Viola has been in Italy for six months since autumn 2023 and is involved as a volunteer through the European Solidarity Corps with our partner organization IBO Italia in Ferrara. She describes what she has experienced so far here for you:
"“Ciao, come va?” My name is Viola, I am 18 years old and after graduating from high school in 2023 I decided to do a six-month voluntary service with the European Solidarity Corps (ESK) in the Italian city of Ferrara.
IBG is my sending organization and IBO Italia hosted me. Now my fifth month here is coming to an end and it's time for a little interim report:
I arrived in Ferrara at the beginning of October. It is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region with a medieval flair, which is mainly due to the large castle in the center, the high city walls and the cobblestones. The practical thing is that you can reach almost everything by bike and many Ferrarese choose this means of transport, which is why Ferrara is also known as “città delle biciclette” – “bicycle city”.
The volunteer organization IBO Italia, where I do my voluntary service, has its headquarters here, in a large, old house, a former school, affectionately called “Casa IBO”, where there are not only offices of the IBO employees, but where also volunteers from abroad also live on the ground floor, so I also live here.
I was very warmly welcomed here. Our small community of volunteers initially consisted of a German, a Senegalese and an Italian, then a Romanian volunteer was added. In this intercultural atmosphere, I not only learned the basics of self-employment such as cleaning and cooking, but also how intercultural living together works, what difficulties there are and how we can approach each other and find compromises and solutions with each other.
I was also welcomed at work by a wonderful team of around 20 employees and volunteers; over time I really grew to love them all.
Young and old, Italians and the rest of the world come together in our team, which creates a special working atmosphere. In addition, at IBO there are not only international and in-country volunteers with the ESK, but also several young Italians who do a “Servizio Civile”, a kind of community service for 12 months at IBO, so I am lucky to be in a working environment with many young people to work.
It should be noted that I grew up bilingual in Germany, which means Italian is also my mother tongue. This made it easier for me than many other ESK volunteers, as the language and culture were not completely foreign to me, but I also noticed that it was good for my Italian to be used in a different, new environment and that I could use my vocabulary I was able to significantly expand my grammar skills and my cultural knowledge.
As an organization, IBO Italia has many projects and areas in which it operates. These can be roughly summarized in the areas of international cooperation, voluntary services and local actions in Ferrara and in Italy in general.
My main daily activity is office work. I help with the organization and preparation of the work camps by sending emails, creating Excel tables and creating presentations and information material on Canva. So I always learn something new about how IBO works and the world of voluntary organizations.
I'm glad that IBO is my first real work experience because the working atmosphere is very relaxed and familiar, there are regular espresso or tea breaks where people chat and exchange ideas and most people stay during their lunch break so that they can eat together in the kitchen .
Together with my Romanian ESK colleague, I also run an English conversation course every two weeks for students and pupils at the local youth information center, which we both really enjoy and which has also enabled us to make contacts outside of IBO.
In general, making contacts in Ferrara was not difficult thanks to the young co-workers and the fact that Ferrara is a student city.
On weekends, but also every Wednesday at the “mercoledì universitario”, there is always a lot going on in the evenings, there are various cultural events and there is always someone available for an aperitif. At the beginning it was unusual for me to meet so many people in their twenties and to usually be the youngest, but luckily age only plays a minor role in friendship.
In collaboration with the information center, I have also reported to school classes several times about my journey to Italy with the ESK and my previous experience, most recently at an event with the University of Ferrara, where around 260 students were present. The opportunity to speak in front of so many people about a topic that is close to my heart really made me friends and was a great and exciting experience.
Two important things happened during the Christmas season:
The first is the “un pacchetto per la solidarietà” project, in which we volunteers at the local toys center wrapped gifts in return for a donation. Now I can definitely claim to be able to pack even the most absurd shapes with some degree of elegance.
The second exciting event in December was the on-arrival training, where me and my Romanian ESK colleague had the opportunity to travel to Rome for five days and meet up with many other ESK volunteers from all over Europe do a volunteer project in Italy. This gave us the opportunity to exchange ideas with the other volunteers and reflect on our projects. We really had a great time there and we all got along well. This experience showed me again what it really means to be an EU citizen. Another highlight was the ESK sweater that we got there
Finally, I can say that I have really enjoyed my time at IBO so far and have learned a lot about Italy, but also about myself. Next week (end of February) I'm going to Brussels with IBO, where I have the opportunity to take part in the “Decolonise International Volunteering Services” project, which I'm really looking forward to and where I'll certainly learn a lot.
In the remaining month I plan to visit the big cities nearby, Bologna and Venice, which I somehow haven't gotten around to in the hustle and bustle of everyday life and just enjoy the rest of my time here. Ferrara is said to be at its most beautiful in spring and you can already see that now that the winter fog that is so typical of the region is finally giving way to make way for the sun.
I hope the reader enjoyed my report and perhaps inspires him to dare to have such an experience. Arrivederci! Viola"
European Solidarity Corps
If Viola's report inspired you to spend a few months abroad yourself, take a look at other projects from our partner organizations: You can apply for volunteer teams or longer voluntary service projects in other European countries through the European Solidarity Corps (ESC). There is a strict age limit of 18 to 30 years and there are a few steps to complete before and after the project in addition to registering with us or another organization. Find more information about the ESC here.