Max in Bolzano - A review of the best year of my life Blog dei volontari

My name is Max and I did my EVS in Bolzano/Bozen in South Tyrol, Northern Italy.
I wasnt sure what I should expect when I started my 'adventure' in September 2012. I never lived far from home for such a long time so this was totally a big step for me. I always told my friends and family not to worry and that everything will be fine, but when the travel actually began I started to feel very nervous about the whole thing. My thoughts where like: "What if I dont like the work? What if the people are rude? What if I dont find friends?", and so on... It was in fact a trip into the blue.
When I arrived all the people of the Caritas where very friendly and caring. In fact they never let me alone with anything, whether it was about documents or about getting socially connected in the city. On top of that I had the best flat mate I could imagine ;-) Most of the time she was there for me and also the other way round when there were problems. We really did do alot together within the year and I am really happy having had such a nice person living together with me this year.
In my everyday work I held a lot of workshops about social responsibility themes in schools, what in fact what the youngCaritas does most. I'm very glad about this experience because it allowed me to change the thinking of young people a little bit in a positive way. In addition it made me very experienced in speaking in front of a crowd what is very useful in life i think. The workshops, which I also helped creating, were only one part of my work. I also were 'borrowed' from other departments like the refugee department of the Caritas. For them i held lessons in my mother tongue German and organised an intercultural party together with the refugees. I also took part in very much other interesting projects and activities which i dont want to concrete now because it would take too much time. All in all I had a very varied, challenging and interesting workplace with a very nice atmosphere between the employees. My boss and my mentors were very nice and interesting persons and I learned really a lot from them and not only about work related issues. What I especially enjoyed was the grade of responsibility what was given to me. I really had the feeling that i was needed and respected and a valuable part of the team.
Another point worth mentioning is the beauty of Bolzano and my life in it. I never lived in a city that beautiful and that rich of culture, events and open-minded young people. I found a lot of friends in Bolzano with whom I went skiing in the winter and went to the countless festivals in the summer. I think that I really had the best summer of my life in Bolzano/Alto Adige and I can recommend it to everyone (not only as a tourist).
I know that I had a lot of luck with my project, my flat mate and my employers. I am really glad having made this decision, having taken the risk of doing something new and adventurous.
I often think about my time in Bolzano and when I sit here now, in the cold winter of Germany, the thought of the Italian summer warms me from within. ;-) Not without a bit of nostalgia, of course.