Houston, we have a problem!
Or not?
Often, after six months of living in another country, two important periods occur: a period of irritation and a severe crisis. The period of irritation is expressed in the emigrant’s anger, perhaps even regret about moving. Language difficulties, bank card problems, local bureaucracy, searching for friends and so on. But at the same time the memories of his country from which he moved are still fresh in his mind. Another stage is a severe crisis. The emigrant feels loneliness, rejection by “this world”. The question appears: to stay or to go back. In the first six months, at the peak of the crisis, there is a possibility that a person may return home because he/she has not coped with emotions.
As for me after 7 months of living in Germany? I am blooming and smelling of roses. Everything that worried me, that I wrote about in my first report, is gone. I know that I have wonderful friends, a great school administration that is always ready to help me, and the opportunity to develop and be even better.
The first thing that changed, of course, was the day itself. As soon as I could see the first moments of the day lengthening compared to the night, I realized that it would be easier from now on. And indeed I still get up early, but now I can see the sunrise on my way to school. Of course, the time change has helped a lot.
I went to my second volunteer seminar. Honestly, you don’t really look forward to making more friends anymore. After all, you already made good friends at the first seminar. But believe me, anyone who has decided to volunteer is a wonderful person. Everyone came with their own amazing story, and not to communicate with them would be a great loss for you.
I fulfilled my dream and saw the mountains, the Alps. When I was eight years old, I used to look at pictures in a textbook about Germany, about Bavaria with its beautiful cities by the mountains. And now I saw it all with my own eyes. I missed them very much. Then I realized that no matter where you are, you can always find something small that will make you happy or at least energize you for the near future.
I had already learned a lot in my first months in Germany and in the long time before I came here. And it seems that something is unlikely to surprise me or be something new at the moment. But now, as I think about my future plans, I am doing it in German way for the first time. I started looking for an apartment/room (not recommended without parents), paid for courses to improve my English vocabularies, went to see friends in the warm south of Germany, booked and paid for a cab in Bremen..
I knew I’d become attached to this place within a year, simple arithmetic that breaks a lot of people’s hearts. There´s Zehra, with whom we can discuss handbags and our school days. There’s Klara, who has a synthesizer in her room that you can play while she’s away. There´s Maita, who loves to dance and is always willing to offer to eat sushi. But Eva doesn´t live here anymore, with whom we could cozy up in the evening to discuss how much we miss pelmeni or herring with bread. And soon it will be my turn to leave our friendly nest.
I’ve done it many times before, but each time will always be just as strong as the first. I hope that the next volunteers will have similar highlights with their future family to tell about in their reports. For now, this is my report and I write in it about how happy I am to be a part of this project.
Vladislava is hosted by Tobiasschule und Kindergarten e.V. on our project co-funded by the European Union.
