Arts Lab 7.0: Oliwia Mieczkowska | Month I

Facts: We did a lot of things this month. We started with a lot of team building and getting to know each other. We played games, did energizers, talked, and expressed ourselves through art. We also got to know the town in the crafters market and the Folcloristica event, during which we had to take photos, interviews, videos, articles, and much more. We even got included into the events, had to present our country, our art, and our opinions as the jury. 

In the house, in our time off from work, we did a lot of activities as well. We went out a few times, went shopping together, played a lot of games, and even went to a party in Iasi. Living together with so many people is not easy, but we manage. We all have to adapt somehow and respect each other. Nevertheless, we make it work by communicating, creating rules, and trying to understand each other as well as possible. 

Feelings: In the beginning, I was overthinking a lot. I wasn’t so sure anymore if I made the right choice with this project and a gap year in general, but it all passed once I really arrived physically and mentally. I feel very welcome. I feel inspired by everything and everyone around me. I feel grateful for this opportunity. It somehow feels like we all belong here because we are all so different but work so well as a team together. 

My biggest fear was how I will manage with my chronic illness. I was scared that it will get worse or that I won’t be able to manage or work. But for now, and hopefully for the future, it is going very well. I am able to sleep a lot, eat somewhat regularly (even if not always as healthy as I should), and am very active in work and community, which helps to distract from the pain. But even in such an active environment, I still miss home a lot. I miss my old friends, I miss my family, and my boyfriend. It’s been hard keeping in contact only through the phone. It’s been hard balancing between trying to bond with the people in the house and trying to uphold the relationships back at home, especially because of the irregular schedule and limited free time, which I had much more of before. But I am trying to adapt, get used to it, and work with it as much as possible. 

A struggle I also had to face this month was the week I got sick. It was hard being sick, unable to do as much work as I wanted to, and especially connect with the people in the house. It was a very special moment because it was the first time we had the opportunity to work completely on our own and exchange experience. The group went out a lot, talked a lot, and grew closer together while I had to stay in bed to not get more people sick and also to get better as fast as possible. I felt somewhat excluded, which was hard to accept because it was no one’s fault, and I also couldn’t do anything to fix it. But the feeling started to disappear as I have spent as much time as possible with them as soon as I got better. For now, I feel very grateful, happy, and excited for what the future holds for me and us!! 

Findings: I found out how well I can manage on my own. I felt very overwhelmed by the fact that I will have to do so much stuff alone which my mom did before or helped me with, but the reality was far less bad than I had imagined. I also learned to just be myself. You will find your place in a group eventually. The scary feeling of not knowing if I will be liked and if I would vibe with the others ended very fast. One should always just be oneself and let everything fall into place on its own. The feeling of not being prepared to 100% was a new thing for me. I wanted to know as much as possible and to be prepared for any possible situation that could occur. But here I learned to just let things happen and adapt in the moment and work with what I have and am able to do. It is not as hard as I imagined it to be and turned out to also be somehow fun. The excitement during the moment and also the proudness when you have finished successfully. 

Another finding was the language barrier. It is not as hard as I thought it would be to speak English and express myself and my thoughts mainly in that language, but understanding others who don’t speak as well has been a problem. But with a bit of body language and Google Translate we make everything work. Staying with the topic of language: I have learned how hard Romanian is for me to learn. Usually I haven’t had much of a problem with languages before as I could somehow connect new words to the languages I already knew. But Romanian is completely different than any of them and that is very sad and hard to accept. My motivation is low because I see others learn it a lot faster as they have a similar sentence and word structure in their language. Nevertheless I am gonna be here for another 6 months and I want to try my best, without competition, without comparison. 

One last finding I want to mention here is connected to Romania itself and its people: The people are super nice and friendly. They make you feel so welcome and are so happy to be able to share their traditions. We have always been welcomed with food and drinks. We’re offered so many things just as an act of kindness. It is a very special thing for me because Romanians don’t have a very nice reputation in Germany and many people were confused why I would choose this kind of country to spend my gap year in. But I wasn’t worried that it would be a bad experience, I am just happy that I was proven right. 

Future: Very basic but: I want to uphold my current positive energy, habits, and methods, but I also want to be open to learning new things, not only for my private life but also for fun and development. I would love to learn the arts of others and try them out for myself. I still want to work on the relationships I have here and at home because I value them a lot. Finally, I would like to focus on staying in the moment. I don’t want to think so much into the future or the past when I don’t have to. It’s a special moment in my life right now, and I want to experience it with all my heart.

This monthly report was written by Oliwia Mieczkowska, our Polish/German volunteer taking part in a seven-month Arts Lab 7.0 mobility, co-funded by the European Union under the European Solidarity Corps.