It’s been three months… they’ve flown by, and that’s a good sign, it means that i really enjoyed my time here!
I arrived in Germany without knowing a single word of German, without a clear idea of who I would meet, live with or work with. I was a bit frightened by the idea that everything I had imagined would not be as rosy as expected. Instead, in the end things turned out even better than I thought!
I got to know my roommates and the other volunteers and found out that they are great people, with their different stories and personalities that make it a group with whom you never get bored and always learn something from different life experiences and cultures. My colleagues are more like friends, it’s not just about work but also about sharing moments, whether it’s moments to learn something or moments to laugh all together.We have shared jokes, cigarettes and fun moments! Which from my previous working experience was not normal, and i really like that!
I arrived here with a very specific goal: to gain experience in my field of work and learn German, but I quickly changed my mind, in fact, as soon as I arrived I found such a welcoming, friendly and helpful environment that made me rethink my priorities and try to enjoy this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity as much as possible, without neglecting my goals.
Working for NaturKultur is different from all the working environments I had known before: the people in the office are an active part of the team and ensure that you never get bored every day.
Furthermore, in my role I have the opportunity to wander a bit between the various projects, getting to know people and creating a very dynamic environment. I had my OAT (i.e. the initial seminar for all volunteers), which allowed me to focus more on my personal project. I had the opportunity to join the Make Music Not War project which is a cool project that allowed me to meet fantastic people from all over the Europe and to get to know different realities that I only had a vague idea of before…and for sure to listen to a lot of music, a lot, maybe sometimes too much 🙂 . For each of these reasons, and more, I am infinitely grateful to have been a part of it.
In the end I would say that without my colleagues in the office, the other volunteers and all the people I met in the projects and around in these 3 months, the whole experience would have been different, in a bad way. So I hope that the next 9 months will also be like that and maybe even better!
Natan is hosted by NaturKultur e.V. on our project financed by the European Solidarity Corps and Jugend für Europa.
