O testemunho no. 2 da Mikk (SPEAK)

I have been in Portugal for 7 months now and I have been enjoying the different lifestyle experience very much. Here is different culture: people are more socialising, work-culture is more freestyle and there is a lot of beating around the bush, but having fun at the same time situations. For example I have seen that everybody is out at the daytime not doing work and enjoying their coffee. They do the same in the morning and always have these coffee breaks outside the office in the sun. That is cool, but at the same time I am always wondering are they not hungry. They start morning with coffee and sometimes eat melons and apples in the lunch time. I would starve if I was like this. :D

But as for socializing aspect, I am really impressed! People are really friendly, helpful, supportive and also it is much easier to make friends out of nowhere. That is because the culture is international. When you are in a centre, yes sure some can argue that it was so much better 10 years ago when it was mostly Portuguese people in Bairro-Alto and so on, but now it is even better in my opinion. If the culture has only local people, then it will be difficult to make connections due to the language barrier. International environment brings more friends, happiness and cause to stay so much more than only local people. As for Portuguese people I only have one good friend so far and that is my mentor. It is difficult to approach them, but when you do, the results are usually really nice. Same as Estonians hahah. Much sun helps a lot too, but sometimes there is even too much of it. Would personally like some rain sometimes.

As for the language, I can understand the basics now, but not being able to understand many conversations and I am not fluent in the language. I have no problem to order anything on the restaurant and that is the most important.

I am going to leave after 8 months of my project however, because the future is not that good in here. It is almost impossible to have any savings with this high prices for rentals and low salaries. There are more reasons why I am leaving, but from what I have seen so far, it is great place to retire, but you would have to spend a lot of your time when you are young that otherwise can be put under your career. And that is one downside that I felt through my experience. 

O testemunho final da Perrine (Crescer a Cores)

 Oi gente,

Time for me to say goodbye (for now) to this little piece of paradise called Lisbon.

It's been 10 months that I've been living in the beautfiul city of lisbon and now because of my studies, unfortunately, I will have to leave LX a little earlier than expected. 10 months of making new friends, building relationships, discovering portugal, learning portuguese, learning about portuguese culture, trying new food and drinks, trying new sports, falling in love and just living life.

Since my first days I fell in love with this city and its atmosphere. Lisbon gave me experience, lisbon made me grow, lisbon made me believe in my dreams, lisbon helped me realise what I want in life, lisbon makes me happy.

I am so happy and grateful that I made the decision to move to lisbon in fall of 2020, I couldn't be happier about my ESC experience and everything that came with it.

I must say that it also wasn't just all good experiences, since my work did not fullfill me personally and due to other reasons sometimes but all in all I had an amazing time and I would recommend to everyone to go abroad and take this opportunity that is given to us ! Working as a volunteer is a very special experience and can be extremly challenging or also be the most chilled thing you ever did in your life, you just have to try. I already did two voluntary services and it won't be the last one. Being abroad volunteering, meeting new people from all over the world with different cultures different life experiences and views on life is one of my favourite things ever. You feel part of a community that wants to do good, to give back in some way and just tries to give joy. I won't forget all the support, advice, strength we all shared in good as in hard times.

Thank you European Solidarity Corps for making these experiences possible, thank you to my collegues at Crescer a Cores who open heartly welcomed me and gave me the chance to discover this workfield. Thank you to all the lovely people I met allong my way. Thank you for strangers becoming friends, for friends becoming family.

Beijos. Perrine

O testemunho final da Emma (Associação Salvador)

During these months in the European Solidarity Corps, I learned a lot. Lisbon was a city that cradled me, made me believe in my dreams and made me love it. Someone told me that Lisbon is special: it is a little bit mother and a little bit lover. I thought that this is really how it is.

Being part of the European Solidarity Corps is a very complex experience. It means living in a different city, getting to know many volunteers from all over the world, getting involved in your chosen project.
I spent these months with the Salvador Association, in the areas of accessibility and finding donors for the association. Our main mission was the social inclusion of tetraplegic and praplegic people.

Unfortunately, during these months I did not have much personal contact with friends and workers of the association, because the covid and the needs of the association at this time did not allow it. In my case it was perhaps a somewhat limited experience, but I certainly learned a lot. As I was saying, being part of the European solidarity corps is a complex experience and goes beyond the chosen project: in my case, getting to know many volunteers and supporting each other was fundamental.
It made me feel part of a wonderful and supported community, made me believe in my dreams and definitely become a more adult person and citizen of the world. I will never forget all the wonderful moments I spent in Lisbon with the other Spin volunteers, the mutual support we gave each other, the advice, the strength.

Unfortunately, I had to end my project early for health reasons, deciding to return to Italy where I would have had an operation with a rather long and unforeseen waiting time.

I hope I have left my mark in the hearts of all the people I have met and shared with, as they have done with me!

O testemunho No. 2 da Chiara (SPEA)

I haven’t understood yet if life in Lisbon is quite and calm or fast and chaotic.

Sometimes it seems relaxed, like its inhabitants drinking “cerveja” and eating “tremoços” outside the bar “sem pressa”. Sometimes it seems slow, like a walking trail, with a tent and a backpack, trying to discover the rural internal part of Portugal passing through fields of wheat with the color of the sun and orchards that smell of tradition and love for their land.

Sometimes it seems lazy, like the long home working days, making this "teletrabalho" now, a way of life, without knowing the faces of all your colleagues, but that despite everything, at the end of the day, makes you say, "I like what I do". Sometimes it seems calm, like a road trip with your great friends, trying to discover non-touristic places, through local tips and map, searches that make me continue to amaze the incredible and authentic beauty of this country. Sometimes it seems infinity, like the long hours waiting for the birds passing, looking into a telescope, until you observe ... the imperial eagle!!

Sometimes, instead, it seems chaotic, like a workshop with about 20 9 year-old jumping and running around you, while you try to explain them the diet of birds. But, in spite of everything, that colorful and noisy mess, fills you so deeply inside that they make you think that this is the right path for you. It seems frenetic, despite the Covid, all the nights are filled with smiles, dinners, friends, wine and dances, that bring you to say "tomorrow night I'll stay at home to rest" and then you never do that. Sometimes it seems too full and with too little time in a single day to manage friends, distant family, volunteering, interests and work.  Sometimes it seems to run, with the project towards the end and still a world of things to do and faces to meet.

Well, whether it's a slow life or a hurry, this is my life in Lisbon, and always, despite everything, I am and will always be very grateful for it.

O testemunho final da Ana (Crescer)

Infelizmente, tive que terminar o voluntariado mais cedo e só consegui cumprir a metade do tempo planejado porque tinha um emprego em Madrid. Estou muito triste por ter que me despedir de todos os amigos que fiz aqui. Sem dúvida, tem sido uma experiência maravilhosa e me sinto incrivelmente sortuda por ter podido ir para outro país, conhecer novas pessoas, aprender uma bela língua e desenvolver habilidades no campo da intervenção social. Tudo isso no meio de uma pandemia.

Fiquei muito feliz por estar aqui e voltarei em segurança, Lisboa é uma cidade linda, nostálgica, um pouco decadente mas muito divertida. Dos miradouros às pontes, passando pelas ruas de paralelepípedos, pelas sete colinas, pelo rio que parece o mar, pelos espetaculares pores do sol e pelos seus azulejos característicos, onde cada edifício pode ser uma obra de arte em si ... é mágico . Claro, muito pouco acessível para pessoas com mobilidade reduzida. 

Gostaria de recomendar esta experiência a todo jovem que não passa muito tempo entre os estudos e a inserção no mundo do trabalho. Permite que você reflita e tome o seu tempo para a próxima aventura ou passo futuro que você duvida, há muitas pessoas que estão na mesma situação que você e isso lhe dá paz de espírito. Além disso, um ambiente tão jovem e dinâmico abre sua mente e você encontra espaço para acreditar nas suas ideias e se motivar para realizá-las.

O testemunho No. 2 da Cristina (SPEA)

Hi again! 

Summer has arrived and, with it, being aware that half of my ESC Project has already passed...That is why I am here again, to write my “Mid Term Testimony” and update you a bit on how things are going!

I can only begin being thankful for having had this great opportunity. And, although the year wasn’t started very well due to the new measures implemented because of the increase in COVID cases in Portugal, it was also possible to take advantage of those days at home cultivating myself in other personal aspects. 

Then, with the beginning of the spring and the end of the lockdown, everything improved remarkably, also accompanied by the opportunity to participate in the field work trips of SPEA, my host organization.

From that moment on, I have carried out countless activities and projects with them, with different objectives and in very different places, which have made me grow a lot personally and professionally.

Some have consisted of placing and monitoring nest houses, making bird counting, improving and conservating natural habitats, controlling invasive species, doing environmental education activities, ornithological walks, helping to implement good agricultural, ganadery and electric lines practices, etc. In different places around Portugal like Setúbal, Ilhas Barreira, Sintra, Lisboa, Vila Flor, Ilhas Berlengas, Lagoa Pequena, etc.

Apart from the Project, I have also had such a good time traveling and enjoying with the rest of the volunteers and other friends, discovering different parts and secrets of Lisbon, as watching sunsets in Cacilhas, having barbecues in Monsanto, learning to do surf in Carcavelos, dancing cumbia in Zona Franca or Arroz estudios, ... And visiting and camping in places like Sintra, Cascais, Setubal, Óbidos, Nazaré, Batalha, Viana do Castelo, etc.

And for closing this stage of the project, during the last months, I had the opportunity to share that I created and learned during the January and February’s lock down in some of the Lisbon Street Markets with my new watercolours brand “TarentolArt”. 

They have been some incredible months with a lot of opportunities and, although sometimes I must face some adversities that appear along the way, I would not change anything.

I will update you on the last stage of my ESC Project!

Big hugs, Cristina.

O testemunho No. 2 da Leila (SPEM)

Today, the 6th of July 2021, it has been 36 weeks that I´m in Lisbon. 257 days, 6 168 hours.

And for all those tiny minutes, those hours, those 257 sunsets and sunrises, I'm thankful. I'm thankful to Lisbon that welcomed me in all its beauty. I´m thankful to my friends that I met here, who are now my portuguese family. I'm thankful for my work which helps me to figure out what I want in life and to focus on what matters to me. And I'm thankful to myself for the opportunity that I took by coming here.

Everyday has not been easy since January ; we had a lock-down and a hard winter. But I have to say that I can hardly remember the bad days. Their memories have been replaced by the good days. Even though the lock-down was tough, I feel that I came out of it even more motivated to do stuff, to travel, to go out, to live, to not miss another day. And I believe that I´m not the only one who reacted like this, because since the end of the lock-down our group of volunteers is even more strong and has the will to do and organize stuff. We explored Portugal, passing by Algarve for a work-away, Porto, Evora, Setubal, Alentejo, the region of Lisbon… Portugal is a beautiful country and I can't wait to continue the exploration, even if now it is again a little bit complicated. But it also forces me to discover the region of Lisbon that is already super beautiful and full of places to discover. 

Often at my work, they tell me “ You do love Portugal”, they are right. I needed this time away from France, from what I know, maybe to come back later, stronger and more aware of what I want. To express this, I want to share words that are not mine :

Mais les vrais voyageurs sont ceux-là seuls qui partent

Pour partir, coeurs légers, semblables aux ballons,

De leur fatalité jamais ils ne s’écartent,

Et sans savoir pourquoi, disent toujours : Allons !

L´appel du Large, Les fleurs du mal, Baudelaire

A traveler maybe, but a traveler who also works ! My work interests me a lot, it helps me to learn portuguese (since I have to speak it everyday there) and helps me to build my creativity by creating activities that could be beneficial to all the usuaries. Before arriving there, I was afraid to not be able to work with people with disabilities. I was afraid to not understand their needs, to not be there for them. And, of course it takes time to understand how they work, what they need and want. But everyday I learn something and I make progress. We do a lot of different activities ; manual work, games, exercises for the memory, physical exercises, cultural dynamics…

I help the animator to prepare and to lead the activities. I'm also starting to help them with the communication by creating some content for their social media, like videos and pictures. It is part of my personal project and I'm really happy to do it. I would like to film or take pictures of them where they find themselves pretty and touching, because they are !