“Yay, finally freedom!” I remember shouting inside myself when I held my high school diploma in my hands in June 2025. It was clear to me that I wanted to go abroad, also to improve my language skills from school. That’s why Latvia was not exactly one of my preferred destination countries at first. However, the project description appealed to me much more. What awaited me was working with children at a preschool in Gulbene and the opportunity to contribute my own ideas. Basically, exactly what I was looking for.

A lot to do…

My work takes place in several classes with children aged 3–7. I accompany them on excursions, learn the Latvian alphabet and numbers with them, bake sand cakes in the garden, dance, sing songs, or lead my own activities.

Little by little, I am able to communicate better with the locals, even though many children already have good English skills thanks to social media.

Whether we are painting Christmas trees, crafting snowflakes, I show them how to build little moss huts, or we rehearse an acrobatics/dance choreography – I am constantly learning and slowly beginning to understand what it means to be an “educator.”

…but also time to travel

In addition to having plenty of time for myself – for traveling or learning languages – I also have the opportunity to do sports. These include familiar activities like ice skating, skiing, or cycling. However, we also get chances to try new things. For example, I go to Latvian folk dancing and wrestling several times a week. We were allowed to take part in the parade for Latvia’s Independence Day wearing traditional clothing and experience many other celebrations and traditions. I feel that I am being integrated, even if it sometimes takes a few weeks for colleagues or neighbors to open up to me.

From Latvia, I have already traveled through the entire Baltic region together with volunteers and friends from all over the world. Even though the winter months are especially cold and the days are short, the darkness here is brightened everywhere by numerous string lights and glowing decorations.

The standard of living is not necessarily very high, but it is relatively close to nature. There are many old buildings, and especially in my city of Gulbene I was able to discover numerous gardens and forest areas with small ponds. Thanks to all the greenery, I was able to admire the change of seasons in a completely new way. Neverbefore have I experienced such a colorful and golden autumn.

And room to learn

I would not necessarily support all habits in the culture and at the school here, but you can learn from them. I am realizing which values are important to me, what suits me and brings me joy, and what I want to pass on; where there are difficulties and I can learn, or what I miss and should appreciate more in the future.

In principle, it is not particularly important where you spend your year abroad or your voluntary service. The experiences will be valuable and enriching for the rest of your life wherever you go. 🙂