Wind Mill Diaries

Before to apply for this project I knew quite little about the variety of European Solidarity Corps volunteer activities. Here, getting in touch with other volunteers, I found out other super interesting projects. The guys living in Ibiza that I've met at the on-arrival training for exemple, are working in a sailing club as sail teachers and swimming teachers, for children. I've met a French girl who is doing graphic communication works for her host association in Barcelona and a boy from iraq who theachs arab in Barcelona, as well. My flatmate Giulia is working at the Department of Environment within the town hall of Sant Lluís. She deals with waste recycling policies and areas to be redeveloped, among other things. Fanny and Nina, who are placed in Mahon, work at GOB, an ecological organization that takes care of Menorca environment. They work in a plant nursery, in a animals rescue centre and they promote children educational activities about the envoirment. My other flatma...

As I've previously said, I work as a volunteer at the Mo lí  de Baix, the center of the services for family, childhood and non-formal education of Sant Llu í s . The center offers several services (English non-formal classes for children, info point and support for families, prevention, European Solidarity Corps partnership...). Here in Menorca almost every municipality offers a space where kids can hang out, play at the computer, playstation, wii, table football, table tennis, board games, and participate at workshops. At the Mol í,  the leisure service ( casal ) is on Friday and Saturday, from 16.00 till 23.00, for kids from 8 to 17 years old, more or less. My role is to assist and help the two educators ( monitores ) in charge. We set up the space, welcome the children, propose handcrafts and manual activities, we monitor the use of computers and devices and be there for them. I like handcrafts and diy activities and I have a lot of fun helping the children with that. Th...

Super cute short guide by Sant Lluis municipality

One of the reason why I came here is that I was attracted by the idea of living in a little community and precisely on a island. Partly because I was fascinated by the idea of living near the sea (I've always lived in northern Italy, in big cities, surrounded by mountains), partly because I believe that the reality of islands is very different from the mainland one. And since I've been here I'm noticing some differences and curious (for me) things, indeed. One of the things that first changes, living in a so little island, is your perception of distance. From end to end of the island (Ciutadella - Mahon) it takes 45 minuts by car, more or less like going from Torino to Chivasso. But here looks so far, you know, it's at the other end of the island! If in Torino was normal to me walk twenty minutes to reach any point in the centre of the city, here walking more than five minutes to go somewhere sounds crazy. Everything is so ridiculously close that paradoxically,...

“ If I was crying In the van with my friend It was for freedom From myself and from the land” Sufjan Stevens - Chicago This last past month has been full of changings, thoughts, personal-growth, fears and joys. I think that this song's mood perfectly matches with my November feelings.

The life of the European volunteers also includes moments of training , to prepare them to the experience of living outside their own countries and their own  "comfort zone" . Usually there is a training meeting before the departure, in each own country, held by the supporting organization; one shortly after the volunteer's arrival in the host country; and another one at the midterm of the project. So, after a couple of weeks after our arrival, the other volunteers who had just started their project in the regions of Catalonia and Balearic Islands, and I, met in the town of Andratx, on the island of Mallorca, for our On-arrival Training. We spent a week living together, exchanging informations about our respective projects and our own countries and participating in activities that helped us to better understand how the European Solidarity Corps work and are structured. We got to know each other and learnt more about our host country, Spain, too. We have also been rec...

One of the things I like the most about living in Sant Lluís is to be able to go to the beach by foot. In less then an hour of relaxed walking in little roads between the fields, surrounding by donkeys, low dry-stone walls, olive trees, and the typical Menorcan wooden gates, you reach the beach of Binibeca. I try to go as evenings as possible to the top of the hill upon Biniancolla to watch the sun diving into the sea. From there is visible also the lighthouse of the Illa del Aire, a super small island in front of Punta Prima, where lives an endemic lizard subspecies, known as the sargantana negra (black lizard).  When I was a child I used to dream to be a lighthouse keeper when I'd grown up.

Sant Llu í s is a little town of around 7000 hinabitants, situated at around 4 km from Mahon , the capital of the island. It's all composed by withe small houses and it has three old wind mills. (Menorca is fuuull with wind mills!) The one at the very beginning of the pueblo , called Mol í  de Dalt, now is a etnological musesum, that show how wind mills used to work. Of the second, located in the main street, only the tower remains, without blades or gears, and is not accessible to the public. The third, the Mol í  de Baix, is a space from the municipality, and is the operational headquarters of my host association, therefore is my workplace! From outside it retains the appearance of a windmill, but inside, all its small rooms and spaces have been trasformed in offices, reading room, internet point, information point and spaces for recreational and educational activities. Even the tower! The Mol í  is the space where the activities of the social policies of the munici...

I arrived from Italy on the 2nd of November 2019 to start my one year project of European Solidarity Corps volunteering service. It's been hard to decide what to take with me. It looked like my 30kg laggages weren't enough to contain my all life. But, when I arrived, I realized that I really didn't need it. I share the house provided by the hosting association, in Sant Lluís village, with three others volunteers from Italy, Slovakia and France. We immediatly got along and we naturally built our new "family life". Looking for a new home The view from our terrace