September marks the start of a new group of European Solidarity Corps volunteers. The first five arrived on 31^st August. Krakow welcomed them with sunny weather. All of them began to settle in very quickly. They took the bus for the first time, went to the supermarket, and discovered some important rules here in Poland. Nobody wants to start the project with a fine!

Who are the new volunteers? We have Özge from Turkey, Covadonga from Spain, William from Italy, Joëy from Belgium and Zhenia from Georgia. Aytakin, Christina and Ambra, who have different timing, since they are in-between the previous and this new group, welcomed and helped them. On the 1^st September, they all went to IB Polska’s office. Here they could meet the whole team and know more about the activities. They visited the Multicultural Centre, whose activities will probably join from time to time.

The first meetings were at the park, and were dedicated to ice-breaking games. It was nice to know who has ridden a horse, who has siblings and interesting facts about new people. Some activities were useful to understand how to communicate with people from different countries. The ways to communicate may be different, so it is important to keep in mind that social norms and living habits could vary. There is no normal or a standard to meet, but different perspectives. All the volunteers are interested in getting to know each others and appreciate these differences and are motivated to learn how to communicate effectively. They will explore together a new country, Poland. At the end of the project, they will have new lifelong friendships with people from other countries and they will have discovered a lot about different cultures and about themselves as well.

It isn’t over yet, because during the whole month new people will arrive, and we can’t wait to meet altogether and know more about each other and everybody’s countries.