My experience report from the animal welfare project in Bilbao

Arrival in the project

I spent November and December 2021 at the Animal Welfare Project in Bilbao. My arrival went smoothly as planned. I flew from Munich to Bilbao and was picked up at the airport by José. We went to the accommodation together by bus.

Orientation program

My flatmates actually designed my orientation program: They explained everything about the language school and the project to me and accompanied me on my first walks through the city. 

My tasks in the project

Two to three days a week we worked for about three hours each at the site, a mixture of animal shelter and day care for dogs. The operator Marco mostly took over the tasks himself, such as feeding and cleaning the accommodations, we volunteers were primarily there to give the dogs a good time. 

We took them for walks, cuddled and played with them. Despite the often rainy weather, it was always a really nice time with the dogs, who were always very happy about our visit. We had a lot of fun and quickly made many four-legged friends.

Once a week we had the opportunity to help in a cat sanctuary. In contrast to the dog project, only shelter cats live there that are adopted. The station is in Bilbao and we were able to reach it by metro. There we helped clean the cats' homes and give them medicine. In addition, playing and stroking were of course not neglected.

My accommodation

As already mentioned, I shared a flat with eight other young women. The best thing was that very different nationalities met each other: USA, Japan, Italy, Switzerland, Bolivia, France and Germany. I stayed in a room with XNUMX others which was definitely big enough for us. There was also a single room and a double room in the apartment.

The apartment was very central and within a ten minute walk we were at the language school where we did our Spanish courses. In addition, one was very quickly in the old town or the shopping mile of Bilbao. As announced in the program, we took care of ourselves completely. Everything important was available in the somewhat cramped kitchen. The only thing we didn't have was an oven and a coffee maker, which we got used to. There are numerous supermarkets, pharmacies, bakeries and cafés right next to the house. Since the cleaning staff only came before a new person moved in, it was very chaotic in the apartment from time to time.

All in all, it mostly worked out and we got on well with each other.

Eat in Bilbao

There are enough places to eat in Bilbao, especially if you want to try pintxos (small meals - similar to tapas). Unfortunately, as a vegetarian, you often have little choice when eating out and then have to switch to tortillas or desserts. If you are unsure whether something is vegetarian, it is better to ask, because if in doubt, it always contains meat or fish. Apart from Spanish specialities, there are numerous international restaurants and there was something for every taste.

leisure and activities

The language lessons always took place from 9:30 a.m. to 13:30 p.m. and after that we were usually either with the dogs or the cats. On some days, however, the projects literally fell through because of the rain, so we had the afternoon off.

However, the language school always offered activities, so we did a wine tasting, went ice skating or tried churros con chocolate. It was great to meet more people and was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, shortly before Christmas, there weren't that many volunteers in Bilbao, so some activities were cancelled.

So we just did other things together and went to the Guggenheim Museum, bouldering, eating pintxos or to the Christmas market. We definitely had enough free time to explore the city and relax.

On a Sunday I made a day trip to San Sebastián. The journey by bus takes about two hours, but the fares are very cheap. The city is really beautiful and definitely worth a visit when in Bilbao.

my departure

Like my arrival, everything worked wonderfully on the way back despite the Corona situation. I drove to the airport with another volunteer and flew directly to Munich. Looking back, the most beautiful thing was definitely the time with the dogs! It was a great project and I would definitely do it again and again (but next time in the summer!)

Field report by Sophia, 2021