CelsAway

I’m just writing a quick update, so this post is a little different from the usual content.

Yesterday evening I arrived in Lisbon! After spending the night in a hostel in Burgos in a room with seven men, I get on the bus at 5:45 in the morning. For the first couple of hours I am fortunate to have two seats for myself, but in the second half of the trip the bus is packed. Both my back and my neck start aching after the first hour, but that’s no surprise. I’m in pain, standing up, sitting down, and laying down, so there’s really no difference.

After a 12-hour trip, I get off the bus in Lisbon, realizing that the clock here is an hour behind. My plan was to volunteer again, but when I arrived I hadn’t officially been accepted by the hostel I had been in touch with. A little nervous, I take the metro and walk twenty minutes to the hostel. The moment I set foot out of the metro station, I immediately fall in love with the city. It’s not yet completely dark, but the sun has almost set and the street lights are illuminating the view. While it’s Sunday evening (or is 18:00 still afternoon?), the streets are full of life – shops don’t close here as early as they do in Belgium.

Walking in Lisbon is a workout an sich. With my 40L backpack, I climb the streets up to the hostel and get there with sweat dripping from my face. I wipe it off and enter the hostel. Reception is at the third floor, I read. So, I go up and get to the reception. I introduce myself to the receptionist and say that I am a possible volunteer, but that I’m not yet officially accepted. Long (not actually, but I can make everything long) and boring story short: the ‘manager’ who deals with the Worldpacker volunteers doesn’t come in on weekends, so I couldn’t do the interview right away. “Of course, no problem”, I say and mean it, and then I just book a bed for the night.

Working 8 AM shifts in Spain, woke the early bird in me, so at 7 AM I sit up in my bunkbed. After an hour or so, I get ready and take off to get myself some breakfast. With a full stomach I walk back to the hostel and feel nerves kicking in. I didn’t expect to be nervous, because it felt very low key, but it would be a huge block off my shoulders if I got this ‘job’. I mostly just didn’t want to look for another volunteering opportunity and accommodation.

I won’t go over the whole interview, it was pretty standard and went really well. I was able to express myself as a sociable and excited person, which I am, and he told me I could stay as long as I wanted. Now I have just settled into the room that I share with three other volunteers (and another one who is arriving tomorrow), and am getting ready to go out again. The shifts I’ll have to work are usually from 17:00 to 1:00. They describe the position as party promoter, because they want to become a party hostel, but from the other volunteers I’ve already heard that it is not so much the reality right now. Some of the tasks include bartending (yay!), organizing the parties and convince people to come, checking guests in and out, but mostly checking the laundry once an hour. The job descriptions given by the manager and the other volunteers are basically polar opposites, but I’m excited either way. Since I’m probably staying here a little while, I’m confident in making this a party hostel if that’s what they want it to become.

Later today, I am finally meeting one my best friends again! The whole reason I chose Lisbon, was to reunite with Daniel, who I met in Denmark on exchange. It has been almost a year since we last saw each other, and I can barely believe we’re in the same city right now.

---

This post was written a bit more quickly and casually. While I enjoy writing like I’ve done in my previous posts the most, I might post like this sometimes too. Let me know what you prefer! Tips, suggestions and feedback are always welcome!

-Cels