Please help me to review my motivation letter for EVS

Every action, change, every big decision starts with the simple idea, just a thought. My little thought, my idea, which has led me to write this letter now, came to my mind quite a long time ago, when I wasn´t able to express myself in English at all. In 2010 I was studying touristic in ……, haven´t been to a lot of places and haven´t discovered my love and passion for languages yet. I´ve read about volunteering and European projects on the internet and found it really interesting. But back then It was hard to believe that I can participate. Nevertheless, the idea to participate one day stayed with me since then.

After obtaining my bachelor degree in touristic I went to abroad for the first time and have done an au pair in Germany, where I´ve learned to work with children, german language, how to deal with stressful situations which may appear, and to be in an international environment, which is now a huge part of my life.

During my studying, which continued after my au pair experience, I attended courses related to arts, such as: photography, cinema production, painting. I also obtained experience in working with a wide variety of people. I have been in a customer service for different shops, a Russian-German interpreter and translator, co-organizer and participant of a student exhibition of paintings.

My first experience working with European project happened in my life when I came back to my home town ……..and started to work in the city administration in the international department. My main responsibilities were all the relations our city has with other cities abroad. As a part of a team I also participated in working in two European programs with our neighbour countries - Poland and Lithuanian. I remember reading for the first time the thematic objectives of the programs: promotion of local culture, social inclusion, education, support to regional and local good governance. They all sounded so important and really necessary to implement in our world, but the problem for me was – they were to general, I didn´t know where to start. Working in those projects had taught me to break the huge ideas and plans down to smaller tasks and things we have to do first to achieve the major goal, to think about not necessarily about the huge wide world at once, but about the city you are living in and how to make it a better place. It also showed me how to work in a team and create something really useful for this particulate place together.

Besides of infrastructural components of our projects, the idea was to encourage the local community to engage, to take their own action to solve their own problems, and also to communicate their needs and ideas to decision-makers or other groups and communities. I have as well a high interest in organizing events, especially cultural events. Besides my main tasks I also helped to organize the annual city festival, the summer school for students from all the different cities in Russia, with whom we worked on different ideas and projects related to the city development.

I have participated in various volunteer activities in my town such as collecting waste from rivers and forests, health promotion activities, promotion of the animal welfare. I initiated a dialog between the active cyclists - community and the local government to promote the idea of the importance of a good bicycle infrastructure in our small town. The idea aroused interest by the local government and now they include cycle roads in the major road- building plan. We have also been working with the students from the summer school, I have mention above, on a bicycle infrastructure project for the city.

Have had worked as an interpreter in the youth organization in Germany, I was lucky to see the live of such an organization from the inside, and it was very inspiring to say the least. I saw how much people who work there, enjoy they work, how all who are engaged gradually open up and become friends. After this experience my idea to become a volunteer as well became a clearer form, I knew I would like to work with young people and other volunteers. I always felt the happiest, the most productive and creative when I work in a social sphere. That´s why I was excited to find your project while researching. When I looked at your website, twitter account and Instagram, I saw that you are a very lively community with a lot of interesting actions going on, I saw the children and young adults and people of different ages participating and being engaged. And what I think is beautiful about your project, is the fact that a lot of people are involved, working, creating ideas and implanting them all together That´s all make me want to be a part of your team. I think I can learn a lot from your project and would like to contribute myself and do my best as well. I am a responsible person, I can easily adjust to new work environment and like to be a part of a group. I can also function individually by taking the initiative and the responsibility to accomplish my tasks on my own. I am a fast learner, I taught myself English and went abroad to Ireland, where I am writing this letter now, to improve it and be able to fully participate in the project.

I am very interested in being a volunteer in your organization because it is an incredible opportunity to improve myself in all aspects of life, It is a great chance to learn to see the world from the different perspectives, to learn new tasks, learn a new culture and a new language. I am eager to new challenges and ways to improve myself. It is also important for me because I want to work in the social sphere with young people in the future. I am ready to learn and I would be very grateful if you would give me a chance to contribute to this project.

I thank you for your time spent reading this letter and I hope for a positive response. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me via e-mail or phone.

Looking forward to hearing from you

Yours sincerely

………….