To the sea side! (Aurélie, France)

Finally!🎉​

The first of many circles to come

​Welcome back everyone! 
Last week, we had our mid-term training with Julia and Cristina! Helenka went on her own to her arrival-training somewhere in the Slovenian montains! ⛰️ But for us, our week was organised as a trek from Divača to Ankaran 🏖️!

​During this week, we reconnected with some friends from our arrival-training, met new ESC volunteers around the country and it was so fun! Going there, we also had the opportunity to visit the south-west side of Slovenia and... it's beautiful! 

Each day was different, and I really loved the programme! I mean, I love hiking, so it’s obvious I was going to enjoy this week 😚. However, compared to our arrival training, I preferred the activities we had this time much more, they were more peaceful and relaxing! Even though, there were moments filled with 🎶music, karaoke 🎶 and lots of laughter!
​Tuesday night, we had a MasterChef workshop where we cooked lunch for everyone, and almost all nationalities were represented around the table (Georgian, French, Spanish, Italian, Macedonian, and Albanian)! 🫶🏼 At least, everyone was present when we listened to all our anthems that same night 😂.

At one point, we also had activities along our route, reflecting on our ESC adventure so far. I really enjoyed these moments, surrounded by the forest, with my wet feet in the river and the sounds of nature all around.

​
On the left, my creation: 
​At the start of our journey, we were like tender fruit buds: new, fragile and not yet fully bonded.
​As time flew, we blossomed into fully open leaves, our connections deepened and our bond strengthened.
It was such a beautiful moment to think about all of this.

And last but not least, a +15km hike to reach the sea side! A perfect way to close this week... With a beautiful sunset 🌅 

What I’m going to remember from this week:
- I really love hiking 😋
- I dislike gravel beaches (seriously, who enjoys penguin-walking on them?)
- Multi-day hikes with a lot of people can be challenging, but the moments and memories are definitely worth it
- I love you guys, thanks for everything! 🩵 A big thank you to the coordinators : Venja, Jaka and Staša!
- And, after a hike, italian pizze are the best! Note: Aurélie, do not forget your own advice - and pizza with burrata pè piacè! 

And, to finish, my favourite pictures of the week:                                                       🩵 LOVE YOU GUYS 🩵

Thanks girls for this week!!

I couldn't help hihi (the hands!!)

Se vidimo everyone! Another watery post is coming soon :3