We spent the last week of September in Warsaw doing an Arrival Training with other ESC volunteers in Poland. While some aspects of the training were a little boring, it was really cool to see Warsaw: A city, so full of energy and a little bit of a contrast to the charming, historic streets of Krakow. You really feel that you’re in the capital of Poland and the biggest city. But this also means that the unique traditional Polish elements that you can find in our lovely temporary home is not as common in Warsaw: Everyone speaks fluent English and it feels a little bit more international than Krakow (which is no small town either). This becomes especially apparent when travelling through the streets with the metro instead of our lovely tram in Kraków. 

WHAT ACTIVITIES DID WE DO?

Team building and getting to know each other: One of the main aspects of this training was meeting other volunteers from different organizations around Poland. We learned a lot from them while we were doing some group activities. The most remarkable one was the Ocean Simulation where we had to cross an “ocean”  without falling into the water while cooperating with each other. We all found a specific group of people who we will certainly visit in the near future (even if some of them live in the smallest villages in Poland ;)). 

Learning Polish: We spent some time learning Polish during the whole week. We were taught the alphabet and the pronunciation but we also learned some basic phrases like “jak się masz?” (“how are you?”) or “jak masz na imię?” (“what’s your name?”) as well as some words like truskawka (strawberry) or gruszka (pear). This language really doesn’t want to be learned, does it :(?

One of our favourite activities: On Wednesday morning we had the chance to explore the city in small groups and we got to know a specific topic about Poland like the history or the youth. We visited Chopin museum, the Royal Castle and we saw the views from the Palace of Culture and Science. 

When leaving Warsaw I felt a little sad and melancholic, because it seemed like there is so much more to see and explore. But at night, when arriving in my street in Krakow after zooming through the Polish countryside in the train, one thing that I (Lionel) noticed, was that it really felt like home. I was glad to be back in my neighbourhood, which I know quite well by now and to sleep in my own bed.

Article Lionel Mach-Hour, Annette Schulze, Anna Aldomà Bertran

European Solidarity Corps volunteers.

On Arrival training article from European Solidarity Corps volunteers from 30/09/2024