Hello everyone!
My name is David, I am 27 years old and I come from Spain. Five days ago, I arrived to Plovdiv, the second largest city in Bulgaria, in order to spend a whole year as a volunteer under the umbrella of the European Solidarity Corps program. Maybe while you are reading these words you are also considering the possibility of becoming a part of this great experience, so in order to help you in this important choice, I will try to explain you the reasons that drove me to take the step in this way. Let start for the beginning. Who am I? And why Bulgaria?
I have grown in a small town located in the northern of Spain, called Palencia. It is a peaceful and beautiful city surrounded by crop fields, quiet rivers, ancient woods and high mountains. Since I was a child, I have always felt curiosity about how other people live around the world, so when I finished the High School, I decided to go to the University of Valladolid and study History, trying to acknowledge why the world in which we live works in the way it does and how we can improve the current political, economic and social situation.
After several hard years of studying, I realised that despite the most logical step for me would have been to become a university History teacher, what I really wanted to do was to work abroad and start an international career that allows me to get involved in the processes of building a better and a more integrated Europe. In other words; I wished to make a change, and a real one.
Thus, and due to I firmly believe in European values, I went to the University of Salamanca in order to study a Master’s Degree in European Union Studies, learning in a deeper way how this enormous project is ruled, how the EU laws affect the Member States and what challenges we will have to deal with in the next decades as European citizens.
Thereby, after a year of study I knew that I was prepared to take the reins of my life and go abroad, so I began to look for opportunities that allow me to discover a new culture, improve my current language skills and develop myself by living a unique experience, not only useful for my professional career, but also for my personal growth as an Europeanist and human being.
Of course, as you can imagine, it is not an easy decision, there are so many options in terms of countries, projects and vacancies that you can go crazy! Nevertheless, when little time after sending different application forms I received a positive answer from Smokinya Foundation, an NGO located in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, I did not doubt for a moment. I accepted the interview and just a few days later, I was preparing my luggage in order to live a whole year in the other side of the European continent.
The adaptation process is something that can be hard in some cases, and it requires courage, initiative, motivation and bravery from you. Indeed, I am still trying to understand that I am in a Balkan country where people say “yes” by nodding , and “no” shaking the head, where a completely different alphabet is used (they use Cyrillic) and where there is a lot to do regarding the high unemployment rates, the social integration challenges, the pressure of migration in the external borders or the lack of modern facilities and infrastructures.
But despite these facts, or maybe because of them, I could not be more happy to be here. I have been welcomed for a team in which from the first day I have been treated as one more, and I work and live with boys and girls of four different nationalities who are teaching me not only how to acquire all kind of non formal professional skills, but also how to cooperate together in a multicultural NGO team regardless of cultural barriers, discovering new life perspectives. But above all, I must say that spending a year in Smokinya Foundation, I feel that I am doing something really useful to support the pilar of the European project and improve people lives, something that is worth it.
Seven years ago, in 1950, French foreign minister Robert Schumann, main responsible of the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, said “Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. It will be built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity”, and I could not make more sense nowadays. I do not know which will bring me the future, but I know the following; this experience is going to be the first stone of my new life, and another one in the bridge to a better world that we have seen so far.
This program is co-funded by European Solidarity Corps program of the European Union.
The European Commission’s support for the production of this publication does not constitute an
endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be
held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. //
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