A letter from the Italian volunteer Valeria
”Hej Hej. My name is Valeria, I’m a 21 year old girl from Italy. It’s been a little more than one month that I’ve arrived in Sweden, precisely in Alvesta, the town where I’m living.
Do you want to know exactly what I’m doing here? Then, read until the end and I’ll explain everything to you!
I was supposed to be here already in April, but then the Covid19 arrive and everybody, myself included, had to change their plans. After some difficulties with bookings and transports I finally arrived in Sweden at the end of August 2020.
I’ve always been in love with Scandinavian countries, especially Sweden (don’t ask me why, because I don’t really know!), so I had to find a way to travel here. I wanted not just to travel as a tourist for a couple of weeks, but actually to have the possibility to live in this country for a while.
At the beginning I didn’t know what to do in order to fulfil this dream I had, but then I discovered European Solidarity Corps, ESC. If you have between 18 and 30 and you never heard about ESC, you should definitely have a look!
To keep it short, it’s an amazing opportunity to live in another country, learn a new language, live new experiences in various environments (both at work and outside) and get to know new people and different lifestyles from all over the globe! If you know a better opportunity than this one, let me know, please!
In the area where I live there is me in Alvesta and five other volunteers in Växjö (from Austria, Germany, France and Spain). I was supposed to be in Alvesta with another guy from Ukraine, but unfortunately after Covid19 he couldn’t get the visa to come here anymore.
Here you can see a picture from one of our international dinners 🙂
For sure we will give you more information on what is exactly a European Solidarity Corp project, so stay tuned!
In my case I’m volunteering at the Alvesta Exhibition Hall, which is a place where different exhibitions are held during the year, but I also do other activities related to tourism and I’m helping to manage the social media (you can follow us on Facebook and Instagram).
It’s been three weeks since I’ve started working now and I’m very satisfied with what I’ve done. I like my workplace because I’m doing different activities and I can practise with several tasks. In this way I can learn new things while doing them. I know also that if I need some help or I don’t know how to do something I can always ask one of my colleagues. They are very nice with me and always ready to help if needed. A few days ago, it was my birthday and they gifted me a personal mug (which is really needed for all the fika you have here in Sweden) and some specialities to eat 🙂
On the ground floor, Alvesta’s station.
As you can see, we have a ”fika room”. who doesn’t in Sweden?
That’s all for now,
Keep in touch, more will come soon.
All the best!
From Sweden, with love”
Valeria
9th of October 2020
