How did I end up living in Croatia?!.
Today has been exactly four weeks since I first set foot in this country. It’s pretty crazy to me that when someone asks me where I live, the correct answer is Croatia.
My name is Ana, and I am from Coruña, a beautiful city located in Galicia, northwest Spain. Although my hometown also has beautiful beaches and an amazing coastside, I have to give a point to Murter for its crystal-clear sea. For the next twelve months, I will be volunteering at Argonauta with my dear colleague Theresa, and so far, we are very happy with the decision we made.
The reasons that led me to where I am right now are diverse. I studied psychology in my region, and one of the fields I focused on the most was child psychology, so all the workshops organized by Argonauta here seem really interesting. When I was searching for a project on the ESC portal, I was also looking for one related to environmental and sustainable development, so these two aspects combined made Argonauta the best possible option for me. To be honest, the main thing I was looking for was the experience of living in another country and to broaden my horizons by participating in a project I’m truly interested in.
Before arriving here, I was really worried about a lot of things that now I am completely used to. It’s funny how sometimes the moments right before doing something can be much worse than actually facing the situation. I did not know if I was going to be able to have fun and be funny in English, and making linguistic mistakes is the exact reason why I laugh the most with Theresa. Besides, I used to make fun of people that couldn’t remember words in Spanish because they had been abroad for many months, and now I am the one struggling with how to say sartén!. Another of my biggest fears was living in a small place, but so far we are almost used to it. Let’s see how we deal with winter months.
I don’t know exactly how, but in this four weeks we’ve managed to make a little home in a completely unfamiliar house, visit a bunch of different places, and see this area through the eyes of Juliette, the previous volunteer who lived here this past year (sending you a big hug if you’re reading this <3). We’ve participated in a youth exchange, we met a lot of new people – and almost learned all their names – and picked olives on an island that looks like the setting for Mamma Mia, along with many other things that I can’t fit into this blog.
At the moment, Murter is treating us very well. The sun continues to shine in the sky while the tourists disappear, so we are lucky to enjoy our solitude on these paradisiacal beaches. So far, I just hope we don’t get used to the beautiful sunsets and the crystal-clear waters, so they continue to impress us in the next eleven months.
Seguiremos informando! Doviđenja!
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.
