La vida comienza al final de tu zona de confort!

The first steps

In the summer I decided I would like to do something new (nuevo), something which is not studying, like studying (estudio) in the school, but learning about myself, about the world, get to know other cultures, make new friends. It is a really good opportunity to develop my skills and be useful in a new group at the Asociación Las Niñas del Tul . Before I came here, I was a volunteer (voluntario) in Hungary, in Kaposvár at the The Compass European Youth Organisation.
I heard about this project from Niki, my Hungarian coordinator and I said:"Why not?!" We send our CV and motivation letter, I had a skype conversation and now I am here. :D I am really lucky (afortunado) to be a volunteer in Granada for 7 months.


It was a hard decision for me, because of my family, friends (amigos).... I really love to live in my village... I had to leave for a few time the dance group, where I am dancing (Somogy Dance Ensemble-Kaposvár), but I needed to decide. I have had this idea for a long time, to study abroad, work abroad and now I think it was the best moment to take the first step. If I hadn't tried, I would feel sorry about this. So I am happy (feliz) to be here.

First of all I was afraid of to travel by plane, but it was a good surprise (sorpresa) for me, because I enjoyed it. :D When we arrived in Malaga I felt: "I am in the good moment, in the good place". I spend one night in Malaga and next day I traveled to Granada by bus. I met with Didi (she is my flat-mate and she will working in the same project with me), Daniel, and Carmen from the Las niñas del tul at the bus station (estación de autobúses). The situation was really friendly. It was, like a small family.

The first week:

Julia's flat (where we are living) is amazing. I just say again WE ARE REALLY LUCKY! In the city-centre, near the Gran Via and the Albaicín, which is fascinating for me. We have own room, with beautiful furniture. And the best is the balkony on the top of the flat.


Before I come here I have never learned Spanish, so I had some fear with this, and I thought my English is not so good, too. But now I think in the daily life I can understand and make oneself understood in English. We have a lot of fun, when we try to explain something, which is not so clear (claro) in the first time. But of course I would like to improve my English... The biggest language project for me is to learn Spanish. And I am so motivated, because I would like to understand the people on the street, speak (hablar) with them in their language. It is really different when you can speak with the people in their own language. And speak in Spanish is important (importante) for my voluntary work, too. Fortunately I have a lot of support. You know it is really difficult for me, maybe just in the beginning to say my feelings in an other language. Okay it is more difficult, too, because I am so bemused, but I like it. :D I like to discover myself and I am so eager to feel my different feelings :D I stepped out of my comfort zone, and I will try to do it again and again. Before it seemed impossible, but now I have experiences, and if I will disbelieve I can say I did it, so I can do it again. Don't worry, relax, step by step :)

I have been here just for two weeks, but I have a lot of experiences. I got to know a lot of people. In the first week we started to do the paper things, and now I can say WE DID IT, because it is not so easy in Spain but Nadia helped us a lot. With Didi we can speak about everything and we visited the city together. Before the On-Arrival training I met with Elena, my tutor, too. It was a really lovely meeting. We are interested in the same things. We found the common voice as of the moment we met.

The first week we had a meeting with Carmen. We tasted the churros with chocolate, I loved it. :D She spoke about their organization, and what kind of tasks we will have during the seven months. We met with other volunteers, too. We had a common lunch. Everybody cooked (para cocinar) something special. We made our first tortilla de patata. After the On-Arrival training(there will be an other text about this) we visited our new place with Nadia and Daniel,  where we will have the office. We were in the University, too. We will inform the students about the EVS and in the youth center we can organize several events for the young people. After the Eastern we will start the work (trabajo), but already we are thinking about what we would like to do, and how... :) We will have a lot of several tasks and we are really interested in it.

Granada is the best place to discover myself and learn more about Andalusia, Spanish culture, my culture, who I am, how can I make new friends, how can I be more flexible... The big questions in our life...  AND HOW CAN I LIVE IN THE MOMENT and TO KEEP THE BALANCE. You can go to the Albaicín, sit down, take a deep breath, enjoy the sun. But you can enjoy the night-life in the city, too. We are just in the beginning, but I think we can discover everything in the next 7 months. I felt several emotion during the first two week, during the days. Granada will be my home for 7 months or who knows ... maybe I will come back in the future. And I feel I am really at home, I love this place. One thing is difficult (difícil) for me, the language, but I think it will be a changing (cambiar). I am on the way. I try to improve myself every day.(That is one of the reason I write some Spanish word after the English, maybe it is not the correct form but it is a good practice for me.)

"The sun is a daily reminder that we too can rise again from the darkness, that we too can shine our own light." :)
Thank you Didiii for this crazy picture, you are my best flat-mate.

 And now some pictures:

You can find me on the instagram, too: lucahugica (Tóth Luca) and you can find more pictures with #lasdeltul 

Tomorrow I will came back and I will write about our first training, On-Arrival training in Jaen.