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Mel's life at TI: Comics
Hej med jer! 🙂
How are you?
I think I should begin by explaining a little bit about who I am and what this blog is going to be about before I start uploading content. It makes sense, right? I know, I am a very coherent person. Well, who knows … maybe not so much. 😉 What I am 100% sure about is that introducing yourself is not a simple task, right? But I will do my best although I will not go into so many details. Anyway, I do not think anyone is particularly interested in the life of a stranger but at least you should be interested in the reason why this content exists, purely and simply, because I consider it a good reason. No more no less.
They call me Mel. I let you guess what name it comes from. It is not that difficult either. But only the closest ones call me by my full name or with other diminutives - which is cozy and I love it. I was born in a beautiful country called Ecuador but I grew up in the stunning city of Barcelona. I lived for a time in Germany and I am currently living in Denmark. Yes, more and more north. Why am I living in Denmark? When will I explain what the Blog is about and why is it interesting to know? Well, calm down. I'll get to it now.
I am living in Denmark because I am a European volunteer. A year ago I wanted to volunteer so I got down to work and found the European Voluntary Service (EVS), currently called the European Solidarity Corps (ESC), an Erasmus+ program.
Personally, I consider EVS/ESC is one of the best programs because of the great accessibility (many countries, and many different types of programs) that can offer for young people to apply to a volunteer project both for the extension of age offered (18-30), there is no requirement of experience or professional competence (unless absolutely necessary) and it's great for experiencing an intercultural dimension where we not only acquire skills for our personal and professional growth but also positively impact other cultures with our work. And, last but not least, this program is supported by the European Union, which makes them cover expenses and cover basic needs. Which is more than enough and fair if we consider the aim of the program.
So after applying to several different projects, filling out forms, writing motivation letters, and doing interviews, they finally accepted me in Denmark. And now I am volunteering at Ulfborg for 11 months, at The International - Academy and Boarding School of Denmark, an International Department of the very well-known Danish school Vedersø Idrætsefterskole where personal development is given just as much importance as academic results.
And what is the reason for the Blog? Well, when you enter these types of programs and sign a contract there are things that you must fulfill. One of our obligations as volunteers is to make a dissemination project about our year of volunteering. So yes, what you are reading is my way of promoting them (I think it has become very clear with all the logos that I have uploaded) and the subsequent content that I am going to upload is part of my Project. But, I don’t promote it just because I have to do it. If I didn’t believe that what they do is positive I wouldn’t do it, even if I breached the contract. I do it because, of course, you have to promote something like that. People have to find out that there are such programs. You learn a lot from these experiences and generate a positive impact on society. I had no idea until I searched day and night - it was almost unhealthy. If I knew before, I would have taken this opportunity much sooner.
And if you still wonder … what kind of content will I upload? Well, I had many other things in mind. I really wanted to do something more interactive, something for people, something with people but I changed my mind. This is a year in which I am doing things that are a constant challenge and I like the feeling of overcoming them or trying to overcome them. So I decided to use the dissemination project as a tool to challenge myself once again. I have always believed myself to be quite bad when it comes to creative endeavors. Although these months I have discovered that there are a thousand ways of being creative, even in areas that I did not know existed, and actually I have always been using my creativity but did not realize it. Well, that's great. But now I wanted to try it by doing something that I have liked since I was a child but that I feel like I am not very good at: Drawing. Yes... I will make comic strips - anecdotes of my life in TI. They will not be great drawings (not even acceptable haha), they will be super simple, they may not be fun but you may have fun seeing how badly I draw 😀 and you will remember the volunteer who is horrible at drawing and I will be fine with that.
So, if you’re still curious you can take a look and see my “super” stories and “awesome” drawings”! 🙂
Velkommen til: Mel’s life in TI
Go to the blog: https://volunteerlivinginti.home.blog/
Or have a look at some of the comics below.
