Tänä vuonna koulussamme toimi vapaaehtoistyöntekijöinä Lucile Ranskasta ja Giovanna Italiasta. He tulivat Kälviälle EVS:n (European Volunteer Service) kautta.
Lucille ja Giovanna
Lucile
Minä olen Lucile, olen 22 vuotias ja olen ranskalainen. Olen suemesa koska olen vappa-ehtoinen. Nyt asun Kälviällä.
Let's come back to english now, you just saw the extent of my knowledge in Finnish...
I arrived in Finland on January, 18th as a European Volunteer. Indeed, after I got my degree in Foreign Languages, I felt like I needed to have a break in my studies and gain some experience before starting a Master Program. So here I am now: working in Kälviä, assisting teachers and helping pupils (in fact I think this project was made for me: my dream job is to become a French teacher abroad!).
I enjoy living and working here: Kälviä is a small village, cosy, quiet and peaceful. I am sure I met the kindest people around Finland - and around all over the world also - and even if some shadows have darkened this experience, those first months in the Kokkola area have been truly AMAZING. I will never get rid of the beautiful landscapes around there, of the funny finnish sounds to my ears, of walking in the snow during winter, of discovering the small peculiarities in the way of living in Finland, etc.
I still have more than 2 months to live this amazing experience, and then I'll go back to France and to the daily routine I used to have, but I will also be with my family and friends and I will have amazing stories to tell them!
I hope we will meet again! Visit me whenever you want in France!
Giovanna
Hello
everybody! After several ex EVS volunteers’ abstracts I had been
reading before coming to Finland, now it’s my turn to write
something about my experience :) I am Giovanna Tanzi, I’m 23 years old, and I come from Italy.
Why
did I choose Finland? I really don’t know, it was Finland which
chose me; and this has been the most rewarding experience I’ve ever
done! Working in this school is really amazing and challenging, above
all concerning the relationship with students. In the beginning they
could seem a little bit silent and shy, as everybody in Finland, and
in fact I stretched to make them talk when my project started and I
had lessons with them, but as they had become more confident with me,
then they began showing how warm-hearted are they. School staff is
really kind and helpful, I am surrounded with plenty of teachers
supporting me for every kind of problems :)
Let’s
talk about Finland! Well, impressions could be really different,
depending on your behavior and customs, but surely the first impact
is really overwhelming! The weather, the cold, the snowstorms, the
food (which is really upsetting, they just eat potatoes and soup with
a lot of cream inside), the way of living totally indoor and so
forth.
Anyway
no worry, when the cultural shock goes away and disappears, then you
begin appreciate this reality. The landscape is breathtaking with the
snow and the breeze during the morning, the land vastness, the
nature, and the sweets (really Finns always eat sweet things with
coffee), the littles villages everywhere, houses in the middle of the
woods, and the huge quantity of technologic items they are provided
with.
This
experience it’s what I was looking for before coming here. I
graduated in Political Sciences and International Relations and I
needed to go abroad to try what will be my career path in the future.
In Finland people are very professional and you can acquire the best
from them, and they really trust you and rely on your work, which
makes you feel rather useful and satisfied.
However
the worst is Finnish language! Generally speaking, one doesn’t need
it to live in Finland, but once you are here, somebody could be
willing to learn it. It’s not easy, and maybe easy to study, but
difficult to speak and understand. Never mind!
Everything
is challenging in Finland, that´s because you can feel its beauty
every day. This is a country for brave and dignified people ;)
