Hello, my name is Alice, I am from Estonia and for the past 9 months I have been carrying out my European Voluntary Service in the Fundació Catalunya Voluntària (FCV) in Barcelona. Now that my project is coming to an end it is time for me to reflect on this great adventure that I have had living here in Barcelona.

During these 9 months I have learned a great deal of new things both on a professional as well as on a personal level. Within my volunteering project I have had the great opportunity to learn and practice new things with which I had no previous experience. I got to see and learn how different projects and workshops are organized from the first steps of preparation to finally the carrying out of the projects. I had the chance to work as a support person and a reporter on several different international seminars and assist in carrying out workshops. Although there were so many memorable moments during this time, one of the most memorable of them is definitely the creation and organization of my very own first workshop about nonviolent resistance and the singing revolution in Estonia, which I had the pleasure to carry out with another Estonian volunteer. 

Throughout, these months of volunteering and carrying out different tasks I really got to challenge myself and discover new things about myself. I can honestly say that volunteering has offered me the chance to improve my skills and has shown me that by taking action and being active we can achieve all our goals. In addition to the work I have been doing in FCV, I also met many new people who I am happy to be able to call my friends and from whom I have learned so much. Thanks to them I got to have so much fun and we have made some great memories together that I will always cherish.

I am very content with my decision to become a volunteer, this has truly been a once in a lifetime experience that I value a lot, and I would recommend this kind of an experience to everyone. I believe that by being a volunteer I got the chance to offer my support and help to others, but I also believe that I gained a lot from being a volunteer and I would like to thank the FCV team for these great 9 months and all the support they have given me throughout this great journey.

Alice.