ESC Stories

Hi!

My name is Lara, and I’m from Italy.

I was lucky to have had the chance to take part in a volunteer project in Romania through the European Solidarity Corps program.

The project lasted 6 months (from October 13, 2024, to April 13, 2025) and mainly involved running an After-school program for children aged 7 to 10 years old.

After finishing high school, during the summer of my 18th year, I felt lost.I wasn’t sure about which study path to follow and felt an overwhelming desire for adventure. I wanted to break away from the routine, discover new realities, and this opportunity was the perfect compromise. It allowed me to concretely experience what it’s like to work with children and discover other cultures.

Romania is a beautiful country: rich in history and a cultural hub that blends Western traditions with Ottoman influences. This fascinating mix, along with the fact that Romania isn’t one of the most common tourist destinations, intrigued me and convinced me to come and see it for myself.

When I arrived in October, three of us had joined the project. I still remember the first walk in the forest near our house that we took to get to know each other… That feeling of having to make a good impression on these strangers I would be living with for six months and the anxiety of not making too many mistakes while speaking English.

Looking back now, we laugh so much about it. Over these six months, we had the chance to get to know each other deeply and form strong bonds. For all three of us, this was our first experience away from home. We learned to take care of our place, improved our cooking skills, and found true friends.

This journey has been an emotional rollercoaster. At first, of course, there’s curiosity and excitement. Then the first challenges come, and if you’re lucky like me, you realize you’re not alone in facing them – your team is there with you.

One big challenge for me was the language barrier. Most of our children have a good level of English thanks to previous experiences with other European volunteers in A4ACTION’s projects. However, new kids sometimes join the group, and this year, there was a pair of twins in particular who didn’t speak at the beginning. They were probably held back by the language barrier between us.

The greatest satisfaction for me was seeing them grow, becoming more confident in speaking, and really getting to know them. Now, both of them communicate with us in English: they enthusiastically tell us about what they do at school and what they want to be when they grow up. My heart fills with joy every time I see them searching for the right word to describe what they want to tell us.

During this time, our house became more and more crowded until it was full. We are six young girls who want to travel and discover more about the world and ourselves. We had the chance to visit several cities in this beautiful country: Brașov, Iași, Bucharest, Predeal, and many others. I even saw a bear walking just a few meters away!

At work, we also improved. By getting to know each other better, we made each other’s qualities stand out. In addition to the After-school activities, we also added workshops in high schools to discuss topics like green practices and civic engagement. It was interesting to have the opportunity to work with students of different age groups.

Many of us want to become teachers, and these experiences allow us to see what it could be like in the future.

These 6 months have flown by. It feels like just yesterday I was walking in the forest with my new housemates. And yet now I have a new awareness of myself and the world I live in.

I now have clearer ideas about the path I want to take.

These projects are an incredible opportunity offered by the European Union, and we should talk about them more.

In Italy, taking a gap year between high school and university is still not that common. Many people were incredulous and didn’t understand my choice, but today I know it was the right one. It has been the best experience of my life, and I would recommend it to any of my peers with a bit of a spirit of adventure.

Lastly, I would like to thank my association: A4ACTION.

Every member of the team made me feel at home. They took care of us, helping us with every aspect of this journey – from fixing things around the house to having one-on-one meetings with our mentor to ensure we were doing well.

I am grateful to everyone I’ve met. GRAZIE!