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My name is Dorottya and I was a European Solidarity Corps volunteer in Tokat, Türkiye. I graduated from secondary school last year, and I wanted to take a gap year before university, so I decided to apply to a project that I found on European Solidarity Corps’s website. They accepted me after an interview, and a few weeks later I was already at the airport starting my volunteering journey.
My project lasted for two months in Türkiye. Prior to the start of our work, me and my fellow volunteers took part in a training in Denizli, Türkiye; it was a 15-hour bus drive to get there.
This training was really cool because we’ve got to meet international volunteers from all around Türkiye; some of them had already been in the country for months. They gave us good advice and taught us some useful phrases in Turkish. After the training we officially started the project.
I was working in the local Youth Center, in one of the local high schools, and in the university of the city. My main task was to teach English with fellow volunteers. Also, a few times we were invited to villages near Tokat, and we held different workshops for children. I really enjoyed most of the activities that we’ve had, but of all our tasks, teaching in the high school must have been my favorite. The students were so nice, intelligent, and active, also very open minded; they’ve had no hardships talking about themselves, their hobbies, and experiences. I found their enthusiasm really inspiring.
I lived in a shared flat with 4 other girls, who became my friends quite quickly. Me and my roommate Emily became close friends, and we travelled together with two of our local friends a lot. We visited Cappadocia, Trabzon, Samsun, and more. I also went to Istanbul, and there’s no other place quite like Istanbul, it’s truly miraculous… While traveling, I got the impression that most Turkish people are open to visitors and curious about foreigners. I also tried some very authentic homemade Turkish food when one of our friends, Zeynep, invited us for a dinner with her family. I also grew to love çay so much! These two months were a strongly self-reflective period of time for me, and I often spent my time writing a diary in cafés while drinking an endless amount of çay. I learned a lot about how to communicate with strangers, and I also learned that wherever I am, I have to do things that I love, and I made a really long list of things (including hobbies, places, people, events, feelings, etc.) that I love. Ever since that time, it is just enough for me to look at that list to feel positive and motivated! It also helps me, to find directions in life, that lead me to a path, fulled with positive attitude.
The whole experience was amazing for me, I even picked up some really useful and healthy habits, like going to the gym and going to sleep early. It was nice to see the authentic culture of Anatolia while making life-long friendships.
Hosting organisation:
Hosting organisation:
The vision of Tokat Gençlik ve Spor İl Müdürlüğü is to provide opportunities and to establish a ground where young people can truly realize their own potentials as individuals who have international and humanitarian values, respect for the environment, a sense of social belonging, who participate actively in social life, make use fundamental rights and liberties efficiently and who are committed to national and moral values, are informed, self-confident, active and enterprising and at a level to be able to compete with their peers in the international arena.
The vision of Tokat Gençlik ve Spor İl Müdürlüğü is to provide opportunities and to establish a ground where young people can truly realize their own potentials as individuals who have international and humanitarian values, respect for the environment, a sense of social belonging, who participate actively in social life, make use fundamental rights and liberties efficiently and who are committed to national and moral values, are informed, self-confident, active and enterprising and at a level to be able to compete with their peers in the international arena.
European Solidarity Corps volunteering project hosted and coordinated by Tokat Gençlik ve Spor İl Müdürlüğü
Date: September - November 2025
Volunteer: Dorottya Fenyvesi
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