A time after Lent Festival when everyone leaves the city (ok, I’m exaggerating a bit) - students go home, families go on holidays to the seaside... even Pekarna Magdalenske mreže felt a bit emptier, not just because of days off people took, but also no young people visiting for activities, no events, and therefore next to no work for me and Ioana. This meant a lot of free time, but I already had something prepared for myself at the start of July – being a volunteer at the Floating Castle festival, a small ethno/folk festival held yearly for the past few years on Grad Snežnik in Loška dolina. I have found out about the opportunity from another EVS and I had no idea what was waiting for me, but I started to like volunteering and I said why not, it’s an experience. And it sure was! I ended up actually having fun, met tons of interesting people, had some great conversations and enjoyed performances and music I would probably never look for myself.
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After coming back, I led a light painting workshop, since I wanted to organize something fun and free in the field of creating photos that’s easy to learn and has a lot of potential. And we had a good amount of people, I may end up making another one during the school year! Soon after, another adventure was waiting for me – a trip to Croatia to visit a friend with her group, who had a small boat in a marina on Dugi otok, an island near Zadar. It was my first time sailing on a ferry and sleeping on a boat, but I thankfully discovered that sea sickness didn’t pick me and between swimming in the sea, being lazy and exploring the island I was just fine.
Before and after being in Croatia I started hosting couchsurfers, and it was a lovely experience while it lasted – I had only cool and nice people coming in, being thankful for everything and having things to share. The only mistake I made was not asking the owner of our flat beforehand and even though she said she doesn’t want people sleeping over, she wasn’t angry about it, so she let me off easily. That’s my piece of advice for you – don’t be afraid to try new things, but better ask and be sure, especially if something you’re using is not yours! (I feel like I sound like a grandpa saying this.) Especially couchsurfing is absolutely wonderful and free, and your hosts are locals who can show you the place you come to, it’s the perfect way for people doing EVS and want to travel.
It is now close to September. It’s still very warm outside and sun is shining most of the time, yet yellow-brown leaves are starting to rustle under my feet, the days are slowly getting shorter again and even when new people are coming, some familiar ones are leaving. Milica, one of the other EVS in the city has left last week to go home to Beograd, but she promised to send a letter and I hope to see her again. Even when I know saying goodbye to people you’ve grown to like and spend time with sucks, over the years I’ve started to accept it as not such a bad thing. The world seems more friendly when you have people you know all around it.
Michal Čerňanský
