A year in Puglia Blog
When Covid-19 started in my last semester of university, it made me feel more uncertain about my future than I already was. So, after a lot of thinking, I chose to take a gap year and do a volunteer project and now I can tell you it was the best thing I could have done.
My project took place in a middle school, we attended the English lessons with different teachers, and we talked to the kids about different topics, discrimination and racism, different education systems, cyberbullying…it was great, the kids were always very cute, enthusiastic and funny with us.
But the best thing was waiting outside the school. I did my volunteering in a small city in the south of Italy next to Bari, Molfetta, a city with the most spectacular sunsets I have ever seen. It was a perfect city to get to know Italian culture, and of course the Pugliese culture, the language and the local people, who couldn’t have been more welcoming.
Now already back in my country and with thousands of photos on my phone, I can tell that I will miss (apart from the food) the friends I made along the year. This year there were a lot of restrictions because of Covid-19, but it was a little bit easier because I lived in a big house with 10 other people. I learned a lot from other cultures, we travelled as much as we could, we cooked a lot, we partied, and we shared a lot more moments together that I won’t forget.
I can’t explain well with words how it has been like this year, but to anyone thinking of doing a project like this, I can only say go ahead, you won’t regret it.
