volunteerism works, diversities converge.. Blog
One year ago when I came to Bolzano without knowing any word in Italian and without any practice about working with elderly, my best motivation was my eagerness to getting to know a new culture and language.
During my service I carried out activities that I had never done before, very diverting and very hard ones… Various works from the simplest to the complicated.. Presenting Turkish coffee to the traditional Italian coffee drinkers, doing shopping for tombola and organizing games, painting sessions.. or providing care for one who is suffering from Alzheimer or dementia or sometimes only from heartache.. Being appreciated or just being despised.. Communicating without a common language, beating prejudice, sharing house with other girls, or simply staying alone, making great friendships, or feeling homesick.. being have to learn cycling, and then getting addicted to it.. despairingly discovering that speaking English may not help you worldwide and then being able to sing in Italian among people who remember that you even did not speak a word in that language!
I have learnt many things.. I have proved many things which even I did not know that I could do.. I experienced things that I could never think that might happen to me.. different people and places.. And the future decisions taken..
And needless to say how Italian people and their life style are fascinating and it's almost impossible not to be inspired by them.. and how lucky I was to spend one year in the heart of Dolomites!!
Besides… Thanks to the multicultural and bilingual structure of the city, and the seminars organized by national agency, I had the opportunity to get to know different people from different countries and of every age. I saw how EVS helps youngsters enrich their culture, language and worldview and establishes closer relations between the generations, stimulating the living and working together of people with different cultural backgrounds.
In the end, without any doubt I can say that spending one year in Italy with EVS was a real lifetime experience and I will keep these days in my mind as the most memorable ones.
