by Yeremia Dika Mahendra from Indonesia

My name is Yeremia Dika Mahendra, I am 23 years old, from Indonesia, and I have an BA in architcture.

Previously I often imagined to come to Germany and now my dream will came true: I got the opportunity to go to Germany! Dortmund is the city where I will stay. At first, when I found out I was leaving for Germany, I felt very happy when I imagined how things would be there, meeting new people and environment, of course, very different from in Indonesia.

Time was running fast, 45 days left before I am leaving to Germany on April 3, 2019, and I began to feel nervous and a little scared. Going alone in Germany for one year, to a country far from home. Then the question began in my mind: Am I capable? Am I capable for this adventure?

After that, on the 43rd day before departure, precisely on February 20, 2019. Lisa (the Officer for Volunteers Program from United Evangelical Mission) made a skype-meeting schedule with Carolin (the person who coordinates the volunteer house in Dortmund) along with friends at the Volunteerhouse (Hannah and Louise) , and also Galih (my friend from Indonesia, who is currently a South-North Volunteer in Germany). Honestly, I was very nervous when I started the videocall, too many things I thought about at that time. Then we started talking, many things we talked about, especially regarding the description of how to live in Germany and the culture there. We also talked about what I will do later there. It was fun, and beyond my expectations, they were all very kind and willing to help me every time I was confused. I felt welcomed, my fear slowly began to disappear. Because I feel I have friends there now, different than before we had videocall. I became more interested when I saw a little part of Volunteerhouse, which would later become my place of residence in Dortmund for the next year. The house is very cool!

Now it feels impatient to go to Germany and meet them, start to tell stories and share new things, and learn from each other. From that videocall I learned something, that to get out of the comfort zone it takes courage to take one step, because bravely stepping out, we will find new things that are more interesting, and there is waiting for us, “New Friends”.