On-Arrival Training

From the 7th until the 16th March, I had my on-arrival seminar in Konradshöhe, Berlin. Well, where do I start… it was perhaps the craziest ten days of my life and a time I don't think I will ever forget. But let's start from the beginning…

We were 20 EVS volunteers from: France (x4), Italy (x3), Poland (x2), Spain, Turkey, Denmark, Serbia, Russia, Macedonia, Hungary, Finland, Georgia, Estonia and, of course, the UK. I was hoping they'd be another English person, or at least someone British or even Irish, but nope… oh well, not the end of the world. Instead I met some very interesting people and learned a lot about their countries and odd bits of the lingo.

Speaking of languages… as some didn't speak English whereas others couldn't understand much German, the seminar was done bilingually. Fair enough. But as one of the unlucky few who understand everything in German and English, the seminar was hard work…

Having to hear every single thing twice, three, sometimes four times, is enough to drive you insane. But I managed to stay awake, despite the extreme sleep deprivation!

The accommodation, though, was good. I was in a room with three other girls and luckily we got along very well. It was of course nice that, for once, you were fed and looked after. And the house was by the river, so the view was great. The only downside was the distance from the city centre. It took like an hour before you were anywhere near the middle. But at least we had many opportunities to visit Berlin, these trips for me being the best part of the seminar.

My initial worry when I found out that I would be staying in Berlin for my training, was that I would probably have to go on a sightseeing tour and see everything I'd already seen. But as there were six of us doing our EVS in Berlin, and a few others who knew the city well through numerous visits here, we were offered an alternative tour. One of the trainers lived in Friedrichshain and so she showed us the squats and the street art, etc. It was very interesting to see a side of Berlin I had not yet seen.

On the Saturday, most of us headed into town to experience some of the nightlife. As we had Sunday morning off, we didn’t have to worry about getting back to the house early and could party as long as we wanted. I went with several others to Havanna in Schöneberg. It's a pretty cool club with four dancehalls and various music, from hip-hop and reggaeton, to salsa and cheesy disco. It was a lot of fun and probably won't be my last visit there.

On Sunday afternoon was our second group trip to Berlin, this time for a tour around Kreuzberg. Our guide was a lovely German-Turkish girl, who showed us around the area, known for its high Turkish population. The tour included a visit to a museum and a mosque. She gave us a real insight into the Turkish culture and immigration to Germany, which I found extremely interesting.

Our third trip to Berlin was on Tuesday afternoon for our 'project'. A few days earlier, we'd decided it would be nice if all twenty of us could do some kind of project together. We brainstormed a few ideas, but the only project that actually materialised was one involving various flash mobs and games. Our plan was to do as many crazy things as possible around the city.

A personal highlight was when we went to Alexanderplatz, a huge square in the centre of Berlin, and played a game with a scarf. I forget the name, but it was taught to us by the Italians. Imagine twenty people lining up in two teams for piggyback races. First to the scarf and bring it home, gets a point. What followed was chaos, much laughter and half of Alexanderplatz staring at us, taking pictures. Very funny indeed!

There were a few random nights out that I haven't mentioned, like when we had dinner in an Indian restaurant, which was hilarious (I was crying with laughter, seriously). But on Tuesday was our farewell party. It was pretty sad knowing that it'd be our last night together, but we had a good time.

I will try to keep in contact with as many people as possible, and if I could go around Germany and visit everyone, that would be awesome. But just the fact I now know other volunteers in Berlin, is great (I'm not alone anymore!).

I took a lot away from the seminar. It was an unforgettable week and a half, and I don't think I will ever experience anything like it again. Es hat richtig Spaß mit euch gemacht und hoffentlich sehen wir uns bald wieder!

Ciao und bis denne!