Closing Remarks

A one-page blog is simply not enough to share everything I experienced during these six weeks in Tbilisi, and especially at DRONI. I do not think I will ever be able to fully put my time there into words. 

This is definitely not because English is my second language (lol). I just do not think there are enough words to express how much I appreciate this volunteering experience and how deeply I will cherish it for the rest of my life.

I am incredibly grateful that I happened to be in the right place at the right time. I want to say a huge thank you to everyone at DRONI, but especially to my Georgian family: Rita, Kelly, Monika, and Grigori. You made this experience truly unforgettable.

Now that my appreciation speech is over, we can finally jump into my last log from Tbilisi - LiA Week 6.

Static Escape Room

After five weeks of hard work, it finally paid off. We completed our static escape room about the negative side effects of AI in one of the biggest youth centres in Tbilisi and presented it over multiple days to more than 50 students.

Working on this project with the other volunteers was one of the highlights of my experience. Coincidentally, I played the main character in the escape room, so recording a video at 3am, where I had to use every bit of my acting talent, was incredibly fun.

We later received feedback from the director of the youth centre, who said that the escape room was both educational and engaging, and that the students genuinely loved the experience and wanted to do more activities like this whenever they had the chance.

Europe Workshop

After preparing all of the necessary materials, the volunteers who worked on the project were sent to one of the youth centres to host the workshop. A French volunteer and I were chosen as the main presenters and game masters.

I read out questions about Europe, the European Union, and different exchange programmes, while my colleague led various challenges that allowed participants to progress through the game.

Thirty-five students, ranging in age from 7 to 17, took part in the activity. We hosted the entire workshop in English so that the students could immerse themselves in an international environment while practicing their language skills with us.

After collecting feedback, we discovered that what the students enjoyed the most was having foreigners host the activity entirely in English. The youth centre even asked DRONI to organize more workshops like this in the future.

Not a Goodbye but a See You Later

This week I taught my very last lesson at the youth centre where I had been teaching English throughout my LiA. That lesson was incredibly bittersweet.

I decided to prepare a travel-themed trivia game about different countries and cultures, and I also brought sweets. The rules were simple: answer a question correctly, and you earn a candy.

My students absolutely loved this activity. After all, who does not like free sweets?

I borrowed this idea from one of my own tutors back in middle school. He would always reward us with something sweet after class, and unsurprisingly, I was incredibly motivated to do well only in his lessons. Naturally, I decided to adopt the same strategy once I became a teacher. As my mom always says, "Everything new is well-forgotten old," and I could not agree more.

We also played Taboo, one of my favourite games. The goal is to explain a word to your teammates without using four forbidden words or any obvious synonyms. It encourages you to think creatively and is especially helpful when learning a new language.

What I did not expect at all was the surprise my students and the other teachers had prepared for me. They brought me a cake and gave me a beautiful tote bag with khinkali on it. We shared the cake while talking about their summer plans.

At the end of the lesson, every single student came to hug me and thank me. Many of them told me that learning from me was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. That was the moment I realised that everything I had been doing over those six weeks truly mattered.

This entire experience was incredibly rewarding, but it also helped me realise something about myself.

Somewhere along the way, I had become so obsessed with the idea of building my future "perfect" life that I had unintentionally left little to no room for my hobbies, passions, and the things that genuinely make me happy. My LiA experience made me stop and breath, but also think, and completely reconsider my priorities.

I like volunteering. I like teaching. I like helping people. I am so much more than just my degree or my grades.

Last Office Meeting

The day before my flight, I went to the office for the very last time. I helped brainstorm ideas for future workshops and escape rooms that other volunteers would be able to facilitate after I had left.

Then it was finally time to say goodbye: to our coordinator, the director of DRONI, and all of the other volunteers.

A few of us went out for one final round at Mapshalia, bringing everything full circle. It was the very first restaurant I visited during my first week in Georgia, and it became the place where I shared my last meal before leaving.

It felt like saying goodbye to family, with hot food, warm conversations, and the tightest hugs.

For one last time, my friend and I played Bura at 2am (a card game), and by 5am I was already on the plane, ready for a new beginning.

I feel like I need an entirely separate blog just to explain how much I fell in love with Georgia as a country. But maybe that is exactly why we write these reports.

Hence, if you are ever curious to hear more about my time there, my dear reader, I invite you to explore the stories hidden between the lines of these blogs.

Signing off,

Alice