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Beatriz: My Year in Park Istra

One year ago I made a crazy decision and moved to another country. I am Portuguese, so of course the country I chose was Slovenia.

I already knew a little bit about Slovenia before applying. I had a feeling that maybe I could feel at home here.

And somehow, with time, I did.

I came to Park Istra as a long-term EVS volunteer. At the beginning I did not fully know what that would mean. I knew there would be volunteering, local work, community life and probably a lot of new people. But knowing something in theory and living it every day are two very different things.

Park Istra welcomed me, and during this year I grew together with the project. We all learned a lot. We also collected many memories that I know I will remember later and smile about.

The first weeks

The first weeks were a mix of everything.

New house, new people, new country, new work, new language around me, new food, new routine. Also, a lot of questions.

What are we doing today?

Where are we going?

Do I need boots?

Is this a farm day, a cleaning day, a renovation day, or one of those days where nobody knows exactly until we are already in the van?

That is Park Istra sometimes.

You wake up, drink coffee, look around to see who is alive, and then the day starts.

Slowly I understood the rhythm. Sometimes we worked in construction. Sometimes in fields. Sometimes in cleaning actions. Sometimes in renovation. Sometimes we helped local people with whatever was needed.

It was not glamorous work, but it was real work.

Work that actually helped

We worked in many different fields during the year.

Some interested me more than others. Some fulfilled me more than others. That is normal. Nobody loves every task.

Sometimes the work was heavy. Sometimes it was repetitive. Sometimes it was dirty. Sometimes I was tired before we even started.

But many times, at the end of the day, I felt good because the work was useful.

We helped locals improve the region. We tried to make them feel supported. We helped people who needed extra hands and could not always do everything alone.

The feedback from this kind of work is not money. It is not something material. It is the feeling that you were useful.

That feeling is strong.

And yes, it is worth it. Totally worth it.

Living with people from everywhere

Community life is beautiful, but let us be honest: it is also a lot.

You live with people from different countries, different backgrounds, different habits and different levels of ability to wash their dishes after eating.

Some people are very clean. Some people are not even close.

Some people wake up happy. Some people should not be spoken to before coffee.

Some people cook amazing food. Some people cook pasta for the fifth time and somehow still make too much.

Being part of a community is a challenge. It can be stressful and sometimes exhausting.

But nothing worth it comes that easily.

It takes time, effort and patience. You learn to share space. You learn when to speak and when to shut up. You learn that your way of doing things is not the only way. You learn that sometimes the best plan is just to laugh and continue.

The people

The people were the biggest part of this year.

I worked with them, lived with them, cooked with them, travelled with them, got tired with them, laughed with them and sometimes probably got annoyed with them.

I met volunteers from all over the world. I met coordinators who supported me. I made true friends in Slovenia. I met people who opened the doors of their houses to me.

Some of these people became family to me.

Not perfect family. Real family. The kind where sometimes you love everyone and sometimes you want five minutes alone because the kitchen is too loud.

But still family.

These are the people I will remember the most when I go back to Portugal.

Summer and many new volunteers

I joined the other volunteers during summer, when Park Istra always welcomes many new people.

The house was full. People arrived from different countries all the time. There was always someone new to meet, someone leaving, someone asking where something was, someone trying to understand the plan.

Summer was busy, but it was also very alive.

We worked as a team in fields, construction, cleaning actions and renovation. We also had free time, trips, visits to other places, and moments where we could just enjoy being in Slovenia.

Beside work, I also had the chance to visit other cities, have fun, visit friends and try experiences I had never had before.

It was a crazy journey.

My project about sustainable tourism

During this year I also worked on my own personal project.

The idea was to develop something connected to sustainable tourism that could have a positive impact on the local community.

I started doing research and interviews with local people. I wanted to understand the needs of inland Istria, but also the good things that already existed here.

The area has a lot of potential. It is close to tourist places, but many inland villages are still quiet and not very developed.

I started asking myself why people were not using tourism more to develop their villages and create work for themselves.

Very quickly I understood that the situation is not so simple.

Some people want to do something, but they do not always have motivation, money, support or courage to start. Some ideas are there, but they need help to become real.

This is where I thought my project could be useful.

Working with Anna

I was not alone in this experience.

Anna was my EVS buddy for the year, and we decided to work on the project together.

That made sense because we were living the same experience, but we also had different points of view.

Two brains are better than one, especially when one of them is tired, confused, hungry or distracted by the chaos of the volunteer house.

Together we had one year to start something, to try to make some change in our way, and especially to learn from the experience.

We knew we would take this learning back home with us.

Presenting the project

One of the most special parts was presenting the project to local people.

These were not strangers anymore. They were people I knew, people I appreciated, people I had met during the year.

That made it more personal.

The project was not just something written on paper. It was connected to real villages, real people and real needs.

Presenting it to them was one of the biggest pleasures of my experience.

I was nervous, of course. But I was also proud.

I had come here as a volunteer, and now I was sharing something that came from listening, working and living in this region.

What I learned about myself

This year gave me time to work on myself.

That sounds very serious, but in daily life it was simple.

I learned what makes me tired. I learned what kind of work I like. I learned what kind of people give me energy. I learned how I react when plans change. I learned that community life can make you better, but also test your patience every single week.

I learned to be more open.

I learned that helping people gives back a lot, even when nobody gives you anything material.

I learned that I can move to another country and survive. More than survive, actually.

I can feel at home.

Leaving is scary

Now it has been almost a year, and knowing that I am leaving in less than a month scares me a lot.

It scares me because this country, this experience and the people I met gave me such a positive year that I do not really want to leave.

At the beginning, Slovenia was the country I chose for volunteering.

Now it is a place where I have people, memories, work, stories and a routine.

I am proud of myself for choosing this.

If I had to make the same decision again, the answer would be yes.

Even with the hard days.

Even with the messy kitchen.

Even with the tired mornings.

Even with all the goodbyes.

Yes.

This year was worth it.