Question: Is there life after EVS?

I couldn’t have answered to this question one year ago. Taking the first step and challenging myself going to Croatia it was an easy going thought. Until I bought the tickets. Then everything looked more real and I start to worry. I am human and usually when there is a change in my life I ask myself a lot of questions. 

One of the questions at that time: 365 days far away from my friends, family, boyfriend and my dog? Looked impossible. I said Yes and now?…. It’s Done!  

Looking back I can say that one year ago I would’ve never pictured my life the way it is now and the person I am TODAY is thanks to my EVS experience in Croatia. I would spend a lot of time and words explaining why but I can’t do it. Nothing compares with the EXPERIENCE itself. 

 I had the privilege to work with the best team ever and learn from them,  I had the accommodation in the center of Zagreb, nice and amazing office, I met surprising local people and beautiful new friends from all over the word. 

I achieved my personal and professional goals and some goals I never though I will. I did sports, planning trips with friends, party with nice people (not too much),  I joined in Toastmasters Club to develop my public speaking skills and learn how to organize a speech and many other great experiences.  

Today… 1^st November 2015 already two months since my EVS has finished and I am back in Romania. I feel good in my cozy bad with my favorite coffee, ready to share that life after EVS is amazing because I choose to. 

I joined one trip through Romania that my friends started during my EVS in Croatia, I opened a NGO and we are ready to change the world together. We are meeting people, visiting beautiful places, writing about places and people in our books, taking pictures and make videos in order to promote the tourism and youth possibilities.

We are organizing presentations and activities with pupils and students, we encourage them using our personal example that it is possible to create something in Romania and not necessary run abroad as soon they finish the school. We empower them offering personal development tools which helps them to become more proactive and achieve they goals.

 

We write and lunch new small projects during this trip. We are in the 9th county and we have a plan for each of them. The trip will last 4 years because we want to visit and to do the same in every county. We have the vision to inspire and empower people, we have plans for the next 15, maybe 30 years and although every week something is changing our plans we still keep on track and achieve our goals and we still continue the trip. All this because I am ready and I was prepared for this.

Home is where my suitcase is :) 

I want to thank for my EVS experience in Croatia to Syncro Synergy Croatia. Thank you for empowerment,  sharing with me experience, love and care. Thanks Synergy Romania for sending me and supporting me. 

And I will also thank to myself for being open, working hard and accepting everything as it comes.

From Romania with  gratitude and love, 

 Carmen

Few sunny days in Split

Last week me and my EVS family spend in Split taking part in event called EVS midterm.

This event is made to wrap up our experiences through out the year in Croatia and to begin to plan life after EVS.   Altogether we were 20 EVS volunteers and about half of them I have met before making this event almost as a reunion party.

Althgough this meeting had a learning purpose the schedule was not too tight so we had a lot of free time for lying in the beach exploring the city or hike in the mountains.

I ll start with the beaches to be honest the first  impression was terrifying. Croatia is famous for its nice beaches and blue water but when I arrived at the so called beach I saw masses of people lying next to each other on dirty concreet next to blue but dirty water not exactly what I imagine.

Bačviče is the dirty crowded central beach, the nice beach is on the right corner

 Disapointed by first impression I talk with one voluteer who was from Split and as it turns out only few hundred meters from the Split main Bacha are other beaches with cleaner water less people and nice rocks where to lie on insted of concrete.

After lying in the beach for half a day we were planned to have traditional Dalmatian dinner. Croatian meals are almost always overeating fest but when it comes to traditional dinner it is sure that it is gonna be hard to move afterwards. In order to make some balance between consumed food and used energy I decided to go for a run before traditional dinner. 

In my opinion running is one of the best ways how to explore city and to get overview of not only touristic spots but also suburbs and industrial districts which sometimes turn out to be as interesting as main main attractions of the city.

This time I was heading towards hill named MXXXX dislocated only few hundred meters from Split old city. Although it is close to get to there by walking takes atleast half and hour since the hill is about 200 vertical meeters high.  In case you are running it is about half the time, double the effort and sweat esspecially when outside temperature is 30 degrees celsium.  From the top you reveals the view to mountains, blue sea and many island which is beautiful view in any time but esspecialy enjoyable in sunset. 

After enjoying view for a while I returned to for traditional dinner which included Croatian beer, wine and ofcourse Rakia.  Step by step the evening ended up in the Split old city. Split old city is fortress built in Roman times with inner labirinth in it where now days are countless souvenir shops restaurants and bars.  Although it nice to see the oldcity in every time of the day I would suggest to see it in the night since it is less packed, the temperature is more pleasant and you will have chance to hear street musician in my opionion one of the nicest attractions in the main square of old city next to the XXX tower.

Since it was Wednesday few hours after midnight most of the places in Old city are closing because of that we were forced to moved forward or in otherwards back to the concrete beach I mentioned in the beginning.

Talking about this concrete beach it turns out that this place is packed twice a day one is when sun is the highest and people go to swim and get tanned and the second time comes around two o’clock in the night when most of the nightlife moves from old city to clubs on this beach.

In three nights and four days I spend in Split I saw a lot of nice views visited cool bars but the thing I enjoyed the most was the realaxed atmosphere you can feel on every step in this city.

Hitchchhiking tips from Andris step by step

Step 1

Decide where you want to go find the place on the map and decide the route.
Check how much money and time you have.
If you have a lot of money and not so much time then hitchhiking mostlikely is not for you.
In case you have more time then money then go to shop to buy A4 notebook and dark colored marker size 5mm >.
Depending on your luck, weather, arrangment of the stars and all kind of different variables your hittchhiking speed can vary from 0-1500km per 24h. So take it into account when planing your trip.

Step 2
Time to make sign take your marker and note book and  draw a  name of the city you are heading to or in case it is a village then name of the biggest city near by this village. Preferably put the name in native language of the country.
If you make the sign on colorful paper and put some smileys next to the name of the city it may increase your chanches to get a ride faster.

Step 3
Before you hit the road find the most colorful clothes in your wardrobe and put them on. If you look like clown great it may increase your chances to get a ride faster.
In case you are emo and you have no colorful clothes at home go to the closest fuel station and ask for reflection jacket orange or green of your own preference.

Step 4
You have your sign and colorful clothes next step is to choose a starting place.
Although it is possible that cars will stop in any place you hitchhike like centre of the city you will increase your chance by following these steps.

1)Find a road with most traffic heading to your chosen destination preferably a bit out of city centre since there will be less local cars who are just going around the city

2)Find a place where cars are stopping or moving slow and they have space to stop without creating dangerous situation for example(fuel station,pay tolls, traffic lights, bus stations, shops, parking lots(resting areas) are some of the places.

3)Find open and well visible place take out your singn hold it in height above waist so it is easy to read for drivers while strech your right hand towards direction of the road and raise your thumb up like showing to drivers that is going to be ok.  Don’t forget to smile since no one likes grumpy cats.

Step 5
If the car stop you ask where does it goes and in case it goes to your destination you take a ride.
In case your stopped car is not going all the way make sure that there is some populated place on the way as your next hitchiking spot in case there is none it is better to wait for the next car which can take you all the way.

Step 6
When you are in the car dont be afraid to start a converstion(you can always talk about wether, how long you have been waiting on the road or even ask the driver if he has done hitchhiking on his own)At first it can be a bit akward to talk with stranger you just met, but  remeber that people who take hitchhikers are helpful and usually social so they will be willing to talk with you.

Step 7
When you reached your destination don’t forget to say thank you and maybe exchange your contacts. Repeat step 2 to step 7 to get anywhere you want.


GOOD luck

Life is about outdoor

Few days ago I start a trip with my dear EVS friends and flatmates! I must say it was one of the most beautiful trips I ever had full of challenges and great moments. Early Sunday morning, in Zagreb  was raining and we were ready to go to Split. Tuesday we had a meeting with other EVSers from different countries who are volunteering in Croatia in a hostel in Split.

Starting from Sunday until Tuesday we spend our time OUTDOOR which means sleeping on the beach, cold showers, swimming in the sea, sharing the same food from store in the middle of nowhere, or drinking beer and watching the sun or moon. Don’t worry, we protected our bodies with sun cream during the day and moon cream in the night.

I never thought I would enjoy so much this kind of moments: laughing, walking, climbing, swimming, hitchhiking together. One of the challenges was waking up at 3 a.m. because it was too cold and the only solution was to close your eyes, fall asleep and hoping that next time when you’ll wake up again is at 7 a.m when is hot enough to swim. 

First time hitchhiking. We were smiling while hitchhiking with the belief that nobody will stop if you are sad and that is true. Apparently, smiling is not enough. 2 hours and no car stopped.

Andris is an amazing person, he stayed positive and calm, happy and ready for the next car which will stop. He saw that I was starting to lose any hope and from time to time he asked me if I’m ok and continuing to say that I have to believe in hitchhiking.  At some point cars were stopping driving us to the destination and I understood that is about journey and not the destination.  

I learned from Andris the art of hitchhiking and how to keep positive and calm. I always likened him with my brother because they resembled a lot and they have common strengths which I have always appreciated: calm, positive, never upset or angry, trying all the time something new and finding solutions.

The people we met during our trip and their stories inspired me (families with children traveling from Czech R to Croatia sea side, people working 10 km away from the city, friends just driving without any certain destination, couples going to the vacation house to spend some time together). 

This are the people who are driving you to the next destination while sharing with you what they are doing for living or in their free time giving me again the feeling that people are sooooooo different, fortunately and being glad for the opportunity to meet them. 

New insight? Yes! 

The most beautiful and great things happens out of my comfort zone which I would like to name it OUTDOOR. The moment I left my HOME last year to come in Croatia was the moment when stepped out of myself and start to observe myself. I became more aware of me as a human being, more aware of my actions and now I am ready to take risk and responsibility.  

Another EVS week in a nutshell

... beaches, sleeping bags, palm trees, blue sea, white wine, hitch-hiking, hot asphalt, cold beer, climbing up, climbing down, waterfalls, fortresses, cars, buses, ferries, trains, a wedding cake, moonlight, midnight swim, salad on a plastic bag, 6 charging phones in a café, public bathrooms, hot weather, cold showers, half a day in a hospital, gas stations, cold coke, sunrises, sunsets, sunscreen, watermelon, volunteers, stories … and a dog named Jazz.

Let’s see about the next one … 

What if... home is not a place?

After already 3 months in Croatia ( December last year) my sister called me telling me she cannot afford to pay the rent alone and she decided to move with her future husband. She asked me what to do with my personal stuff from my room (clothes, books, shoes etc). 

I told her: "Donate them. We know a lot of families who would be really happy to receive them for their children." 

 She told me: "Carmen, that means when you come back in Romania you won't have your room anymore and also the things if you decide to donate them."

I answered her: "I don't want to be fond of things so this is the right moment to start practicing it. And I know that when I'll come back I'll have to search for a new place to stay but this is part of my journey I've already started in September coming in Croatia" 

Of course her last words were: "You are, definitely, crazy." 

One of my goals coming here was to stop being fond of people and things. I don't need a place to call it home and I don't need MY own room because: 

HOME is Zagreb with Syncro family and amazing people I've already met. 

HOME is when I'm in his arms.

HOME is me and my friends working for Zig Zag prin Romania project traveling for 4 years from now on promoting Romanian tourism and discovering great stories of local people.

HOME is when I'm eating spanish omlette. 

HOME is when I hug my parents and they ask me: When I will see you again? and no answer is needed. 

HOME is living the moment.

If you would ask me how do I feel now is a strange feeling to describe. I am happy and sad. I am happy to return in my country so ready to start my life's new chapter and sad to leave this places and people behind me. Of course, a bit jealous because someone else will have my room and will use my laptop.

I understood this is how things happens in life. We come, we unpack,  we enjoy, we learn, we laugh and cry, we work, we fall in love, we run away from things we don't want to try, we believe, we forget and forgive, we smile and accept, we pack and leave. 

I understood  this is part of the journey and is just the beginning of not being fond of people and places and enjoying life.

Still wondering: What if... ? :) 

Reasons why you should plan your next visit to BiH

After a short trip around the beautiful and interesting BiH, I realized that this country is like a micro model of the Balkans. In one place you can find from everything – Christianity and Islam, communism and democracy, bloody history and bright future, abandoned buildings and shiny shopping centers, people living together and apart at the same time. Bosnia and Hercegovina has it all.

Here are only some of the hundreds of reasons why you should plan your next visit to BiH:

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/21/travel/10-reasons-to-visit-bosnia-and-herzegovina/index.html