August 2020

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The month before my big adventure


Oh wow, this month was a great rollercoaster. My feelings reached from, "Oh yes, I'm moving on to a new experience and it's gonna be totally awesome!", to, "Oh no, who in the world let me agree to this?". To be honest, I was kind of overthinking my decision to leave the country at some points. Nevertheless, thinking about how I have always wanted to go on this journey weirdly calmed me down. There's nothing wrong in trying. I guess, I was also somehow expecting it to be TOO perfect.

Two weeks before my departure I finally got my driver's license, so I ran some errands by myself. I really didn't have the feeling that I would be leaving the country soon. I had my pre-departure-training, which basically solely told me the things that I had already read in my info kit from ICYE. It was nice to hear from other volunteers leaving Austria, though, and therefore not feeling alone with my worries and thoughts.

Something that was very dear to my heart was my Goodbye-Party. All of those people came by to simply party together one more time before me leaving for ten months. We all celebrated a new chapter of life, as many of my friends also graduated and moved on to university, and no-one worried about us being apart soon. "How could I ever leave these people?", went through my head a billion of times. But I knew that this was what I wanted to do. I had two go-to statements for my friends before I left: "I need to hug you as long as I still can", and, "Remember, 10 months is enough time for a baby for you two!" I was saying all those things about leaving, but never realized, what it actually meant.

My last days in Austria were spent with driving around in my grandmother's car to say Goodbye to everyone. Even by doing this and getting all the good wishes from the people, all of it felt incredibly surreal. Like nothing was going to even change.

The day before my departure was extremely weird. I packed my things while two of my friends were sitting on my bed, talking about university. Still, I didn't feel prepared at all. I didn't really sleep that night, either. Saying Goodbye to my best friend and her boyfriend was the hardest part of that day. We have never been apart for more than two weeks. Everything felt like it was a movie and I was the one watching it. It didn't feel real.



on vacation in Tirol



in an amusement park for kids



a last nice birthday party




pictures from my Goodbye party

Location: Langenwang, Österreich

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