O testemunho No. 2 da Lucia (Viver Telheiras)

Here we are! As six months have passed since my arrival in Portugal I’m stopping for a moment to evaluate this first half of my volunteering project.

The beginning of my stay in Lisbon was awesome, I was exploring the city, getting to know
the other volunteers and having meetings with my tutor and other people from my hosting organisation. 

However, from January Portugal was again on lockdown and, as a consequence, I had to stop or suspend my activities for a bit. It took me some time to organise my routine in lockdown, but having experience that a year ago helped me a lot and taught me how to plan my day not to waste my time while I had to stay at home. The bright side of the lockdown was that I could spend some time studying a little bit Portuguese and sharing moments with my flatmates. 

Luckily, the covid situation has improved a lot recently and the restrictions have started to be gradually loosened, so I could explore a little bit of Portugal. More specifically, I spent some time in Algarve, in southern Portugal, to take part in a workaway project with some fellow volunteers and friends from Lisbon. In the mornings we had to do some manual work to renovate a house in the countryside, while in the afternoon and in the night we had some free time to chill and visit the surroundings. It was a great experience because we could take a break from the routine in the city, spend time at the open air and socialise with the other volunteers. Besides that, I’ve also had the opportunity to discover new places along the coast and visit some cities, such as Sintra, Óbidos, Coimbra and Aveiro. 

During the lockdown all my meetings and activities with my hosting organisation were online. Luckily, as soon as the rules allowed it, I started again having meetings in presence with my tutor and some people collaborating with my host association. Meeting people and doing activities offline is much more motivating and I can’t wait to see the events on which we have been working taking place. More specifically, we are working on some projects to promote biodiversity and we are organising some workshops for the local schools. Seeing these initiatives finally taking shape has been rewarding and I’m excited to see what is coming next.

Até à próxima, bjs,

Lucia