I’m at home – Serbia (I also called Poland my home so, just to specify) for three weeks now, and I still don’t feel like I’m belonging here. But one thing is true, I don’t have to buy my food.
I did some evaluation surveys and the question repeating was ‘What have you learned in Poland – describe?’ But how to put 9 months in just 3 sentences?
I started this journey when I was 22 years old. Now I’m 23 years old. What I have learned? -That celebrating birthday with people you didn’t know from before is quite challenging, amazing and you don’t care about your celebration as long as you make yourself learn something new that day. For me, that was learning how to hold tears back when my feet were all in blood and hurting after 7 hours of walking in the Tatra mountains – hehe amazing Poland 😀
I didn’t have a clue what I should expect coming there. Of course, no one can expect anything from saying yes to something new and unknown. What have I learned? – First of all, how to work on myself, grow from my own mistakes, and my ups and downs. It’s hard, not gonna lie, but I’m still learning.
I had a Portuguese roommate, and what I have learned? – Carolina estou te esperando em Belgrado! I haven’t learned Portuguese unfortunately, I translated this. But I made a friend for life. I met a lot of people, and for real so many different people, and that’s a thing and experience that I wish anyone in the world could and get a chance to do it. Meeting new cultures, people, manners, and behaviours and putting down your country or environment’s stereotypes you were thought, are just gone.
I felt free. I mean don’t think that here in Serbia they are holding me as a hostage, but that’s a different kind of free, that’s being on your own and doing the thing you want and can at that specific time in that specific moment.
I can’t be more thankful for this experience that you can get just once in your life. I can’t be more thankful for all the classes with our students, meetings with our coordinators and building some kind of a relationship with all of them where I feel like we become one big family, not from the same roots but a family with similar experiences and the same smile on our faces every time we see each other.
If I could do like an announcement publicly to promote my life in Poland, I would say: ‘Do it now, do it immediately and do it even if you’re doubting yourself. You won’t regret it. Yes, it will be hard, nothing is easy, but I believe in all of you, young people who wants to do something good for yourself and also other people.
And yes, I’m so proud of myself!
For all of the people I met in Poland, I love you, and you made my experience better and easier. See you somewhere soon!
