On Monday, we, Frederico, Laura and Andrea, started our first day on the on-arrival training. We left Kraków on the September 28, 2026, at 8:00 AM, and arrived in Warsaw at 12:00 PM. The name of the hostel where we stayed was Agrykola Youth Hostel. As soon as we arrived, they gave us our rooms, and we had enough time to put our things away before lunch. At 1:00 PM, we had lunch together with the new volunteers, and at 3:00 PM, we started our first afternoon training session. We met in the common room and then went outside to visit the beautiful park near our hostel. There, we had the opportunity to get to know all the other volunteers and share some personal stories about ourselves. The afternoon session lasted around three hours, and after that, at 6:00 PM, the kitchen staff were waiting for us for dinner together with the other volunteers. The food was really good—I’m serious! After dinner, we had the opportunity to go to the center of Warsaw and enjoy some free time for ourselves.

The next day, Tuesday, September 29, 2026, the kitchen staff waited for us for breakfast at 8:30 AM. The lessons in the common room with our organizers and the other volunteers started at 9:30 AM and finished at 1:00 PM. During Tuesday morning’s session, we had the opportunity to talk about different topics connected to the ESC project. We also learned and practiced some simple Polish words and phrases. For example: Jak masz na imie ? Mam na imie… . Together with the other volunteers, we talked about the customs, cultures, and traditions of our home countries. After the lesson, we had two hours to relax. At 3:00 PM, the second part of our training started and continued until 6:00 PM. Throughout this session, we had the opportunity to share with the organizers and the other volunteers what our responsibilities and goals are during and after these 10 months in Poland.

On Wednesday, we ventured into the streets of Warsaw to ask the citizens about the questions we had.
At first, it was a bit daunting, since asking strangers about their customs doesn’t sound like much fun, but connecting with locals is crucial for understanding the country that will be your home for ten months.
We asked about culture, traditions, hobbies, politics, and other points of interest, some of which contrasted with the habits we were used to in our own country. That day, we also reviewed the general guidelines for this new phase, using a Kahoot. After all, being a volunteer isn’t just about putting in the effort; it also entails a significant number of responsibilities and rules that must be kept in mind in our day-to-day activities in order to be effective volunteers. After dinner, during our free time, we decided to make use of the meeting room to spend time together and enjoy the moment with games and funny anecdotes, allowing us to get to know each other better.

On Thursday, we started the morning by expanding our knowledge of Polish, which will help us during our time here. We also had the opportunity to discuss our challenges, learned how to organize our thoughts when facing a problem, and applied this through examples. We then discussed the insurance coverage provided by the European Solidarity Corps, given the different paths that must be taken depending on each volunteer’s circumstances. We were also able to share our fears, thoughts, and questions with another volunteer, and, in my view, that conversation was comforting. Facing a problem makes you feel small in comparison to it, but when you see that someone else shares that fear or problem, it is the problem itself that shrinks. To wrap up the class session, we took part in an activity that was far more creative than the previous ones; we gave free rein to our imaginations and planned out our next phase. We could do this using a collage, a drawing, or any other creative method that came to mind, as long as we expressed our plans for the coming months. At night, we wanted to visit the Warsaw Tower, but the high prices stopped us, so we ended up in a bar, just like the locals, playing cards and sharing unforgettable laughs.

On Friday, we started the day talking about culture shock and how things are different between Poland and your own country. Afterwards, we started talking about stress and how to handle it. To fully understand stress we demonstrated it with an exercise. We were put into groups of six; one person sat on a chair and was given three tasks to do. The second person stood in front of person 1 and did random movements that person 1 needed to copy. The next person stood on the right of person 1 and asked emotional questions. The last two people stood behind and to the left of the person in the chair. The person behind told you mean remarks, and the person on the left wanted answers to mathematical questions. This pattern was done for five minutes, and then the roles were switched/rotated. Following that exercise, we shared what we felt and experienced. Next, we got a sheet of paper to fill out, which asked us to state what triggers our stress, how to avoid it, and so on. After a short coffee break, we were handed cards containing life hacks and encouraging words. At the end of the program, we reflected and evaluated—talking about what had happened over the past few days. We said our thanks and got more information for the participants who wanted to stay until Saturday morning. The goodbye was hard, but because we stayed until Saturday, we could still hang out with the friends we met at the on-arrival training. The training ended at 1:00 PM, and with lunch afterwards, we had almost half of the day free. We went to the city center and went shopping; at the same time, we were admiring the beautiful city and even tried some streets that weren’t as busy, as there were many hidden shops. Concluding the day, we had dinner in the hostel and went out to a bar to celebrate the last full day together. The hostel was really welcoming, the services were very good, and the area was well-connected to the city center, so it was easy to visit Warsaw on our own.

On Saturday, we slept a little longer and missed breakfast at the hostel, which is why we went to the train station mall to get breakfast. After eating, we played some card games before we needed to say goodbye to half of our group. Left with only three people, we went to the Palace of Culture and Science in front of the train station. We got tickets to go up to the viewing area and enjoyed the view for an hour. Afterwards, we walked around and talked until our trains arrived. After saying our last goodbyes to Warsaw, we were grateful for this opportunity and hope to use the knowledge from the training and see our newfound friends again.

Article by Laura, Andrea and Frediriko,
European Solidarity Corps volunteers.
On-Arrival Training article from European Solidarity Corps volunteers from 28/09/2026