This year started out as one of the weirdest of my life. If someone told me six months ago everything I was going to live, I would have said, without thinking, that it was not possible to happen.
Going out of the comfort zone
This is the first thing you experience when you decide to be a volunteer. I arrived in Timisoara 6 months ago without expectations at all. Then, all of a sudden, I saw myself sharing a flat with nine other people from other countries around Europe.
Since your first week of volunteering, you can realise you are living with people who are very different from you, have other traditions and ways of thinking. This experience makes you be able to respect everyone and adapt yourself to them. Being more open-minded is something that you learn even without noticing it.
An intense experience
We all agreed that time flies when enjoying it. Anyone who has ever lived something like this before, might have lost track of time for sure. How can time go that fast and, at the same time, be full of emotions, discoveries and learning?
So many new people in my life (most of them will stay forever) who I spent time with (living, working, going out, …). There are things that bring people together, experiences that create such strong bonds that they will never be broken. People who are with you through this personal and professional learning process. The personal change is great, but also the one related to work. Your development increases day by day.
Sharing this adventure with young people like me, doing something new for other young people in a country which is not yours, is one of the best things when it comes to be a volunteer, even though it is hard sometimes.
I still have other 6 months to continue making the most of them, adding new people and lived experiences to my life. Let’s see what the future has to offer!