Time flies by really quick. So the invitation for the Midterm-Training was a big surprise for all of us. The Midterm-Training is offered to all volunteers who do a project that is longer than 6 months by the National Agency of Greece, which basically means that the half of the project is already over for us.
This year the Midterm-Training took place in Xanthi, in the north of Greece, at the border to Bulgaria which is actually quite far from Chios. Our trip started on thursday the 20th of February early in the morning. We first flew to Athens and then catched a second flight over to Thessaloniki where we took the bus to get to Xanthi. After 12 hours of traveling we arrived at the motel were the training was hosted. Since we already missed the introduction round we used the rest of the evening to get to know the other volunteers.
Starting fresh and with new energy in the next morning we began exploring the town centre of Xanthi. In mixed groups with volunteers from different projects we had the challenge to take 10 pictures of important things in Xanthi and create a game out of them. So we basically walked through the town, talked to locals about the history of Xanthi and got to know the city a little better. During the lunch break we had time to prepare the quiz for the other groups and then it was time to play. The whole activity was great to get to know each other better.
The second day was about analyzing our projects and realizing what we have learned so far. We talked about the skills that we have achieved and what we want to learn in the future. This day was really good to reflect what we have already experienced and to share those experiences with others. In the evening we decided to go out and visit the different carnival celebrations in the town center.
On Sunday, the last day of the training, we learned more about the Youthpass. The trainer explained how to write it and how to use it in the future. With that session the official part of the training ended but as there was a big carnival celebration at the main square of the city we decided to prepare some flyers and promote the European Solidarity Corps to other young people in Xanthi. We tried to inform as many people as possible about the opportunities that an ESC brings you and got in contact with many young people which was really nice. The rest of the afternoon we walked through the beautiful old town of Xanthi and enjoyed a delicious coffee in the sun.
Because our flight back to Chios was in the evening we took the chance to also explore Thessaloniki by taking an early bus from Xanthi to Thessaloniki. We walked along the seaside and had a look at the white tower which is one of the town`s landmark. We continued our walk along the sea until we entered a nice park where we took a break. After the refreshing break we returned to the town center where we had lunch before we headed to the airport. With a beautiful sunset and many new impressions we took our flight back to Chios.
Looking back, the Midterm-Training was a great chance to reflect the past 6 months and to realize what we already experienced. But it was also a good opportunity to explore a different part of Greece and to get to know more volunteers and their projects. We are now looking forward to next 6 months and all the challenges and experiences that they will bring.
to see all pictures, go to our gallery!
