BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.
First of all, happy New Year! I’m writing these words on January 7th, 2025. If I compare this version of myself to the 2024 version, I can see many changes I didn’t expect when I made my resolutions for 2024.
December wasn’t an easy month for us, to be honest. The days were very short, and the island was too cold (one Bura night, the weather app showed -8°C! And Theresa’s shelters were torn apart by the wind!). Anyway, we managed to survive it by running to the sun whenever it appeared in the sky, and thanks to a couple of visits.
We went to Zagreb to catch up with some of the volunteers we met in Orahovica, and we were amazed by the city lights after spending three weeks in a row without leaving the island. We went ice-skating and spent all the money we hadn’t spent in Murter. Oh, and of course, we missed a bus, as usual.
These weeks were filled with a lot of reading and watching movies. One of my resolutions for the upcoming months is to open up a bit more to the people on the island. Solitude can be dangerous when you get used to it, and even though this experience is supposed to push me out of my comfort zone, you can quickly find a new one. We’re going to start the winter workshops, so I hope it’ll make meeting new people a bit easier. I also want to start learning Croatian again, but this time I’d like to do some face-to-face language exchanges. Learning a language on your own, especially one that is so different from your native tongue, can be really challenging (which is why I’m making a list of resources for future volunteers. If any of you are reading this, you’re welcome).
And finally, slowly but surely, the weeks passed and we were heading back home. But of course, coming back wasn’t going to be easy either. I left the island on the morning of the 23rd and was supposed to arrive in the afternoon on the 24th. But the roads were closed due to snow, and I never made it to Zagreb, where I was supposed to catch my flights. In the end, I had to take some flights from Split, and I arrived on the 25th. So I spent the night of the 24th at Barajas, Madrid airport. My dinner consisted of a splendid 16€ meal: a bocata de jamón serrano and a beer (honestly, my favorite menu).
And then, back home for two weeks. Christmas was exhausting, but I managed to see all my people, and I even had one of my wisdom teeth removed! I really enjoyed it, but… Surprise! In the end, I missed the peace and quiet of Murter. So now that we’re back, I’ll try to embrace all that peace until I regret these words.
Ana, volunteer from Spain
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.
