My first month in Trento Blog dei volontari

07/10/2021

Ciao, my name is Caroline. I am 18 years old and since the 8 th of September I am volunteering in Trento. I come from Düren, a small city near cologne in the west of Germany. I always wanted to go abroad for a year after graduating from high school. And here I am. Living in a foreign country, learning a new language, and meeting sooo many new people.

In my first two weeks here in Trento I was able to discover the city and be a real tourist. It is a very pretty city and I love the mountains or in general the nature here in Trentino. I also went to so many nice places like Garda lake, Bolzano and Venezia. At first it felt more like a vacation than a one year long stay but now I get used to the life and slowly have a routine.

My project is in a primary school in Cognola- 10 minutes with the bus. The kids are very open minded and interested. I assist the teachers in all classes but especially in the German classes. The teachers are very friendly and slowly but surely, the children get to know me better and recognise me. They don't really understand that I speak almost no Italian. That's why they just talk to me and tell me in Italian about their favourite food, their hobbies or what they do after school. Working in a class that just started learning the alphabet is also really helpful for my own Italian language skills.

For me, it is a great opportunity to work in a school and to gain experience, because I can well imagine studying to become a teacher after this year. It is also very interesting to see the differences between the German and the Italian school system.

Sharing a flat with 6 other people is a challenge for me but I am happy to make these experiences. All of them make me feel welcome in Trento and let me take part in everything. One thing is for sure, it never gets boring with seven people in one flat.

I can't believe I've been here for a month now. I am grateful to have experienced so much in such a short time and I am looking forward to the next 10 months here in Trento!