Looking back at my time here in Ljubljana at Moja Mavrica, I can say that I really enjoyed my time here. I spent almost three months here and was able to learn so many things, be it about another culture, about my professional field or about myself.

From the very first beginning I felt so welcomed by the team and was directly integrated. Over the time I worked on different projects like preparing a program for an Erasmus youth exchange together with the other interns or a study visit focussing on volunteering for example. Besides that every intern had their own project that they were working on. My personal project was one of my favourite activities I worked on because I had so much freedom to decide what I want to focus on and how I want to create the different activities that were covered under my personal project.

The internship program is really diverse and we covered a lot of different topics like LGBTQ+ rights, climate change, gender equality, intersectionality and so on. I really liked it that the schedules for every week looked a bit different and that we got to know so many local partners from different backgrounds and expertise from which we could learn so much! In addition, I highly appreciated all the exciting opportunities that were offered to me to participate in youth exchanges as facilitators, giving a speech at a protest in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community in Turkey, applying for a youth conference as a participant myself and so on. I was able to learn so much from every individual during that time and was able to grow both professionally and personally.

The only thing that I can think of that possible future interns should be aware of is that some of the activities like street actions have a lot to do with approaching and engaging with people. But don’t be scared! For me it became quite fast naturally and by the time it didn’t feel uncomfortable for me anymore. It is a really great opportunity to get yourself a bit more out of your comfort zone :).

Regarding the city and the country itself I can say that I felt so welcomed here and fell in love with Slovenia’s nature. Sunny city-trips, cosy café hangouts and little adventures in the mountains made my stay here unforgettable.

The train and bus connections are amazing to visit the prettiest nature spots around Ljubljana and lovely cities in Italy and Croatia on the weekends.

Last but not least, I wanna say thank you to everyone who made this whole experience so valuable for me. I especially want to say thank you to all my lovely fellow interns that were not just my colleagues but who became dear friends and my beloved Slovenian family! <3

I am genuinely going to miss every single one of you and I couldn’t have thought of a better bunch of people to spend these three months abroad with.