My name is Zoltan, Csaki (25) and I was a an EVS volunteer in Budapest, Hungary for the second semester of 2010. I cross the gorgeous Danube daily – be it by bike, foot or public transportation. I love to travel and make friends, see and experience new things. I am enjoying my work here to its fullest, which luckily enough for me, also includes a lot of travelling. 

My first bigger project involved helping in organizing the 20th year anniversary (on the 27th March) of my receiving organization called Mekdsz (which is the Hungarian office of the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students) a student-for-student mission, throughout the campuses of the country.

We had the opportunity to see and hear the first establishers of the organization share about their good but also sometimes difficult times when they began their mission for Mekdsz.

They were very happy and nostalgic about their youth and the work they have done in the past. Our special guest and keynote speaker was Jonathan Lamb from the U.K.

There are currently 37 autonomus student-groups in Hungary, 16 of which located in Budapest.

My second area or field of activity will be visiting some of them: so far we went to Debrecen (11-12^th April), a city that has been close to my heart for several years now and to Veszprém (19-20^th April) where the local student group decided to organize a reach-out mini-festival called FolytKov[1] (www.folytkov.hu) which means “To be continued” in Hungarian – and of course, refers to what happens after life here on Earth as we know it, will end. The students had the opportunity to enjoy each program the organizers offered, including the Fours-sense theatre, text for a sandwich, drink a beer with a pastor (priest), as well as presentations and concerts. This was also very good for the student group as it brought them closer as a team.

A non-compulsory but for me a “necessary” event was the local Critical Mass with fellow bikers that reached 35000 participants on the 24^th April. We went together with the Budapest FolytKov team, and it was a great experience to get to know them from this side as well.

Who would I recommend the European Voluntary Service program for? Well, everybody who is, like myself, very enthusiastic about meeting people with different cultural backgrounds, likes facing challenges and trying out themselves in diverse (life)-situations. Although it’s not really the case for me now, but I also think learning a language is the easiest when I am in a friendly environment and in a natural context.  

As you might’ve guessed by now, I am a dynamic person who loves to be on the go and experience as much as possible in each aspect of life so taking a gap-year is one of the best decisions I made so far. This wouldn’t have been possible without the immense support on behalf of both my sending (YMCA Cluj) and receiving (MEKDSZ) institution, whom I greatly thank for this opportunity and aid.

For those of you who would like to contact me with detailed questions or just anything, I am more than happy to be of service: csakiz@mekdsz.hu