Valentina has been in France since autumn 2024 and is volunteering through the European Solidarity Corps at the Léo Lagrange Ouest school in Nantes. She describes what she has experienced so far for you here:
"After 3 months of settling in France, I thought I would send you a few impressions of France/Nantes and tell you a little bit...
Nantes has turned out to be a city with a pretty wide range of cultural offerings. There are lots of other European volunteers and Erasmus students here and there is actually something to do every evening. From jam concerts to language cafes or plant markets, you can always find something here.
There are of course some touristy things to do here (Les Machines de l'île, Château des ducs de Bretagne, etc.), but the bar culture and all the concerts definitely stand out!
There are five of us living in a house here (three Germans, two Austrians) and we get on really well.
We live a little outside of town, in Orvault, which is why the journey to work takes an hour, but it is very quiet and we have the house to ourselves!
By chance, we are currently living in a German-speaking household - apparently not that many people from other countries applied for the volunteer service. Originally, we were supposed to have a sixth roommate from Spain, but she suffered a complicated fracture while climbing in the first week and is now living back home in Spain. In March, she is due to come back to Nantes and start the project.
The work is also fun: I work here as an animatrice (which is similar to a supervisor in a school care facility) and in the afternoons I run an IT club where I teach the children about the Internet and computers.
It was a bit challenging at the beginning because nobody at my work speaks English - but my French improved pretty quickly. I like working with the children from the maternelle (3-6 years old) the most. They are really sweet and have a similar vocabulary to me, so it is easier to talk to them.
In January I finally had my welcome seminar, which was pretty helpful. We met a lot of other volunteers there and we talked about the ESC, the Youth Pass, the tasks of our tuteur and so on.
The weather here is actually really similar to the German weather (at least the weather in North Rhine-Westfalia).
This is supposed to change in the spring, but up until now it has mostly been pretty grey and rainy, so at least I haven't felt homesick in that aspect. It is slowly getting warmer here, which means that you can even see the sun every now and then.
The first new French word I learned is brouilllard (fog).
Best wishes from Nantes, Valentina"
European Solidarity Corps
If Valentina's report inspired you to spend a few months abroad yourself, take a look at other projects from our partner organizations: You can apply for volunteer teams or longer voluntary service projects in other European countries through the European Solidarity Corps (ESC). There is a strict age limit of 18 to 30 years and there are a few steps to complete before and after the project in addition to registering with us or another organization. Find more information about the ESC here.