Over the past few months, my life has once again changed drastically. Five months ago, I came back from Finland and had to adjust to living again with my parents, and also to speaking Dutch and French. Then, nine weeks ago, I started university. I study English and Swedish at the University of Ghent. I have a separate room in Ghent in a house with 12 other students. This brings being independent to a whole new level, even though I still go back to Brussels to have my laundry done and reassure my parents so they know I’m healthy and alive.
Even though, my work for university keeps me very busy, I still make some time for AFS. I am now a volunteer. This means I get to help organise events and lead workshops at camps.
AFS is the organisation with whom I went to Finland as an exchange student. For 11 months I lived with a family, of which I became a real part of, and go to a Finnish school. Basically, I lived like a Finn.
People often compare an exchange program with AFS with an Erasmus program in university. But I think an AFS program is more than that - I realise my opinion isn’t objective as I have never been on an Erasmus, but if everything goes well, I will in two years. With AFS, you live in a family - instead of living alone while on Erasmus -, you learn the language, and truly live the Finnish culture and way of life. AFS has another added value: after your exchange, you immediately get to be a volunteer, pass on your knowledge and meet “the next generation”. The adventure doesn’t stop when you leave your host country, it goes on for the rest of your life.
Last weekend, the AFS committee in Brussels organised the first camp of the year for the candidates who will go on exchange next year. Together with the other volunteers, I attempted to help the candidates make the right choice of countries for next year - they were asked to give three to six countries where they would like to go - and also make sure they understand correctly the mission of AFS. My fellow volunteers and I had organised a “countrymarket”, meaning we put on display pictures and objects we brought back from our exchange. The candidates could look at everything, and ask questions about a specific country. Of course, each volunteer made publicity for their host country. This was a good activity for me because I love to talk about Finland and my experience as an exchange student, and I am quite passionate about it.
The camp also helped me understand how AFS works administratively, and appreciate all the work volunteers did to help me while I was a candidate and on exchange.
I had a wonderful time passing on my knowledge about AFS, about being an exchange student, and about Finland, where I spent my exchange. So I would like to thank AFS, my fellow volunteers and the candidates for this wonderful and instructive weekend!
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