Volunteer Stories -Travelling to foreign countries without leaving Ro- by Ana Mureșan

Hello, everyone! My name is Ana, and today I want to let you in on a little secret I`ve carried for the past four months. It all started when one of my professors approached me after classes one day and told me about an opportunity that would have me working with international volunteers.

At first, I was not sure if I wanted to get involved, being a student and having my plate quite full at that moment, but I thought I should at least try to see what it is about. 

I met with the project coordinator, Remus, and he explained what would happen and how things would go. Still, not very convinced, I took some time to debate if this is something that would be my cup of tea and if it was something I was willing to sacrifice my time for. 

In the end, in case it was not obvious, I decided to go for it, and now here I am. At first, it was quite hard to start working in such a different environment because even if I had been volunteering for two years at that point, I had never done it in an international context before. I was anxious and scared, and I wanted to quit every other day. But I didn`t. 

Looking back, I now see that change is difficult and is scary, even if I am Romanian, even if I was not leaving my country, traditions and family to go to an entirely new place, I was changing.

Such an experience makes you understand that everyone is different and at the same time just as important. 

I formed bonds that I wouldn`t want ruptured, I met people whom I greatly respect and admire, I spoke to youth and shared their struggles, and I would not have done it any differently. People expect to have things fixed in place, expect volunteering experiences to be the same, but everyone has their own journey, their own way of doing things or understanding those around them. 

I know I might not be as involved as my colleagues are, and I deeply regret that, but at the same time, I know now that doing everything in my power to stay and hopefully make a small change in the way things actually happen in the world and in our community here in Baia Mare is enough for me. If, by being here I can change one life, I would be the happiest person. 

But I deeply digress. You are here looking to find out a secret, and here it is: I met so many beautiful people from so many different countries that have taught me an insane amount of things, from language, to culture, tradition, songs and dances, to mindsets and values that I now identify as an international Romanian. I feel like I have travelled to tens of countries just because I had the opportunity to speak to someone different. 

In the end, I would like to address my thanks to the people who make these encounters possible and who allowed me to become more than an in-country volunteer, to become an international Romanian volunteer and be able to finally appreciate the different, the foreign and the new.

The volunteer is coordinated by Team for Youth Association in ”Year5” project, a European Solidarity Corps volunteering activity in Baia Mare, project code 2025-1-RO01-ESC51-VTJ-000346804. The content of this testimonial does not reflect the official opinion of the European Union. The responsibility for the information and views expressed in the article rests entirely with the author(s).