Hosting Short-term ESC | Agnieszka

1 month | European Solidarity Corps

What did(n’t) I learn in Cyprus?

Well, although there certainly are things I learned here, there are also things I didn’t learn, among which – which side of the road should I look at first when I cross the street. I got used to the buses coming from the other side of the road, but crossing the street – was impossible for me to get used to it! And probably I’ll still be confused when I’m back home, not knowing whether I should look left or right.

But during this month I was also doing other stuff than just crossing the streets. I participated in Zero Waste Food Market where I could save some food and then distribute it to people; I took part in the Cans4Kids initiative where I learned how to distinguish aluminium from steel; I listened to the Cypriot dialect and learned what “je” and “nda” mean; I visited different parts of the island and learned a bit about the history of Cyprus; I am a heat enthusiast and still, I learned that you need a few days to get used to high temperatures (at first I was really worried that I might stop liking the heat, but fortunately after a few days my body got used to it!).

For sure, there are some lessons that I’m going to take home, of which I’m not aware (yet); there are also some bitter lessons that will help me make better decisions in the future.

My name is Agnieszka and I’m a Polish volunteer in Cyprus, hosted by the PlanBe organisation. I graduated in Applied Linguistics. I am also interested in fashion (but not current trends 🙂 and I wrote my personal project on the topic of slow and fast fashion, shopping, and upcycling.