Lea: first month in Slovenia

First of October 2019:
Early in the morning I went to the airport with my family, boyfriend and best friend. It was a weird feeling of being sad saying goodbye but also being excited to start a new adventure. It wasn’t the first time for me going to Slovenia, but it was the first time for me going alone and for so long. 9 months, almost a year, with new people and experiences. I was scared and excited at the same time. What if I don’t get any friends, what if I feel homesick, all the thoughts that I think most of us will have before a new adventure. But I also knew that I had some people waiting for me, cause as said it wasn’t my first time in Slovenia, actually is was my 4’th time in Slovenia in Trbovlje. I’ve been here before at two youth exchanges and on the APV meeting before the first exchange. The first exchange was the reason that I decided to go here for 9 months.

The summer of 2018:
The youth exchange called “Acceptation is the key”, is one of the best experiences in my life. And in this week, I felt I made a strong connection to the town and to the people here, and I knew that I will have to come again. A girl from Lithuania that was here on the exchange was here a year before as a volunteer and she told me a lot about it an recommended it to me.
When I came home from the exchange I started thinking about returning as a volunteer, and I wrote a mail to the people I knew here at MCT asking if they had a project for me. They had one but I had to wait until the end of the summer 2019. So, I searched for two other projects here in Slovenia. But I didn’t get any answer. I decided to wait the time in Denmark and then go to Trbovlje in the beginning of October 2019. In February I had my first meeting over skype and now I was sure that they had a project and that I would go.

The summer 2019:
The time went and it became summer and the time of my project in Slovenia became closer and closer, but before I would go here for longer time I had a chance to go here for another youth exchange. This exchange was called “Language up” and I met my coordinator of the project and signed the project. This time it wasn’t so sad to say goodbye to the country and the Slovenian people, because I knew I will see them in a month.

First of October 2019
I arrived at the apartment and met the girls I would spend the next 9 months with, it was crazy to think about that these strangers would be a big part of my life. We connected from the start and surprising for me there wasn’t any awkward moments and the conversation just kept on going.

The first month
The time went fast the first week, we did all the practical stuff with paperwork and got to know each other and our coordinators and mentors. I had my first day of my project at the primary school. And after the first week I would start for real. Every Monday we all (the four volunteers) work at MCT. In the start we did all the paperwork but after some time we began to work on projects to represent us as the new volunteers in town. On the school where I am three days a week, I mostly are on the library helping the librarian. But I also go out in some of the classes with the English teacher and do some presentations about Denmark.
On Fridays I mostly will be on a farm helping or here at MCT.

After three weeks of being here we went to the on-arrival training to meet all the other volunteers here in Slovenia, we also talked about our rights and responsibility as volunteers. It was nice to get a bigger network and now we have a lot of places all over Slovenia to visit.
After the training me and one of my flat mates went to Trieste in Italy for a weekend just being tourists there.
I really like how there is a lot of opportunities in every direction. Every week there is some events here in Trbovlje or in the neighbor towns, and our mentors are nice and helps us getting to know the town and making us feel comfortable here in Slovenia. 

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I’m really looking forward to the next 8 months!

Lea Bacci Bøgh