My Year-Long EVS

For my year-long EVS, I spent my time in Arvidsjaur, a mid-sized town of about 4,500 people in northern Sweden: Lappland, to be precise. Arvidsjaur is 70 miles south of the Arctic Circle and completely surrounded by endless forests; I was a bit nervous before my trip to say the least. I come from a village just outside Newcastle upon Tyne in the northeast of England which seems like a million miles away from Arvidsjaur instead of the actual 2000 it really is.

Placement Duties

For my placement, my time was divided between a range of duties. Primarily, I assisted children in the local junior school with English, Mathematics and Geography lessons, and this has been unbelievably great. I was made to feel very welcome and purposeful, accompanying the children on a number of trips and given valuable jobs to carry out. While it can be confusing to have 20 children speaking to you in Swedish, it has done wonders for my confidence and also my language-learning, and it is surprising how capable they are in English at only 12 years old.

Another portion of my time was spent assisting the other youth volunteers that arrived in Avidsjaur. From general help in getting settled, to driving the groups to cultural visits, I felt quite able to understand what they wanted and needed, given that I too visited as part of such a group in 2005.

I also prepared English lessons for groups of Hungarians in Arvidsjaur who were staying with the Leonardo Project. This has often been quite difficult but a great boost in developing my skills as a teacher.

The remainder of my time was spent learning Swedish at the local high school. Having never truly understood a second language before, this has in many ways been the most interesting part of the project for me but quite a challenge in a country that is almost bilingual, with English spoken by pretty much everyone under fifty.

Immersed in Another Culture

Besides the voluntary work itself, I have learned so much from being immersed in a foreign country. I have seen aspects of cultures I hardly knew existed prior to my visit. For example, the indigenous Sami people of Scandinavia/Northern Russia have a strong presence within Lappland, and their amazing style and craft is evident all around the area. The Sami, not Santa, own all of the reindeer that you can see all over this region as they roam around for the majority of the year. Many of the place-names in the north are also Sami, with Arvidsjaur itself meaning "generous lake". The people of Sweden are in many ways similar to English people - in terms of attitude, looks and beliefs - though there is a sense of calmness in them which is great to be around.

Countries, Friends and Travel

I have also met a huge number of foreign young people on similar projects to myself from countries as diverse as Portugal, Morocco, Serbia and Syria. This has been a great eye-opener for me in appreciating how lifestyles differ throughout the world, and I have made some good friends through the project. Many of us have travelled together during holiday periods and I have visited the amazing islands of Northern Norway, Finland, Estonia and Denmark, as well as a number of other areas within Sweden itself. Sweden, and the people in it, has only made me want to travel more and more.

Such a Full Year

Trying to discuss a year on one page is difficult, especially when it's been such a full one. So I'm sorry to have missed out the Northern Lights, elks, fishing, go-karting, minus 30 degree winters, ice hotels, film schools, snowmobiles, bear hunts...