O testemunho final da Annamaria (Spin)

My life in Portugal has ended. I was there over 8 months and it was one of the most eye opening and challenging things I had to do in my life. I'm so grateful for this opportunity and for the people's life put on my road. 

I was a volunteer in an organization called SPIN. My task was collecting signatures for declarations but I did other things too. Like help with different projects, cooked meals for welcome days, just helped around the office. I loved working in SPIN because every week was different. Sometimes we just did things in the office,

 other week in the hostel and I had the opportunity to go to schools just to talk about my work and life in Portugal and thanks to that I got more courage to speak in front of a crowd, Spin gave me the opportunity to come outside of my comfort zone and the people that i worked with was amazing, really friendly, caring  and always ready to help if I had any problems.

In the 8 months when I was there were of course some challenges like living in a big city cause I never had been in such a big city and I really missed nature many times but then I just traveled a little bit further and hike in Monsanto or Sintra.

I had to face living with 6 other people and sharing a room and everyone was from a different country so there were problems but I lived with amazing people so when we had problems we managed to solve them quickly, In the beginning it was hard being away from my friends and I felt alone but over time I met new and unforgettable people who were always there for me and who I could count on. Especially the people I lived with, they were my family and I couldn't  ask for a better family then they were.

 

I had time to travel across Portugal and see some breathtaking places. The most breathtaking place I had been to was Sintra and I’ll miss that city a lot but I'm grateful that I went there to see nature. I fell in love with the country overall cause every place is like a fairytale. I’ve been to Algarve, Porto, Nazare and a lot of more wonderful places. I love nature and that’s why my favorite place is Sintra with its amazing nature, castles, and palaces. Every time I went there it was like my first time, there's always some new place to discover.

Even when I didn't travel, Lisbon had to offer beautiful and interesting places to visit with my dear other volunteers all the time like walks in a park or evenings in a miradoru. Even if we just had a picnic in some park it was amazing. It's good to be back in Estonia but I really miss Lisbon and all of my amazing people there, thank you for everything and someday I'll be back to Lisbon and see my beautiful people, even if they are not in Lisbon we will meet again maybe in a different country and I can't wait what life brings me. 

O testemunho No. 2 da Annamaria (Spin)

Hi everyone, My name is Annamaria and I'm from Estonia. It’s my first time living abroad and also volunteering. I'm working for an organization called Spin. My work mostly is to go to schools, talk with youngsters about my journey here, collect signatures, take part in different projects, and a few times a month cook in the kitchen with other Spin volunteers. My volunteering is so different each week and I love it, you never get bored.

My chapter in Portugal started October 2021, so 7 months ago and so far it's been one hell of a ride, with a lot of laughs, meeting new people, Learning about their countries, traveling across Portugal I have been making amazing memories. It has been filled with ups and downs but overall getting this opportunity was one of the BEST things that could've happened to me ,I’ve learned so much about myself, also faced my biggest fear (stage fright) and this opportunity has opened my mind a lot more. I’ve seen a lot of different places and met a lot of people across the world, 

Almost everyone has taught me something and I’m glad that I had this opportunity to meet them.
In the beginning, yes, it was a little bit hard because of homesickness and the new environment, also I didn’t know a lot of people but it changed quickly cause other volunteers and overall people here are super open-minded, welcoming and it’s easy to connect with them.

I’ve had to say goodbye to some good friends, it’s always sad and hard but that’s how life works. It sends people to our path to teach us something, even if it’s just a small thing. No one is in our life without a reason.

Living in Lisbon has been a challenge for me. I live with 6 other people and also I'm sharing a room but it's an interesting experience. I'm used to living alone and having my own space but here I don't have that and sometimes it's really hard but luckily my flatmates are amazing people, they are like my family here. We travel together, have dinner together and we just fit living together, sometimes things get overwhelming. Everyone is from a different county so the ideas always don't match. But we figure out quickly how to compromise and how to make our lives together better.

I love the city in every way. Lisbon is a very easy city to fall in love with, it has so many opportunities to offer. It's beautiful, people are nice, you never get bored here. Once my project ends I’ll miss this city a lot. For sure I’ll be back here, I have a lot of good friends here who I’ll stay in contact with for sure!

I fell in love with the country overall, the more I travel the more I fall in love, cause every place is like a fairytale. So far I’ve been to  Algarve, Porto, Nazare, and a lot of wonderful places. I love nature and that’s why my favorite place is Sintra, with its amazing nature, castles, and palaces. Every time I go there it’s like my first time, there's always some new place to discover.

I still have 2 months left here and I can't wait what places I will discover more and what surprises Portugal has to offer me.

O testemunho No. 1 da Annamaria (SPIN)

I’ve been in Lisbon for 13 days and it has been wonderful.

  When I arrived in Lisbon and was in the taxi I was nervous because I was gonna meet my new flatmates and didn’t know what to expect but when I arrived at the apartment and saw a sign at the door that said ‘’Welcome Annamaria’’ and balloons on the balcony, I knew that we are gonna get along just fine. Everyone in my apartment is so nice, the first thing we did was a little tea party to get to know each other.

These past few days I have been exploring the city and meeting new people. I have to say that the architecture is so different from Estonia, especially for me because I'm from a small town where about 1050 people live and now living in a BIG city is a whole new experience.  One of the things I have noticed is that in Estonia we don't have these little balconies and tiles for our walls. Sidewalks are made of small square rocks, in Estonia, the sidewalks are made of asphalt. The biggest culture shock that I had was on the first day when I learned that people smoke inside. In Estonia, it’s prohibited to smoke inside if it isn’t a smoking room in clubs or bars. Here in Portugal there are so many mountains but in Estonia, we have small hills and one ‘’big’’ mountain, that isn’t really a mountain, it is called Suur Munamägi. So walking around the city was already pretty hard because of the hills. On my second day when I was walking around and saw what type of a hill I had to walk up to, my first thought was that I’m gonna get super strong legs thanks to Lisbon. 

Also, the people I have met are so friendly. Like the other day, some people came to our flat and we all just talked about how life was going and how life is in everyone's countries.

  On the 6th of October, I had my first meeting at the Spins office where I, Teele, and Amundelia were. We got so much information about our organization and what we need to do and talked about our expectations, fears, and how to get over them. We had this amazing lunch that other volunteers had made for us. We ate tomato soup with mozzarella, rice with vegetables and ice cream. After lunch, we had to walk around this beautiful neighborhood a bit to answer some questions and take pictures on an app. One of the questions led us to a viewpoint that was breathtaking.