet new people and discover a new place in your host country. And this is exactly what the three of us did during one week!

We explored Toruń through group activities, such as questioning the inhabitants of this medieval city on history and legends, or else on the occasion of an epic WhatsApp quest/ treasure hunt in the streets and museums! The cultural part was an important part of this meeting and our lovely trainers also took us to the theater for a puppet show, to the gingerbread museum, to an art museum… We were of course also given the opportunities and tools to reflect on our experience so far though creative activities -individually and in groups – as well as on the rest of our project and our future after EVS. Thus, we exchanged numerous advice and ideas of activities we could implement in our projects.The trainers also made sure to bring into light the work and study opportunities that exist in Poland and abroad, as well as the other volunteering possibilities we could do in the future.

 

Here are Marie’s thoughts on this meeting:

What struck me first was the awesome atmosphere within the group. We all got along well really fast and we were a real group – meeting in the evenings, doing things together without excluding anyone. Then, I really liked this town full of legends and nice places appearing in random little streets. Under the snow it was magical… What I also appreciated is the material the trainers put at our disposal: workshops to think about our volunteering experience and fun activities in the town (WhatsApp quest!!!) were as many ideas that we can reuse as volunteers… or later in our professional life. ;-) That’s how I would describe a week outside of time…

It was such an enriching week for the three of us and we left Toruń full of energy and ready to enjoy our last months of EVS!

Na razie,

Julia