Having to write the final report for this project seemed like the most bizarre part of this one-year experience, because I really never thought this time would come. The difficulty of trying to fathom how fast but also how slow a year has passed really triggered a reflection process for me. On the one hand I do indeed feel like a big amount of time has passed while volunteering in Bremen, on the other hand I realised the time went by fast when it comes to the different things I
wanted to experience in the city and never found the time to do so. In general it feels like a year was maybe a lot but also at the same time too little.
Three weeks before having to leave the project, my flatmates and I had to move to a different apartment. I feel like this moving-out and moving-in process used up a lot of the free time I could have used to do other more pleasant things, than having to pack and unpack countless boxes during the last month of my project.
However it also allowed me to gradually say goodbye to Bremen and emotionally prepared me for what was to come. I had to say goodbye to the place I called home earlier, but got to be in a new house with the same people I knew. And for better or for worse I was not able to get attached to the new house or my new tiny room which I had a hard time spending time in, but at least I will not have to add it on the list of things I will miss. Ultimately this process allowed me to grieve one thing at a time: first the space I was used to, and then the people I loved spending time with.
I will miss my routine, my coworkers, the comfort zone in which I did my tasks and the creative aspect of my project. I will forever treasure this safe working space in which I was able to take initiatives on my tasks but also collaborate with great people who were always there to support me and my ideas. I think in retrospect it is also very astounding to see the progress that was made from start to finish; from speaking more german, to coming up with new ideas at work, to just being more confident in what I do.
However, I think being away from Bremen will also allow me to put certain things into perspective and admit more easily where things might have gone wrong. There’s a certain romanticism when people move away that maybe makes us view certain things through rose-coloured glasses. And therefore I think I will be able to evaluate the project as a whole better when I am away from it and will be able to put into words what was good and what was not. So, I hope this clarity will help me process my experience better. All in all, I believe that what I will take with me from this experience is time: valuing time in a specific place and planning smarter in order to make the most out of it, even if there’s many excuses in the way to not do that and just lay back. Despite the fact that there are things I never
found the time to do, I still had one of the fullest years of my life, where I got to experience so many great and new things. So I will try to make the same effort wherever I am from now on