La revedere, Romania! Hope to see you soon!

 During these ten months in Romania, I got the opportunity to travel to different countries and cities along with Romania, to develop new language skills, to meet incredible people from all around the world, and the most importantly felt valued enough to touch someone else’s life. You learn more about yourself while you are learning more about others. Volunteering is a relation that affects both sides. Until the end, you don’t even understand how much you are affected by it. Looking back now seems like the first day I came here was yesterday. I was trying to find the bus station in front of Cluj Airport with carrying more than 40 kilos of baggage, not knowing a word of Romanian to ask for help. 

However, it has been already ten months, and I am feeling bitter when I think of ending this experience. I had an exchange year in high school. Therefore, this was not my first international experience. I also feel lucky, because I am also aware of the things that are waiting for me after the experience—the shock of going home after ten months and seeing that nothing has ever changed.

On the other hand, this experience is the one that taught me a lot both about myself and grew me up more as a grown-up person. Living in Romania for almost a year has left its marks on my soul. I feel like leaving home, to get home back in Turkey. Now, I feel like I have homes both in Romania and Turkey. In Urbanism, there is this terminology that we use as ‘urban memory’. It is a kind of collective memory that is constituted by individuals’ experiences within the place itself. I am aware of the fact that even if I come here in the future, the feelings will not be the same, because I will not have the people that I had those memories with me. That’s why it is going to be hard to say goodbye to all the memories I had in every single street and the people I have met here.

During these ten months, I maybe had such experiences that no one (well except my flatmates I would say) could have during their EVS period. All the craziness, happiness, sadness, excitement, scariness, tiredness, and so many other feelings thought me and showed me a lot about myself. Therefore, I am thankful for the people who became my family during this period. Even if we are in two different edges of Europe physically, I know that the time will come to bring us together again. The world is small, and ‘meraki’ will bring us back together. Mulțumesc mult pentru tot România! La revedere!

Gul Ecem Cam – volunteer  in the project BCV - Building communities through volunteering - funded by ERASMUS +