It’s already been four months since I came to Bremen. Time passes really fast, and I’m starting to feel this little city like a new home.I remember the first time I found the ESC page and the NaturKultur project. It was the perfect opportunity for me to fulfil my wish of living abroad and also gain more experience in the Social Media and Content Creation area! I was so happy and excited, so I applied without hesitating too much.
My first contact with the NaturKultur team was with Lumpy, the cute little dog from the office, who Ziga showed me during the interview video call. I was scared of being allergic to him (I have plenty of allergies and one of them is to dogs, jajaja), but it turned out that I wasn’t! Now, one of the best parts of my days in the office is when Lumpy runs towards me to get some pets and cuddles.My work as a volunteer here is very dynamic: working in the office designing and editing videos and posts, exploring my creativity and technical skills, uploading reports to WordPress, getting to know my coworkers… But what I enjoy the most is going out to create content with the camera. It is definitely one of my biggest discoveries here. I feel really confident taking photos and videos, playing around with the camera and finally seeing the results.
Moving on to my life in Bremen, I arrived during the best season in Germany, summer. Even though everything has been completely different from Spain (the weather, the food, the people…), I still got to enjoy some sunny plans here, such as swimming in some huge lakes around Gröpelingen and at Werdersee, partying at festivals such as Breminale, going to Bürgerpark to see the animals, taking long walks around the city and along the Weser… Bremen is so cosy and full of nature compared to Madrid. I have to admit that I am addicted to big cities and I usually prefer living in them, but making a change in my lifestyle has actually been a really nice experience. I am discovering that I can also enjoy a slower life, being surrounded by nature and having quieter plans. At the same time, Bremen still has enough activities, people and places to discover, so I never feel like there is nothing to do.
One of the challenges for me (apart from the language) was also being independent for the first time, alone and so far from home. In the beginning, it was tricky, but in the end I feel that it has helped me grow a lot as a person. I have learned how to organize my own routine, take care of myself, make my own decisions and deal with situations on my own. Of course, there are moments when I miss home and the people I love, but I think learning to be comfortable with myself and creating my own life here has been one of the most useful parts of this experience.But to be honest, the key element for me was building a community with people and finding people who could make me feel at home, and I did! At first, I thought it would be difficult to make friends, but after four months I can say that I have a little group of friends. With them, I have done a lot of things, such as going to Hamburg and Bremen Pride (CSD), which I enjoyed so much! In addition, I have also built a strong relationship with my project colleague, Rita. We work together, support each other and share our everyday life side by side.
Looking back at these first four months, I can say that I’ve changed and evolved a lot. I’m not the same Paula I was when I arrived, and I will never be. Bremen will always have a little piece of my heart.
Paula was hosted by NaturKultur, part of the on our project co-funded by the European Union.
If you want to experience something similar to what Cati did, check out our open calls here.
