Mental health has been my whole life. In the summer of 2022, I really wanted a change in my career and life but didn't know where to start.
I wanted to make new friends, get to know new cultures, learn new languages, and just put myself out there.
A good friend of mine said he was doing a youth exchange in Spain, and added that there's one that will take place in Capo Vaticano, Calabria, just 20 min away from where I'm from.
I had absolutely n idea what to expect in a youth exchange. Do we have a teacher that "teaches" us things? What will we be doing? Is it like school?
It turned out to be exactly what I needed in my life at that moment. Right after it, I started to learn Spanish, research how to live and work abroad, to brainstorm ways to turn my passion for youth work into a fulfilling career.
I wanted something more long-term, more immersive. Where I don't have to worry about money and I can focus more on enjoying life and learning in a more carefree way, while working but not to the point that I have no other life.
Truthfully, I didn't even know what I was looking for precisely. For sure, a fulfilling experience that could offer me a different point of view compared to my everyday context.
Though it doesn't fit the official definition, it fits my own and what I was looking for at that time. These amorphous ambitions had a name: European Solidarity Corps, ESC. I couldn't believe it. It was exactly what I was looking for. And it all started from that openness to say "I have no idea what this youth exchange thing is, let's give it a try".
For me, ESC means the peace of mind to make new experiences. An opportunity to train and reflect on the next steps in life, taste a new culture, and turn a new page, free from the constraints of real life such as paying bills, finding a job, and being trapped in a routine. All you initially wanted was to live a different life and not be stuck in those dynamics. It may even sound mundane, but at the end of the day this is the gist: with this volunteering program you can actually focus on your growth, you are offered activities of different kinds, and you are exposed to many people and cultures. Your brain has much more capacity to contribute to other people's well-being and metabolize learning.
Generally speaking, you are in a "safe" container where making mistakes is encouraged and corrected patiently, of course, there are consequences, but at the end of the day, it's not the end of the world, because you have many people that support you and have expertise. Whereas "out in the world" that's usually not the case. Thanks to the infrastructure that is being created for us, we can grow, gain expertise and clarify our ideas without all these extra stressors. Instead, new "life dynamics" (the activities you do, people you meet, information you are exposed to, experiences you make etc.) now immensely facilitate your personal growth and contribution to the community. Thus, for me ESC is a powerful catalyst to make powerful changes in your life and expand your horizons – what you do with them is up to you.
The choice of Romania wasn't one that was profoundly meditated. Simply put, the idea of spending the next months in a wild and mysterious land such as Transylvania, got me excited. Also, I wanted to learn more languages, and as a third language, Romanian was difficult enough to get my attention, but not too difficult that it would take too much of my effort to speak fluently. As a matter of fact, after a full immersion during the Christmas holidays (with my method), I was able to understand and start speaking somewhat fluently.
Now I'm in Sovata, Târgu Mureș, a small village in the East Carpathians with an OBR organization – Outward Bound Romania. Another thing that surprised me was that although on paper I'm in Romania, actually the majority of people here are Hungarian. So two cultures (at the very least) instead of one!
For the first 9 weeks, I didn't understand what my role was, and what I was doing here. Until I finally started to get it! Let me explain.
Why outdoor and what we do. The main objective of my hosting organization and the programs is to develop confidence, trust in yourself, express your emotions and needs, work in groups, learn to live with less and get closer to nature through outdoor activities which mainly consist of expeditions and forming and leading teams.
Sleeping outdoors in a tent at -10 °C kilometres away from civilization; the excitement of seeing bears and wolves' footprints; a foggy, mysterious landscape that looked like a "Mars of ice" with my beard and people's hair freezing; skiing for the first time in my life; improvising a cultural night using expedition lights (the ones you put on your head) acting like strobes of a disco; Latvian folklore music, "Afuega'l Pitu rojo" Asturian cheese, improvising a vegetarian pasta alla Bolognese in a wooden hut in the middle of nowhere with our hands freezing. And so far I've only witnessed winter!
In the past years, I was too much in my mind. I was growing tired of my career in mental health and of thinking about nature instead of being in it. Furthermore, the idea of letting go of my business and all the sense of identity I was pouring into it, and venturing into new lands, with skills I had never practised before, got me excited.
I am not done with my project yet, to answer the infamous question "so, what did you do/learn there?", but something I can tell you now is that those are types of experiences that enrich you.
For me, the reward of feeling enriched with all these amazing experiences is far more important than the articulation that could ever come out of it. The "change your life, live in a new country, meet new people, have unique experiences" can mean everything or nothing.
I'm really grateful for these volunteering and youth exchanges and every single person who's put their heads and hearts together to come up with projects like this.
Giuseppe
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