Would you ever have the courage to leave your country and move for 11 months to a new country where you don’t know anyone and where sometimes even language becomes an obstacle?
I did.
But before I tell you about the first month I spent here, let’s start from the beginning.
Let me introduce myself, I am Leonardo, I am almost 24 years old (by the time this article is published I will be 24) and I come from a small town about 15 minutes from Milan, Italy.
I graduated last year and after many disappointments from the working world, one evening, somewhat by chance, with my eyes still swollen from crying and tears wetting my face, I inquired about volunteer proposals.
I must have seen about ten proposals but in the end the ones that I liked the most was this one from Inex Slovakia.
I read the reviews and they were all positive, so I prepared the CV in English and the cover letter/motivation letter and I waited.
I won’t hide from you that initially I believed in the project…but for a while I was afraid of not being accepted (I thought: who knows how many people are more capable than me), how many, I thought, will have a more outgoing character (sometimes shyness makes me miss important opportunities) but most of all I was afraid of going out of my comfort zone.
Yes, because when you live for 23 years in a country where you speak almost only your own language, have your family close even physically, see your friends often and hardly ever feel loneliness, it is not easy to make such a big decision.
Coming back to us, about a month after applying, I received a response. It was Barbara, inviting me for an interview, which we set for January 5.
That day I remember my thought once I finished was “okay, I made it but I think I won’t be able to go”.
After some days, when I was with my mom in Milan, I got the news that I had been taken and I needed to confirm my presence from February 1. I was very happy, of course. From that day I began exchanging emails every day with her and Lunaria.
February 1 came soon, and I was a little bit anxious, but I was also curious about discovering this new country.
The first day it was raining, but after my arrival, despite being tired (I had woken up very early) I walked around my “new” town with one of the two volunteers with whom I would be sharing this period of our life together and we started to talk about ourselves and our countries.
We hung around until about 4 p.m., because we were tired and another girl arrived. Afterwards, Barbara explained to us the rules of the apartment (very nice and spacious) and the houseworks. Once she was done, we unpacked and went straight to bed because we were very tired.
The next day we went to a typical restaurant in the area to try some traditional dishes and also met our mentors. My mentor is Matus and he is a very tall and nice guy.
In the following days we saw the city with them, then we joined organized tours that told us about the history of the city and the host country, and the first days of work also began.
During my work hours, I tried to use Canva. Before coming here, I didn’t know how it works, for me was just a tool that I tried to use for one time and stop, because I couldn’t understand nothing about it. But, I hope when my period here will finished, to have learnt to use it more.
Unfortunatly, when I was at school or during my years in university, nobody teached me how to use programmes like these. But Im also very lucky because I can always count on my volunteers friends and also on Inex Slovakia team, which is always ready to help me.
Infact the main reason why I decided to be here is that I would work in the social field like I always dreamt to do and during the summer we will do cool activities like these. For example one of the places can be in a place where older and disabled people stay and I hope to have the opportunity working there.
In the evening, instead, after work, sometimes we go to pubs for drinks, sometimes we go to karaoke while other times we go out to eat.
On February 12, we had the Tea Meeting, an event organized by Inex to get to know each other and to tell a little about our country and the reasons why we came here.
We also organized several tables with some of our typical food and despite some anxiety, it went quite well.
In these days, which went by really fast, between work and home, I got to know myself and meet a lot of people, very helpful and cheerful but also to see a lot of places I had never seen before.
Sometimes there are happy moments and other moments when I feel like crying because I miss my old life. But I am ready to pass these months with optimism and a big smile on my face. I am happy to be here.
These are some pictures made by me.
