Couple of months ago, when me and my
friend were walking as usually, talking, she told me she was going for
volunteering project in Romania. I told her it was a good idea and thought to
myself I would go to if there was a place in another one. Bless my luck because
after one week she said, someone refused and there was a place for me. I
immediately applied, got invitation letter, went to see our coordinator, signed
and waited for the departure date and detailed information. I didn't need to
wait long. After everything was settled, I informed my family, friends, we went
to a goodbye party, packed a suitcase and went to airport.
We were ten, the great ten. Nine
girls and one boy who soon became our best friend. From the very first moments I
knew who would be living in my room and I did everything to make that happen.
The flight was short and nice. After a road trip we were in the student's
dormitory where we would spend two beautiful months together.
First week was the best. We met
other people from our group: two Italians and ten Jordanians. Next day, we went
to the office where we worked during the project, walked around the city, took
millions of pictures, went to parties to check out the nightlife in Craiova,
the town where we lived. It was awesome. Meanwhile, we had the introduction and
brainstorming sessions with our mentor, got tips on how to work on the project
and soon, step by step, we started.
Everybody had different background
of education, culture and personal skills. That was the thing that was most
attractive during the whole time. I was amazed how we could be so different yet
so close to one-another. Some of us knew very little English but even that was
not a problem because we would help in translating and I also discovered that
friendship was like a Lingua Franca, a common language that kept us together.
During the project we participated
in two major events: 1st December the 100th anniversary of Romania's
independence and Volunteering night on 5th December. The last one was
very interesting, with lots of interesting people, organizations, volunteers,
workshops, music, dancing and sharing experiences. Me and my friends did a
workshop. We made bookmarks with printed design and gave them out free. It was
nice because people liked and appreciated our work.
After the official working days were
over, we got our second month allowance and some of us went to travel in
another city, Brasov. It is an old town in Transilvania. We went to see
Dracula's palace in Bran. Brasov was very beautiful. We kept walking and
walking and couldn't get enough of that beauty. After that we came back to
Craiova and spent there few more weeks , being young and carelessly free until
we would say goodbye to one-another and went back to our home countries.
During that two months we grew a
lot. For most of us, it was the first experience living abroad, living
independently and volunteering too. We met amazing people, like our mentor, a
girl who was even younger that us, incredible photographer and person; Our
trainer, who shared so much light and positive vibes during just one week that
we will probably remember her forever.
Well, of course we had some bad
days, little problems but we were helped and guided by one-another to overcome
obstacles and help ourselves become better, stronger individuals. I think,
every one of us changed a little bit in a good way. As for me, a very introvert
person, it was an amazing experience to help me open up, come out of my shell
and learn how to adapt to unusual surroundings, factors, people. I learned how
to be more adequate and less radical while dealing with people and work.
Now, it is almost one month since we
left Romania. We, the members of the group still chat in our group chat every
day, sharing all kinds of thoughts, pictures and videos, mostly saying how much
we miss one-another. Some of us live in the same city and we meet on weekends
to have coffee. I sit and write this story and if you ask me, was all this
worth my time? Hell, yes it was. Would I try and go again? Oh, yes I would, I
would for sure!
Dodo Bakuradze
Hosting organisation: Asociatia
Explorator, Romania
Project funded by European
Solidarity Corps
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