9 months went really fast. However, all things end someday and I count the last days of my project. Today I bought plane tickets home, back to Lithuania. I was overwhelmed by such a strange feeling. Anxiety, joy, waiting, nostalgia, fear… Everything mixed together. Maybe because I am a little bit tired and waiting for changes.

The last three months were full of ups and downs, we were all isolated in quarantine. We were all imprisoned in our home prisons, therefore, all my plans failed. There were a lot of tears, anger, dissatisfaction during this period. I was misunderstood. Everyone only cared about themselves. I realized that only money matters to almost everyone. There was no humanity, so I’m glad everything is over, because since March, I’ve just been suffering and waiting for this project to end. Because of quarantine, I no longer work at school, but came to volunteer at an educational institution. Here was the hardest blow. I planned trips to Montenegro, Serbia, Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as to Poland, along with the students and teachers that I work with. That is why I have lost a lot of money. I miss travelling. I miss people. But no matter how hard it is, I try to see positive things in this period.

Volunteering in a foreign country has given me a lot. First, I saw myself through the eyes of others. I realized my strengths and weaknesses. I rediscovered myself. I have understood who I really am, what matters to me. I felt freedom and independence, responsibility for my actions. I think it is difficult for a student who has studied all the time and just graduated from gymnasium to realize that he is free to do whatever he wants.

I am grateful for the people I have met here. I really enjoyed an informal time together. In such situations, you get to know the person better. Also, they inspired me to do a lot of things: assist teachers at school, organize workshops at school and at MC, lead live interviews and events on Facebook and Instagram, conduct online English corner activities, create online quizzes, write my own international project and… be myself.

I keep thinking about what I have learnt, what I have done. The time was full of everything. Even if it is hard to say goodbye, we, as rivers, have to continue to move forward. However, every person you meet is an inspiration. Philosophically: no inspiration – no life. And sometimes it’s so hard to find an inspiration that even with the light you search, you won’t find it. But without an inspiration, we cannot grow.

One important person to me described my personal growth during the journey here, in Slovenia, with the words “It is fast like a rocket and with it you visited many planets where you seeded your honesty, care and kindness.” Yes, I can say how much and what I have done in recent months, but no words will describe those emotions, experiences, and feelings.