Hello, I am Azer Hegshunas. I am from Azerbaijan. I am 27 years old. This article is going to be about sharing my volunteering experience in Romania. As I said before, Romania is one of the greatest countries that should be discovered and introduced to people who do not have much or wrong information.
Today was the day that I shared a small part of my experience with the Romanian language teacher Dr. Blazsani Batto Iosefina and her students Atakishiyeva Gulshan, Mirzeyeva Shahane, Memmedli Seda, Aliyeva Zarifa, Talibova Aysel, Alshirazov Alshiraz, Mirzeyev Idris, Seferov Fakhrim of the Azerbaijan University of Languages. Due to having poor internet connections, unfortunately, some of them could not join the conversation, so we did the online meeting with Atakishiyeva Gulshan and Aliyeva Zarifa. Currently, they are studying in the 3rd grade of the International Relations and Regional Studies faculty, Regional Studies in Central and Eastern Europe profession.
The conversation started with the introduction of myself and about the ESC programme (European Solidarity Corps). I talked about what the ESC program is and how I was accepted. Besides, I explained to them that acceptance is not as easier as we think. Due to documentation some countries do not accept non–EU citizens. However, Romania did. Special thanks for acceptance.
After introducing myself, I talked about the adaption to my region, people, project, activities, cities that I visited, negative and positive sides of Romania.
I explained that currently I am living in Baia Mare, a city located in Maramureș county. I am so happy that I live in this city and county. During 7-8 months I did not feel like a stranger, foreigner, because of the kindness, the hospitality of people did not allow me to feel like that. Thus, I did not feel how time passed so quickly.
Moreover, I talked about our “Yellow Shirts Association”, its president-coordinator Andreea and project “Volleyball is not rocket science. We are!“. The project is about involving people in sports, contributing to the sport as much as we can. Most significantly, in the city people have the enthusiasm for sports, correspondingly it motivates me to do my task and enjoying it.
As I am a former footballer, I love sport and enjoy contributing to the sport. I also explained volunteering in Romania is not doing a task and finishing your day. It is also joining events of other organizations, making friends with local people, getting to know Romanian and other nationalities very well. Regardless Baia Mare being a tiny city you can see people from various countries and make friends. For example, when I took part at the events I met people from USA, Australia, Hungary, Norway, Austria, Spain, etc. Volunteering also contributes to different fields such as sport, education, etc.
As regards to the cities I visited I mentioned Bucharest, Miercurea Ciuc, Sinaia, Brașov, Oradea, Băile Tușnad, Sfântu Gheorghe, Râșnov and also some villages namely Șurdești, Plopiș, Bălan etc. When students asked about the cities that I liked most I said Sinaia then Băile Tușnad.
Sinaia is the place where you can not see a traffic light. This is a town located in a mountainous area. When I was there I thought someone created this city in a game and put it in Romania. Because you can see everything in this town: river, adorable historical places, shops, restaurants etc. Despite the fact that prices a little bit higher comparing to other cities, we enjoyed there a lot. In Sinaia we had the Mid-Term training and all fees of the activities here were covered by Romanian National Agency. Thanks to the agency they gave such a beautiful chance to visit the city and discover its places very well.
Moreover, students wondered what negative side did I see in Romania. I just explained the speed of trains and the heating system. Sometimes, it really becomes boring when you travel short distance but spending so much time. I did not see other negative aspects of the country during my experience.
When it comes to special positive sides I citied the internet speed on a mobile number and at home. By paying 5 euro, we could get 56 GB internet package, 1000 minutes for calling inside EU zone, etc. Comparing with other countries’ volunteers such as Latvia, Lithuania, etc. in a week they pay 2.5 euro for 1 GB.
In the end, I realized I was speaking more than 1 hour and the teacher’s lesson was going to be finished. She kindly asked to finish the meeting and give advices if I had. I just said Romania gave me over limited positive energy, so I like sharing with love this positivity word by word, reason why I named my article “Share with Love”. She also offered me to describe this experience widely in the university by creating another event. I accepted it with honor and I’m looking forward to organising that event when I am in Azerbaijan. Thanks to Mrs. Iosefina and her students taking part in the conversation and listening to my experience.