Wind Mill Diaries

Last year I chose to spent Christmas time in Menorca, with my new friends, the other European Solidarity Corps' volunteers. We had a good time eating all together in our home, watching Woody Allen's movies, dancing at Claustre and Texas in Mahón, and taking part at public tradicional celebration of Llumets and Los Reyes Magos . For New Year's Eve we flown to Palma de Mallorca, on the near island. I had so much fun and I learnt a lot about Menorcan, Balearic and Spanish traditions. You can read more about that amazing time here .    This year I'm in my Italian hometown, and, due to the Covid emergency measures, I'm spending the whole Christams holidays at home with just my parents and my brother. We can't visit the relatives that live in a different region, like we usually do. It's pretty sad. DIY Christmas decorations [December 2019] Christmas night fun with Fanny [December 2019] New Years' Eve in Palma de Mallorca with Giulia [December 2019] Sunset in

To this November 2020, symbol of the end of my one year experience in Menorca, I dedicate Le Temps de l'Amour by Françoise Hardy, from 1962. "It's time for love/The time of friends/And adventure/When time comes and goes/We don't think about anything/Despite its wounds/Because the time of love/It's long and it's short/It lasts forever/We remember it". C'est le temps de l'amour Le temps des copains Et de l'aventure Quand le temps va et vient On ne pense à rien Malgré ses blessures Car le temps de l'amour C'est long et c'est court Ça dure toujours On s'en souvient

It's a while I'm home again, now. It's been kind of weird to be in Italy again, all of a sudden, after 12 months of Spanish talking, Spanish food and Spanish landscapes. But I got used again very fast to my old life, and now, the whole Menorca expierience feels already like it's very far away. But I was there just over two weeks ago. Odd. It's incredible how fast we adapt to new life condition. I kind of miss the island life, but, given the circumstances of the global pandemic, I prefer to be here with my family. And moreover, I don't miss the Minorcan winter very much. Last November and December were kind of hard for me, because I wasn't used (and still am not) to Menorcan wet cold. It's tricky, because the temperatures are pretty warm, reaching 16°-18°C most of the days. In sunny days you could walk around without jacket and some days just in t-shirt. But. Don't forget the wind. Never forget the wind. When Tramontana blows, the sky fills up with cl

When I chose to participate in this project I was living a phase of frustration and immobility: I couldn't find a steady job in my field of study, I was struggling to maintain economic independence, I was feeling powerless and hopeless. I chose to leave to "unplug", pause everything, freeze my life as I knew it at that moment and change. Change  country, change house, change friends, change job, change language, change everything. And that was just what I needed. Moving from life in a big city to life on a small island in the Mediterranean Sea really allowed me to change pace and perspective. Getting away from the frenzy of the metropolis to live in Menorca, at its slower rhythms and in connection with nature, allowed me to free myself from a lot of superstructures, conventions and social pressures that oppressed and worried me. Living on an island with agricultural traditions (recently converted to tourism, but not excessively exploited), where distances and social conne

In one week I'm gonna finishing my one year European Solidarity Corps project. It's been a weird year, with the Covid Pandemic and everything, but all things considered has been a great year to me. I've learned a lot: about Menorca, about Spain, about Spanish and Catalan, about not formal education, and expecially about myself. I feel changed, I feel different from when I arrived here, grown up, more confident and peaceful. The quarantine and the global health emergency were painful and difficult but they contributed to my work of self-analysis and introspection. And all in all, this island is not so a bad place where to spend a quarantine: here the cases have always been fews and the nature offers a lot of outside activities that can be done without risk. So, even if I didn't have the opportunity of living a "regular" year as European Solidarity Coprs Volunteer here, I'm still happy of my choice and plenty satisfied with the experience. Torre d'en Gal

This month I'm obsessed with Audioiko's remix of Carla Morrison's song "Disfruto". It was recommended to me by two of Fanny's friends from Madrid who came to visit her in September. I'm listening to it on a loop ever since.   

Thanks to the discounts for island residents, I was able to travel a lot during this year. Well, I probably would have traveled more if it hadn't been for the pandemic but ... es lo que hay ("it's what it is"). I've been in Mallorca (three times), in Granada, and in Valencia. I was supposed to go to Italy in spring but they cancelled my flight due to the pandemic. So it's almost a year that I don't see my parents and friends. I start to miss them a lot. In Mallorca I've visited Palma and I had an exciting excursion through the Serra de Tramuntana mountains with my friends Nina and Fanny. One of the great opportunity of ESC is to be able to travel more and get know better the hosting country. Puig d'en Galileu, Sierra de Tramontana, Mallorca Palma de Mallorca Valencia