Krista, Finland

Hi, everybody! I am Krista, a 23 year old girl from Finland. I am going to spend the next two months in Croatia doing volunteer work mainly with kids and youth. People have described me kind, calm and positive. I like crafting and DIY projects. I got a degree in childcare in 2015 and last year I got a degree in carpentry.

I excited to get to know a new culture and meet new people. I also want to improve my language skills and I think this is a very good opportunity to do that. Since I am unemployed at the moment, I feel this is the perfect time to go.

I don’t know much about Croatia so I don’t know what to expect, but I am excited for this adventure.

“Remember, you’re the one who can fill the world with sunshine.” - Snow White

First THREE weeks of ARMENIANS in LAHTI

Was it challanging or no?

We arrived in Lahti on the 21 of July. Our first impressions were really good, because people who met us were very kind and hospitable and the weather here was perfect, which also helped us to keep a good mood.

Since day 1 we had entertaining city tours. We saw real finnish summer for about 2 weeks. During the city tours we explored some ’’hidden’’ corners of Lahti, but there are much more things to discover.

We visited our workplaces: Ohjaamo, Multi-Culti and Mukkula. We met people who work there. We got some information about the work of the organisation and mainly about this three workplces. And we were told what work we are ging to do. Later we had a tour to youth centers and visited some of youth workshops.

We visited some young people from different workshops and we were on a picnic with them in Mukkula beach. We had fun there.We played some games and the newest game for us was Molkky, which is traditional Finnish throwing game.

During our first weekend we were in Mukkula Sauna and later in Harbour, where met Armenians living near Lahti and we became friends, and later we found 2 two boys who are the only Armenians living in Lahti city. And as the weather was good we had amazing tours around Lahti city.

During the second week we visited Tuusula and Jarvenpaa for Meidan Festval. This was a good chance to discover Finnish culture and customs with other volunteers and foreigners while being surrounded by local people. And later we got a surprise package from Discover EU organisers)))

On the weekend we were in Helsinki with our Armenian friends, we had Helsinki city tour and later we visited Korkeasaari Zoo, this was a zoo located on an island.

During the third week we had our 3 day on-arrival training, which was really helpful and interesting. Than we visited Mukkula youth center. We were in an international CouchSurfing weekly meetups organised by one of our Armenian friends.

So this was short intriduction about our first three weeks and impressions of living in Lahti.

Best wishes,

Dusya and Levon J J

On Arrival training = ''First Aid''

On Arrival training is really important support for volunteers, who just arrived and know nothing about the surrounding world.

Everyone knows, that being a tourist in anothr country is kind of a joy, but realizing thath you are going to live somewhere for more than 7 months is really ''shocking'' fact, even if it was your decision to go there, where everything is different and new for you, starting from culture and customs ending with weather and nature. And at the moment an ON ARRIVAL TRAINING is coming to help.

We are volunteers from Armenia and we had 3day On Arrival Training, which was divided into some sections, which were really helpful. During this training we got answers to those questions which were troubling us. We had a wonderful trainer Anna-Kaisa Vihersalo, who is really professional at her job. She patiently explained everything and listened to us.

On Arrival training was not a boring thing, because during those days we spent really good time, we tried different national cuisines as well as Finnish, we were in monthly city market, we knew different and interesting methods of knowing each other better, and not only each other but ourselves as well. We built the path of our goals and drew the hand of our mental wellbeing. We knew about possible risks and challanges that can happen and found ways how to solve them. And we want to appreciate organizers for this training which really helped us.

Best Regards,
Dusya and Levon :)

Hi everybody !!!

Thanks for giving me this opportunity to introduce myself. I’m Dusya and I am 21 years old. I came here from sunny Armenia and I am going to live here for 8 months, sooo, this means that this is not our first and last meeting))).

I have recently graduated from Yerevan State Linguistic University of Languages and Social Sciences with a bachelor degree and I was looking for an opportunity to live, travel and get practice abroad, so ESC was really good chance for me.

So now it will interest you how I knew about this project and that’s what I am going to tell you...

I was on an internship at Brusov YSULS Career Center and Graduates Association, and they offered me to participate in this project (p.s. Brusov YSULS Career Center and Graduates Association is ESC coordinator in Armenia). I thought about it for few days and decided to send my CV for participation, and as you see I am one of the lucky volunteers who was choosen to participate in this project.

And now I’ll try to do my best to be useful for this project and of course I will enjoy my time here, in hospitable LAHTI!!!

Nice to meet you all. 

Levon, Armenia, 23 years old

Hi everyone. I am Levon from Armenia. I am a friendly, polite and honest person and i am looking for new friends and adventures. I’ve graduated from my university this year and wanted to get a good package of experience before proffesional work and also travel to Europe, see wonderful places, broaden my world-outlook. I’ve been doing volunteering in my country since 2016 and participated different kinds of projects. I have learned about this ESC project from my friend who also participated in it.

Before coming Finland i knew about it only some things, that it is very cold here)))) about Laplandia, and also about heroic Finns who fought against Russian conquerors and saved their homeland. 

#YOUTHere!

Hi everyone!

We are so glad to let you know that we have applied European Solidarity Corps - Volunteering Partnerships project called as #YOUTHere!

If the project gets approved, we will host long (8 monts) and short term (2 monts) volunteers in Lahti and have one group volunteering period for two weeks in Sysmä, Finland. We are also sending volunteers for short term periods.

Our partners in this project have not yet been locked, so now we are looking for new and familiar organizations to start co-operation with in this project.

We will know the applying results in the end of this year. The project is due to start in the beginning of 2019.

Can't wait to hear the result and hopefully start working with the project and volunteers!

Best and excited regards

-Terhi, youth worker enthusiastic about international work :) 

Tervehdys Irlannista,

Kuinka suomalaiset ovat tänään? Toivottavasti kaikki on hyvä?

Kaksi viikkoa olen palannut kotimaahansa Suomesta ja neljä viikkoa, jotka vietin Lahdessa, oli vaikuttanut elämäni monella tavalla, että sanat eivät todellakaan voi kuvata sitä. Kun saavuin ensimmäisenä, ensimmäiset ajatukseni olivat, kuinka voin käsitellä neljä viikkoa, millaista se on, ja nautin siitä ja niin edelleen.

Neljä viikkoa Suomessa oli valtava kehitys henkilökohtaisessa kehityksessä ja ammatillisessa kehityksessä. Opin paljon hallinnoinnista, olen oppinut olemaan täsmällinen. Kehitin myös sellaisia ​​keskeisiä taitoja, joita opin ja kykenivät toteuttamaan työpaikallani, kun palasin kotiin. Koska olen palannut kotiin, minulla ei ole ollut töitä. Tällä hetkellä olen palkattu pikaruokaravintoryhmässä, jossa kaikki kysyvät minulta Suomen. Tässä vaiheessa luulen voivani kirjoittaa kirjan aikani ja kokemukseni Suomessa.

Kokemus oli erittäin myönteinen. Olen erittäin iloinen, että menin ja sain tavata uusia ihmisiä, nähdä uusia paikkoja. Minua koulutettiin suomalaisten kulttuurien eroista kaikille muille kulttuureille, jotka olen kokenut ja todistanut. Minulla oli valtuudet enemmän itsevarmuutta ja sitoutumista myönteisempään muutokseen. Tällä hetkellä työskentelen metsästysmaailmassa sosiaali- ja yhteisötoiminnassa, aika parempaan muutokseen: D.

Kaiken kaikkiaan Nuorten organisaation ja Lahden ihmisten jokainen tekee tästä kokemuksesta ainutlaatuisen ja siksi en koskaan unohda heitä. Halusin tällä kertaa arvostaa kaikkia tämän matkan tekemistä todella onnistuneeksi ja hyödylliseksi.

Kiitos..

Greeting from Ireland,

How are my Finnish People today? I hope all is good?

It's been two weeks I came back home from Finland and the experience of the four weeks I spend in Lahti, had impact my life in many ways that words can't really describe it. When I first arrive, my first thoughts was how am I going to cope for four weeks, what will it be like and will I enjoy myself and so on.

Four weeks in Finland had huge development in my personal development and professional development. I learned a lot about management organisation, I learned to be punctual. I also developed so key skills that I learned and able to implement at my work place since I got back home. Since I got back home, I have been working none stop. At the moment, I am employed as a team staff at a fast food restaurant where everybody ask me about Finland. At this stage, I think I can write a book about my time and my experience in Finland by now.

The experience was very positive. I am very glad I went and I got to meet new people, see new places. I was educated about the differences in the Finnish culture to all other cultures I have experienced and witnessed. I was empowered with more self believe and commitment for more positive change. Currently, I am on a job hunt for the field of my degree in Social and Community work. It is time for a better change: D.

Overall, everybody at Nuorten organisation and the people of Lahti really make this experience one of a kind and that why I will never forget them. I wanted to take this time to appreciate everybody on making this trip really successful and beneficial.

Thank you.