O testemunho final da Cynthia (Boutique da Cultura)

 Olà todos ! 

A week ago, I said goodbye to my office, my tutor and the amazing team of the Boutique da Cultura. We all went to eat an ice cream after work and talk about those last 9 months and having to say goodbye to everyone was a really emotional moment. 

 My journey with this association started on the 1 of November. It has been maybe the most fulfilling months of my life, full of personal growth, drinks and parties with amazing friends. I will be forever grateful for the chance I had to do my project here, in this incredible city and association. Lisbon is a lively city, every day you can find something to do. I will never forget that experience and everything it brings me: the skills I learned, all the people I met, the place I visited.

After 9 months in Lisbon, I can really say that ESC changes lives, it open your horizons, offers new perspectives of life, and created amazing memories. It’s an out-of-the-ordinary experience that I will cherish forever. 

Thanks to the Association Boutique da Cultura, I learn so much personally but also professionally. I had amazing opportunities, like going to theater and even be part of a play, doing workshop and meeting new peoples from all age. My colleague always made me feel like I was part of the team, part of the family. They made this experience so much easier and also fun and for that I wanted to say thank you. 

Now, I have had to say goodbye to some amazing friends I met along this journey: my flatmates from Casa B, my friends from SPIN or from others associations in Lisbon. It’s always sad and hard but that’s how life works. I will never forget all the moment we spend together, all the trip and all the giggle ! I hope we will have the chance to meet again someday and I can't wait to see what life brings me and to them. 


Thank you and até a próxima !

O testemunho final da Leila (SPEM)

Time flies, you have to enjoy every moment, every day.

It’s probably the advice most people give when someone is having an experience abroad, or at least out of their hometown.

I tried to apply this advice every day since I arrived in Portugal. Enjoy every little thing, can be going to work, going out with friends, a coffee under the sunlight, or just on Sunday watching movies in bed.Living abroad taught me this, taking the time to enjoy valuable moments, to take time for myself and the things that matter to me. When people give the advice of “enjoy every day”, maybe they think more about going on weekend trip or going out. And it’s true, it is part of it. But it’s also about making a place that at first, you knew nothing about, home. It’s to make all the little things that were strange or incommun to you before, habits. Lisbon now is home. 

Now, it’s habit to take tremoços with my imperial, to ask for a coffee “cheio”, to see the old men of the neighborhood meeting at the end of the afternoon and seat in plastic chairs just around the corner, to spend most of my time outside, to go listen to jam session at A70 or Arroz Estudio, to eat soup as a starter at every meal, to know some of the songs of Tony Carreira by heart, to not be afraid of the hill or not to be out of breath when you arrive on top, to see trees with flowers all year long or even just to speak Portuguese. It’s also habits to complain about the buses always being late, or about the winter without heating. But there is also things we never get use too, we are always amazed, such as the orange light of the sun that makes all the city golden, the blue sky, the beautiful landscapes, and the amazing people we meet.

My experience was, in the major part, about meeting people. About making myself a new home and a new “everyday” life. I’m so grateful for what I have and what i built here. Indeed, I’m staying to live in Lisbon for a bit longer, I’m not ready to leave this life behind me. With the group of volunteers (at people that we met along the way), we created an amazing group.

It’s like family and I know that I built a friendship that will last forever. We can be separated, not be living in the same country, we will never lose each other. Maybe you create an even stronger relationship because we know that “time is flying”. My experience was also about my work. Even though I arrived in the middle of the pandemic, I had the chance to be in one of the few projects where we were still working “off-line”.

I loved my experience working in SPEM. I was sad and nostalgic to leave this work where I was finally feeling part of the team and part of the project. “Finally”, because, of course, it takes time, especially with the language barriers but also just because it takes time to enter a team and to feel comfortable. I learned a lot with the team, but also with the beneficiaries and I’m truly grateful.

Maybe I’m not a volunteer anymore, but I think I will feel like being one for still a while. It was an amazing experience that changed me and pushed me to achieve personal goals and to grow in a way that I’m happy and proud with. I would recommend to anyway to do this kind of experience, and I will. I would also recommend Lisbon of course, which completely took my heart. I’m writing this lines seated in a café in Paris, I’m there to visit friends and family. But then, I will go back home.

O testemunho no. 1 da Leila (SPEM)

Olá! I’m Leïla, and I arrived in Lisboa at the end of October. 

I felt in love with the city on the first day, and I’m really happy to know that I am gonna live in this amazing city for a year. I love its atmosphere (before coming here, I was living in Paris and it’s so different !), I love being near the Atlantic Ocean, the miradouros, the little streets, the food, the blue sky, the sunset...

I’m a volunteer in SPEM, Sociedade Portuguesa de Sclerosis Múltipla, so basically I’m working with disabled people and my missions are to organize and lead activities with them during the day. I really like it, it is really interesting because I get to know new people, their story, but also their disease and how to work with it, how to help them on their daily life routine, and how to make them happy with activities that they would like. And also, really important, their language (which they are really happy to teach me, cause I wasn’t speaking a word of Portuguese before coming here). My motivation for the project was the fact that I will work with people and for them. And that is exactly what this association is about !

But the life as a volunteer isn’t just about work, it is also about meeting new people, making new friends and discover the city. I didn’t know that we were so many volunteers here in Lisbon, and it was a really good surprise when I discovered it. Even with the pandemic, we are still lucky enough to be able to see each other ! 

It’s been only two months, but I already feel like home !