A stage ends, after 8 months the volunteer project ends, overcoming pandemics, quarantines, and some other experiences, which allowed me to grow and see life differently.
Arriving in Romania in February was a great chance for me, once again changing countries and getting to know another culture, living the experience, learning a new language, and above all adapting to situations that I never imagined. In principle, everything was fine, the adaptation, the roommates, and I liked the city, but as the weeks went by, a global crisis such as Covid started to grow.
Having to stay in isolation for a few months, for my own safety and for the safety of everything that happened outside was also an important part of the volunteering experience, as it meant rethinking the activities and what was supposed to be done.
However, I never lowered my head and my desire was intact, maintaining the motivation to carry out the activities to which I came. My housemates made this experience much better, doing activities together that kept us busy throughout the day and making us feel accompanied in such a difficult time.
Laughter was never lacking, although we worked and did activities corresponding to the project without leaving home, we also had many moments of movies, table games or cooking typical food from each of our countries to get to know each other more and make our customs known.
But not everything was being during the quarantine, so at the end of the moment of crisis I began to leave more often and to know a little more about the Romanian culture and its landscapes.
From going to nearby towns to traveling to the other end of the country these experiences were important and allowed me to meet more people, make friends, and develop myself, as I had never done it alone or with someone. Planning and enjoying the little things were important to me, especially enjoying a simple day with good weather and sunny skies.
Spending so much time at home allowed me to realize how nice it is to be free and enjoy the outdoors.
Trips, friends, and the summer were a good combination to restart activities and although I was limited when carrying out events or activities, there was never a lack of ideas to do activities from home or away from home.
The work was never lacking and creating activities that were interesting for the community was the motivation to not stop in the project. Improving and learning new things such as photography was very helpful as well. Attending different beach volleyball competitions were experiences that allowed me to learn and improve in photography and also to know other places.
These months were products to develop personal projects and also to continue growing professionally, taking different online courses that provide knowledge for my future, learning not only about new topics but also to be able to put them into practice in volunteering.
8 months of volunteering in which I had many happy moments and also many moments with unexpected situations. During this time I was able to learn unimaginable things, I was able to develop even more the things that I already knew how to do and also to improve my level of English. 8 months of meeting people from different countries and places that I would never imagine meeting.
They were simply months of a lot of learning, of improving as a person, as a professional, and of changing my perspective on life, and what I want for my future, posing new options and new goals to fulfill in the coming years.