by Carol Naidu from India,

Home is the best place on this earth. No matter where I go, there is a special thing about my home that always attracts me.

Home is where the heart is, I never really knew what that means until I got older. Home is always going to be there no matter what or where I go in my life. Some people may consider home to be at their parent’s house, their own house or living with someone else. It can also be some place you really like or somewhere you spend a lot of time at. It may be many different places at the same time. You can consider a lot of places home and still feel Home there.

In this case, Germany is my second home. I can’t imagine that it’s been 3 months since I arrived here in Germany. Honestly, starting months was extremely difficult, as I didn’t understand anything, everything was new for me (language, people, food, etc.) But now I am able to do everything on my own.

I miss my home, my family, my friends, my country a lot. I dream about my family every night, (where I go to visit them in India for a day and then again next morning, I take a flight back to Dortmund, as I need to be on time in my office at 9am).

When I was in India, I always wondered,” how will I ever survive without my family?” And guess what? I am writing this blog and I am very much alive, I survived.

Germany will always hold a special place in my heart that will never change and it means so much to me and always will. I have learned so many things here in Germany, right from cooking, cleaning, till becoming confident, independent, strong women. Germany has taught me so many things in different aspects right from loving, caring, sharing, following rules, saying no when you need to, being punctual, planning your day/month, setting goals and working towards it. I have also learned how to say „hello“ or „hallo“ to everyone, no matter if you know that person or not and to greet „morgen“ which means morning or „Abend“ which means evening, which I never did in India.

This place has introduced me to the women whom I always wanted to meet and that is“ the new me“.

I am so grateful and thankful towards this volunteering programme; it has completely changed my life. It has made me the person I am today.  It also helped me out in finding, where I was going in my life. I met so many good people and made so many good memories and I will always relive them in my heart when I go back to India.

Being here in Germany is the best thing that has ever happened to me although I still don’t like cold weather.