Alum from Spain Moves to Armenia

Danniel Roumian, our first participant from Spain, made a decision to stay in Armenia after 9 months of volunteer service in Yerevan and Shushi (BR '12-'13). Danniel has joined the Tim Flynn Architects team at IDeA Foundation to pursue his dream job in architecture. We wish him good luck in this new path, full of new challenges and new wisdom. 


Here's what Danniel wrote about his experience in Armenia:

"I came to Armenia, for four months over a year ago, to tick a box before travelling further afield, the remaining country with which I shared a familiar bond. I came as an Armenian, curious and without expectations. It was no motherland, no land of blood, tears and emotion, there were no parties celebrating my arrival, my return, there was no God to find and guide me. For me, there were none of those things. It was the post-Soviet ruins of apathy, in contrast with an unusually attentive, prying, spying, watchful eye following your every move. The dying remains of the fabulously friendly grandmother of socialism, asphyxiated by all the wrong, overwhelming qualities of her individualist son, capitalism. But it was real. It is real. And I loved it. I was breaking free from a familiar and lethargic comfort zone, with all intentions of returning to a mundane life in a self-proclaimed advanced country. The former happened instantly – with every day bringing new surprises, new challenges – the latter ended up taking over a year and it came with a twist. Spain, England, I know now, you are places only for holidays, a brief exchange of pleasantries with a bland and conforming west, before the plunge back into the struggling and exciting unknown.

I can’t really say I’ve changed much. I haven’t really grown. I haven’t really matured, I am, fundamentally, still me. But at the same time something is definitely different. This last year of daily unknowns, constant adventures, new experiences has offered no end to the challenges, amusement, emotion and sheer excitement that I live for.

And around every corner, there you were. To drag me back into the real world when I got too pensive; to share the journey to new locations, or rediscover comfortably old ones together; to discuss, to joke, to dance, to hike, to drink, to work. To smile. To hold onto as time begrudgingly ticked past – comparably faster than in any past experience – ignoring our attempts at making fleeting moments last forever. There is no end to the variety of strange moments I have shared with you at some point – so many, I wouldn’t even know where to begin – some better than others, some funny, some potentially embarrassing, too often forgettable thanks to my wonderfully aiding alcoholic amnesia. Thank you. For reminding me, for attempting to steer me down a safer path, but mostly, thank you for being there, for forgiving me, for always loving me and for always greeting me on our next adventure with that wonderful twinkle in your eye.

Armenia is for now my daily reality, the reason I get up in the mornings, the reason I still will to live. And it’s all thanks to you. Hiding behind every corner, at the bottom of every glass, in every thought and passing moment. You, I love."