There is some kind of noise coming from up, that slowly starts-up my brain. At first I’m still not aware of what it actually is. After a minute it becomes louder and starts to get more and more annoying. Then people start talking and wake me up completely. Feeling every step from the office upstairs, as the ceiling was about to crash, makes me jump out of my sleeping bag and run into the bathroom.
Kitchen is always the same. Mirka’s voice is louder and faster than ever, Guillermo’s laugh following her in step, Alfredo’s combination of cereals and coffee and Alma always coming the last one. Slowly we are becoming a family.
There must be something magical about the month of August. For 30 days we are working more than ever, we are learning things we like and things we dislike. Every night is a new adventure sleeping around the dusty corridors, every morning we wake up harder and harder. But still it’s hard not to notice happy faces all around the house.
First week was a big shock for all of us. The amount of work was endlessly growing, discussions about the strategic plan were ending late at night, and cooking for 14 people felt like you’re in army. But at the same time there are so many things that make you enjoy every day; from all the skills we’re building, good times we are having together, trips we take around Belgium, freezing Northern Sea we swam in.
Last week there was the Transition barbeque, gathering all the partners of AEGEE and different student NGOs. It was such a great evening where we got to know all these people living in Brussels, all their different activities and projects, and in the end the same lives we are living here.
This all wouldn’t be the same without an amazing current Comite Directeur. The effort they took that we feel like home, the knowledge they have and the way they transferred it, all the morning round meetings, all the cozy evenings in the garden. We’ll miss them.
When we come back from Poznan everything will change. We will have our own office, our own rooms and beds. When the office phone rings we will have to answer it, all the things we learned in these weeks now will be our tasks. The overcrowded house now will look empty. This one-year adventure seems a bit scary, but we all feel the same – we are ready for it!