![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/tsekki-kollaasi-vapaaehtoinen-lapsset.png\")
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As a volunteer my days consisted of mornings in the children\u2019s groups and afternoons in different activities. In addition, I got to fill my calendar with school visits or other events I wished to organize. Given the opportunity to choose what kinds of tasks I wanted to do not only taught me a lot but also made the whole volunteering experience very fun. Most of the time I helped with the youngest children, aged 2 to 3, so as a counterweight to that I also enjoyed going to schools to talk about both the European Solidarity Corps and Finland to the students. I even held a presentation about early childhood education in Finland and in France together with my French roommate! I was welcomed very warmly in every single place I visited. I hope that my presentations were interesting to the students and that maybe I inspired someone to consider volunteering in the future.<\/p>\n
I shared my volunteering project with another volunteer which truly was a great thing. I didn\u2019t learn just about Czech culture while working with the locals but I also learnt about French customs while living with a French person. It was amazing to notice how enthusiastic people were to learn about Finland and it made me see my own experiences and culture from a different point of view. However, I wasn\u2019t just a representative of Finland but people were also interested in getting to know me personally. Of course, it was a bit of a hurdle that I spoke no Czech before moving there. Still, the same routines repeat when working with children and so my vocabulary expanded quite rapidly. I started the autumn with walking around the garden with the children and learning different colours by pointing at different coloured flowers. A great question to pick up in the beginning was \u201cco to je?\u201d or \u201cwhat is this?\u201d.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The biggest surprise for me was how there were no big surprises. It felt easy and natural to be in Krom\u011b\u0159\u00ed\u017e. I didn\u2019t expect to experience any huge culture shocks but of course moving to another country and working with new people made me nervous beforehand. However, I got all the support I needed from Klub\u00ed\u010dko and the people close to Klub\u00ed\u010dko. As a volunteer I was able to meet people from different walks of life, as long as I was open to those meetings. I met wonderful and inspiring people not just in Krom\u011b\u0159\u00ed\u017e but from around Europe. If I was to give tips to people considering volunteering, I would say to just go for it and say yes to anything that sounds even remotely fun! When you give from yourself to volunteering you also get a lot back!<\/p>\n D\u011bkuji moc, The photo on the top: Velk\u00e9 n\u00e1m\u011bst\u00ed, or the big square, in the city center. In the background, you can see the castle and the tower. The castle and the surrounding garden are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In the winter, we got to enjoy some sub zero temperatures and snow!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ahoj! I spent five months volunteering with the European Solidarity Corps. My project took place in Krom\u011b\u0159\u00ed\u017e, Czechia from September 2025 to February 2026. Starting right from the first contact with Klub\u00ed\u010dko the whole experience has been full of joy, warmth and creativity. This volunteering project truly introduced me to a second home! So, my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":39955,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/tsekki-kollasi.png\")
\nMaria<\/p>\n