Author: Ismail Yilmaz
Our participation in the workshop called Digi-Comp, which will take place in Slovakia, was determined before the trip to Portugal.
After me and Katya got back from vacation, we bought the tickets and made the planning. Since Otman is still in Ibiza, we planned for him to join us later on the trip. Me and Katya were going to Vienna 2 days ago. After spending time there, we were going to the city of Nitra, where the project will be held. Of course, we had to pick up Otman, who would come later, from the airport. On the way to Madrid airport with Katya, we asked a young girl for the address in a place where we were confused. We started an irreversible conversation with the girl who continued in English, Due to the awkwardness of our Spanish. Surprised when we told her that we were volunteering in Spain, the girl asked many questions about volunteering and we taught her how to apply. Katya and I competed for the girl to choose one of our countries. We added one more person to the volunteer army. Then we were really tired and exhausted as we spent the whole night at the airport with Katya. We arrived in Vienna in the early hours of the morning and went to our hostels.
When I woke up the next day, I saw Katya's message that she had found a place selling Turkish baklava near her Hostel. During the day Katya was having trouble reaching me. I was still stubborn to go outside without internet because it made me look wilder. Since that day was the last day of Ramadan and the first day of the Muslim holiday, I stayed in the hostel and talked to my family all day. We shared a hostel room with some Brits and a strange Mexican wearing two trousers in a row and spent the evening in the bars. And we had fun playing matador jokes with the Brits. The next day, while visiting Vienna, we were talking about how to go to Nitra, Slovakia, by contacting Katya in places where I found internet. On the last day in Vienna, we agreed with Katya and decided to go to Nitra by different routes. I was going to go to the airport and pick up Otman and we were going to meet in Nitra. At the airport, I wrote Otman's name on a piece of paper and waited at the exit as if I was waiting for someone very important, and when he arrived, we were finally able to set off.
When we arrived at the hotel where the project will be held in Nitra, we were like enthusiasts gathered in a big square in the hall with participants from many countries. We spent the first night meeting the other participants after our rooms were determined. We were unaware of the crazy things that would happen during the workshop. We gained a lot of new information and interesting perspectives from different cultures in activities such as NGO night that we introduced Spain and our institution and group works that we learned to use many digital tools. With some borderless Romanian and Lithuanian friends, we were out of our minds to climb a mountain at midnight despite the warning of bears. Fortunately, we did not encounter any bears until we reached the peak and returned home. After dancing in the nightclub until the morning, we joked with each other all day without sleeping with an energy that is not clear where it came from. We finished the 5-day project with good memories, with a cycle of workshops during the day and swimming in the sea of madness in the evenings.
After leaving the project and returning to Vienna, we spent another night at the airport and returned to Madrid. Otman and I walked to the bus station like two canes because lying on the hard floor flattens the body as much as a piece of stick and when we got to Arenas de San Pedro, it was enough to hug Monia to transform us back into human beings again.