Volunteering in Poland With Angloville

On the 11th August, we travelled from Kraków to the Angloville venue, Modrzewiowe Wzgórze. I have to admit I was surprised by the place. All the information I'd received beforehand gave me the impression that it was a fancy 4* hotel. I did not expect to be staying in a cabin in the woods that seemed suspiciously like a haunted house!

On the first evening, I went to use the bathroom next to my room and found massive wasp-coloured bugs crawling out of the plughole! The only solution was to put a mug over the sink, close the door and never set foot in that bathroom again. Shortly after that, a massive spider appeared on the stairs. I'm really not good with insects, so I was seriously questioning whether I could complete the programme.

Luckily, as the week went on, I got used to staying there, despite finding out that someone who'd previously stayed in my room had supposedly been possessed by ghosts!

On the whole, the hotel was quite a weird place. The location was beautiful, but the following picture is kind of spoiled when you realise that the swimming pools were full of dirt and dead mice!

The food was also strange. One night there was a pasta dish that I avoided because I thought it wasn't vegetarian. It turns out it was vegetarian, but apparently the sauce was apple and cinnamon flavoured!

However, there were some things that I liked a lot about the hotel...

The dog (who we called Franek) was just adorable and so friendly. The family of kittens and their mum lived in an abandoned building near the cabin. They were more timid than Franek, but still very cute!

Finally, I will write a bit about the actual volunteering. We (the Native Speakers) did not have to formally teach the participants (Polish kids between 11-17 years old). The programme is based around conversation, rather than reading, writing and learning grammar. At first I found having to talk so much quite difficult, as I'm a relatively introverted person. But as the week went on, I found things got easier and more fun. The participants were a great group of kids, and I will miss speaking with them!

I also really enjoyed getting to know the other Native Speakers and the coordinators of the programme. I (sort of!) learned how to play the card game Mao, and had an amazing time singing and dancing at the talent show and the disco! I made lots of new friends, and I laughed more than I had in ages.

I only took part in one Angloville programme, because I didn't want to commit myself to more, in case I hated it. However, by the end of the week, I actually wished I had signed up to do another couple of weeks. All in all, it was just a brilliant experience!

My time volunteering with Angloville has given me more confidence and a bit more direction in my life. It made me realise that teaching English abroad as a foreign language is something I would like to do more of. So my plan is to become TEFL qualified and hopefully find some work in the near future. 😊