Studying abroad taught me how to communicate with people from different cultures – an ability very important for the current business world which has gone absolutely international. I dare to advise you to find a university which encourages your personal development and supports you in all of your initiatives because I believe in that one cannot know how far one can fly if one never opens their wings.

I am Eni Mazniku, a law student from Albania. Actually, I am enrolled in the Public Law master program, at Faculty of Law at the University of Tirana. Personally, I strongly believe that a good student should try to maximize his/her capacities in order to maximize the benefits. In my professional life thus far, I have had a few achievements. One of them, on which I want to focus in this article, is the internship at Council of Europe Office in Tirana.

It all started from Mladiinfo’s Facebook page, where I noticed a call for a volunteer in Finland, in the pearl of the North, Helsinki. HELSINGIN LYHYTAIKAISKOTI JA TYÖPAJA LYHTY RY was looking for a voluntary worker, via the European Voluntary Service, to work and assist a group of intellectually disabled men in their outdoor workshop for botany and gardening. Next thing I know, I’m on the flight to Helsinki.

Education saves people. It opens doors and creates new opportunities for development and change. Education changes mentalities and shapes patterns. We have a long way to go in terms of implementing reforms aimed at raising awareness among students, improving the teaching quality and eliminating corruption. Nevertheless, if you invest in education, after one or two generations, the people will start building their country themselves.

Magi Nazer’s dedication to non-formal education grew out of her previous and lasting passion for community service and volunteering. One of the most important things she realized was that whenever you help others, you help yourself. This is why volunteering and non-formal education became part of her everyday life as well as part of her overall °mission° in Life: to assist people in their path of self-development and in their quest for happiness and better possibilities.

Today I am in Bangalore, in the incredible India, experiencing life and work in a totally different environment from what I am used to. Here, I am finishing my IDEX fellowship working for an affordable private school that serves the lower-income families in the suburbs of this fast-developing city/country.

After a 4-month scholarship, Milena from Poland acquired valuable knowledge and invaluable experience. According to her, the exotic study brought her a lot of pleasure, many adventures and nice memories. During her stay, she visited Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Slovenia and Croatia. All of these places, enchanted her in some way. What she remembers most from the adventure is the ice cream with a taste of Nutella, the noise of traffic, the songs of the street musicians and people were very accommodating and cheerful.

Tomas is young Slovak man with one big dream. He wants to find the ideal place to spend the rest of his life there. Never mind the distances, he is ready to search for the magic place everywhere in the world. His journey would even the famous Jack Kerouac with his „On the road“ novel made jealous. And it all started with volunteering trough EVS at Mladiinfo Center in Skopje, Macedonia.

When I come back from school and enter into my small lovely rectangular room colored with light gold color walls and dark gold ceiling. As I open the room’s door straight ahead I see two large windows with gold curtains and small red roses on them.

It was in the end of March , a chain of acquaintances who I have met during my travel brought me there. I’m still half sleeping in my room, yet I can hear a huge bustle outside. In that moment I preferred to stay in my bed, firstly because it’s around 5 a.m. and secondly because the members of the community are killing a horse to feed themselves and the hosts during the following days.