I am Frida, 19 years old from Germany. I started my long-term volunteering in İzmir with Pi Youth Association at the end of November. By now – the end of February – three months are already over, therefore two thirds are still ahead of me. Since I arrived, the time is passing like a flash. Accordingly, I try to enjoy it as much as possible. I remember my arrival quite well; it was early on Saturday morning, November 25th. I was extremely tired, since I flew throughout the night and could not catch a lot of sleep. The weather was bad which some turbulence during the flight. Nevertheless, when I saw İzmir for the first time, I liked it straight away. The first couple of days I needed time to adjust myself to the new surrounding because İzmir is quite a big city and also, the fact that I met a lot of new people in a short time. Later, when I learned how things like my volunteer activities and daily life are working, I eventually felt like I arrived. Since my first month, my weekly schedule changed a bit, now in February I could not be happier! I have got four workshops; which I consider as the perfect amount. There is one office day to prepare each of these workshops. That means, I am quite busy every day and I am not twiddling my thumbs. One of my workshops is a beginner level English conversation club in Sakin Mekan Agora with a group of people of different age. I enjoy my time there a lot and I am very impressed by the motivation and improvement of the participants. Another workshop of mine is an English conversation club in the Pi Youth Association Office, at an advanced level. It is a lot of fun each time, since we can do various activities. The last one is an English conversation club in a high school with two groups of students in 10th grade – their final year. Furthermore, I started a book club this month with another volunteer. We read short stories and this led to very interesting conversations about various topics. If it works out well, next month we will read a book together instead of short stories and I am looking forward to it. During my free time I try to explore Türkiye. Every Monday, which is one of our weekend days, some volunteers and I go either on short trips, or do some other activities in İzmir. We went hiking, made a trip to Çesme and Urla, visited a mosque and much more. Let’s see what comes next
