Hello, my name is Vasco, I´m from the most western country in Europe, Portugal. I was born in the North in the second biggest city, Porto. It’s an amazing city, full of history and beautiful places for sightseeing. What makes the city so special is the seaside and the people.
When I finished High-School I wanted something new, a big challenge, I wanted to leave my comfort zone. I thought about pursuing my studies in a foreign country or to move to the capital Lisbon. At that time, with just 18 years old, my parents didn’t want me to move abroad, so I decided to do my bachelor’s in social and Cultural Communication in Lisbon. It was a tremendous change but exactly what I wanted. Lisbon is a much bigger city with a much larger international community.
In my second year of University, I was lucky enough to apply to the Erasmus programme. I really wanted to have an experience abroad, and for everyone that has the possibility to do Erasmus, do it. The Erasmus programme helps with money, which helped me in my stay. I chose Italy, as my new country to live, and of course I had to choose Rome. As a history “nerd” like me, Rome was the perfect city. I had the best 6 months, I couldn’t imagine how lucky I was to be there, and to travel all over Italy, and eat a lot of Pizza.
In that same year, in 2019, I decided that I wanted to leave my comfort zone even further. I searched for countries outside Europe to do volunteer work, and me and two friends of mine, decided Morocco would be a great place for a Summer adventure. I went to Rabat, the capital, and Casablanca, to teach English and Sports to unprivileged kids with very bad conditions.
I´m a very curious person and I love History, Art, Music, everything related to Culture. I love to travel, such as doing volunteer work. I started to do volunteer work when I was 14, and since then I never stopped. Volunteer work is one of the most important things I ever did to improve and develop myself as a person. I learned so much and changed my mentality forever, I worked with kids, homeless people, disabled kids,I reconstructed old houses of elders and I also worked in an orphanage.
With the pandemic everything changed, I had to finish my bachelor online and I started my masters Iín Human Resources Management online too. Like everyone I stayed a lot of time at home trying to decide what I wanted to do for my future when the pandemic ended. I started to fall in Love with Berlin, I spent a long time there during the covid times and I started to feel at home, although I don ‘t speak German, yet.
I decided I wanted to live in Germany, it´s an amazing country full of history and culture, with a great quality of life, and the people were always very nice to me. I begin my quest to find something to do in Germany. I had a friend that had an experience with the European Solidarity Corps, and after 2 months of interviews and applications, I found the perfect project in Chemnitz. A city that I never heard of before, but a city that I´m falling in love with.
I would like to live in Germany for a while, and when I start speaking german It will be even better and easier for me. I´m focused and determined to work in an NGO, because my previous volunteer experiences made me realize that´s really what I want to do for the rest of my life, and hopefully to have a positive impact in modern society.
Financed by European Solidarity Corps. Written by Vasco Almeida
