The participant of EVS (European Volunteering Service) project, sent by LDA Georgia, shares his impressions.

Giorgi Gelovani arrived in Bordeaux, France in September 2018, where he spends a year with other participants from other European countries. He is taking part in the project, organized by a non-governmental organization - MEBA – Maison de L’Europe Bordeaux-Aquitane. The project is called – “The ambassadors of European Values”. The major goal of the project is to raise awareness among French pupils, adults, associations about European values through non-formal education.

Giorgi: My journey in France started in September 2018 in Bordeaux and is still in the active phase. Saying “journey” of course I do not mean only traveling from city to city, country to country… no, you can stay in one certain city and explore the culture of the country on the spot. But it would not make any sense if I did not use this chance and didn’t travel in France or to other countries during my service there.

But let alone traveling, let’s go directly to storytelling of some specifics of my service in France.

A little bit about the project: The project - “The ambassadors of European values” is a year-long project, which aims at raising awareness of European values and European Union among school students and different associations. For this goal, the organization “Maison de l’Europe Bordeaux Aquitane” has gathered 24 volunteers – 12 French and 12 other Europeans. In total 11 countries were selected, including France – the hosting country. The work is not tough at all but is very responsible. We are supposed to talk about our countries and through non-formal education introduce the European culture to pupils.

A little bit about my mission from my perspective: I have responsibilities to represent my country from a good angle and because the majority of people here have no information about Georgia, or if they have, it’s usually full of incorrect information, my mission makes me feel responsible even more. Though the fact that here and not only here people still think that Georgians are Slavs, that our writing script is Cyrillic and that we talk in Russian, says a lot about our current situation, i.e. Georgia does not exist for many people or if it does - it is still some entity of Russian federation in Caucasia.  There’s a single conclusion - we still did not manage to get rid of the ghosts of the past, we still did not manage to “catch up with the west”.

A little bit more about the project and the volunteers: 12 volunteers are spread in the student residence. This sort of living-together-thing makes it easier to get closer to each other, deepen the friendship and after some time get a family-like environment. People are like books which means we can learn a lot from each other and, like it or not, we still manage to find unexplored things in others and revalue some things in us. Besides, you get to know others’ cultures. Even though we all are different individuals, be it on a scale of our countries, it’s difficult not to notice a huge cultural influence, which differentiates us even more. Sometimes because of these differences, some sorts of conflicts appear on the way, but exactly this becomes the source of reflection and in case of being open-minded you start to accept the ones, different from you.

A little bit about Bordeaux: I can say a lot of good things about Bordeaux, but like every other city it also has some downsides, like a lack of greenery, a hot climate, and the high prices. Just to know, in France Bordeaux is the most expensive city after Paris. In addition to this, the tendency of moving from Paris to Bordeaux grows more and more and the city becomes more densely populated and the public transport gets even more crowded. The architecture of Bordeaux is remarkable, which draws your attention from the very first day, but after some time you realize that the architectural beauty is somewhat uniform and after visiting some parts of the city you have a feeling that “you have already been there”. This part of France is famous for its viticulture. The major wine museum is here, in Bordeaux, where they have found a place to introduce the Georgian viticulture alongside the others. In Bordeaux besides this magnificent wine museum you can also visit many other museums as well, this and many other cultural spots make the city remarkable for its love towards arts, history, and culture. To be honest, this place meets my stereotypical expectations about France. The remarkable architecture, baguette, wine, scarf, cigarettes… all the clichés about France will come to life here. Oh, yes, as for berets, as I was told, they are no longer in fashion.

A little bit about the French, from my perspective: In my eye, the French are one of the most patriotic nations, where everyone will find their place, whoever accepts to be French. Although I would not call my stay there living in a French environment (since the group I am living with and spending most of the time is international), it’s difficult not to notice the distinct French temper and spirit. The French, they are the people, who admire the French language, culture, and history. They have a remarkable pride in their heritage and oftentimes they name it as the best. Frankly, this environment is very familiar to me, this attitude is also typical to Georgians, but contrary to us, the French go beyond the toasts when it comes to expressing the pride. France is famous for its history of revolutions. Oftentimes you hear some complaints in our group about the everlasting manifestations, which takes place every Saturday. It blocks the city and makes it almost impossible to commute. But it’s not that difficult to see the concerns of the French to change the reality to better, so, the only thing you are left to do is to tolerate and support.

A little bit about the possibilities that the project gives to us: Erasmus organizes seminars twice a year, where we meet other volunteers from different projects across France. We hear some stories from those volunteers and based on what they tell us, I can say, that our project is one of the most promising ones. The ones who love working with children, are used to non-formal education, and are not afraid of difficulties of the French language, they will definitely like this project. In addition to this, we have possibilities to host the emissions on radio, meet people and talk in different languages, participate in different activities and projects and discover a lot of unknown stuff about ourselves and others around us. Being here gives us possibilities to travel across France and other countries, which makes it even more appealing.

My French voyage has begun wonderfully and continues the same way. I have experienced many adventures, met a lot of people and discovered a lot more. European volunteering service is a wonderful opportunity, which is given to you once in a lifetime and in case of using this chance, being a part of this program, is great luck.

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