April, April, der macht was er will.
… Is a German saying about April, meaning “April, April, who does what he wants,” which describes this past month pretty well. Since my last blog ended with the sentence “let’s see what April brings us,” I’ll start this one with the most important thing April brought me: my phone!! So, with my newly won ability to communicate with the outside world and take pictures, the month could only be a success.
We used the first week to finish the dissemination of the Youth Exchange in Sweden and tried to enjoy the island before leaving again for the Youth Exchange “Foody” in Šibenik. Arriving at the Catholic school in Šibenik, it was like a deja vu, but at the same time everything was different – the topic, the participants, the season, and of course – us. Last time we stayed there, we had just arrived in Croatia and knew each other for a week, and now we’ve been living here for 7 months (wtf) and are basically sisters, ahaha.
This Youth Exchange experience was different from the one in Sweden, because we were responsible for the media and weren’t fully participants. This topic was probably the one of all three Youth Exchanges that we participated in that was the most interesting to me personally, because I am very into the topics of nutrition and how our eating habits affect the environment and ourselves. Also, we walked from the school to the St. Nicholas fortress, which was a beautiful path that I didn’t know before.
All in all, I had a lot of fun with the participants and of course, with Ana, Lucija, and Juan, and even though it was from time to time exhausting and we went a little crazy, we enjoyed the week a lot. Ana also learned to master the rubik’s cube, which was undoubtedly the greatest success of the month!
When we came back to Murter, we spent some more time with Juan until he left and found ourselves with a free extended easter weekend in front of us. Soo, we spontaneously decided to use that to see more of Croatia and booked FlixBus, ferries, and a hostel (this process is becoming a routine at this point) in Hvar, one of the islands in front of Split. The journey to Hvar already had beautiful views, and the weather was a dream! I remember driving from the port to the island center and being completely stunned by the green mountains of Hvar. I guess it helped that it rained a lot the weeks before and got hot afterward because the nature was just unreal.
We stopped every two seconds to smell a flower or take a picture of the clear turquoise water. In our hostel room, we also met a really nice girl from Germany, with whom we went for a 7 (!!) euro beer in the evening, which made us realize how different the island probably looks in peak summer season when all the party tourists arrive. After two days of clear water and UV 7, we left with a full gallery and tan lines back to Murter.
Of course, we didn’t have a break afterward because my family arrived on the island to visit for 4 days. It was so nice to show them all the places I love around here and for them to meet Ana, who made Spanish tortillas for them, which my older brother already planned on cooking for himself in his own kitchen in Germany (I would love to see that in live action).
The highlight of their visit was definitely the last day because we walked to Raduč and saw a dolphin (or whale??) in the sea, and in the evening, we all, including Ana, went to eat pizza, which was very funny.
These last few days, we met some people from the island and kinda got more into planning what to do after September, which resulted in us sitting at the kitchen table in front of our laptops, trying to figure out our future. But for now, I’m trying to wash all my clothes again because I’ll leave tomorrow for my solo trip to Malta (which I also copied from last year’s volunteers)
For this trip, I am lowkey scared because I booked it in the middle of our winter down, and I apparently felt bold, but now the thought of flying alone and staying in a random hostel in a mixed dorm doesn’t sound so delightful. Anyway, the flights are now booked, so I will, like it or not, go and hope that I don’t die, ahaha. Wish me luck!
Theresa, volunteer from Germany
About the ESC: The European Solidarity Corps is a program of the European Union to strengthen solidarity in various areas: from helping the disadvantaged and providing humanitarian aid to engagement for health and the environment in the EU and beyond.
The program offers young people the opportunity to respond to the needs of the community, make a concrete contribution to society, and in the process gain invaluable experience and develop new skills. The program is also intended for organizations active in the field of solidarity that want to involve young people in their activities.
