It has been almost 11 months since I have started rolling as an ESC volunteer at Spin association. It was a bit hard to get used to life in Portugal because the starting date of my project crossed with the spread of Covid-19 in Europe and that was a lil bit whack. After a while, I started clicking anyway because of the friendly people in my host organization and the sunny weather in Portugal. It was a life-changing experience through hard, tight and a’right moments that I could have never imagined to have had before coming to Portugal.
Despite the fact that I wasn’t been able to go to the office and collaborate with my teammates closely, I have always tried to do my best as an ESC volunteer. I spent such a tremendous effort to manage Spin’s Instagram account. It was challenging but in the end, I felt that my sweat drops paid off completely because I learned a lot about preparing useful content for promoting youthwork.
I enjoyed and experienced greatly through interacting with people from different cultures. One of the biggest moments I have ever had in Portugal was meeting with one of the greatest artists and the rising star of Portugal called “Bruno Reis”. His unique creativity and vision about transforming the music into another whole dimension of art during his show made a huge impact on the audience including me and my company M to the I, R, I who had the most rejoice among the fans.
Besides, another markable fact was about the fishermen in Portugal because when I looked at those guys, I could clearly see that no matter what kind of physical difficulties they face with, the attitude was always simple “never give up, never surrender”. I felt the enlightenment and relief through watching them because it was inspirational. I know that people go to Portugal to see natural beauties and amazing Portuguese culture including delicious cuisine with dishes such as Bacalllhau and Francesinha but It also worths seeing the harmony between nature and fisherman based on my experience. More than that, I will be always missing to watch the amazing sunset in Lisbon with my half-eaten cheeseburgers and a couple of candies while spinning some rhymes by the inspiration I got through the vibe.
Long story short, during the time I have spent in Portugal, I have become more aware of social obstacles and the importance of intercultural integration. ESC is a kinda program that everyone should participate especially after getting graduated from the university because I believe that it is quite important to experience giving to the community without receiving a considerable amount of money. Coming to Portugal as an ESC volunteer was one of the tightest decision I have ever made in my whole life. The last but not the least, I wanna say thanks to my unofficial mentor J-Roc who helped me go through the hard times in Lisbon. I am also thankful to Erasmus+ program and Spin Association for giving me that opportunity to widen my vision about life and people.
Let me say goodbye to y’all in my whacky style;
“blaaap shiggida erriip erriip blaap zhyeaeaa erriip shiggida erriipp sliiippp peaceeee”
