Moi guys !!! This is as much finnish as i have now, i have travelled to Finland with a man named Ola as part of the EVS scheme. I am working in the rappapuja (enviromental) section of the project.

Before we left Ireland we did pre departure training where we were informed of what to expect of our time in Finland and also making our travelling plans.... but i must say i was nervous about going on the plane!

Riina our mentor met us at the bus station and helped us get settled in when we arrived ahe met us at the bus station and showed us our flat for the next month which i have to say is fairly Cushti! (Nice)

When i got to finland and had a good sleep as you can see i was a little more relaxed, sussanna and Larissa showed us around on the wednesday where we looked around the city and the local park especially which has a lot to see and then we went to the bay area where there is loads of restaurants and had a lovely meal of meatball and noodle soup and finnish root beer.

On my first day at the enviromental workshop i met all the people i would be working with who are a great bunch, the workshop is renovating an summer house, so tommy one of my mentors who knows i have some chainsaw experience said i cut do some sawing and we done some clearance to clean up the entrance to the house which left a lovely view of the lake. I really enjoyed it and i learnt quiet a lot on my first day at the workshop.

On my second day at the workshop i was just cutting the lawn near the picnic area and enjoying the sun and having fun chatting and getting to know everybody.

after a day off, i had my first finnish lesson which i must say was taught well maybe not learnt so much. Finnish is a very difficult language and i dont feel too bad as i have heard from some finnish friends themselves that they find their own language is difficult to them !!

On the first day of our second week we had a day at Multi-Culti the multicultural centre and played football in the park and played a traditional finnish sport where you throw a small log at markers with numbers on them which i think is quite similar to bowling, the sun was shining and it was great to make new friends and just enjoy the sun :P

Presenting the mentors for the volunteers from Ireland

Hello and welcome to Finland! We are Riina, Susanna and Larissa, the mentors for the volunteers from Ireland. It is finally starting to feel like summer so it looks like the perfect time for a volunteering period.

Riina is working at Ohjaamo Lahti, which is a one-stop guidance center for young people. She is helping young people to get a job or getting into studies. The aim is to create functional networks and decrease bureaucracy.

Susanna is working at Ohjaamo Lahti too. She is a work/career coach and helps her clients to plan their future which can mean e.g. to find a jog, a work placement or a place to study.

Larissa works as an outreach-worker. She helps young people to find solutions to their problems, small or big.

We mentors will be welcoming the volunteers to Lahti and take care of the on-arrival training. We will have regular meetings with our volunteers and help them with the Youthpass as well as other issues concerning the stay.

We hope we can make you feel at home in Lahti and make the most of your EVS-experience in Lahti. Don't hesitate to contact us if you have a questions. Welcome!

Well hello! What's coming next?

We are at the stage of our Here we go again! project that couple of weeks ago volunteers from Lahti, Jonna and Pauliina arrived back home from Slovenia :) Last week they had their return training with their mentors. Welcome back!

Also the last volunteers are coming to Lahti this week on friday evening, two youngsters from Ireland! One of them is going to work in Sisustamo, upholstering furniture. The other volunteer will be working in Reppupaja (environment workshop), they are currently working in Naumi, Lahti city Youth Services camping site.

We wanted to say hi to the coming volunteers, so let me introduce Sisustamo the upholstering section and Reppupaja for you!

Sisustamo says Hi!

Reppupaja says Hi! from Naumi to the volunteers joining them!

We all are so excited to meet the boys! We all wish you good travelling and we will meet on Monday when you have your on arrival training :)

And what is happening before the volunteer come here?

We are having the same attitude indicator with our younsters in Reppupaja and Sisustamo. If you don't remember what this indicator is, here it is in a nutshell: we will discuss about attitudes, prejudices and how do the volunteers see Finland and Lahti when they come here for the firts time. We will have a second meeting after the volunteers have returned back home to give them an opportunity to tell and talk about what they have learned from internationalism and possible tell if have they learned something about themselves!

And of course we are preparing an apartment for them etc. 

Let's wait that the boys will do their introduction to us :) SEE YA!


-Terhi, Coordinator

Hello from Slovenia!

Us

We have been here now four weeks and time has gone so fast. Slovenia is amazing country with stunning nature and friendly people. The village where we are staying in is called Begunje na Gorenskjem, and it`s about an hour drive from Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia.

Other volunteers who we share our house and work with are from Norway, Estonia, Belgium, Georgia and Macedonia. Here lives also three crazy bunnies and two cats and a hamster.

We have been working with some handicraft projects and outdoor work and also planned activities for children. Usually we play with children on wednesday, friday and saturday afternoons and on thursdays there comes school kids from the local school. On fridays we work at the center of people with disabilities.

Handicrafts

Painting the fence

Outdoor work

On our free days we have been travelling around in Slovenia and also went to Zagreb in Croatian.

Castle in Begunje

Begunje na Gorenskjem

Church that`s on top of the mountain behind Vila Cira Cara (the house where we live)

Metelkova in Ljubljana

Ljubljana

Ljubljana

Zagreb is the capital of Croatia

Zagreb

Zagreb

Zagreb

Mountains in Slovenia

Trip to the mountains

Street in Ljubljana

Lake

Pauliina and Jonna

Hello!

It was really nice to be in Slovenia and
these two months went very fast and now
I have been back in home almost one month.
It was great to meet some new people and
got to know something about new cultures and got some new friends.
I would like to travel more in all over the world after this and see more interesting places and meet some new people.

Hey! I'm Pauliina.

Name: Pauliina Suonio

Age: 23

Why I'm going to Slovenia? I’m going to Slovenia because I want to have new experiences.
I haven’t been in Slovenia or worked in another country. I also want to meet new people and see what’s every day life in Slovenia like.

What are you expecting for your time in a foreign country? I’m expecting to see beautiful Slovenian nature. I have heard that it is stunning. I also expect to become better English speaker in foreign country.

Is there something you find exciting? I find working another country exiting. And also I’m exited to use English more.

What are your hobbies? What kind of stuff are you interested in? I’m interested in many things. I do yoga, run and meditate. I’m very creative person so I most of the time paint, draw or shoot pictures with my camera and edit pictures. Most of my paintings and photos are gothic because I’m very in to goth subculture and goth is what I am. I’m also interested of metal music and goth music, science, pagan religions, conspiracy theories and psychic powers.

What is the most important thing you're going to stow with you? My camera.

What would you like to tell about your homeland to people you'll meet in your destination?
About finnish language and old pagan culture of Finland.

What do you wish for your future? What is your dream? I wish to become my greatest version. I also dream to publish my action comics, make epic animation movies of them in future and have great time and future with my boyfriend.

Back home again

Hey!

I waited for this!

These past two months in slovenia flew by really fast and I could have stayed for much longer period of time, but it feels good to be back home again! .
People were nice and friendly and the nature and the view were amazing everywhere you looked. I met great people and got some new friends.

I really would like to travel more around europe and the rest of the world. Maybe go back to slovenia someday to see the country at summer time. But for now, I'll just turn off my phone for couple of days, stay at home and listen to some laibach!