Kriszti in Cremona

I spent the period between the start of November 2023 and the end of September 2024 as an ESC volunteer in Cremona. This town is in the North of Italy, an hour away from Milano by train. During my time there I worked for CSV, which is an organization not only responsible for the Italian civil service but also for organizing many local events and cooperating with other NGOs in the area.

Working as a volunteer

I spent most of my days working at the CSV office, surrounded by Italian colleagues who mostly spoke Italian with me as well, so I definitely had to put all the language skills I learned to use. Sometimes I helped out with tasks such as taking photos of events, producing an informative poster about a gardening project, translating documents and preparing presentations. On a few occasions I visited high schools with fellow volunteers and talked about myself, my motivation for volunteering and my daily work to the local students.
At the start of the new year, I began organizing an English course for the colleagues of CSV who worked in four different locations - it was the task where I took the most initiative with putting together my own level assessment test, evaluated responses, sorted people into two groups, came up with weekly lesson plans for them and of course conducted these lessons. It was the first time I was on the other side when it came to teaching and making people practice the language, and it made me realize the importance of both preparation and keeping things lighthearted and fun for the participants with interesting content and conversations.

Free time as a volunteer

Even if I didn’t feel like I used all of my time spent at work well, I can safely say that I made the most out of my free time both when the weather was good enough to travel and when it was best to stay at home with a good book or an online course. I discovered many surrounding towns and cities on the weekends, some more famous and a few others that were little gems recommended by the locals. 

As much as I enjoy traveling on my own, sometimes I joined a few other volunteers to discover a new place together and make some memories. Speaking of the other volunteers in Cremona, sometimes we would hang out, travel, visit events together or even spend an afternoon eating homemade French crêpe or Greek tzatziki. 🙂

What I learned

I can’t say I have found my new passion during my volunteering or that I didn’t have my fair share of conflicts during these months, but I do believe that it was a challenge I’m glad I took on and the positive things I’m taking away are the few but precious friendships I made, the beautiful places I’ve seen, the language I’ve learned and the increased confidence with which I’m handling international travel - even when it involves late Trenord trains and missed connections sometimes. 😀

Hosting organisation:

Centri di Servizio per il Volontariato (Volunteer Service Centres) have been active since 1997 to support and qualify volunteer hosting organisations and promote the culture of solidarity. Places where associations and citizens are welcome to ask questions, can find fitting answers to their needs, develop skills and knowledge, connect with others and with the territory through services and professionalism aimed at supporting the development of the common good.

https://www.csvlombardia.it/home/lombardia-chi-siamo/#mission