A Greek is in Town

Hello to my lucky readers,

I am the last expected from this year’s voluntering programs (ESC) and I am finally in town. So many things to say, some many things to do and still don’t know how to start.

Funny, right?

I suppose that I can talk a little bit about the crazy and awesome opportunity that I have to come for a year and work as a volunteer in Italy. The European Union founds every year a lot of organizations to take volunteers and give them the best experience of their lives. This year I was one of the lucky, lucky ones and this organization in Italy, known as S.E.MI, saw something in me -I really don’t know what, I have to ask them at some point- and they chose me as a volunteer for a year in this little and beautiful Italian city, Faenza.

I arrived in this beautiful town of Faenza in a sunny Monday morning – I really hate Mondays, but that was a good one- and from the first moment I had the feeling that I was home. There are many differences between Italians and Greeks, for sure, but with the first impression, the energy that Italy and Italians give you feels a lot like the greek hospitality and kindness.

The first thing that everyone notices in Faenza is the medieval architecture with all these beautiful tall building, the huge wooden front doors, the vintage windows with the tiny balkonies and the small, traditional avenues. I think you can find it logical that I got lost from the first walk in this town. I mean, why people keep trusting me alone, right? Just kidding, I am pretty indipendent and I can find my way back in any case. But my first day here I really wanted to get lost in these small streets so I did it.

I also was really, really happy when I found Parco Bucci, a park full of animals like ducks, rabbits, swans and unfortunatelly pigeons -my greatest fear of all-. So, I desided to start healthy this year -as a resolution from the mainstream quote ”new town, new me”- and start running at this park everyday, even though I haven’t done it yet – it was raining,ok? I wasn’t bored-.

From the second day I started socializing with the other volunteers here and had a great time. We had a tour in the city of Faenza, we took all the necesities -because let’s face it, we are going to live here for a year, I need a lot, like A LOT- and then we tried some traditional things, foods and activities here.