Auf Wiedersehen und viel Glück

Tessa who has been our amazing European volunteer for this year finishes up Wednesday 31st July! She has been part of the Moon Base project since it opened in October 2018. We asked Tessa to try and sum up her time in Belfast and with us and Moon Base.

‘I always wanted to go abroad after High School and live in another country for a while. I was lucky enough that this dream became true and about one year ago I was packing my luggage and getting ready for Belfast -the city where I would spend my next 12 month in.

When I arrived, a lot of people were asking me; “why Belfast?“ -slightly irritated. Yeah, why Belfast? To be honest, I don‘t know -it was more the case that Belfast chose me. Or at least this is how it feels, plus I have no better explanation. But no matter the reason, I am glad I landed here. Belfast with all its edges and corners really got into my heart over the past year. I did not just land in this cool city -I landed in the Black Box, probably one of the coolest venues in town, with probably the coolest people. I was lucky that I got into an environment where everyone was so welcoming to me.

I spent the main part of my ‘EVS‘ year in Moon Base. Moon Base is a project for people with learning disabilities running by the Black Box. I don‘t think I have seen a project like this before and I definitely have never seen a brighter and more colourful space in my life. Moon Base is just original and so are the people that are coming to Moon Base. It is hard to pick a favourite moment or part of my time at Moon Base because we literally did so much. But one of the most memorable ones were probably the two days where we actually went into the recording studio and made an EP. I have never imagined being in a real recording studio ever in my life. But it wasn‘t even the most exciting part of this experience. It was just so great to see how we wrote our own tunes together during our weekly music workshops. It was great to follow this process, to watch the music and also the group members developing -everyone was building up so much confidence through this experience. I am pretty sure that there will be a second EP by Moon Music coming out. And even if I won‘t be at Moon Base at this point, I can‘t wait to hear it.

I gained so much new experience through this year -I learned so much about myself, about people, about different cultures and just life in general. I am grateful for everything I could take with me and I hope I could give at least a little bit back as well. ‘

We wish Tessa all the luck in the future and can’t wait to see what she does! Die Black Box liebt Tessa