#YOUREVS | Jorge's testimony


Word to define my experience: self-discovering

I developed my EVS in Arcos de Valdevez (Lucie’s town!), Portugal, from october 2015 to june 2016, in a youth centre. I’d already lived in Portugal in the past, and my Portuguese was OK back then (now is way better), so I was one step forward on the learning process, which allowed me to focus on different things: so far for me, the EVS was a self-discovering experience, from the very first minute.

This was possible because my hosting association, Juventude Vila Fonche, allowed me to do so. My coordinators (now friends), Diana and Hélder, left lots of space and freedom to do what I felt and what I like the most. During my time there, I performed weekly workshops with the youngsters, both in the youth centre and in the local high school, dissemination talks about the Erasmus+ activities which also took part in Arcos, as well as self-propossed activities, advertisement and communication tasks for the organization… By doing this, I could acknowledge that, what I enjoyed the most wasn’t my field of studies, journalism and communication, but the youth and the free time activities.

Also, doing EVS in Arcos allowed to discover another thing about what I wanted to do in life: mobility projects. I always enjoyed traveling, meeting new people and cultures, learning by doing… but until that moment, I didn’t know how to put it together. Then, Diana and Hélder showed me all the possibilities I could have, how I could use them and how I could do it, learning them, by practicing as part of the organization, in youth exchanges and training courses. Thanks to this, now I’m developing my professional self towards this direction.

So, EVS showed me what I could do in the future. But it also helped me to know what could I do in the present time. Because EVS is not only your daily job in some organization: it’s also what you do in your free time. Either discovering the town/city and the country you are living in, or making new and lifelong friendships, or simply, as it happened to me, understanding and building a relationship with yourself.

I’m going to put it bluntly: EVS is great, but it can be tough. You’ll have to face some working and “EVS family” arguments, misunderstoodness, lack of confidence and/or motivation, boredom, missing your loved ones, dissapointness…, or even just find out how to manage your time, which is, in my opinion, one of the most difficult things you can do.

Also you may find your own demons in this path: loneliness, emptiness, broken-heartness, fear of failing… or simply, just the fear. But you can learn from every single emotion, as I did: I’ll always be thankful to have lived such a powerful experience, because it allowed me to think, to discuss with myself, what I really wanted, what I really needed (and what didn't) and to realise how I was (really) feeling back then. Which for me, which until that moment, lived back to back with my feelings and fears, ignoring them, was a big change.

But my EVS was more things than this. It was coming back to a country I still feel like my own, and discover the differences and silimilarities with the other side of the border. It was to meet plenty of interesting people, which broadened my mind and helped me see the world from differents points of view to mine. It was to fall in love with the people, with the places, with the experiences I had. It was to have unforgettable days and nights, traveling around the country, and visiting places which took my breath away. It was to had a healthier and mindfuller life, which change me not only in the inside but on the outside: excercising everyday and eating better food made me lose almost 20 kilos in 9 months. It was to be part of a big, Portuguese family, which welcomed me with open arms (they still do every time I go visit them) and that I miss every single day.

Definitely, EVS changed my life, from the inside out, for good. It gave me new understandings, new points of view, different skills, abilities and knowledges, allowing me to discovering some parts of myself that I wasn’t able to walk before. It was a lifelong experience, which will mark me forever after.

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