Maggie
My name is Magdalena (shortly Maggie) and I come from Berlin, Germany.
I'm 20 years old and just finished my highschool graduation before I went to do EVS.
I decided to go because I wanted to gain deep experiences in "real life" before starting any (formal) education again, and consequently to learn more about self-responsibility, about communication and work with other people and a better dealing with stress.
I also wanted to do some practical (environmental) work to extend my knowledge in this field and to get more aware about the concrete direction of my following studies.
Moreover, my love of travelling made me very interested into getting to know another landscape, culture and language in a completely different part of Europe...
My time in Latvia
So I spent eight months in Latvia, from the summerly July 2007 to March 2008.
All in all, it was a very varied time, full of colourful impressions, exciting contacts, sad and lucky moments and startling discoveries.
Although the work of LPIC was not as environmental and political as I expected, it offered me great possibilities to learn about team spirit, non-formal education and practical work, mainly in the first months - giving me more strength and experience of my borders at the same moment.
Concerning the time besides work as well, I deeply enjoyed to experience Latvian nature, to closely discover Latvian culture with all its aspects while travelling through the country (and visiting its neighbours) and to come in contact with so many nice and different people from all over Europe.
Furthermore, I got the lucky opportunity to practise Irish dance, to live in the dusty Riga, but just 30 min. from the sea or some forests at the same time and to build up real confidence in a team, e.g. during an incredible training in Croatia as well as during my own, after all environmental project in the end.
By gaining more new and various experiences in a short, but long time in comparison to their arrangements in the whole time of my life, I could learn a lot about myself and about others, expand my horizon and now sense more and own possibilities to be and to act.
Finally, it was a quite difficult and also lossy time, especially as to cope with the unstable situation in general. Anyway, there were too many shared views, unforgettable moments, deep experiences and developments than I could ever regret to have come to Latvia finally.
A life changing experience, questioning old and new, and consisting of so many different parts, which will never come together in exactly the same way again.