Lidia and Jose, the new volunteers of SCI Italy, have arrived. Lidia will be working in the incoming or outgoing department, while Jose will be working with the project “La Città dell’Utopia.”

My name is Lidia, and I’m 23 years old. I come from l’Hospitalet de Llobregat, Catalonia, close to Barcelona. I first heard about this volunteering opportunity at a meeting of volunteers in SCI Catalonia. There, I met Simone and Vesa, who had just started their ESC volunteering. Upon seeing an ESC offer, I decided to pursue it since I had recently completed university, where I studied Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage with a specialisation in graphic documents.

My duties involve contacting volunteers, writing and receiving emails, and addressing any questions volunteers may have about workcamps. I am also responsible for liaising with other organisations or branches. For my final thesis, I restored two pieces found during an international workcamp, sparking my interest in pursuing similar work. I joined SCI Catalonia and participated in a work camp in Germany focused on the conservation of historical patrimony. Enjoying the experience, I sought to engage in longer-term, more in-depth volunteering, given my recent completion of university and lack of employment yet, beyond English and German language classes.

I am unsure of what exactly I seek from this experience, but I aim to continue learning about various subjects, including office work, languages, diverse perspectives, and people. If I were to pursue another volunteering opportunity, I would like it to be in the Global South, Hispano-America, or Morocco. In the long term, I aspire to pursue a master’s degree, potentially in a field related to international relations, bridging my interests in art conservation and museum management. I want to move artworks from one museum to the other and set up exhibitions.

My name is Jose Miguel, and I am 25 years old. I come from Malaga, Spain, where I studied history at the University of Malaga. I pursued history because I wanted to understand the world, and I believed it would be a good option for achieving that. Although I have yet to finish my degree, I still need to complete the TFG. Perhaps for my final project at the university, I am considering interesting options such as social history and economic history.

I learned about this opportunity while searching the European Solidarity Corps portal. I was browsing through all the offers that came up for a while, and I stumbled upon this one in Rome. The city caught my attention, as did the description of the project, which emphasized social work in a place with an anti-fascist past. I enjoy being in a city with such rich history and a historical place like La Città dell’Utopia, and I saw going to Rome with this project as a good opportunity to start a new chapter in my life.

Upon arrival, I was immediately impacted by the workload, particularly with the preparation for a market just two days later. However, things gradually became smoother, and I found it relatively easy to adapt to working with my coworkers and coordinators. My primary responsibility now involves managing the social media of La Città dell’Utopia. I have been using Canva extensively, alongside assisting with the usual activities, helping in the camps, and handling daily office tasks. The office environment is challenging but diverse. Simon has been quite helpful, explaining things to me in Spanish.

Before this, I volunteered on a farm in Ireland. I decided to volunteer again because I enjoyed my previous experience and wanted to repeat it in a social project contributing to a community.

From this experience, I expect to learn a lot about project management and development, as well as to improve my Italian language skills.