until the next journey.

After my trip, I had to build my life at home. I started working at another bakery in town, I thought ‘If I loved working at the old one, this one will probably will be the same right?’. I loved the old bakery because of the people I worked with, knowing everything and everyone. They trusted me to do things my way, even if it was different, I was comfortable here. I started working here as a shy girl and thanks to the amazing women here I became much more confident. The people here were generous and fun.

This other bakery was awful. I knew it wouldn’t be the same, but there was no trust at all. The owner didn’t even trust his own family who worked there to do things right, let alone me. For working 8 hours, employees must get a break of at least 45 minutes, says the law. We got 15. If we wanted more than one small sandwich we had to bring it ourselves. And at the end of the day, ofcourse throw away all that is left. The owner here was greedy.

I worked at this bakery for about three weeks. I had found a new job, at a plant center. I had to learn new things, but I was excited. Slowly, I got more comfortable here. My coworkers were so fun and patient, they allowed me to make mistakes and gave me time to learn and grow, just like the plants. I didn’t enjoy waking up early to go to work every day, but I did it anyway because I knew I would have fun.

I started playing piano, my teacher was amazing and she had three adorable flufy dogs, one husky and two samoyeds. I hungout with my friends and family more. It was spring, summer was coming, the weather was amazing and I was outside a lot. We had parties, BBQs and festivals.

I knew I was going to take one more gap year and make the most of it. My work allowed me to take one month off, so to strart my gap year off strong I had planned a vacation with my friends right at the end of summer, I had booked an interrail pass for a month, and planned to meet up with my best friend in Madrid. I enjoyed my time back home, but was excited to explore Europe some more, and I was ready for my next journey.