Dear Alena, Tadas and Eliina!

In the summercamp I felt like I am giving the reins to the next volunteer crew in the office. So this is my letter to you.

There's 6 days left to work in the Active office and I will leave Sweden at least for some time. So what would I like to say to you?

First. Work in Active office does not equal with Active summercamp through all the year. It's work and it's office. Of course in more tolerant and friendly surrounding than usually, doing the things that you used to do in your free time before. That's why it feels great.

It is very important to set your goals for the year and to keep them in a visible place. You have the opportunity to do much and to make a change - fresh new ideas are always needed. So think for a while, why did you come and prioritise the things that you want to prioritise. It could be writing an extra project on the topic you like, working with some region you want or having your own campaign. Volunteer can do as much as volunteer is capable to do. You should do something that you would be proud of in the end of the year. The plan is needed, because it is very easy to fall into the routine, to be comfortabe and to do only the things that are needed to do.

Then a second thing...you can live in Stockholm - that means a lot of different opportunities to spend your spare time - they even teach Swahili language there for example. Take most of it (not from Swahili, but Stockholm).

One thing that you need, is patience. Even if it seems that Active people are communicating in facebook really much, you will definitly end up waiting for emails that you need answers to and for the end of the year you would do rather anything, but emailing. If you actually meet the people with who you are doing your project, you want to do everything with them and you definitly do not say a sentence "you can send it by email or we can discuss it via email". I know it sounds strange now, but you will see. It's one of the most annoying things  to wait for an email from what your work is depending from.

What you will definitely learn, is how to set goals, make a plan, motivate yourself and to actually finish the planned thing. This kind of work teaches you loads of self dicipline, as you can plan your work time on your own, as well as the activities after work will be new for you. You get more realistic view to the life and will definitly have more control over your life in the end of the year.

A lot of things seem to be more simple and possible.

A year abroad is not always easy and it is never what you expect from it to be.

So go for it!

Janika