When I was going to the project, I was worried a lot that I would not have enough money for food. But the other EVS volunteer Jesus assured me that there would be no problems with food. So it turned out! In the first month of the project I went through the school of Mr. Bradman “school of survival”. Matthew Bradman is my new friend in Lecce, he is a guy who moved to Lecce from England and who is carrying a lot about recycling and ecological style of life. So I was introduced to the concept of bindipping. It turns out that there is a cafe near the office, which at the end of each working day throws out products that they have not sold. They kindly separate sweet and salty food in different packages, but sometimes you can find traces of coffee, but it does not matter. Usually there you can find calzoni and pizza still warm. Also in Lecce there is a separate waste collection. Therefore, if you learn the schedule for collecting of the garbage, then on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays you can find products in the garbage cans of supermarkets with the expiry date of which is near. On our very first trip with Jesus, we found a year's reserve of coffee, various yogurts, cheeses, sausage, pasta and fruits. Another important thing is our joint dinners in the office. Everyone brings something from home or some food found in the supermarkets’ cans and we prepare dinner together. So we have eaten often and in excellent company. Our Italian friends have often invited us to visit them for Sunday lunches. It is enough to bring something to the table, and home-made Sunday lasagna will melt in your mouth. And the collective process of cooking units a lot. During the bike tour, the initiative organized by Vulcanicamente, the participants Jesus and Azzurro invented a new challenge for themselves. Do not spend on food a cent. How have they managed to figure it out? They simply started asking in the grocery stores if they could give them from food, and the sellers never refused to do so. Upon returning to Lecce, we made a trip around the nearby canteens and asked them to not throw away the leftover food at the end of the working day, but to give it to us, the poor European volunteers. So we solved the issue with the dinner. We ate different and various food. Two rules that I understood thanks to my Italian friends, if you don’t ask, you won’t get an answer. If you do not try - you will not achieve the goal.
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Future volunteer - a vast number of opportunities are open for you. Do not miss them.
In the open space of Manifatture knos in Lecce, various courses are held there from the theater to climbing, from dancing to fencing. Surely you will find something that you like. The first lesson is always for free, the next ones are for a small fee. Collaborate with student organizations. There are a lot of them: Esn, Erasmus world. These organizations have contacts of all foreign students who come to study at Lecce University under the Erasmus program. They also organize a welcoming evening, events, trips to the beach, tours around the city, common dinners. Surely you will make friends there. They usually create the groups in Whatsapp to keep in touch where you can offer to meet in the city, go for a walk together. In general, you will definitely not be alone. Language classes. Of course you will have an online language learning platform. You will get monthly notifications on your email about the scholarships and competitions. You can even win up to 500 euros if you actively learn a language. http://volunteer-awards.eyca.org/ But if you prefer a language course with a native speaker, a classical method with a teacher, so you should go to the linguistic department of the university. They organize courses for foreign students, just fill in an online form on the website. The courses start in the beginning of each semester. In these courses you can meet students from all over the world: Japan, Tunisia, Brazil, Morocco. I also heard that Italian courses for migrants are organized in Lecce. But I don’t have more information because I didn’t go. The lectures at the Italian universities are open to all. You can find the professor you are interested in and the subject on the university website, where you will find out in which classroom the lecture is held and to listen to it quietly. Nobody will tell you to go away. You can also visit the university library. If you are used to search for information in the Internet always, then I want to disappoint you. In Italy, you need to have useful contacts. After all, it’s the only way you will know where in the city you can find the best gelateria, pizzeria, cafeteria, barbershop. Not always on the Internet you can find even the schedule of the shop. Just ask all that interests you. |
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