This month, our new EVS volunteers landed in Latvia to start their one-year adventure! At the very beginning of February we warmly welcomed Laure, from France, and Khristina, from Spain – who were excited to start exploring even under the Baltic winter’s cold.
At their arrival they already had the opportunity to explore a bit the Latvian gastronomical culture by having dinner at Lido, and in the following four weeks they got to enjoy their free days by visiting the centre of Riga and falling in love with Art Nouveau, buying fresh vegetables at the Central Market, eating in local restaurants such as Fat Pumpkin, and enjoying the nightlife at KKC.
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They also had the chance to visit the city of Jurmala, where they spent the day with some of our local volunteers and saw for the first time the frozen sea. “White desert made out of frozen waves. Pink, blue, gray and white all combined in a fine line at the horizon”, wrote Khristina in her travel diary.
Another city they had the chance to visit was Bauska, where they had their three-days-long on arrival trainings. “We were in the most beautiful hotel, completely surrounded by snow, cats and plants. We met amazing volunteers from other cities and we’re already planning some projects and trips together!” says Laure.
It wasn’t all just free time, though! Laure and Khristina quickly became acquaintanced with BRF and the BaMbuss Youth Studio, and soon they were helping us to paint the walls, change the decorations and create a new ID for the studio. They helped prepare our organisation’s fourth birthday on the 27th, and started their own tasks and projects – such as private Spanish classes and international K2 projects with youngsters from Scotland, Latvia and Estonia.
Finally, they had the chance to prepare their own welcome party to introduce themselves to our local volunteers and to show us a bit more about their countries and cultures. The event was lovely – there were some quizz games, traditional food from Spain and France (we need to highlight the vegan Spanish omelette and the peanut butter brownie!), and fun multimedia presentations.
Now, let’s see what March brings to our new girls!
Project “BaMbuss Volunteers” is financially supported by the European Commission “Erasmus +: Youth in Action”, which is managed by the Youth International Program Agency in Latvia.
