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