We received our first volunteer for the 2022 season. Veronica is from Spain, from Madrid to be exact. Veronica is presently living near Paris in France, close to Disneyland. In this post she describes why she volunteered and what she hopes to do and gain during her volunteering holiday.

First volunteering Holiday

This is my first time volunteering during my holidays and one of my main reasons is to improve my English and meet some new people. At La Giraudiere I am immediately improving my English by writing this blog so… Here I am ! Ready for a new challenge ! Being the first to arrive is a little daunting but you soon become at ease and start enjoying the fresh green countryside of Brossac.

Making the decision to volunteer

I didn’t want to travel too far to practise English, but at the same time I wanted to meet some new interesting people doing something useful. I googled ” volunteering to improve English in France” and I found this incredible place.

First I read the whole La Giraudiere’s site, I was fascinated by the way Paul had coordinated people to build this wonderful place. I read every word, I saw every picture and watched each one of the videos that I found. The decision was taken, I wanted to go to La Giraudiere.

A long-awaited answer

I sent the form completed on the 20th of March and I was very nervous because a week later I had no news. Ten days later I received an email, it was from Paul, he said that he sent me an email the day after I completed the form. How embarrassing! I was waiting for his response and I didn’t realise that it had gone into my spam box. I responded to him immediately explaining what was going on and confirming my visit. Fortunately everything was okay and we were in touch until my arrival.

On my way to volunteer

Two days before the trip I began feeling bad and the next day I woke up with a horrible cold. ” I can’t believe it ” I thought, ” I’m never sick and it has to happen today … what bad luck !” . I emailed Paul saying I will arrive two days later because of the cold and he responded to me that it wasn’t a problem.

I finished preparing my bags and put them in my car, I took a bottle of water and I put La Giraudiere in the GPS . I was ready for driving.

There were many roadworks but I didn’t care, I was very excited to arrive at La Giraudiere. Most of the trip I spent singing any song that I heard on the radio, actually I say “singing” but this sounded like a cats fight. I stopped twice, one to have lunch and the second one for a coffee so I finally arrived at 7pm.

The arrival at La Giraudiere

Paul called me around 6pm and asked me if I would want to have dinner, I responded yes! so he was waiting for me with dinner ready … So cute !! First he show me the apartment where I’ll stay and I put my suitcase inside. We had dinner and talked for a little bit .

That night I slept like a baby and the next day when I open the bedroom window, I took a breath looking at that lovely image and I told myself that it was the beginning of an incredible experience.

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