Friendship in Xylokastro

When you become a volunteer, it’s usual to develop new friendships. A volunteer will be in contact with other volunteers both at work and at home, they will share their time and experiences, and this has proved to be a very enriching experience.

What is true for all experiences abroad is that people come together and seem to become like a family. Moreover, relationships flourish among people who think alike and are doing the same.

We have asked our volunteers what do they think about the meaning of friendship while working in Orfeas organization and living in Xilokastro, and we received a lot of inspiring comments about the relationships that develop in here.

Read on to know more about the friendships our volunteers are enjoying!

Merle, Germany. It’s insane how fast you can get used to people and create lovely memories together. Living in Xylo is like living in a dream and so are my friends in here.

I’m really glad and thankful for having my loved ones here and even though we’re all living far away from each other I’m sure our friendship will last. It’s a good time to write about friendship for worshipping them even more than before.Without my friends (especially Meltem and Sam) this while experience wouldn’t turn out the same as it did now.

Mona, Germany. Recently, I saw Kinga again. We first met here in Xylokastro. She is from Poland, I grew up in Germany. Then we reunited in Norway. Neither of us could believe it. While we hiked up a mountain together she kept saying how unreal it felt that I was there with her. And she was right. It seemed too good to be true.

That day I fully realised how much all the friendships that I made in Greece mean to me. When I left (or when they left, whatever came first), I always promised: I’ll miss you. And now, a few months later, I can say it’s true: I miss you all.

Samanta, Lithuania. To be honest, I didn’t expect to have something special. But the evening of March 16 with my roommate from Germany changed my expectations. Merle was the volunteer and later, one my close friends, who stick with me from the beginning till the time I had to say farewell in Athens. I never thought that I will find my volunteer bestie. I didn’t expect that me, her and our other volunteer friend Meltem will be really close.

Friendship doesn’t have gender, nationality, religion or distance. It has faith, honesty, loyalty and trust of each other. I am happy to know them and that after volunteering this close feeling won’t be gone, but it will get stronger and better!

Adrian, Poland. As a volunteer in Xylokastro it is very easy to make lasting friendships with other project participants and in my opinion you have to go out of your way not to do so. With so many international friends
there comes a lot of perspective on how different cultures see the world and the realization of how much we have in common despite our differences.

Meltem, Turkey. Looking at my friendship with the volunteers at Xylokastro, I feel very happy. We live together, solve problems together, help each other in different matters. But there is only one downside to these friendships: farewell. Kinga, Michael, Merle. I miss you all so much already. Thankfully we are still in contact. And we will stay in touch. I shared a lot things with them. We worked together, ate together, learned to volunteer together.