Maybe one of my biggest steps!

გამარჯობა ხალხო!

I am Charlotte the second German volunteer here at the ISCR.

I cannot believe it that I’m here two months already, since I was sixteen, I want to do a volunteering year abroad, but I never believed in myself that I will do it. But now I am here, and I am so proud and happy of myself.

In the first days it was really difficult to be here in Georgia, I was sick in the first week already and additionally the homesickness was also difficult to get through but that didn`t stop me to be here and discover Georgia. Moreover, the other volunteers Krista, Renée, Vibeke and Anias helped me a lot to get through the daily problems in a new country. Nevertheless, the first day after I arrived will stay in my head forever. The evening before Lia our coordinator told us about the grape picking, we can join, so at my first day we went to the house of our leader´s uncle. As I said, I was sick in the first week, so I snuffled the whole day. When we wanted to change our clothes, the uncle showed us where we can change. So Vibeke and I went into the room where we could change, but before we got there the uncle came back, stepped towards me, held my chin in his hand and put nasal spray in my nose. At this point I just knew a bit about the Georgian culture like that the Georgian people are really welcoming and friendly to you, so I experienced this immediately.

I have already experienced so much in the last two months, I kept saying to the other volunteers that it already felt like months in the first few weeks. We went to a festival on my first weekend in Tbilisi and made our first friends on the last evening.

Then Anias and I were also able to take part in a Youth exchange, which gave me such a nice insight into Georgian culture. The best thing about this whole Youth exchange was the Georgian evening, to see how these young people introduced Supra to us was so nice and interesting to watch. This Youth exchange also gave us the opportunity to explore another city. The fact that we went to Bakuriani was one of the best things I did in my first two weeks.

So I can really recommend everyone to do the same, I know it's a very big step and it \ takes a lot of courage, it was also one of the biggest steps for me. But I did it and it was the best decision.

If you want to read more about my experiences, stay tuned and follow our blog.

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