Experiences abroad, like the European Voluntary Service, are great occasions for young people to discover new places, taste new food, learn new languages and have new friends!
Of course you must be really motivated to take part in this kind of projects, because the first contact with a foreign country can be very hard. Some places may be so different from yours that you will think you are on a different planet! But if you are flexible and motivated, the first impact will be easily overcome by the curiosity and a lot of discoveries.
Every day you will notice the differences between your own country and your new country. Step by step you will get used to your new country and language! Those weird sounds that you couldn’t understand at the beginning of your trip will become the soundtrack of your stay. You will appreciate the fact that you can express yourself in a different language and you will even realize that your new language offers you new words that can better describe the world and your emotions. And you will sometimes use some Spanish/English/German/French (or any other language) when speaking in your native language because you miss the right word!
Learning the new language will be a real adventure because you won’t just study it in the books (even though in the European Voluntary Service linguistic support is provided), you will learn it in your daily life: working on your project, speaking with friends, asking information in the streets. That’s the quickest and most effective way to learn a language: for free and in the country where this language is officially spoken! And this is even more effective if you studied this language before leaving. The grammar rules and the vocabulary will come back to your mind so fast and you can spend time improving your knowledge, grasping the peculiarities of the language to speak it as a native does (and maybe better…).