Aug 5 – Aug 11 2024
Travelling for me is the exciting breeze of movement, of repentine change and meaningful exchange, the audacity of planning ahead and the beauty of not knowing what exactly will happen, in the next day, in the afternoon, or simply in mere seconds. If we look closely enough, this thrilling uncertainty permeates every aspect of our day-to-day life: conversations, interactions, complex frameworks of situations, nothing can be predicted until it comes the moment to live it.
Travelling with the necessary on the shoulders and with one foot following the other, on the track of one’s vision, drive and free will is to me the most authentic form of movement, leading to sensibilisation and awareness of one’s own thoughts, feelings and impressions. The senses are awake suddenly, the body walks out of the routine and it’s brought to mindful action and interaction, curiosity is at the gates of one’s consciousness knocking more insistently after every new discovery, and eager to go down the trail ahead.
During the volunteering teams of this year, we had the opportunity to spend our free days getting to know our individualities in our collectivity, as well as beautiful natural landscapes, hospitable people and unexplored corners of the most known cities. During these dense days we crossed into many spaces and created ones of our own, we connected, we explored our depths with the spoken word and observed each other in our ways of acting and tackling criticalities, we understood ourselves from the perspectives of the people around us and from the way our environment adapted to us. It’s been a week that encompassed many different lives, transformed them, merged them, shuffled them like a deck of cards, and in the end put them back into place, as a community shaped around shared experiences – and for every person that took part there will be a different route and version of the story.
Green House (Momin Prohod) – Levishte – Ochindol
Aug 5
We moved by train (Momin Prohod – Levishte), we hiked (Levishte – Ochindol) and we hitchhiked from Ochindol to an open space outside of the village, where we finally camped.
Ochindol – Vratsa
Aug 6
We hiked from where we camped until Parshevitsa Shelter and hitchhiked from there to Vratsa.
𖦹 From my journal: “Today was not only a pleasure for the eyes and an adventure for the heart, but also a reminder. Today I learnt that we are truly as fast as the last of us. It doesn’t matter how much and which kind of difference there is between the first and the last one, it will always be the last to set the pace, lead the group and establish the guidelines. It is the one who stands at the end of the line that sets the minimum limit under which the care and the attention can’t sink. I’m grateful for this teaching, this realisation, that will guide me in the future to care more radically, authentically and necessarily.”
Vratsa – Karlukovo – Cherven Brjag
Aug 7
We moved with the train (Vratsa – Karlukovo station), hiked from there to the Prohodna Cave and until the village, drove (Karlukovo village – Karlukovo station) and reached Cherven Brjag with the train.
𖦹 About this day: Definitely the most challenging day. If on the one side we visited breathtaking natural sites and met other wandering people, on the other we felt a bit out of place because of misunderstandings with the local people in the village. However, thanks to cohesion and cooperation within the group we managed to get together again and move all on to the next step of the jouney. We had a quiet time in the evening to unwind, reconnect with ourselves and each other and share our feelings: the best way to clear the mind and lighten the heart.
Cherven Brjag – Veliko Tarnovo
Aug 8
We travelled with the train for the most part of the day, and we hike until a hill outside of the city in order to camp there.
𖦹 About this day – from the morning after, 9/08/2024 at 7:32 AM: “This morning I woke up contemplating. We are here, with our joint efforts and intentions creating this safe sharing and caring space. What I feel now is community, in a new and different way, I feel that here in this space we created we’re all taking care of each other in ur own personal ways. Finally we arrived, we hug, we reassure each other, we stay silent, we laugh. I’m grateful because the course of all events, even the ones I don’t know of and the ones I don’t fully understand, contributed to bring me here, with these people, in this space and in this moment. I’m grateful for the new, for the sounds of nature, for the sun on my skin, because from here we can see the city from above, because with them I get along very well, and because in them I feel a bit of this same desire that I have.”
Veliko Tarnovo, city
Aug 9
We explored the city on foot.
𖦹 About this day – from the morning after, 10/08/2024 at 10:00 AM ca.: “This journey becomes more incredible every day that passes. I can’t see the meaning behind all these events happening, but probably at the moment it’s just too far from my understanding. What I know instead is that with these people I feel finally at ease, safe, appreciated and supported. This wide world and these events are making me grow and become a more conscious and aware person. I’m grateful for all the experiences that I get to live.”
Veliko Tarnovo, waterfalls
Aug 10
We hiked to the Kartala Waterfalls and spent a day in the nature.
𖦹 About this day: This day passed among mesmerising views and paths nestled within the local natural landscape. It took quite an effort to find the right one to follow, but in the end we managed to reach our final destination. At the waterfalls we could appreciate the shade, the smell and the sound of the water washing over the rocks and the forest floor, the freshness of it and the pressure of the water falling from above on our sunkissed skin after a morning of hiking. The day ended with a collective meditational moment after having spotted some shooting starts.
Veliko Tarnovo – Ablanitsa – Green Place (Staro Stefanovo)
Aug 11
We moved with the train (Veliko Tarnovo – Ablanitsa) and hiked from there for circa 15 kms, afterwards we met a kind friend that offered us a ride until the Green Place in Staro Stefanovo.
𖦹 About returning to Staro Stefanovo: “I’m ready to leave for Stefanovo. I feel my heart so full with gratitude and joy, and as well moving towards the Green Place. I’m very grateful for spending yesterday night with people I feel so close, who love each other and whom I love very much. I’m grateful for their presence, for dialogue, for silence, for the stars above us. I’m grateful because I feel Stefanovo awaiting us and because we’re walking in that direction. I give thanks for today. ”
Ex post
After the first day in Staro Stefanovo we had the occasion to take some time and reflect on the experience we just concluded, in order to internalize the lessons we learned from it. An important notion that we picked up during this personal reflection moment is that, with adventure education activities such as this one, it’s important to consciously reelaborate one’s ideas and getaways from it in order to be able to imply them in daily life.
This principle could be generally extended to every encounter and experience that strikes us, in order to be able to learn from our past and present and design a mindful future for us and our communities.
We received some guiding questions to concretise our ideas and transpose them into the perspective of the project: intentionally creating a caring and proactive community of self-aware individuals, being meaningfully in relation to one another.
- What happened?
- What did I learn from it?
- How can I use this?
- What could have I done differently?
- How can I contribute to the community?
- How do I want to take care of myself?
12/08/2024 at 5:58 PM
“It happened that I lived, that I did intensely and with others. It happened that I threw myself into the immensity of the world after such a long time and I immersed myself into exchange and confrontation. I took charge for and care of other people, and I let go and felt cared for. I nourished my feelings, I felt a lot and allowed myself to feel everything. I experienced intensity in all fields and felt at home with people I’ve just began getting to know.
I learnt that my words and perspectives are deeply valubale and valued by these people, and that through care we can indeed create a space for active listening that is free from prejudice and full with empathy and imagination. I’m learning that love does not (only) come from words, but from caring questions, from hugs, from taking a backpack off somebody’s shoulders, from wiping tears and sharing silence under the starry sky. I learnt that my limits lay way beyond what others expect or say, that I know myself deeply and that I can share this new depths that I’m exploring. I lerant that loving and connecting comes easy, naturally with the people I’m meant to be with.
What I can do now is to be mindful of my own energies, how I use them and whom I enhance them with. This is a memento to be slow, enjoy slowness and take care of my inner rhythm and processes: I needed to be reminded of how important it is to be in touch with myself, my feelings, to cultivate a rapport of opennes with my mind, in order to be in harmony and in a meaningful way connected with the others. Moreover, it’s important to remember how much difference it’s made with the right people when we’re going down the same track together – be it metaphorically or literally. It’s all about finding the balance between interior monologue and external dialogue, knowing and learning how and when to transition.
This is how I can take care of myself, by cultivating openness, by being honest, by loving with intensity and feeling everything without judgement, by savouring every second of my existance – especially in community, especially here.
To this community I believe I can mainly contribute with care, love and attention. I envision and try to create spaces for sharing, for community feeling – additionally to community living, for a community of ethics and thought, of shared intentions, of openness and truthfulness. I can love, ask, move.
I wouldn’t have done it differently. All the parts of this journey were necessary for me to complete it as it’s supposed to be. I’m thankful for being present and aware.”
-Joanne Mary Lorenzon
