hello once again!
Some months have passed since I last wrote some lines on my volunteering experience, so I decided to come back and add some more before i say goodbye as a volunteer.
Two months ago I finished my project as a Social Media manager and youth worker in LidiceHaus Jugendbildungstätte. As you might have read on my other reports, it has been such an intense and rewarding journey.
Now that winter is settling down in Bremen, I’ve had more time to reflect. Thinking about all that has happened since I first arrived to the city has been a very nice way of ending my project, so you should know that this text intends not to be an overpretentious-persuasive call for you to become a volunteer…… but I can only say good things about my last year here and very few challenging ones 😉
The second half of the summer was when everything started to unfold so fast that I didn’t even have time to realize what was happening. Project after project, offline seminars with young people, trips in and around Bremen, important talks and debates, meeting new people, so many new ideas and ways of thinking, parties and social events… and I could sum it up all in a word: growth.
This experience has been crucial to settle the stones for a more critical and mature journey into the 20s, a time when I guess a lot of people feel confused and lost, specially now more than ever. Getting to a new city and starting over again, breaking our own concept of comfort zone, building our own concept safe space, adapting to different challenges that will come on the way and opening and reshaping our minds is something I recommend to experience, if possible. I keep very dear memories and outcomes of this year and all the people I met along the way and that’s feeling is very valuable.
Yes, nostalgia is also there, but I decided to fight against it by staying some more time in Bremen. And that’s something good to know, in my opinion. There are several opportunities to continue abroad, so you should definitely check out the Freiwilliges Soziales Jahr (FSJ) and Bundesfreiwilligen Dienst (BFD) if you are interested on keep working as a volunteer and experiencing a different way of living, while making a little impact (as much cheesy and edgy this sounds hehe). But in fact it’s true. Some other volunteers have decided to keep travelling around, looking for jobs around the city or starting new studies. And some other decide to go back home and use the Erasmus+
Solidarity projects to make an impact on their local community. Everything works!
Independently of which path we choose, I guess that tells how much we enjoyed our last year in Bremen being volunteers. And I hope you can find this useful and motivating to jump into this one year adventure or maybe just remember your experience as an old volunteer.
have a beautiful journey! 🙂
Ionut
Ionut is hosted by ServiceBureau on our project “Achieve Recognition Through Social Media”, financed by JUGEND für Europa and the European Solidarity Corps.