O testemunho final do Mattia (Spin)

The first thing I noticed about Lisbon was the planes. When you look up at the sky you see planes coming and going every few minutes thanks to the airport being located in the city, unlike many other European capitals. A plane brought me here almost a year ago, almost by luck and chance. Lisbon and Portugal were never in my plans honestly. I had already been living abroad and the only thing I knew for certain is that I wanted another experience living in another country. 

Lisbon and Spin came very unexpectedly, and I had almost no time to think over on my decision. Now, a year later, I’m grateful that my doubts didn’t get the best of me. 
It was a long and eventful year, It started by going to the beach on my first weekend and it ended on a miradouro with some fireworks, watching a view that now feels like home. 

I admit that during my first weeks in Lisbon, I felt like something was missing, and the city didn’t capture me as much as other cities I’ve previously visited. But then, after a while, the azulejos, the hills, and the amazing views all became too alluring for me to not cave in and to fall in love with a city that has so much to offer, culturally and socially. A year later, I had so many great experiences in this city, I discovered new passions and I met so many amazing people that contributed to making this year so special. 

A special thanks go to all my flatmates in Casa Anjos, the ones who helped me settle in at the beginning (seriously, I couldn’t have asked for a better group of flatmates and friends) and the ones who arrived at the end of my journey, It was fun to see how much different my knowledge of Lisbon and of the people here was compared to one year ago, I hoped to have helped the newcomers to settle in the best possible way. 

But the purpose of my stay in Lisbon was to work in the office of Spin: everyone immediately welcomed me with open arms, and from the beginning, I was assigned tasks that kept me occupied and busy. Although the last months were more relaxed (and I wished I’d been more proactive in asking for more to do) I still had overall a wonderful time and I’ll always cherish the memories I made, the trip to Marseille with other volunteers is for sure a highlight of this project.

Working at Spin gave me the chance to get to know myself better, and to have a taste of what it’s like to work in a multicultural office. I had many tasks over the year, and although I wish I could have done more in some areas and learned better how to work in an NGO world, I’m still proud of what I’ve accomplished and the things I’ve learned. 

I cherish all the youth exchanges, training courses, and the “Live it Lisbon” projects in the summer, long hours, exhausting at times, but always entertaining, especially thanks to my fellow volunteers who were there to help me every step of the way.

And now I’d like to thank all the volunteers that I work with: every one of you made my day better at the office and I love spending time with all of you. In particular, I want to say thank you to my friend Vedran, with whom we shared not just an office, but also a house for a year: you are an amazing friend and coworker, and I’m so grateful that I’ve got to work with you and I was able to learn many things about content creation and the NGO world. 

Volunteering and this project taught me many things, and I’m now looking forward to what’s next, I know that whatever comes, I’ll be able to rise to the challenge and experience another chapter of my life with a positive mindset.

Até logo Lisboa,

Mattia

O testemunho final do Riccardo (Bola p’ra Frente)

These are my last days in Lisbon, I have to write some words about my experience here and I thought it was a good idea to go in a very sentimental place to do it. Now I just want to cry cause the nostalgic feeling is hitting too hard and it’s super difficult to write with blurred eyes.

I’m in Jardim do Rio, Almada, in the margem sul. I decided to come here because from this point it’s possible to see all Lisbon from west to east, that is from the Belém tower to a massive cruise ship docked in front of Alfama, the most historical area of the city. The sunset from this spot is stunning, in this moment the pinky clouds are reflecting on the Tejo River and I am completely immersed in this pinky atmosphere linking the sky to the river. wished to have amazing photography skills to frame this picture, but I tried and from my phone you can barely recognise Lisbon. I got distracted by the view, I was saying that I decided to come here because from this place it’s possible to see all the city from the outside, exactly like I’m watching my almost one year in Lisbon now.

I don’t think I can summarise my eleven months here, so I will just write at what point I am right now pretending you know exactly what I’m talking about.

I did the volunteer activities for the Associação Nacional Futebol de Rua, I have spent my energy for the kids of the association and I tried to use my time in there for them. Probably I could have done more for the association’s activities, I didn’t have a lot of sense of initiative in proposing new activities, but I’m happy that I managed to connect and stay close to many kids there, I cared a lot about them and I think in the ANFR everyone noticed this. I’m bringing back home a t-shirt signed by every kid of the association and with the t-shirt a lot of other things. I’m bringing back the constancy of Mafalda, who is always in the association with a great attitude. The honesty and bravery of Anderson in expressing himself. The cuteness and sympathy of Jorge, Bryan and Erika. The empathy of João and Gustavo, always looking for the lasts. The individual evolution of Telmo during the year. The curiosity of Lara and Rodrigo. The discipline of Erika. The younger brother's relationship with Emanuel, and a lot of other things.
It’s the first time for me to enter in the life of a different community and I like to think I am leaving, at least in part, as one of them.

Being a volunteer though is not something that applies just to the activities of the association. I spent one year (almost) living a communitarian life, living with less, sharing all my time and space with someone. I had to consider for all this time the cheapest solutions and soon I found myself very comfortable in the cheap world. A lot of things were not necessary anymore and my drive easily shifted to the essential. Lisbon for sure helped me in this process, it seems the perfect city for this and it’s very easy to find people with the same mindset.

I met people who drastically changed my life’s prospects, people who are not driven by crazy ambitious career dreams but just by the simple idea of experiencing life.

Now the sky is dark and the nostalgic feeling is not the only thing hitting hard since it’s getting very windy, it is difficult to write a conclusion because I was too optimistic not wearing a jacket and my hands are freezing. I am going to enjoy my last days in Lisbon totally aware that they will not be my real last ones. I will come back soon, the connections here are too strong. I am sure I will write a proper conclusion next time.

O testemunho No. 1 do Nacho (SPEA)

Although I arrived in Lisbon three months ago, it still feels like I just got here.

The day I arrived, I felt very sad. I've lived away from home for many years, but never outside of Spain, far from my family and friends, without a strong support system nearby (even though Portugal is very close to Spain). Because of this, the first few weeks were tough. But as I started to adapt to this new city and my new life (and as they adapted to me), I realized the incredible opportunity I had in front of me.

I’m doing my volunteer work at SPEA (Sociedade Portuguesa para o Estudo das Aves). Within my professional field, it’s an absolute privilege to work here for a year. Any ornithologist would be thrilled to have this opportunity. Honestly, this job has been my greatest motivation throughout this new experience. Because of everything I learn every day and everything I know I still have to learn, I feel incredibly lucky to work in something I’m so passionate about. Bird conservation involves many different tasks, like fieldwork, environmental education, or office work. I enjoy every single one of them.

Beyond my work, I’m experiencing many new things socially. Building a circle of trust from scratch was very challenging at first. But soon enough, I met amazing people, and I’ve never been more open to new experiences than I am now. I feel like the best is yet to come.