Matilde and Leonardo

Hi to all the future volunteers listening out there! I’m Matilde, I’m 22, and I’m from Verona, Italy. I decided to leave because, back in June last year, while going through a major existential crisis, I had the amazing opportunity to attend the Youth Village in Strasbourg. There, while talking about the future, doubts, and uncertainties, a girl asked me: "Why don't you do an ESC project?"

 

And here I am now. I ended up spending six months in Ioannina, Greece.

 

Ioannina is a peculiar place, but I genuinely grew to love it. I realized it when I started complaining about it, only to feel happy to come back to it every evening; when I started laughing at the locals' jokes about the weather; and when the weather itself became the main topic of my conversations. I met incredible people, was blown away by their hospitality and generosity, and even found someone I can truly call a friend, in the real sense of the word.

 

I’m really going to miss this quirky little town.

 

Watching the plane land from my balcony in the peach-colored sunset sky every evening was a beautiful privilege I had whenever I wanted, and now I won't see it anymore.

 

I’ve been incredibly lucky. I had fantastic roommates with whom I shared so many trips and laughs. I will carry each of them in my heart; every single one taught me so much and helped me change my perspectives.

 

I was lucky with work, too. I found supervisors whose only flaw was being too quick to forgive. I was fed delicious stone-shaped candies and refreshed by the best thing Greece has ever brought into this world: freddo chocolate. I even had an emotional support dog (or rather, a princess) brightening up my office hours.

 

I also met amazing kids at the facility, and I wish them nothing but the absolute best this world has to offer. I won't go into detail to respect their privacy, but just so you know, I still treasure like a sacred relic a flower given to me by one of them while we were playing football. I remember that time a boy, under the pretext of checking how heavy they were, took the bags with our activity materials right out of my hands, walked us all the way to the bus stop, and refused to let us carry them—even though he didn't even need to catch the bus himself. There are a thousand stories like this, but I hope you get to see them with your own eyes. These kids will surprise you.

 

However, I am leaving not just with joy, but also with some regrets—things I wished I had done but didn't, things I wished I had learned but didn't. 

 

I would have loved to do more impactful activities, but the limitations are many and the language barrier is strong, even if you can understand each other perfectly through gestures. I would have loved to learn to speak Greek or pick up a few words of Arabic, but here, fortunately or unfortunately, everyone speaks English. Since it wasn't strictly necessary for survival, I didn't push myself beyond the basics of Greek.

 

But since that's just how I am, let's not end this paragraph on a bitter note. If I have regrets, it's only because I received so much that I didn't even know where to look or how to make the most of all the opportunities I was given.

 

If I didn't like Ksamil, it's only because my standard for the sea is now that earthly paradise called Syvota.

 

I have one piece of advice for future volunteers, and trust me: do not miss Carnival for anything in the world.

This project was co-funded by the European Commission.