I was still on the bus when was added to a WhatsApp group called "Sunny Bournemouth". I had the first impression of another volunteer. Alessandra was sending sound recordings all the time. But she is just a voice, no face no story.
When I arrived at the station I perfectly knew, the volunteer coordinator was waiting for me. We talk while waiting for other volunteer. A bus stopped an a blonde girl smiled at us. Sabine just turned eighteen years old, however, a mature person. She is German and loves photography and baking; it won´t take a long time to know how good she is in the kitchen. In the next days, she will discover she had already been in Bournemouth. What this city has to bring us back?
The coordinator drove us to one of the association´s buildings, Fusion. We met another person in charge of the volunteers and two more girls. Flavia is one year older than me and Spanish too. She is fascinated by the arts and has infinite care for her nephew. Lenka has the same age as me and her passion is to take pictures too, and so she will be our Official Photographer very soon. Is from the Chech Republic and is also good with brushes, either to paint a canvas or makeup. She arrived the day before and took us on a walk to our flat area.
On our way, my eyes got distracted by those streets of summer memories not far away. Is difficult to think about living here for a whole year. Silences and the firsts questions about who we are, came with us to the walk.
The flat is in the center. The entrance... well, I´ve seen horror films which start with a similar shot... is just a sensation, we don´t know about the monsters, yet. The bedrooms are big and with large windows. There are two floors inside our house. Some girls chose their room but I couldn´t decide.
We came back to Fusion and met Ádám, the only boy at that moment. He is twenty years old and is from Hungary. Loves music and, luckily, will find a guitar in our flat to play hours and hours that everyone will enjoy. He will be an actor, comedy one probably or whatever life gives him, but he will be successful. The five of us went again for a walk, this time by the beach, discovering that we are all connected by the hesitation of what to do after this year; everyone has closed stages and don´t know which door to open now. However, what we really want is to enjoy our volunteering placements, it´s a long time to think about the future... or not.
Return to the association´s building and put all our suitcases and many bags with food into a minibus. One of the coordinators would come with us and another young man would drive. We stopped at the station to pick up Alessandra. She is Italian, the older of the group who will insist in the next months she is really old while is less than thirty. She is crazy and can´t stop talking even under the water (yes, I have tested it), but she really knows how to make us love her.
They drove us in the night to Studland, a small coastal village thirty minutes far. We didn´t know where we were going but trust them. The minibus stopped in Sandyholme, an association´s residence where we will have the first training until Friday. I shared the room with Lenka. It was weird to have everything still packed.
In the next days, we had small lessons and games to know each other better. We enjoyed the gastronomic culture with breakfast. Everyone cooked, well, Ádám was looking at how the rest cooked, but he is not our official tester, yet, a difficult job in our multicultural flat. Two volunteers who were finishing their two months placement came one night and talked about their experiences. We also visited the different buildings where we will work. One afternoon went on a trip to Old Harry Rocks, probably one of the reasons why I love the area.
On Friday night we came back to Bournemouth with lots of food (and bananas, many bananas). Taking everything to the second floor by the stairs made everyone smile even the effort. It was like a camp in Sandyholme and the ties we made will be forever.
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