My EVS journey… It started the first day of February. When I reached in Sofia, Gokhan-one of the EVS´s- was there to meet with me. Then I reached the accommodation, I went to attend the sessions and also meet with Ivan Tinev. Also I’ve met with other EVS’s.
At weekend I went to discover Sofia’s center, Serdika. Also I tried to discover Druzhba at mornings. Monday we made “Welcome to Burak” session and went to Serdika.
Next day, we have met a guy name called “Dimitri Karlovski”. He told us about a festival that they were giving at the weekend. He mentioned, they need some help with preparation. When we leave the office of Dimitri, I have attended to Free Sofia Tour with Gokhan. It was really helpful to understand the atmosphere of city.
Dimitri showed me and Gokhan the places for the festival and we made some decoration. We get a preview how to prepare a festival. Ivan had a guest from Slovakia. His name is Lubomir. We met him and spent time together.
At the office Ivan Tinev gave a presentation about Erasmus Plus. Then Lubo made a session about Personal Development and Youth Exchange. It was important to understand the Erasmus Plus’s subbases. Likewise we shared our experiences about Erasmus+, Youth Exchange and Volunteering Service. At night we had a great night with Lily, Lubo and Ilker.
After a challenging night we worked on our personal projects and help each other. Then we made the shootings of Lubo with Yagmur. After the office, we went to a place called ”Scandal” with Lubo, Yagmur and me. But it wasn’t like what we have expected.
Following day we went to festival for helping and Lubo was with us. We splitted to two groups. Me and Oyku helped them by giving prizes and gifts. Yagmur, Gokhan and Lubo helped them in the other place. At night Oyku, Lily, Lubo and I did some social activities. It was a really good opportunity for us to have an experience in a big organization.
Following week, we started to talk about weekly activities and midterm plans. Then Ivan Ivanov facilitated Culture Shock session. The session was really important to make us more tolerated and adapted to our EVS processes.
Next day we made a mentor meeting first to discuss some topics. Then we made a Bulgarian class. It was one of the key session for us to understand Bulgarian culture and language better. In this session we learnt Greetings and simple phrases to communicate. At the end of the day, we made a live broadcasting called “Doors Open Day”. So at night, we went to a place for tasting Bulgarian traditional food. And from the ES, we met a Portuguese guy. And also that was a good opportunity to meet other people.
Before we go to Martenitza workshop, Lily and Ivan gives presentation about Bulgarian culture, foods and traditions. In there, we met lots of people from the other nations. The place was very diverse so it was a good experience for us.
Final day of this term, we meet a girl named “Tanya”. And we had two shootings about share and explore. And at the final session we wrote the weekly evaluation form.