Here we are. At the end of this journey. I still can’t believe how it all went so quickly and so slowly at the same time. Nine incredible, difficult, and everything in between, amazing, frustrating at times,  but mostly happy and inspiring months have passed, and I am not the same person that came to Barcelona in September 2016.

My main expectation was reached, which is kind of amazing considering that does not always happens, and that mine was so big and vague that even I wasn’t sure that it would work. Let’s be perfectly honest – figuring out what I want to do career-wise with my life was a pretty big expectation, and yet I found the answer, or at least the beginning of an answer. I realized how much I love non-formal education, and the creativity it requires in order to transmit important messages. Doing EVS in FCV has given me an opportunity to try myself in the field of facilitation and I am so grateful for it, as it gave me the self-confidence and the motivation to continue forming myself in that direction.

sve-aleks (1)And along the way I met so many interesting and inspiring people, with whom I will hopefully stay in contact for a long long time. I have learned a bit of Catalan, and improved my Spanish, I have gone dancing every weekend, made picnics in the beautiful parks of Barcelona, went on flee markets, figured out what I like, what I dislike, where my comfort zone begins, and where I went out of it, improved and continued stretching my own limits. I have learned how to manage conflicts, and not run away from them, and I have fallen in love with the field of peacebuilding and peace education!

The only advice I have for anyone who is thinking about doing EVS is: do it, go, but be prepared to work on your own fears, limits, mind bloques, prejudices, expectations and attitudes, because that is the most important part of an EVS – how you decide to change and how you decide to experience it!

Now lets see where life takes me next. Thank you FCV and thank you Barcelona, for this amazing experience!

Aleksandra Stojanovic