Part 1: Volunteering
Instead of immediately going to college when I graduated high school I decided it would be better suited for me to take some time away from my studies. This was I could learn more about myself and what really interested me in terms of a career. Finishing high school amid COVID, unfortunately, meant my focus was more on online classes that I struggled to get a good grasp on and less on thinking about guidance counsellors and college applications. Although COVID had a lot of drawbacks I do thank it for giving me time to reflect on who I was at that time and who I wanted to be. I stepped back from a lot of people and things that weren’t serving me anymore and found passion in things like climate change documentaries, yoga/wellness and old hobbies like baking and journalling. I think this time really made me realize I was more suited to a gap year than a structured college plan at 17. All of this led me to a year filled with lots of trials and a trip that forever changed me and my view of the world. Now lets cut to talking about that!
How I decided on my Western Europe backpacking and volunteer trip:
I think COVID was when I began fantasizing about living out my Mamma Mia x Julia Child x Off grid gardening princess dreams somewhere in Europe. I envisioned myself among all the beautiful architecture, dreamy landscapes and gorgeous countryside of perhaps Spain or Italy. Since then I just haven’t been able to see myself living in North America long-term because I just find the culture in parts of Europe so much more up my alley. I loved my childhood here (mostly) but although consumerism is everywhere today I feel it especially here. Fast and convenient is how I would describe the way of life here and I crave that slower pace of life because I think it inspires more introspection and peace.
All of that was a long tangent to explain why I’ve always been fascinated with Europe and decided to go there partly to see what all the fuss was about and if I still saw myself there. Another reason was due to safety concerns. I didn’t go on my trip as a completely naive teenager. I’ve had many life experiences that made me mature quickly and I knew travelling solo as a woman wouldn’t always be the most carefree experience. So I did a lot of research on my gap year and ultimately thought Europe was a good way to dip my toe into solo travel without feeling on edge. This isn’t to say I believe all other places are inherently dangerous, I really don’t, this just seemed a good option as it was a dream destination for me and also made my parents not raise too many red flags.
So anyway, with this trip, I wanted to take my passion to make a difference and combine it with my dream to see lots of Europe. I believed this combination would give me some answers as to what made me feel inspired and made me happy and also help me gain some independence and confidence in myself.
How I chose my volunteer opportunity
I stumbled upon IVHQ an organization filled with great ways to make a difference in many regions of the world. It seemed like a more affordable option for volunteering (I thank RBC’s future launch for the scholarship that helped make this experience possible) and it seemed like the company cared a lot about the causes and volunteers. I decided to look in Portugal because it looked like an amazing place to start my trip. I chose a project aimed at feeding the homeless of Lisbon while also reducing food waste by saving lots of food from hitting the landfill. Two big issues with a great solution.
This volunteer group is great and the work they do is commendable but it wasn’t really a good fit for me. I have been vegan for about 8 years and I’m vegan because a large majority of our animal product food supply is produced unethically (to put it lightly) and I decided I no longer wanted to support these terrible industries when I didn’t need to. This being said, I just wasn’t comfortable preparing meat and other items for this project. But my hosts kindly let me switch to a project helping take care of stray kittens instead. These kittens were abandoned and these sweet women took them in and cared for them. This was very rewarding work and I enjoyed it although I wouldn’t say I felt a passion for it.
My two weeks in Lisbon were really eye-opening for me though because I met amazing people through this opportunity who also wanted to make a difference in the world. I also began to love Lisbon and Portugal for its vegan restaurants, amazing architecture and landscapes but mainly for the memories I made there. It was just the beginning of a trip where I realized the world was so much bigger and with more to offer than my small town.
I hope you look forward for more posts on my first backpacking trip but for now here are some pictures capturing the memories:)
Love,
Brooklynn
One of the sweet kittens
Me and other volunteers took a beautiful day trip to Sintra from Lisbon