My First Steps as a Volunteer
To be honest, I am very grateful to have this opportunity and I am glad that everything worked well in order to get this place as a volunteer in Greece. I didn’t really planned to come here but when I got these offer I felt like that this is the right time and thing to do.
At first I need to say that I had a very nice flight. I started in Berlin with rain and 5° C temperature and arrived in Thessaloniki with very good weather.
I took that as a good sign. Another volunteer, Martin, waited for me at the airport and we took the bus to our flat in the city center. This was the first time I really noticed that I will live the next months in a very big city. And I loved it. I made so many
Experiences even already in the first days. I got to know my nice flat mates, my lovely project coordinator Maggi, who always want the best for us volunteers, and a lot of other People. I randomly met a Greek man in the first 3 days and we became friends very fast. I never got so many experiences in such a small amount of time in my life before. I discovered this beautiful city Thessaloniki, learned my first words in two languages, and I met many new people. It was incredible. After one week I finally worked my first time. It’s really nice that I had the decision where I want to work, because the NGO Arsis is pretty big and offers different places to work for there Volunteers. I decided to do it in a shelter, because I like to work with kids and I wanted to try teaching. Also, I had the opportunity to help in a lot of sports activities provided for refugees and this was one of the best parts. At the weekends I was going often for trips somewhere, for example to hike in the Mountains and take a bath in hot tubs. Sadly, after not even two weeks in Greece I injured my knee. It was very bad luck. I was glad that I got a lot of help from my organization, especially from Eva, who drove me several times to the hospital and waited there with me to help me. The following two weeks I couldn’t walk and I needed crutches. There were a lot of problems in this time, with insurance, communication, work and a many other things. At the End it was a big experience which I may didn’t needed but I grew from it. Also, I need to thank my organization and the responsible people and my flat mates for the help in this time. After two weeks I could walk better without crutches. Then, my one week on-arrival training in Volos, which is a wonderful city in Greece, started. There is not much to say beside it was one of the best weeks in my life. I found many new Friends and we had an amazing, intense and wonderful time.
At the same day we came back to Thessaloniki we decided to go to Sofia, but that’s another story happened in March.
At the end I could probably write a book about my first Month as Volunteer. I didn’t really worked thatmuch in my first month because of all the circumstances but I made unbelievably many Experiences
and I really learned a lot.
