A river full of memories Blog dei volontari

13/04/2023 Bogna Galka

Ciao!

I am sitting on a bench by the river. The sky is blue, the sun is shining. Slowly it becomes spring. Slowly it becomes spring. I am sitting here thinking about the last months in Italy and about what I could write in this testimonial.

My name is Luisa. I’m 22 years old and I’m from Germany.

I remember the first day when I arrived in Trento. I was curious and excited about what to expect in a new city with new people I have never met before. Now I’m here for about sevent months and I can say that I really feel comfortable. When I travel and come back to Trento, it even feels a bit like coming home. What makes my time really nice here are the people I have met so far and my project at the elementary school in Cognola.

I am really happy that I got a place at a multilingual school where I can gain some experience in working with children. In my daily life at school I help in German lessons, support children individualply, support in some afternoon classes and participate in excursions.

At the begginning it was a bit difficult to understand the language, but it’s getting better every month! Meanwhile the sound of the language has become familiar to me and I think I will miss it after this year. I‘m thankful that the teachers at school are open and appreciative. It makes me feel really welcome.

Until now I met a lot of people from different countries. I enjoy talking about different cultures but also to find some similarities. Although it’s not always easy to live in a small flat with five other people, I’m really happy with my flatmates.

It’s also great that here are many volunteers in Trentino and Alto Adige. That makes it easy to meet people in the same situation and make new friends. So far we had a lot of opportunities to travel and explored some cities in the north and south of Italy.

I am still sitting on the bench where I wrote this testimonial and I am happy. Happy about my decision to do a voluntary service abroad. Happy about the new friendships. Happy about working with kids. Happy about all the new memories.

It’s a brave step to go abroad, but it’s absolutely worth it!

- Luisa