Those volunteers will create a huge cohesion between them because they are working all together but also living together. Each of them comes with different history, different social belonging, different opinion and way to do things but in one same project during a period of 1 year maximum. Those conditions create a cohesion between the volunteers and the people around that is very hard to find back in your own country excepted of course, during the sport events. During this period, you will also learn about yourself, even for the ones who were living alone and independent before, you will have time to use as you wish, time to discover yourself new interests, to try new things. For my part, coming from a big city from France, I could simply have done a board opposing my activities here and my “life” during my EVS, but it will be not fair because before my EVS I was passive, always waiting something to happen to change my daily life. I understand now that I have only possibilities in front of me and whatever I choose, it is the good one, without the pressure to fail because failure is maybe part of the way too… Actually, how to come back and to tell my friends about a life that neither I didn’t know before I lived it. I decided just to don’t speak about it or if someone looks interested I tell him few stories and advice him to go in EVS. Because one other thing is sure, when you live during 6 months or more, you have time to create yourself an environment, friends and activities and it’s never easy to come back in a land and in an environment where you’ve always been. You can feel after one year away that you don’t belong anymore to it. Maybe because the things around you didn’t move and time seems to have stopped here like if you never left anywhere. Or maybe because the daily routine has come so fast and your “EVS life” seem far away and inaccessible. Maybe some ignorant people can irritate you using clichés when they speak to you; I’ve now 2 different nickname cause I’ve been EVS in Macedonia, “gipsy” cause I was working with Roma kids, and “green giant” corresponding to the name of a brand making a meal called Macédoine. Some people will also think that you had lost your time and you didn’t achieve any professional objective. They probably think, because of the occident mentality, that every day when they stand up they have objectives to attempt, and that day must be productive. Actually, they ignore that time and days are free gifts and the ones who use it the best are probably the children who live the present moment, without the pressure of trying to reach one different goal every day. Come back in this state of mind for a grown up person can be very hard because of the environment around and the message send by the society of what should be a succeeded life; to have a job that bring you good money, to possess things like a house, a sofa, a TV… Each of us is happy from a different way, however, the true happiness probably passes by an abandonment of all those possessions, abandonment of the control you want to have on your life and try to become again in the state of mind of a kid and live the moment as it come. During EVS you have a job, activities, a home and friends for a short period, and it pushes you to live your life without knowing what will be the future, what will happen after your EVS. It helped me a lot to take the time to do and appreciate things and to don’t run all the time. I am now in a position where I have to make a choice for my next adventure, professional but also personal, and I take my time to make a choice without any pressure because as I said before, whatever the choice will be, it will be the good one. Written by: Robin Sarels