I'm going to Norway! When, how and why?

It is fifth of june, 2017. At the moment, I’m sitting on the train via Vienna Airport where I’m silently observing villages and houses passing by through the slightly dirty window. Maybe it is just me but the whole scene seems quite sleepy even though it was 9 before noon ‘’already’’. My god, lately I’m in the process of finding out somehow frightening features about myself. I would rather believe that it’s not caused by the aging process, so I keep telling myself all over again that I am still searching my optimal biorhythm, but still – I keep suspecting I’m a, well, morning person. I have not yet completely unfamiliar with the desire to flay any object or being in proximity while getting up at the hours written with one digit too few, but these hours nowadays seem a bit more…human friendly? Well, perhaps life will spare me a bit and for a change develop somehow useful feature in me for a change! Anyway, on this foggy and cloudy day, my mood is quite the opposite, because I’m traveling to Norway!

Who am I?

Lest we forget, my name is Sandra (yes, my name is officially shortened form of another name, thanks for asking, skeptical officials), I have witnessed 26 summers in my life. I will not list all my job experiences to you, that’s what linkedin profile is for. However, with the bottle of wine beside us I am more than willing to explain all the bizarre stories, starting from the first working experience as I was 15. It might be a good idea to make a web diary of that, now that I think about it. On the bright side, I was born with phlegmatic temperament which I consider as terrific aspect, despite the fact that keeping calm in certain stressful situations might be frustrating to some observers. But I think it’s quite handy.

I have a degree in biologiy and I admit, it is fascinating me even though the tooth of time stubbornly chews my learned material away and I am not (yet?) working regularely in that field. I am also finishing the international master’s degree in ecology and ecosystems at University Vienna, the last exam just slipped through my fingers and I still have my master’s thesis to accomplish. Character-wise I’m on the slightly artistic and introverted side, I enjoy the piano playing, reading books and poetry, make up, Dota 2 and metal concerts.
Since I am no longer obligated to live in my university city, I gave priority to the smaller break before finishing my master’s degree – namely, the non-profit organization Popotniško združenje Slovenije (translated roughly as Travelers association of Slovenia) sent me the call for a tempting EVS project, taking one year, covering everything I love doing – working with tourists, writing articles and blogs, social media editing and sustainability tourism projects. It is not clear yet what is ahead of me concretely, but Iwill find out soon.

What is EVS?

European Volunteer Service is free willing work for young folks up to 30 years old on either short term (up to 59 days) or long term (up to a year) project. The hosting organization sends a call for EVS volunteers and to apply you need to provide motivational letter and a CV. You live in a country outside of yours and you get accommodation, food, traveling costs cover and pocket money in exchange for 36-38 hours of work. The working hours include all the meetings and a language course.

What are my intentions and expectations?

I don’t intend to grind your gears with some claptrap like ‘’challenges, experiences, can’t wait to meet new people, blah…’’. Yes, of course that’s part of it, otherwise it wouldn’t be a cliché answer. That’s why I’ll be a bit more honest with you. In the years gone by, I had to overcome quite some challenges, life decision and discoveries. In the end, I concluded that I spent way too much time running after concepts of ‘’What do I have to do? What is expected of me? What is socially acceptable for my age?’’ and making excuses for not doing what I honestly wanted. One of these was to travel, to enjoy life, to be independent. Working abroad, living abroad, being content. Unfortunately, the studying system in Slovenia is quite rigid and it is not so simple to just have a gap year without commitments and take time for yourself, just as we are all rushing to get a degree and postpone wondering what the hell to do with the piece of paper, which in a few words summarizes multiple years of nerve draining.

A decision

The first time I heard about EVS was via my first volunteering organization MISC infopeka, but I did not put much thought into it from a quite superficial reason. Namely, pretty much all the offered EVS project seemed a bit too politically-oriented anti-racism and anti-discrimination marketing of a sort. To be frank, I was not very invested in preparing workshops and announcing kids how they should love each other despite the differences. So, my first impression of EVS did not meet my expectations which is why I abandoned the idea.
For five years actually. To the moment when I was bored and kept opening all the emails, most of them I was not interested in. I admit, I’m a bit inquisitive sometimes so I stick my nose in matters that do not necessarily significantly increase my life quality. So, I went to inspect the email with the title ‘’call for EVS volunteers in Norway’’ and went to see what do they have to offer. And hell, the longer I kept reading, the more I was looking for a ‘’catch’’ to justify myself why not to apply. All the tasks were fitting to my interests and experiences and the project started to appear as a good idea. I read it four times throught and concluded I have nothing to lose and quite a bit to gain. So, I wrote a motivational letter and sent it.

Yay, I got an offer for a Skype interview! Naturally, it is one of the least pleasant situations one can imagine and we must endure it somehow. It might be damn hard if you’re not meditating before or taking a shot. As probably majority of people, I have also created a mental image of the interview and the way it is supposed to be heading towards. And I was quite right, after the initial surprise when two of the at the time current volunteers were witnessing the interview. It was a bit odd having 3 people observing you instead of one! But despite that, the interview went by without major awkwardness and despite not being world famous for my self-confidence, I was quite certain they should accept me. I had what they needed and I had no problems with expressing it.

And they did! I admit it, everything was just so fast and I needed some time to take in that I will actually have an opportunity to work and travel within one of the most impressive countrie in the world. Not only myself, lots of my friends were completely fascinated by the offer I got. I will not claim my decision will always be easy to all the aspects of life and beside that, you might imagine I met the prejudices as well (‘’what good is that?’’, ‘’you’re gonna be just a cheap labour’’, ‘’you should rather find a real job’’ etc.). Of course,. No decision can please everyone, but my mission and my happiness are what matters most. Hell, I got a dream job, without monotony, except that I won’t be paid (much) for it. Not in cash, that is.

Flying from Vienna; a view from an airplane

On the way