3. Volunteers, Steve & Steph It was really nice volunteers when I arrived and thought me all I needed to know, or else I just had to ask. I was in Greece and there they have a siesta during the day, mainly I think because of the heat that occurs during summer.
4. A so called “On-Arrival” is a 5 day semenar, I had mine in Athens. 8 hours of bus, thank you so much, but a free trip to the capital of Greece and live on a nice hotel is not wrong. There I met a lot of other volunteers and got to know what it means to be a volunteer. It was on my “On-Arrival” I really understood, and after that I became more positive. I got a in general better way of handling stuff.
5. My mentor, Anna After more than half my time in Greece I went on a “midterm” in Athens, a dieted version of “On-Arrival” to check up on things with us volunteers. There I discovered how damn good situation I got. If your doing EVS in Greece, Serres is the best. The motivation why, is because we have stuff to do, but not too much. A great variation because we work with basicly everything in media. Our mentor and boss listens carefully to our opinions.
6. We work with doing advertisement and informing people about local and international problems. Environmental issues are often on the agenda, but also humanrights, aids, etc. This sometimes means fieldtrips, exhibitions, give away flyers, demonstrations, and more. A nice oppportunity to get free food from the boss or mentor
7. Example of Workassignments In the Radiostation you handle the mentors radioshow for an hour. After it’s a mix of tasks. Do or take in from email, radiospots, program this into the computer in the radiobooth. It’s easier than it sounds if you only get some rutine on the tasks. Everything is strange in the beginning for everybody. You also go arrends and pay bills on numerous of places, of course not for your own money.
8. In the Office we write articles, do posters, updates websites. It happens that I have to edit some videofootage.
9. Living/Food Sure you got to take care of alot yourself, but it is a big liberty and experience living like this, four volunteers in an apartment. It is a big apartment with 4 rooms and kitchen. And our Office is just outside the door and to the left we have the ability to use internet closeby. All volunteers get a sum of foodmoney and can buy whatever they like for it as long as it is food. All foodreceipts must be handed in, this can be a bit irritating, but it is just a rutine, it’s easy after a while.
10. Your Own radioshow Kasha, Me, Andrius och Raquel You get your own radioshow once a week, two hours long. You go through a brief meeting with the chief of the radiostation about you’re going to play in general, and after that it’s for you to start making playlists. It’s a local radiostation but they also broadcast webradio, so there is no problem for friends to listen.
11. Travel in Greece If you travel the right way it is pretty cheap, but the greek travelsystem is chaos with regular delays and full seats. But it’s really the goal that makes the trip worth, Atens by night is an amazing sight, and all the culture in that city is very interesting. Thessaloniki is the next biggest city in Greece, but the most beautiful according to me. Nice sites and Greece when at it’s best. Different food, nightlife and surroundings.
12. Swim in the ocean and lie on long beaches is very nice. Look out for the hot sun, it might give you a burn. My friends from Sweden came to visit. Steph, Me and Steve
14. What Im most happy about after my EVSexperience is how everybody that has known me before and after, has said how much I matured as a person. I feel that I have grown more patient and calm. It was such a big difference between my life in Sweden and Greece. To live with individuals from other countries and to handle myself independently was a good experience.