Arts Lab 6.0: Nikola Svobodova - Month 7

So this is the final report. It’s been 7 months, which ran away so quickly. This month has been full of so many memories, emotions, experiences and people.

This experience was very important and gave me so much. As an Arts Lab volunteer you learn so many things at once. You are given a space to create your own projects, propagate them and then execute with a result. You are given responsibility to guide these workshops sometimes on your own, or need to collaborate with other people. So the whole learning experience in this sphere is rounded, you learn to work in a team and also on your own.

There were many different moments, I cannot choose just one. As an example, one of my favorite moments while working was the first school residency in Moldova school. This experience with visually impaired kids was unique and amazing. Doing the activities and seeing results with these kids was a very valuable and heartwarming experience.

There is a mix of emotions, there is gratefulness for being part of this project and to the people I got to meet there. Happiness and also sadness, getting close to some people and going from seeing them every day, to not knowing when we will see each other is difficult. But I am also proud of myself for conquering some difficulties that had appeared for me during this very transforming period.

From the beginning I would like to know that everything will be new at the start, and might seem like a lot, but slowly you get used to many things. Even the things that you should speak up about, so separate these things from the start.

I would recommend this project to volunteers who want a big experience. Many difficulties and obstacles can occur during this long time volunteering in a foreign country, but if they can grow from it and stick up for themselves, this project can be for them. It’s a beautiful and unique experience.

I started to think about the possibility of staying involved in the youthwork and volunteering world, I will see. Maybe I will be visiting more events in my country for volunteers, or travel to another volunteering project.

Report written by Nikola Svobodova, she's from Czech Republic and she's one of the 14 volunteers participating in Arts Lab 6.0, a project co-funded by the European Union through the European Solidarity Corps program.