Welcome to Ave´s blog!

I am Lara Blanco, I am 24 years old and I borned in the north of Spain. I'm currently doing my European Voluntary Service (from now EVS) in Czech Republic,exactly in Český Těšín, my host organization is OS AVE and I work in their leisure center called STŘEP, this blog is one of my official projects of EVS.


I have decided to create this blog to share with you my experience, in general, the SVE and, in particular, in this partnership. In my first entry i would like to tell you how I got here, i mean, the vital process that takes you to perform a EVS and how I came to Český Těšín physically.

I studied social education in Santiago de Compostela and i am leisure instructor but at the end of my time at university in Spain I didn´t find any job in my professional field and tired of work of salesgirl I started to look for outside of my country.
It was such a long process and I consider various options, the EVS was the only one that offered me the opportunity to work in my profession, get to know other countries, customs, languages and people without assuming a very large economic cost, so I started to search for vacancies (in another entry i talk to you on them) and send resumes and motivational letters to all organizations that interested me (helping me of the official website of the European Commission, and it´s database).


After many interviews by teleconference, a few months and a few disappointments, I was leaning on my family and friends to not desist, I received an e-mail from OS AVE that gave me a long-term project, I don't hesitate, I accept, and now I am here, I´m enjoying and learning my work and new things every second.

With regard to the adventure in a practical sense, I conte with a great support from my host organization.
They sent me the tickets, the contacts with other volunteers and with my mentor. It was a long and really interesting day, i decided to make this trip myself to feel able to move around the world i single, or at least in Europe and the truth it was very easy and rewarding. Where more time I lost it was in Santiago de Compostela, where I spent the security of the airport, from that moment everything was travel and wait.

The company was of low cost, this is true, but I'm young and not very big so I had no problems in terms of space, in the flight from Barcelona to Prague I met a girl from Granada who was studying in Prague with an Erasmus scholarship, She gave me some tips about the city, taxis and where I could expect the airport bus to the train station. At the train station I was allowed to eat and read a few pages of the book I was carrying, the best company for the long trips.
The train was the best part of the trip, free coffee and water, a leather seat very comfortable, connectors, and Wifi, a excellent care and a letter really cheap. To get to my destination a representative of the association and my mentor were waiting for me, were very close and lovely. They took me by car to my new flat, where I met my new flatmate, Silvia, She is from Málaga (I will do an entry about her and her project in STŘEP).
The flat is small and comfortable for us, my room so big and the heating a wonder, in the Czech Republic it is usual to have the bathroom separate from the shower and the sink, something that strikes the principle but it is quite convenient and hygienic. It was time to rest the trip without being able to contain the illusion by my first day of work.