So, in September I applied for this EVS in Zavod Nefiks, because I was looking for this kind of program (Youth Center, active participation, non-formal education…) and Slovenia for sure was unknow to me except her entries in Eurovision Song Contest. But all the information that I found was really good, and the first impression with Martina and Meta was good too.

The first month
I arrived to Ljubljana on 4th of October 2017. Everything seemed good. The people, the enviorment, the flat, the office, and my own opinion about it.
This first week was nice, and I was getting to know Zavod Nefiks, and exploring a bit the city. Obviously the most complicated thing was (and still is) the language because is really different to start to build new relations in general without a good level of language knowledge for comunication. I used to speak a lot in new groups that I participated in and expressed my opinion and took a more active part. But here I felt so insecure because my usual way of communicating doesn't work anymore. You have to discover the tools that are already inside you and develop them to be able to confront the new situation.
On the other hand, to have the opportunity to leave my life in Spain and start from zero is so nice, because with this kind of decission I am more conscious about my freedom.

The next weeks were also good. I was getting to know the specific field that my coworkers are doing right now, and I started to design my new responsibility, like the Language Clubs (Spanish and English) organizing the lessons and coordinating those groups. So with this tasks I can develop my skills to be a trainer and for sure to improve my level of English and Spanish as well.
I am also coordinating the dynamics for the Meetings of volunteers. This makes me feel that I am getting more experience in this field.
I am learning Slovenian language with a private teacher but I am too concentrated on improving my English which I need to communicate with people and this results in less time I spend for learning Slovene.

Otherwise I am interested in learning the history of Slovenia, the different points of understanding the reality here, the law, the culture, the administrative organization, burocratic system, etc.
I am participating in several workshops like Europass, finding oportunities in EU, etc., and with these workshops I am developing my skills of public speaking in another language, and I like to see how the youth react with these topics.
I am learning to use a lot of multimedia tools like Canva or Piktochart to help me with creating posters, Imovie to create multimedia videos and right now I am really motivated to keep learning about this and I am thinking of creating my own profile on Youtube to express myself and develop my creativity.

3 weeks after my arrival I had the on arrival training with other EVS volunteers and it was amazing!!! I really needed to conect with this group, with people that are living in a similar situation like me and now I have some people with who I feel good to go out for a drink or travel or hike, or whatever.

• To improve my English.
• To keep traveling.
• To get to know new people and new realities.
• To develop my digital competence.
• To create my profile on Youtube.
• To promote Nefiks and connect it with the other organizations in Slovenia.
• To learn some Slovenian language.

Prepared by Eduardo Lopez.