Hallooo!

My name is Olga and I am the new ESC volunteer at Stadtjugendring Stuttgart (SJR). I am 18 and come from Marbella, in the south of Spain (though my whole family is Colombian, a whole identity crisis I will deal with another day). It is crazy to think that 6 months ago I was doing my final exams for high school and now I am getting used to living alone thousands of kilometers away from the sea (and the heat).

Now, don’t get me wrong, the chaos is still going on, and seeing my agenda this week would stress anybody out, but that is only because I am always keeping an eye out for interesting cultural events or trips. Even yesterday I was out of Stuttgart to check out a university! Still, I can see my social circle gaining strength and new faces and habits forming.

During my first month here I really struggled to make friends, since everything seemed to take so much longer than when I was at school. Almost like a miracle, though, during my On-Arrival Training in Würzburg I found a group of amazing people who also live around Stuttgart, so that hurdle disappeared. That struggle, however, left a positive mark on me and I learnt to visit the places and events I want even if I am on my own without feeling scared. In more appealing words, I learnt the art of „solo-dates“ and it kind of became like therapy.

My name is Olga and I am the new ESC volunteer at Stadtjugendring Stuttgart (SJR). 

So far I am loving Stuttgart: a cultural youth offer that I could have only dreamed of, having new places to explore and getting the chance to go to the library and to the pool so often (which is ironic, because I am swimming way more than I used to in my own coastal city). Still, I am also starting to feel the homesickness and the mental toll of my daily life being mostly in a new language.

To deal with it, I like closing my eyes and hearing the city sounds as if it were the waves or the smell of rain as if it were the sea’s breeze. I have also met several people who speak spanish and I am planning to attend more events from Hispanic associations, so it sometimes is like redescovering my own culture and country through new lenses.

Another source of comfort and gratitude is my work at SJR itself, not only for the events I get to participate in, but also for my coworkers, who always support me and make me crack a smile. Also, as a science person I never pictured me enjoying the social and office work so much, but it really is so interesting and eye-opening in discovering perspectives, struggles, solutions and actions! Actually, my picture here was last weekend at the „Palais der Kinderrechte“, where I helped adorable little children learn about their own rights 🙂

After all, I’m glad I finally stopped procrastinating on this blog and pulled my thoughts together lol. At the end of the day, I am very happy to have gotten this opportunity to rest from academics and get to develop myself, my skills and my relationship with the world! And when I’m melancholic, I can just look up to the stars and feel connected to home and to my people no matter the place ^^