Hello, I’m Kristina Tsereteli. It was a usual day in September, when everything started. Someone called me and said that I was invited for the interview. That time I didn’t realize this interview would change my life. Surprisingly, I was chosen for an exchange program. It was so hard to believe, because I had tried for the first time and epidemic situation wasn’t so good in the world, though however this attempt became successful.
So, I went for living my new life in Poland, Bialystok, that is amazing with its fantastic nature, all green and fresh around. My voluntary job was at special school, that is quite closer to my profession, because, I worked as a special teacher in Georgia as well. Besides, the school where I worked was also dormitory.
There were some different special classes for kids and also for adults, I saw how psychologists, occupational therapists and speech therapists work with children with special needs, also I had the opportunity to become a direct participant in the learning process, that was much interesting to interact with students, make some friendly relationships with them and with people who worked there, that also made me easier to learn Polish language, because I had to remind the words and sentences that I really needed while communicating. Sometimes the students and me had to exchange roles, sometimes they were teachers for me, and sometimes I was as a teacher for them, we also cooked together some Georgian cookies, and Polish as well, during that time we had much funny stories.
Honestly, my expectations really justified. I really wanted to get to know how special teachers worked here, new technics, new strategies, maybe also I could share my experience for them, that we really did. On the other hand, what I love about Erasmus+ projects the most is that in the beginning we are all strangers to one another but by the end of the project we all become really close friends (which btw makes it really hard to say goodbye). The world feels so small when you gather around people from different parts of the world in one room sharing their stories and giving you the pictures of what it feels like to be a person of their nationality. This is the type of learning which broadens your horizons and makes you see the world from a different perspective. We always planned some tours together, almost lived together and these ten months we became as a big family. Frankly speaking, it wasn’t so easy from the beginning, because there were some different attitudes about different topics, and cultural dissonance, but for sure, later it became challenge in all of our lives, that really taught us a lot, made much stronger and the result is this big family, how we really feel now
Overall the project it was really successful both on a professional and personal level. I am truly grateful for the life-long friendships that I have made and memories I have collected during my time in Bialystok. I want to thank ECS for giving me this opportunity and ANAWOJ our hosting organization in Poland for making this project possible.
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