Ahoj, I’m Madelyn, I’m 27 and I came from Spain to Slovakia at the beginning of February.
I have always wanted to go abroad and after looking for many opportunities I found INEX in the ESC platform. Since this was going to be my first experience abroad and I’m afraid it’s going to be my last because there aren’t many opportunities alike after 30, I wanted to be sure the organization was reliable. I checked their social media and after the interview I had a feeling that this volunteering was the one I wanted to go to because I felt accepted at that moment, the questions appeared like they not only care about the project but every person who’s part of it.
So, I exchanged some more emails with Barbara and with my sending organization, COCAT. We arranged it all together to get to this experience, next thing I knew was that I was buying my tickets to get to Bratislava.
My journey from the ESC platform to the INEX office has been something I will never forget. I took a plane from Mallorca to Viena and afterwards I took a bus where Barbara, our coordinator, and Vaso, my roommate, were waiting for me. I felt very welcome at that moment and couldn’t wait to start the routine.
They took me to the flat I will be living in, which is very nice even though we can’t take showers after 11 pm, because there was a schedule I didn’t know about.
After going through all the obligations with Barbara, I got to go to the office and meet everyone.
There I was told that we were going to a family center Prešporkovo right after so one of my first memories in Bratislava was being told to put on a skirt and dance with parents and kids in a dance room, the day was nonstop because after lunch Barbara, Lenka, Vaso and I put on traditional costumes and went to the English international school to dance and introduce our countries with a quiz, it was an interesting experience listening to the traditional music and seeing how the dance supposed to be like.
The next day after my arrival, I also met my mentor Mima and we went groceries shopping with google maps help. Mima has been so helpful, she calmed me when I asked mostly about the weather, which was very cold, for a girl who the lowest temperature that had experienced was 10°C, cloudy and there was always a thin rain. Nevertheless, I’d like to highlight that I didn’t complain at all when it started to snow, the streets were beautiful and it was my first time seeing the snow falling on me while I was going to work. Mima and I went lunch after a week of my arrival, so I could try local food as, of course, Bryndzové halušky which will not be turning into my favorite dish, but I really liked just the filling which was very tasty.
Being in Bratislava wouldn’t have been as fun as it is until now without Vaso. We made a lot of friends together and we found out that even though we have different characters we complement each other very well right from the beggining, I can’t be happier that I found a true friend I can tell everything to and who I’m working and living with. Without her it would not have been possible to go through the day we went to INTEGRA, it was an overwhelming day were I found myself a little frustrated with our tasks because at the beginning I didn’t know what to do. But thanks to Barbara, we managed to have fun and make everybody dance during the disco party.
The first month already came with a lot of work and expectations from Vaso and I, first of all we had to prepare a presentation about our countries, try to promote it and we had to make typical food, which in my case it is not one of my favorite activities, but all those who attended enjoy them.
Later, we had to create a workshop with our topic and ideas, which was a tough task we had to invest a lot of time, sweat and energy on. We had to do the research, make it interactive and arrange all the materials. Choosing a topic was the most challenging part for me because I had two topics in mind. Since I have lived in Spain for a long time, but I was born in Ecuador I wanted to talk about the multicultural spaces and the identity but I’m a person who loves art and drawing specifically. Therefore, I talked about it with Monika, one of our colleagues from the office and shoulder to cry on, and decided to make the workshop about the creative process. She also helps us to have it all ready by the end of the month so we can give our first trial.
In this project is also included the Slovak lessons that are progressing slowly, Andie, our teacher, has a lot of patience and tries to motivate us during the lessons. This language sounds like nothing I heard before and has a lot of sounds I’m unable to pronounce yet.
For now, I haven’t stopped making plans, meeting new people and exploring the city. Can’t wait to see what else it is to discover in Slovakia.
