Nino's story from Poland

Hello,   I am Nino Dvali, 25 years old. Last year in April I decided to apply EVS/ESC project. To be honest I was a little bit scared to make moves to start life without friends, family, and my country. But on the other hand, it was kind of challenge for me and I was going straightly  for my desire to make something new in my life. To change my lifestyle, develop my skills, and make an experience in international fields. In this period in my body was living two Nino, first who wanted to stay, because of fear and second,  who wanted to try new things. To cut a long story short, I decided to go and be a participant of this great family, which is Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps.

  

Since  May 2019 I have started a new life with new challenges in Gdansk. I'm very lucky, that I have chosen this amazing city, which is located next to the Baltic Sea in northern Poland. I have chosen the best city in  Poland with a great hosting organization Caritas. 

In the first two weeks of my Polish life I was exploring and getting familiar with the different cultures, cities, and places where I had to stared working and volunteering. Caritas is a Catholic church organization, which is helping every kind of person, regardless of belief. They have facilities where they are helping the children from difficult families, seniors, disabled people, and so on. I have chosen to start working with kids in one facility which was located close to my home. It was my first experience working with kids and I have to be honest and say that it was amazing. They are very open and helpful in any situation, despite of, the language barrier.

While my EVS/ESC project I had two training, one on arrival training located in Warsaw and second, mid-term training in Torun. Both of these training were so helpful and interesting in my voluntary life. There I met so many volunteers from other organizations from other parts of Poland. This training was a place where so many cultures were changed by volunteers from different counties. Besides the EVS/ESC project’s training's and events, my hosting organization was making events with other local volunteers and we were helping people altogether. 

While this one year, I have learned so many new things, got familiar with different cultures, tasted food from around the world, made new friends and met so many interesting people and finally I fell in love with Poland and I stayed more than one year!