Arts Lab 3.0: Krista Lipska - First month in Romania

Hello, everyone! My name is Krista and I arrived in Romania from Latvia on 18th June. My adventures here started a bit more different than I was expecting, because during the time when I needed to explore Târgu Frumos, meet local kids and youngsters, I was actually getting to know local doctors. And one thing I can add is that I got really happy for meeting doctors and nurses who speak English, so there were no issues explaining what kind of medical help I need, I definitely was satisfied with medical care quality and attitude in Iași hospital and ER in Târgu Frumos.

Approximately after a week I was more ready to hop in right adventures and started getting to know more and more local volunteers, children and the structure how everything is being planned in here. I was amazed how much local teenagers are interested in planning and hosting events by themselves as well about the variety of their interests. Pleasant surprise as well appeared when I saw that kids are enjoying a lot playing board games, so that was good opportunity to get to know them better.

A.C.T House looks wide and easy adaptable to different kind of events, rooms are light, and being there feels comfortable. There is enough room and equipment for different types of workshops and it has a library section. From my observations, it is amazing, that everyone who wants to facilitate event is more than welcome to do that, so this makes A.C.T House as open space for all creative and educational workshops, makes it approachable and engaging for young people. 

Târgu Frumos is quite nice and charming town, people here are kind and talkative, it’s unfortunate, that I do not speak Romanian yet, because I would love to be able answer to them and have some chat to know more about local things and culture. And one more thing – they for sure love flowers and keeping their surrounding as beautiful as possible.  

When I arrived, the next day there was sports event, so this was the moment I realized that here will be different activities almost every week, especially in summer. As for some time I had just one functioning hand, because other was in splint, I was encouraged to do not only workshops I planned within the art field I applied with, which was challenging for me. After quite long time spent without working in theater field, I came to decision test myself again in theater activities.

During first two weeks I have been introduced to local judo team with which we went to few villages around Târgu Frumos to present ASIRYS, as well to introduce to ourselves – international volunteers and our aimed art fields.

I had a pleasure to see and meet new amazing people with great variety of hobbies and lovely ideas for future events and workshops. Furthermore I am truly thankful for opportunity to get to know both amazing volunteers I live with. Every single day I can expand my horizons by just being around to them. 

An article written by Krista Lipska. She is volunteering within Arts Lab 3.0 project, funded by European Solidarity Corps, with the support of European Union.