Amy on EVS in Sweden - 2012

"...I have grown in confidence and it has been a brilliant experience..." 

My name is Amy, I am 23 and currently on EVS in Sweden. I live in Stockholm and work for a youth exchange organisation called Youth for Understanding (YFU). I have been here for 7 months now and it has been a fantastic experience thus far. I am part of a project called `World Coloured Glasses´. Along with three other EVS volunteers from Germany, Turkey and Mexico our job is to travel around Sweden, visiting schools and holding workshops with Swedish students. We inform them about the opportunities to study abroad with YFU and discuss topics such as stereotypes, prejudices and discrimination, to enhance intercultural understanding and celebrate diversity.

In effect, we are like substitute teachers for an hour and a half, and have the freedom from YFU to devise a workshop that we feel is interesting and insightful for the students, whilst at the same time bringing a little bit of our cultures into the classroom. In the beginning, the prospect of having to present and talk to a classroom full of Swedish students was a little daunting, but that was part of the challenge of taking on this particular project. With every workshop I have grown in confidence and it has been a brilliant experience to meet with so many young, motivated and interesting students, whilst gaining lots of practical experience and personal development in such a short period of time. I would highly recommend readers to participate in EVS. I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to live in the beautiful city of Stockholm, make friends with people from all over the world, and help the organisation to spread an important message of what the European Voluntary Service stands for; mutual understanding, peace and solidarity.