Practical Info

Volunteer Summer Summit 2024 - Poland

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This year’s VSS will be hosted in the city of Cieszyn, Poland, in the Silesia region.

The city is located on the border of Poland and Czech Republic so it’s a truly intercultural space. Our venue for the entire event will be Kampus Cieszyn which is part of University of Silesia. It is located outside of the center but the train station as well as the bus stop are right in front of the venue. 

The host city itself it’s divided in two, with Polish side called Cieszyn and Czech side called Český Těšín. You can cross from Polish to Czech side by one of two main bridges: Friendship Bridge or Freedom Bridge.

According to the legend, Cieszyn was created by 3 brothers: Bolko, Leszko and Cieszko, who reunited at the city current location after Cieszko found this beautiful location by the river and were very enjoying their encounter (in Polish: “cieszyć się”), so the city was called after last brother and their joy. You can find The Well of 3 Brothers in the old town of Cieszyn.

Being so close to Czech Republic, Cieszyn has its own brewery tradition, with Archduke Castle Brewery functioning since 1846, making it the longest continueslt operating brewery in Poland.

Fun fact – banknote of 20 zloty (Polish currency) features the oldest building in Poland, Rotunda of St. Nicholas, located in Cieszyn! This chapel dates back to XI – XII century.

Our venue for the entire event will be Kampus Cieszyn which is part of University of Silesia. In 2021 the University of Silesia in Cieszyn celebrated its 50th anniversary. Students in Cieszyn can study at the Faculty of Arts and Education Sciences, offering a wide range of courses like game design, art and music education, cultural education, pedagogics, ethnology and anthropology.

Little challenge for you: can you find out which of our team members studied at this university?

You can find the map of the campus here and the the video here.

Our venue is located outside of the city center and old town, so we can enjoy the calmness of the student campus and be still 15-25 min walking distance from the center. There will be a short city game provided for participants available during Leisure Activites time (1,5h), but if you want to be sightseeing Cieszyn for a longer time, we recommend to arrive earlier or depart later on your own.

Read more about the venue here.

Fees

The fee includes accommodation for 5 nights, all meals (breakfast, lunch, coffee breaks and dinner) for 4.5 days, a welcome package (including the famous VSS t-shirt), programme activities and a bus between Krakow airport and the venue (for arrival and departure day) within the communicated hours.

Type of accommodation : EFIL Members Non-EFIL Members
Single Room 300€ 400€
Double Room 270€ 350€

Accommodation Type

  • Single rooms: Individual room with bed, closet and desk. The bathroom (toilet, shower, sink) will be shared with maximum 2 other participants. There is only a limited number of single rooms.
  • Double rooms: Shared room with one other person (including a desk and closet). The Bathroom (toilet, shower, sink) will be shared with 7 other participants, including your roommate.

Registration Process

1. Participants Application –> 2. Confirmation –> 3. Payment –> 4. Workshop selection

Steps by Step

Step 1: Participants Application. By filling in this form, you can apply for the VSS in a few minutes! Once you have filled in all the required information, you will receive an automatic email from EFIL confirming your application has been submitted.* At this stage you will be asked to express your room preference. Please note that this is not a booking: as there is a limited amount of rooms for each category we can only confirm your preference after you have paid in step 3: payment. Rooms are assigned on a first come first served basis.

Step 2: Confirmation rounds. Every volunteer needs to be approved for participation by their national AFS organisation. Once we receive the decision by your offices, you will get an email telling you whether you have been approved or not for participation. There will be several rounds of confirmation so the sooner you apply the sooner you’ll know!

NB: Approval to participate in the VSS doesn’t mean your office will contribute financially to your participation so make sure to check this with your AFS organisation. – In case you cannot participate, because you did not get a scholarship, you still have to cancel via email to vss@afs.org. Only cancellations to this email are valid!

Step 3: Payment & Booking travel. With the confirmation email you will get the payment instructions. Pay as soon as possible to secure your spot. EFIL will send you an email once your payment has been received. After payment you can start arranging your travel; you will have to communicate these details in the next step of the registration.

Step 4: Workshop Selection and Logistical Details. After the confirmation of your payment, you can sign up for workshops and you will have to provide us with your travel details and other information such as dietary restrictions, etc. Once you have filled in all the required information, you will receive an automatic email from EFIL.*

*If you don’t receive this email please check your spam folder or contact us.

Cancellation Policy

In case you decide to withdraw your registration, you will need to cancel by sending an email to vss@afs.org in the EFIL office. Only cancellations to this email are valid! No-payment, no show or stop replying is NOT a cancellation.

IMPORTANT! Once you register on the form you will accept the terms and therefore the cancellation policy; once you are confirmed by your organisation, we assume that you will be a participant subject to the cancellation policy. If the cancellation fee is not paid, you will be excluded from other EFIL activities. 

Please note that these cancellation fees will be charged:

  • If you cancel after June 10, 2024 (23:59 CEST), there will be no reimbursement and you will have to pay the full fee.
Cancel your participation

This year’s VSS will take place from Sunday afternoon, 21 July to Friday morning, 26 July.

EFIL will organise the transportation from Krakow airport and train station to and from the venue by private buses at specific times; should you wish to arrive or leave outside of the scheduled hours, you will need to arrange your own transportation (more information on how to reach the venue on your own here).

Please refer to the call and to the communications via email for the specific bus times.