Ciao! Sono Ferran e vengo di Barcellona, della Spagna! 🙋🏻♂️
When I was in Spain I studied for two years degree of tourism. It opened me so many jobs opportunities related with customer service, I’ve been in a tourist information point, I worked as a receptionist, I was for a while in a travel agency…✈️
My curiosity of exploring new cultures, new countries and new people brought me to many places abroad, mainly in Ireland where I worked as a waiter for 2 years. 🇮🇪Always working in the same field, I ended up loving so much working with people. So far it’s what I’m looking for, cooperating can be a great experience to grow as a person and develop new skills. And which best place to start a volunteer for the first time than Italy? Its people, its food, its history, its culture… 🤌🏻🍝I always loved this country so much!
At the current moment along with the volunteer I’m studying Art History in an online university from Spain, so here I will be able to see most of the things that I’m studying.🎭
Thank you so much @eurosud_ngo to host me in Triggiano and thanks to @geyc.ro and Eurexia for supporting this international experience!
MARCH 2024
Hello to all the readers! March has been overall, here in Triggiano, a relaxing month. By relaxing I mean that I had time to settle down a bit better and get into a routine. Having my exams done by the end of February allowed me to focus this time more in my volunteering project, my life in Italy and as I said, to follow a routine. This month I had less worries, so I could focus more in the present and in what I’m doing here in Italy. In general this experience is being enriching to me, getting immersed into a new culture, new language, I think you never stop learning away from home. You always learn something new.
The “Little Readers” project that I’m developing with kids in Capurso elementary school is my most beloved experience so far! One of the main reasons is because the reciprocal affection that we get! I try to give them all the knowledge that I have in a dynamic and easy way to make them understand the books I read. In exchange they are always very welcoming, giving affection like hugs to me! I think it’s so cute to work with them! I’m free to develop the class as I want, nobody tell me what to do, so I can use my creativity and imagination. Teachers are always there and they help if something goes wrong, sometimes they clear any doubts or misunderstanding. Now we are reading a book, and by the end of every chapter the kids are doing a draw about this specific chapter that I’ve read. By the end, they would end up with their own book with their own draws!
The other activity in Tou.Play is going well too. Everyday I’m getting more used to it. I feel more ready and prepared to help the kids and teenagers with different homework. Some of them are small kids and sometimes is difficult to make them pay attention. They can distract easily, but that’s why I’m here, to face this disadvantages and learn something new. A good way to make them pay attention again is to give them a five minutes break. Then they can retake the homework with fresh air.
With my Italian classes they are going pretty well. I’m learning some new vocabulary which is always nice. But I think that if I want to get more fluent I should talk more in Italian, it would be the best way to improve. I always take all the chances to speak it. Also the last Tuesday of March we went into the cinema with the Italian academy. It was nice to improve our listening skills.
Also every Wednesday I meet with a group of people in Bari to do a language exchange. The meeting is called Bla Bla Bari. We meet in a specific bar on a specific time and we practice different languages. I can put in practice my Italian while they are being helped by me with their Spanish.
Most of them are Italians, but there is as well some people from abroad like Polish, French, England, Georgian… It is also a fantastic way to meet new people in the city!
By the end of the month, 30th of March, it was my birthday! So I went on a trip with a friend and we visited Athens, capital of Greece. It was a very nice travel to finish the month!!
And this would be all for this month! I will keep you up by the end of the next one!
APRIL 2024
April has ended! It’s crazy how fast months are passing by here in Italy. We discuss this often with colleagues, time goes by so fast, we don’t even realize. That’s actually a good sign because it means that we are enjoying here! April has been a month that gave me the opportunity to get new competences. I started the food waste project. It’s gonna be a serie of articles and documents that we prepare with canva to post it on facebook.
The main objective is to make people conscious about the current problem of food waste, and giving some tips as well to prevent it. For me it is very interesting and a way to improve other competences such as: learn to cook, learn to prepare a budget, stop buying products that you don’t need and much more. So apart from this I’m remembering and improving how to use canva and at the same time, getting new competences with digital skills.
Talking about digital skills, this month in Capurso school I had the chance to prepare an exposition about Spanish food during the “Little Readers” project. I talked about several typical Spanish plates from different regions. The kids learnt not just about new delicious plates, but about my country too.
About different languages spoken, about different regions, culture and traditions. I think it was very enriching for them to get to know a bit of my culture. It was a nice way to change the routine of reading a book and making draws about it.
In Tou.Play, Bari, each time I have the opportunity to help kids with different kind of homework, mainly spanish and english. If there is not much homework to do that day, we prepare some games to play at 5pm. At that time we always stop doing homework and start playing different kind of games. We always try to prepare a new game for them, so they don’t get tired.
There is always the option to join: a videgame, a table game, physical education games, etc. I always like to look after table games, which is sometimes a bit difficult because kids don’t want always to follow the rules, they create their own. So I need to make them understand that the game is played in one way, not the way they want.
I feel like Italian lessons are helping me a lot to improve in the language too. Each time I feel like I have less fear to fail and make errors, it is a way to improve.
Apart from this, I’m finding new ways to say the same things but more natural, to try to sound less forced. I visited as well Alberobello, I think it is the most interesting village in la Puglia so far.
Overall my experience here in Triggiano is being very good. Getting immersed in the culture, in the lifestyle, the language and having more fluency in the activities that I’m developing.
ERASMUS + EDUCATIONAL PROJECT
My name is Ferran Sureda and I’m from Spain. I’m writing to you all to explain how
was my experience as a participant in the Gender Equality Week in Barletta. The
project took place from 7 th of June to 16 th of June 2024, 10 days in total.
It was an Erasmus + project which always covers transportation to the venue, accommodation
and food during your stay in the place. The project is co-funded by the European Union
and Erasmus projects. In this case the organizers of the project were @eurosud_ngo
and @roadto50percent.it and the mentors were Evelyn De Luca and Arianna. It was
overall a very good experience where I had the chance to learn more about the problematic of gender equalities and we discussed how to face it and solve some of the issues.
There were participants from 7 different countries which where: Italy, Spain, Slovakia,
Turkey, Poland, Lithuania and Bulgaria. Most of the countries had 5 participants. So we
can say that we talked and discussed about current issues in different regions, which
can vary from one country to another. In my case I’ve participated in this exchange in
the Italian Team as currently I’m living in Italy thanks to the European Solidarity Corps
program and Eurosud who host me here in Triggiano. Apart from the main topic, it was
interesting as well the 3 different cultural nights that took place. Each country talked
about its culture, traditions, dances and shared some typical food. It was such a funny
and enriching experience to get to know each country closer and from first hand.
So the activities were developed during 8 days in total. Every day we focused in a
different field regarding gender equality, but always in a non-formal education. Non-
formal education is the way of learning in these exchanges. It is extra curricular but it is
still structured and planned. It focuses more in skills and competences and the method
is usually through activities which take place in a kind of workshop, courses or training.
First day we focused mainly in Team building, which I consider it is a very important
and imperative start. You are going to spend a whole week talking about gender
equality with people that you just met, so it is important to get to know the people and
create a good time to feel in confidence. The activities were focused on learning the
name of everyone and knowing what they do in life.
It was the second day when we started talking about Gender equality, diversity and
inclusion. It was a first introduction to the topic, where we talked about the main
problematic, the gap between man and woman to participate activately in society.
This includes the opportunity to get a job, the opportunity to take the leadership from a
company or from a country… For me was a good decision starting from this point because it raises awareness about gender balance and gaps when men and women pursue similar goals.
The third day we talked about different aspects of equality, in this case not just with gender but also with for example migrants. The topic was called intersectionality. We first discussed about what kind of privilege each one of us we think we have. Then we did an exercise of empathy to try to guess which part of the society is forbidden from
enjoying these privileges. I liked a lot this activity because allows us to be more conscious about current problematic, and gives a general vision of the potential
repressed citizens. In the afternoon we started working in the labs. There were three
labs that aimed to focuses in different ways the problems from Barletta.
Communication, economics and politics labs. In my case I participated in the politic
one. In this first day we did a brainstorm about problems from the local region to
decide which problem we should face. We decided to focus in the youth involvement
and participation in politics and activism. It is one of the big problems in the local
region. By the end of the third day we participated in the first cultural night. It was the
turn of Bulgaria, Turkey and Slovakia. For me was a very important moment from this
exchange because you get to know the culture, music, food and traditions from
countries that are different from yours.
The fourth day we talked about communication and media and inclusive language. I
think it is an important topic in all the countries that were participating because you
can find sexism and inappropriate vocabulary very easily in a lot of journals, articles
and magazines. This problems includes the majority of the countries. In the afternoon
in the politic lab I loved this day because we did an interesting thing. We created a
survey regarding involvement and participation in politics and we went out to ask
people about the subject. I enjoyed a lot this activity because was dynamic and
entertained. The results were quite sad because most of the people don’t get involved
in politic basically because they were not interested. During the night it was the turn of
Lithuania and Spain to show their countries. Even if I was in Team Italian I participated
as well in the presentation of Spain, the country where I come from. I was very
enthusiastic talking about my country and showing my culture to the rest of the
people, I loved sharing it with them.
The fifth day it was the free day, so each one of us went to a different place to visit. It
is very nice to have one day off because it allows us to visit and travel the region. In my
case I went to Barletta with the Lithuanian team, it was my first time in the city and I
loved it. It is such an interesting and beautiful village, even if it is small.
The sixth day we talked about Inclusive Leadership. We talked about the fact that there
is more men than women leading a company or in an important position. We discussed about how can this be possible and how to solve it. We also studied which
good characteristics should a leader have and which one shouldn’t have. In the
afternoon we worked as usual in the Politics Labs. This day we tried to find a solution
about the problems reflected in the result of the survey. We decided to create multiple
workshops to solve these problems, we studied the target of this workshops and the
implementation. By the end of this day we did the last cultural night. It was the turn of
Italy and Poland. It was an interesting exchange of cultures, as I was Team Italy I
participated in the preparation of the food table and the exhibition of the country.
The seventh day in the morning we did one of my favorites activities from the project.
The activity was called “Let’s Speak Up” and it was an exercise related with public
speaking. At first each one of us gave an speech that should last less than 90 seconds.
Then we participated in a kind of role-play where each one of us took part of a fictional
political party and we discussed one specific topic. It was such an interesting and funny
activity. This day was the last of the preparation of the Political lab, so we created a
presentation on canva about our work. Next day in the morning we made the
presentation and speech about our project. Overall I loved the experience in the
Political lab, I learnt a lot and it was helpful to improve the skill of team work.
The eighth and last day in the morning each one of us presented their labs. Each one of
us did a great job and our final presentations were a success. Then in the afternoon we
did a final event, destined to say goodbye and wish all the best for our future. The last
evening was a bit sad, because we were conscious that next day we were going away
and we don’t know when we can meet again for the next time. But I think having this
feeling is completely fine and great because it means that you created a good team
and good relationships forever.
