Gabriele's ESC experience in France Blog dei volontari

I had chosen a rural area, a small village of around 5,000 inhabitants, near the town of Saint-Omer, which has just under 14,000 residents. Saint-Omer lies halfway between the metropolis of Lille, an elegant and charming northern city, with its characteristic beffroi, the Place des Oignons and a thousand other places to discover, and Calais, the coastal town from which the ferry to England departs.

My arrival in Arques, that’s the name of the village where I lived for six months, was accompanied by a great desire to throw myself into the experience, improve my language skills, explore and embark on new adventures. In the blink of an eye, three other volunteers and I were immersed in the day-to-day life of the organisation that had welcomed us, and we set to work. Our tasks as volunteers were numerous and varied from day to day, ranging from running activities with children, teenagers and the elderly, to cookery classes with asylum seekers at the Coallia centre, as well as projects, events and much, much more. I was no stranger to living away from home or even living in another country, yet I realised, once again, that it’s always different. You must adapt to the place and the people, and you can choose to do so with curiosity or to withdraw into yourself.

The intensity of my adventure, the many people I’ve met and the new friendships I’ve made, as well as the emotions, travels, discoveries, la pétanque, the weekends around the region with my girlfriend, and much more … will remain, in part, a secret treasure known only to me, but I’m sure that someone else, in their own way, will experience something similar.