My first EVS month is over and boy, it went fast. Many things have happened, of which you might read about some other time, but for now let us focus on the event that marked the end of the month - the EVS on-arrival training.

It was all supposed to happen in a picturesque village close to the Austrian border. Around 20 of us ought to wake up every morning beside a castle overlooking the village and Vltava river. Being surrounded by nature we would have outside activities and even go canoeing.

But this is not how it went down. We ended up being in Prague close to the old town square - fine by me, I'm currently not so hot on traveling anyway. Minus the vicinity of nature and canoeing, it was all there or close: a castle, the Vltava river, outside activities and, of course, the training itself.

The number of participants was only 5, which made the training more personal and intense, as the trainers channelled their energy at all of us to the max. We gained information on EVS, got language learning tips, talked about organisations we volunteer at, shared what we experienced so far, learned about project management, stepped out of our comfort zones (apparently the best way to learn), discovered our personality onions and set goals for our EVS.

The training itself was not as dead serious as it may read though. There were opportunities to catch some fresh air and sun rays. We walked around Prague and dined at some very interesting places. We visited the Karlštejn castle and got a bit lost while hiking towards the village of Srbsko. Talking about comfort zones - we even grilled vegetables in a storm. The training ended with a relaxed picnic in Prague's Letna park. While the day was slowly dusking, we shared our opinions about the training and, thanks to the hotel kitchen, enjoyed our second cuscus of the day. Next morning, after the last heavy breakfast and dort (Czech for cake) in the hotel, we all went our separate ways...until the next training of course.

Aljaž