Hello to everyone,

My name is Maria I am from Greece and I am the new volunteer in S.E.M.I. I have been here for 2 weeks already. I chose to participate in ESC, because it is something that can totally change my life. I am sure when I will go back home I will be full of incredible memories, places, real friends and of course useful information and practices that I can use in the rest of my profesional and even in my personal life.
When I arrived I was extremely enthusiastic to meet the host organization and the other volunteers. I couldn’t wait to start my new life here as a volunteer. Although we should never forget about the corona , because it was for me the only obstacle here. I had to stay in quarantine for 10 days until I get the results of the test. So for me was a little bit difficult to adjust in the new enviroment. But now I am ready to start my work here and get more experiences.

From now on I can be optimistic again. Coming here I have goals that I want to fulfill; I really would like to travel through Italy and discover the magical places that everyone talks about. Except big cities that everyone knows like Milan, Rome, Venice, I would like to visit places that only locals could know. For example, my first day was lucky, because I had time, before my quarantine, to explore a little bit the area of Faenza with our amazing mentor and the other volunteers. We went for hiking to Castel Raniero, so I am really grateful for this experience and I cant wait to have more. Except from the places of course, I would like to explore the delicious food of Italy, to find out if the stereotypes for Italians are truth, (like they are too loud) and generally the italian culture.

Furthermore, I am sure that I will meet lot of friends here that I can have them even if I leave from here, since we share the same thoughts, the same activities and the same hobbies for a year.

Finally, I expect from myself to be an activate part of the ascosiation that gave me this amazing opportunity. This for example is my first blog in my entire life, so I hope you really enjoy it, even if I don’t have many information to share with you. However, the next time I am sure that I will have more things to say. So till the next time….

MARIA