I arrived in Yerevan at the beginning of May and stayed until mid-August. During this time, I was honored to be a part of the FIOH team.
My time in Armenia could not have been better. I enjoyed both my free time and my work. I tried to travel as much as possible during the weekends. Armenia has a deep history and beautiful nature. Among my favorite places were Mount Dimats, the Lori region, the Ashdahak volcano, and Noravank Monastery. Armenia has incredibly diverse landscape for its relatively small land area: from canyons, red dormant volcanoes, limestone mountains, to sky-blue lakes, rivers and large forests.
I even had the chance to explore Georgia, where I went for my On-Arrival Training. There, I met other ESC volunteers in the region. I became friends with some of them and we met several times during my volunteering.
Tigranuhi, the leader of Future in Our Hands, gave me tasks according to my experience and personal preferences. Since I wanted to create a documentary about Armenia, Tigi provided me with contacts and opportunities to attend interesting events and meet people working in the cultural sphere. For example, I attended several festivals and manuscript workshops, met a chef preparing traditional food, carpet manufacturers and more. Now I have over 8 hours of footage, I cannot wait to edit everything into a documentary and share with the world 🙂
I could also improve my skills in website development, social media management and gained information about the visa application process.
I received a warm welcome from everyone I met – be it everybody in my host family, who were incredibly kind and helpful, Anna and other members of FIOH, or my mentor Hamlet. I could not imagine a better environment for my volunteering.
During my 3.5 months in Armenia, I made amazing memories, new friends and I cannot wait to be back one day!
