“From the start, I didn’t think about ESC volunteering as something I wanted to do. But when I discovered my project, I immediately became passionate about it. This project became the reason why I decided to start volunteering.”
Hello everyone, my name is Uul Ai, and I’m from Siberia, Russia:)
After finishing school, I couldn’t go to university since I started working right away. However, I always wanted to experience the lively environment of a university, where I could meet friends from different backgrounds, learn about different cultures, and improve my event planning skills. So, when I found a chance, I applied for it with great enthusiasm.
My ESC Project
For 10 months, I volunteered at DTU (Denmark Technical University) as a part of a team called “Student’s Culture Hub”. Our main goal was to make the campus inclusive and diverse, so we organized various events for the students. These events included cultural activities, social gatherings, as well as trips and workshops. The aim was to help DTU students feel like they belonged to the university community. During this project, I had an amazing colleague Sasha from Russia.
We were so excited about our work that we were willing to dedicate almost 24 hours a day to organizing events. Our passion to event creating, our ability to work together effectively resulted in a project growth that by the end we started making events on a big scale. We gained valuable professional experience with a lot of responsibility, making decisions and learning through hands-on work. Our tasks included event planning, social media management, creating calendars of events, designing sign-up forms, making promotional materials like posters and videos, budgeting, ordering services, and communicating via email and collaboration. These tasks provide a glimpse into the work we accomplished
My solidarity project
I took the initiative to organize a special event as part of a solidarity project, aimed at celebrating the Nowruz Festival, a traditional New Year celebration from my home country.
The Nowruz Festival event was a heartwarming gathering that brought students from diverse backgrounds together, featuring cooking workshops and cultural games. Over 90 students participated in this memorable occasion, where we had the opportunity to prepare and savor Iranian, Kazakh, and Kyrgyz dishes. The event kicked off with an engaging cooking session, followed by captivating presentations highlighting the unique aspects of each culture, all while the delicious dishes simmered away.
My message
In my opinion, it is crucial to carefully consider various aspects such as project selection, location, and tasks when choosing the ESC long-term project. It is important not to overlook small details since they can greatly impact volunteer’s experience over the course of a year.
ESC Solidarity Projects 