My name is Alessia and I am a 26 years old Italian girl from Padova. Thanks to my university’s studies, focused on archaeology, I developed a strong love for everything that involves history, art, and history of art, and that’s why this year I have decided to take part in a YEU Cyprus’s project called MISSION TRADITION whose main aim is to rekindle the general interest into culture and traditions of Cyprus.
How it all started:
I can perfectly remember the day in which I applied for this project. I had just come back from the latest inconclusive job interview, ended with that classic “we will let you know” that sounds more like a “ thank you but GOODBYE”, and I was so demotivated and generally unsatisfied that i suddenly realized that my life needed a radical change. So I packed my luggage, I filled it with all my clothes, my hopes, and my fears and I left.
The Project:
It’s not easy to summarize all that I’ve learned and I am still learning thanks to this experience, because every day is an occasion not only to learn, discover and improve my personal skills and qualities but also to understand what are my limits and what I can do to ameliorate myself as a person.
Actually looking back to these past 5 months since I’ve arrived in Cyprus I’ve realized that in such a short period of time I’ve done a lot of different things! I’ve worked as volunteer in several local festivals; travelled along the Island to discover it’s amazing tradition and delicious foods; I’ve learned how to plan, create and promote events and workshops; some days I’ve been a cook and a kitchen helper, others a teacher of Italian language and soon one of my little secret dreams is almost becoming a reality: I will start to work for one of the most important museum settled in the town center of Nicosia….definitely THE ICING ON THE CAKE!
Anyway, at the same time, I am 100% sure that this completely new life I am experiencing would not be the same thing without the wonderful people I have been so lucky to meet joining this project. Together with me, in fact, another 6 people coming from different European countries are part of the “mission tradition team”. We live, work, eat together (actually we share every single moment of the day!) and it’s striking amazing that from the beginning we supported and love each other not only as a working team but also as one big international family
The Outcome:
Maybe, as I said, we have only been lucky, but I like to think that was not an accident and there is a reason why we have all been selected for this project.
I can definitely suggest everyone to try an EVS experience. Personally I believe that working in a multicultural context and interacting with people from different cultures it’s a unique and challenging possibility not only to understand and appreciate different realities and lifestyles, but is also an occasion to “get in the game”, leaving your comfort zone and taking your time to reflect more on yourself and what you really want to become.