SARAJEVO and EVS on-arrival training

Seventh week.
And now we are back again, but this time we are back from Bosnia.
We had our On-Arrival Training last week in Sarajevo. My cold is still with me (as I bet before we left!) but now I got used to it..and the most important thing is that it didn't jeopardize my training!

Well, it's been a very full week: left on Monday afternoon, after almost 7 hours travelling by train, we reached Sarajevo. We thought we would take tram n.4 as we were told but..no tram for Illidža after 6 pm so..we had to take the taxi, but luckily it was very cheap and the driver has been very nice with us! Once we arrived at the hotel we really had an incredible and wonderful surprise..the hotel had unbelievable rooms!! huge beds, marvellous bathroom and very good meals!!!!
I have never been in such a hotel in my life!!! I was really happy..I felt like a business woman..:-)

Then on Tuesday the training really started. We have done lots of activities, but everything was focused on our feelings, motivation and expectations on EVS.
The group of people was quite big, we were 43 people with the trainers.. We got to know people from lots of countries such as France, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Slovenia, Germany, Belgium and so on..and with my pleasure there were other 3 Italians so I had the chance to speak in Italian this time!!! Sometimes I missed speaking my mother tongue as here I only hear from my family twice a week!

Those people were nice and friendly but I soon noticed a huge difference with the people I met at the CMS, making friendships and getting to know each other has been much demanding. At first I was very upset but after a couple of days the things changed and I explained by myself the main reason: I think people from CMS are really used to this kind of events and they have really much experience and self-confidence in introducing themselves so it's very easy to get to know each other. On the contrary the boys and the girls we met were like us, people who like to travel, get to know other people and other cultures but who have still a lot to learn.. But the trainers were really great! They suggested lots of activities which compelled all of us to come into contact with each other!
I really appreciated it and actually I am very happy with myself cuz I saw that this time it's been easier "to break the ice" at the beginning!
We had to do lots of activities in which we had to open ourselves to the others, talking about our first days in our host-organizations, how we are feeling, how leaving with other people (from other countries) is, and then to assess, evaluate every single sensation.
Sometimes it's been ripetitive but surely very useful to understand ourselves and how to deal with future challanges or difficulties.

We have worked from Tuesday to Friday and even if it's really impossible to write everything we did I cannot avoid to refer some tasks. My favourite activities were when we drew an "alien" were we had to put our feelings at work, our fears, how we feel at home (in our hosting countries of course!), our future expectations. I liked writing these things and then compare them with other people.
Then another interesting situation was when we had to choose three people whom we hadn't have the chance to talk with yet. One of those three people was a Portuguese girl from Madeira, Mafalda. I had a nice talk with her and we found out we are very similar!
I would write for hours about what we did but I aknowledge it's impossible and when I am very satisfied my good feelings and emotions don't really help me..I feel like a flood: too many things to say and all of them coming out at the same time, so I get confused!!! But it's a positive thing on another point of view..it means the things went really well!

Finally I need to talk about the city! What a wonderful city is Sarajevo!! I really want to come back as soon as possible! The snow, which started pouring on Tuesday (and never stopped!), didn't let us enjoy too much the city but never mind, we were really stuck in the hotel and we had only Thursday afternoon and evening for visit it. Luckily it didn't snow that time and we had the chance to have a glimpse of its beautiful historic center. But everything went perfectly cuz Jelena was with us, she has been a perfect touristc guide!

And then Saturday morning came..we had to get up at 5.30 am to take the train at 07.14. We called our reliable taxi, the same driver we had when we arrived on Monday, really nice guy (I guess I have a crush with him..ehm..ehm..!!!) and we waited about half an hour at the train station. Then we left..but I hope not for a long time!!