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Hej, hello, ciao!

Hello!


My name is Karin and I am the new ESC volonteer here at Caritas in Jesi. I am 19 years old and come from Sweden. 

I graduated from highschool in June 2025, where I studied a social science and classical choir music program. Although I loved it, it was a very stressful time and when I graduated I was mentally exhausted. I had no plans on going abroad or volunteering. 

So, after highschool, I worked at a café, in elderly care and studied a night course in philosophy. I really enjoyed my work and found my studies interesting, but after having had the time to recover that I needed I realised I wanted to do something more with my time. I wanted to do something that would challenge me and help me grow, as well as doing something to help other people. 

A year earlier, I had heard of the possibility to do volunteering through an Erasmus program. Although I was not sure that was what I wanted to do, I decided to check the possibilities they had to offer. Since I have studied French in school, France was the obvious choice at first. However, when I looked at the volunteering opportunities, the one that caught my eye was an opportunity in Jesi, Italy.

The volunteering tasks in the description were all aimed at helping the community and those in need in some way. It really seemed like things that would make a difference and that I would enjoy working with. Although I was frightened by the fact that I do not speak any Italian, I thought "It does not hurt to try" and I sent my application.

Two months after my first inteview I arrived in Jesi, and I have now been here for 4 weeks. The first week was a rollercoaster of emotions. I was so excited to be here, to experience life in a different country and to learn about the volunteering opportunity, but also terrified. What if I would not enjoy the work, what if the language barrier would be too big and what if I would simply miss home too much?


Rio, me (Karin) and Emma the day I arrived

After a while, the shock of it all settled. Now that I have been here one out of 6 months, I cannot yet say what my entire volunteering experience will be. What I can say though is that the first weeks have been filled with warm welcomings, interesting work, good food and lovely people. If things continue the way they are, I will only have good things to say about the time I spent here.


I look forward to learning more about the work at Caritas and the community here, and growing both personally and professionally!

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