First October 2019:
The day has come, first of October 2019, l am saying goodbye to my family, friends, faculty and l am starting a new chapter in my life as a European Solidarity Crops Volunteer in Trbovlje Slovenia. This year was a lot for me, l had some good and some bad things as we all have, my graduation was the best thing, but after that, l have realized that l want completely new experience in my life. Coming to Slovenia is for sure a new life experience. When l was traveling to Slovenia, that first October, l had a lot of questions in my head, mixed feelings, because for the first time l am getting out of my comfort zone, and l will live with three other people which l do not know, but something deep inside me, was telling me „it will be okay“. I came early in the morning to Trbovlje train station, and l first meet Vesna, one of the coordinators, and l was the first who arrived. Later one girls have arrived, and we start to meet each other, it was strange in the begining to think that we all will live together for next nine months, and that we will share good and bad things. But the first impression was great and l felt connected to them very quickly.
With my roomates in Debeli rtič
First month :
So our first month has officialy began, the first week passed so quickly, because we had a lot of meetings, paperwork, and introduction to our project, and our responsibilities, here during this nine months. All of us work in a different hosting organizations, l am working three days in Zasavska Ljudska Univerza, center for adult learning, and in Monday we all meet in MCT – Mladinski Centar Trbovlje, which is our coordinating organization, and we also call it our second home here, and also some Fridays l am in MCT or in a Farm Cvetka, weekends are free!!
In this first month, beside work, we had also a lot of fun, and we also had chance to meet other people, and locals here in Trbovlje. After just one month here, l am feeling good and relaxed, and also my lovely roommates are awesome. In this first month, l can say that we also traveled, we went on the Arrival training, in Debeli Rtič near Koper, where we had chance to meet other volunteers from all Europe, who are now in Slovenia, and we have learned a lot of new things there, and visited Piran and Koper, sea cost of Slovenia.
After this training, we have decided, to travel to the capital city of Slovenia Ljubljana, which is really amazing, and it is near us, so we had a great weekend there. We also planned every month to go somewhere in Slovenia or outside, and our mentors are helping us, and share some information, or give recommendations where to travel, they are real support for us here.
Weekend trip to Ljubljana
To end this little story about my first month here, l can say that l am really happy for having this opportunity to be here, and in this one month l have meet new people, new cultures, new habits, and also some words in Slovenian. Just for one month l can see progress, and l know that there is still plenty to learn, and experience during this nine months. It will be interesting from now on, to see what to expect here in the future, and one advice for those, who are afraid to do something unusual, just get out of your comfort zone and try new things, it feels really good.
Until next time Fatima!
