O testemunho final do Victorien (SPIN)

To describe a 12 months experience in a few lines could be an easy job if I wouldn’t have spent in Lisbon at Spin association, and especially in that special period.

My ESC experience started on November the 1 st of 2020 and ended a couple of weeks ago in 2021. Along with this ESC program, I could live a bunch of experiences that absolutely impacted my life on most of the fronts. And I am going to try to share as much meaningful as I can.

Unfortunately, I obviously had to deal with Mister Covid that apparently didn’t want to let us live as we were used to doing. However, the pandemic had, in a way, amplified some periods of my program. During lockdown and restrictions, we couldn’t meet with the other volunteers properly, the work at Spin was hardly makeable and we couldn’t either discover properly Lisbon and Portugal. 

During “free time”, in last spring and summer, on the other hand where we could finally meet between all the volunteers, travel all around and achieve some tasks with our organization. And maybe because of those long and tough times, I have the feeling to have experienced these moments way more joyfully, that I hardly still believe it.

First of all, I’ve been really glad to be part of Spin team. The spirit that I could find with my colleagues and especially with my tutor Giulia who has been fantastic and really helpful during my whole experience. She could help through some tough times as well as support some ideas. In the meanwhile, this ESC experience gave so much on the personal aspect. I could embrace a city and a country that totally matches my expectations.

I’m still so amazed to discover Lisbon, it’s a city full of characters, colors, kind people, and opportunities. As well as Portugal, a mind-blowing country for such a small territory, it looks like they are a place to discover in the entire country. With a step back, I think this year has been decisive in a way. I could achieve some personal and professional achievements such as playing music as a DJ in many places in Lisbon and starting doing it kind of professionally. I could start to work properly in English, improve my Spanish and discover the Portuguese language.

On the professional aspect, I’m really glad to have started French classes with Spin team and some volunteers. It has especially given me the courage to start it professionally and I am super proud to be able to keep on doing it as one of my main activities from now on. Also, during the first meetings with Spin, I expressed my willingness to learn and do some video editing. And thankfully Spin, proposed I do a video-volunteers-portrait project where we could create some video content to describe and promote how is it to be a volunteer with Spin. It was a really nice project that I realized with another volunteer. We could do it freely and I’m really happy to have done it from scratch to what it is. I could learn how to use video editing software and I’m once again glad to have added this skill to my list thanks to this ESC program.

Anyway, I think you would have understood that I barely find words to express my gratitude to SPIN and the ESC program. I found myself extremely lucky to have been part of this program and especially

during those tough moments. Extremely lucky to have done it with Spin team and to had the opportunity to achieve some long-time desires. Extremely lucky to have met all these volunteers that became friends and with who I could create strong links. Extremely lucky to have done my program in such a stunning city as Lisbon and such a wonderful one as Portugal.

Cheers SPIN !