Ya friends! These past two weeks have been busy busy busy and (as per usual) it is so hard for me to summarize my time here in these short posts. Between my internship, my volunteering, and spending time with friends, it feels like I never have a rest, but in the best way possible.
Internship
presenting LESOL to faculty at the Metochi Monastery
A large part of my work here has been adapting to the constantly changing nature of working with an NGO involved in refugee support. Laws are constantly changing, needs are constantly shifting, and with that my work is constantly changing. While, for the most part, the project I am doing here has remained relatively close to the project I set out to do, the role has definitely been a bit different than I imagined it to be.
The past few weeks I have been acting primarily as communications support. This has included editing videos for grant proposals, creating new social media content, writing advocacy content for our website, and lots of Shopify edits to better advertise our products.
In addition to that, last week I got to go on a little excursion with Lesvos Solidarity, where we presented our project to faculty of a potential university partner at a monastery in the hills of Greece (it was gorgeous... photos below)..
Community
Another realization that dawned on me today was that I found a community here. As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, one of my top priorities when I arrived was finding a group of people that I could count on. Not just friends, but a true community.
This past weekend I went camping (if you can’t tell by my past posts... I really, really enjoy camping). The weather was chilly but the people were incredible, as were the views. But the most beautiful part of the camping trip wasn’t even the night under the stars, or swimming in the sea in October, or the lovely taverna dinner we had on the way back the next day. No, it was all the people asking me about my camping trip when I got back.
I’ve been so busy here that it can sometimes be hard to take a step back and look at how far I have come in just two months. My first week here I was lonely, scared I wasn’t going to make any friends, and nervous about all of the challenges ahead of me. And although I still have two months of growth left, I wanted to make a list here of things I once found challenging that I can now do comfortably:
- Navigating a grocery store not being able to read the labels
- Public speaking
- (Attempting) to speak a language I am learning with a native speaker
- Biking up large hills
Outside of camping and visiting the monastery, I also had some lovely excursions within Mytilene, including many home cooked meals, some Sunday morning swims (but that water is getting chilly!), long walks around the island with my camera, and countless chats with people who are infinitely more interesting than I will ever be. Photos below!
taken while camping in Skala Eressos, a beach on the other side of the island
taken in Mytilene on my walk home from my internship
And... of course... here is the playlist 🙂
Baby Steps by Olivia Dean
You Get What You Give by the New Radicals
Fool for Love by Lord Huron