Mid-term - An encounter of stories, a reencounter of volunteers

I have to say my expectations for the Mid-term were not so high this time - it’s only three days, in a place far from Brasov to share again stories and experiences - This was what I heard before but the reality turned out to be much different, much better. On the first day I re-encounter many volunteers I had already met before during the on-arrival training, later on I realized I knew almost everyone in the training group, and although we are a very diverse group we did worked very well together (at least for these three days). I believe most of us shared the same good feeling of meeting again. Some volunteers live really far from each other and Romania is a really big country with not so fast trains so the mid-term served also as reunion.

Three long and intense days, sharing stories, new tools and volunteering experiences during the day and telling jokes and other kind of stories during the night. I also enjoyed the activities planned for us, as some of the tasks had to be managed by ourselves working in different groups, giving us more autonomy and the freedom to express and to try different ideas. I believe this helped us to explore more our creativity, to be more dynamic and improve our decision-making skills. All of this in this beautiful place called Poiana Brasov just one bus away from the city. The place was a bit isolated but surrounded by great landscapes and beautiful nature, especially for pine tree lovers, there are also some hiking trails nearby and lots and lots of quiet and tranquility. In the second day we had the opportunity to go to the city center of Brasov to complete one of the tasks, also a good way to visit the old town, even if it is for the 5th time (for me) Brasov is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever visited.

Mid-term is also good for us to pause our volunteering projects and take time to reflect not only on the things we accomplished meanwhile, but also to think about the future and to share our anxieties, fears, ideas and hopes and realize that we are not the only ones who don’t have a clue of what to do in the future. Not due to the lack of opportunities, but because we have many different possibilities ahead of us and sometimes the most difficult thing to do is to choose. This small break also forced us to enjoy the present, recognize the problems but also our strengths and what make us continue in the volunteering path, to share contacts, plan new trips, get to know each other better, celebrating what is worth and encourage one another.

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