The Spirit of Europe

Hungary, Portugal, France, Austria, Spain, Basque, Poland, Germany and Italy. When nine people from different european countries sit around a table, it's either a small political conference, or a happy gathering of European Solidarity Corps volunteers.

Last weekend we visited our colleagues in Cingoli. They are ESC volunteers with the Italian Red Cross and Vicolocorto is also responsible for their project. Until now, we only knew each other from stories of our common mentor Giulia and a small online competition about the Eurovision Songcontest. That's why we were very happy to finally meet in person.

A joint city walk through the beautiful Cingoli (it absolutely deserves the name "Balcone delle Marche"!), the obligatory stop at the ice cream parlour, dinner at the pizzeria and card games until late at night. Little by little, we got to know each other better: Nine young people from nine countries with different ages, languages, backgrounds, interests and plans. Looking at it this way, isn't it amazing and great?😊

Finally, we went for a little hike the next day. On white sheets in front of a breathtaking panorama, we had a picnic together and enjoyed the sun and life. And then our visit was already over.

Thank you guys, for the lovely weekend, your hospitality and good company 💙

For those whose projects end now: All the best for your future!

And to those who're staying a bit longer: Maybe see you soon!

Comments

Hello everyone! I'm the new volunteer

Hi! My name is Louise, I'm 26 years old, and I'm from France. Ever since I was a child, I wanted to go abroad to see what life is like elsewhere. Two years ago, in 2022, I graduated with a Master’s degree in Law, specialising in European Law. That’s how I first heard about the European Solidarity Corps (but only from an academic perspective, as we were studying several European programs). During my studies, I volunteered every summer with a French organisation that supports migrants in different aspects of their lives. The first Summer, I helped organise activities for children living in a refugee center. And the following years, I joined the legal advice service, where I assisted migrants with their administrative process to obtain or renew their residence permits. It was a truly rewarding experience that helped me grow personally. After graduation, I felt lost. I knew from my volunteering experience that I wanted a job that had a positive impact on society, but I wasn't ...

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Ciao, Hola and Hi! I’m Rio Rojas Mayorga, and I’ve been helping set up the new apartment for volunteers. Let me tell you about the process of organizing this future home for us! In case you didn’t know, ESC volunteers previously lived in an apartment within the Caritas enclosure. However, for various reasons, it was decided to move us to a new place in the city center. The person in charge of preparing this apartment was Fabiano, a 65-year-old volunteer. Since he had multiple apartments and projects to manage, progress on this specific one was quite slow. So, to give him a hand, I offered my time and enthusiasm to compensate for my lack of any real knowledge of construction or renovation! The house had almost everything we needed, but the problem was that it was all disassembled. It took a couple of months of assembling furniture, deep cleaning every piece, and rearranging the house fittings over and over. For most of the process, the end felt so far away. We started first w...

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