Our volunteers have completed their 7-month volunteering experience in Slovenia with the European Solidarity Corps.
Throughout 2024, we often shared updates about two inseparable friends from Ollolai who decided to embark on a volunteering project together. Like many of their peers who hesitate to go abroad due to what they perceive as “personal shortcomings”—the fear of leaving, only basic or intermediate English skills, and other insecurities—their decision to depart was not without doubts and fears.
What we never told you is how challenging it was to find an organization willing to host them both at the same time. In long-term projects, it’s more common to host individuals of different nationalities within the same project, making it more difficult to accept two candidates from the same country.
Armed with patience and hope, we searched together for different opportunities until we found the perfect place for both of them: Piran, a small town in Slovenia where both Slovenian and Italian are spoken, hosted by the association Javni zavod Športni in mladinski center Piran.
For six months, the girls lived this extraordinary experience. Of course, there were ups and downs, as in real life, but overall, it was an adventure that Sharon and Vittoria describe as incredible. It was an opportunity for personal and professional growth, and perhaps even a chance to discover new awareness that will help them find their future paths.
Now that they’ve been back in Sardinia for a while, we decided to ask them for a final testimony to summarize these seven months abroad. Here’s what they shared:
“On October 29, our volunteering project in Slovenia came to an end. Over these six months, we learned so many new things, improved our English, met people from different parts of Europe, and enriched our cultural knowledge. This experience often pushed us out of our comfort zone, and thanks to that, we got to know ourselves better. We recommend anyone who has the chance to participate in projects like this because they offer the opportunity to visit new places, meet people from different cultures, and open your mind. We would like to thank Sportello in Spalla and, in particular, Iulita, for accompanying and guiding us throughout this journey, always showing kindness and availability.”
