My first day as a RATO volunteer
Olá! I am Julia from Poland and I will be volunteering at RATO for the next 2 months. I have always wanted to volunteer for an international organization and this summer I happened to have a great opportunity to do so. Since I am still a high school student, who does the IB (International Bacculaureate) Program, I decided to do short-term volunteering over my summer break.
My first day in Portugal was filled with excitement. On the 13th of June in the afternoon I arrived at the airport in Lisbon, where I was picked up by other international volunteers. Then we made our way to my new home – the apartment for the volunteers. On that day I got to integrate with my new roommates and we said goodbye to one of the volunteers that was going back to his country.
The next day was my first day of volunteering at RATO. I met everyone from the staff and had a tour in order to get to know my new workplace better. I had some “serious” conversations, so I could learn about my current and future tasks.
After work one of the new volunteers and I went for a walk to explore our neighborhood and the surrounding area. Not only did we find cool spots to spend our free time at but also some grocery stores where we can find products that aren´t available in our home countries. We had a lot of fun discovering the streets of Almada and trying the local food. We went for dinner to a place that is popular among the local youth, where you can buy a sandwitch for only 1€ on Wednesdays.
I will always remember my first day here because of how exciting it was. Surprisingly, I didn´t get a cultural shock, although I have never been to Portugal before. I think it was mainly thanks to the people that are very open and welcomed me enthusiastically.
