Berlin - London

 

 

 

Regina's stay in London

 

1st Week

Language School and Culture

 

The first week was very useful as it allowed me to get acquainted with the public transport and to gain some confidence with finding one’s way through the city. I enjoyed the Language School very much. Especially Margarita, one of teachers, was always helpful and open for questions. The lessons were fun and well planned. Although the groups consisted of people of all ages as well as all nationalities, there were no communication problems whatsoever. I must say that I was quite proud when I was asked to be on some of the pictures of the much younger students, but I suppose that once you are a stranger in a city, things like age and nationality do not really matter.

 

 

 

There were many different offers regarding different cultural activities, however the language course and the journey to the language school were quite exhausting, so that we could not do more than visiting one museum per day. But since we had another 5 weeks left to do all those things that wasn’t a problem for us.

 

2nd – 5th Week

Voluntary Service

The Baytree Centre is an organisation which offers after school activities for children and youngsters. It is located in the Borough of Lambeth, Brixton. My main voluntary activities were maths, cooking and bakery, as well as arts (crafting) and dressmaking. The volunteers were mostly assisting the course teachers but although I was aware of my lack of the proper English terms, I was included in the team and felt very comfortable.

 

 

3rd – 6th week

Also I worked in another charity organisation, this time in a more artistic environment. The organistaion offers workshops to produce mosaic art. There is the possibility to create a completely new mosaic by yourself or using a design that had been done before. I really enjoyed working with all those different colours, playing with shades and tones.

 

 

But I guess what I liked most about those workshops was the teamwork. The course leader and man behind the organisation, David, really understands how to reach the people. He has is very empathetic and can therefore work with absolutely everyone. You could really see how the participants were bonding over the different exercises in the workshop.

 

 

In my opinion these weeks made me learn so much new and helped me to get to know so many different people. Following this experience, I would like to start again working with children and teenagers in Germany.

 

By Regina