Rose Blm.

Hey ! I’m Rose and I spent almost 5 months in Murter, between January and June 2023. After the first year of a master’s degree at the Natural History National Museum in Paris, I decided to take a gap year to discover different ways of transforming our societies to make them ecologically and socially sustainable. I also wanted to live a long-term experience abroad, in a European country, to discover another culture and immerse myself in a totally new environment. So that’s how, while browsing on the ESC portal, I went for Argonauta’s offer and ended up in Murter to contribute to a non-formal education project. I knew nothing about Croatia or the Balkans (from lifestyles to traditional superstitions to coastal and mountainous landscapes). Honestly, it was quite a challenging experience as I arrived in Murter in January, when everything was closed, the Bura was blowing and there was little to do. But, little by little, thanks to the people I met in Murter, the girls from Argonauta and the friends I made during the training for volunteers in Croatia, I got used to it and found the resources within me to have a pleasant stay. In my spare time, I walked around the island (with Sarah especially haha) along the coast, took the bus through Croatia or even Bosnia to discover the country and also had time to work on personal projects, like preparing another trip or starting to learn the guitar. And of course, I took part in Argonauta’s activities, designing flyers and posters, creating videos (I’ve mastered Canva like no one else now), taking pictures and helping out with workshops for children and adults. Like all the other ESC volunteers, I was also able to develop a personal project and I had a lot of fun creating an escape game that I could set up with high-school students.
All in all, it was a rich experience that I will remember for the rest of my life 😊 Thanks to Suzana, Ivona, Nela, Sanja and Sarah for making this possible!