Molfetta, a second home for Eskild and Aynara
Young and resourceful, Eskild Kielberg Jacobsen, 20 years old, student from Denmark, and Aynara Galindo, 29 years old, researcher from Spain who’s got a Doctorate at University of Navarra, have come to Molfetta in the school year 2017-2018, for the volounteering experience within the project “Erasmus Plus” ( teachers in charge: Marta Spaccavento for ‘Liceo Classico’ and Rosa de Pinto for ‘Liceo Scientifico’), in collaboration with the “InCo” association. Feeling welcome by the students and teachers from Liceo Classico ‘’Leonardo Da Vinci ‘’ and from Liceo Scientifico ‘’Albert Einstein’’, where they are partecipating in the didactic activities with the aim of learning the Italian language helping the students improving their English and teaching their own languages, the two volounteers tell about their experience and their impressions in what they have defined as their ‘second home’. What made you take part to the ‘Erasmus Plus’ project? Eskild: «Not only the wish of travelling in order to breathe a different air form Denmark’s has been decisive for my choice, but also the curiosity that the Italian language has always inspired me. While searching on the Internet the ‘Erasmus Plus’ project that I would like the most, Molfetta’s offer immediately impressed me and now here I am!» Aynara: «I believe that to understand what you really want from life, you need to try everything; so, following my friends’ advice, I’ve decided to partecipate in this experience and I’ve chosen this project because, from what I ‘d seen online, it had good assumptions». Have you had a hard time socializing? E: «After I came here, I’ve been drowning for whole days in papers to sign, I thought they would never end! Except this small inconvenience and the approach, kinda difficult, to Italian, I haven’t had many difficulties interacting with the others». A: «Even though Italian language has various affinities with Spanish (or so they say!), having to pronounce a speech entirely in Italian hasn’t been easy at all, but it was a matter of habit». Have you already lived similar experiences that made you travel? E: «The Erasmus Plus experience can only be lived once in a lifetime, but I’ve travelled a lot and I had the chance of visiting also Italy. I’ve been three times to Rome, to Lucca, to Pisa and to Venice, but I hadn’t been in the South of Italy». A: << I remember with particular emotion the travel to Czech Republic, where I met one of my best friends with which I haven’t lost contacts. That travel was also a motivation that instilled in me interest for other realities and for other stories.>> What things about Italy do you like the most? And what about these schools? E: << I’m happy that I’m here, in the South: I’ve had the possibility to know small but graceful cities such as Molfetta and Alberobello, different from the ones where I come from. The South of Italy is very particular. I’ve immediately observed Italian’s interest for the food: the first week I’ve been here everybody continuously asked me: “What do you want for lunch?”, “What have you aten for dinner?”,”What kind of breakfast do you like?”; in Denmark cooking doesn’t have a central role. I like a lot Liceo Classico’s and Liceo Scientifico’s building: they’ve got a comfortable air. But if there’s a reason for which I can say that this place is my second home, they are students and teachers that I’ve met, always helpful with me and curious.>> A: <<I’ve always been enchanted by Italian culture and history, in my opinion unparalleled. I’ve been once in Rome and I continuously observed each detail and I countinuously took photos of everything. This has been another reason that has made me return to Italy, where I’m discovering kind and spontaneus people, like Spanish people. At ‘Liceo Classico’ and at ‘Liceo Scientifico’ everyone is ready to help me: I feel that this is my second home.>> In your opinion, is Italy more or less evolved than your country? E: <<It’s difficult making a comparison. I like a lot Italians’welcome and Italians’ways to communicate, in Denmark we are a little more reserved. While my natural personality is fine in Italy, my mentality is purely Danish. In my opinion Denmark is ahead of Italy in didactic organization.>> A: <<Under multiple viewpoints Italy and Spain are similar, but I think in Italy education and didactic are more important than where I come from.>> In your life you can always be better. What’s your advice in order to improve the school? E: <<The school that I’ve attended in Denmark is more democratic and opener to real facts. My advice is leaving more space to students, to their ideas and to their interests: a good school is founded on reciprocal listening.>> A: <<In this school I’ve seen different and willing students: in my opinion the school would be more dinamic and it should learn to involve more students.>> This the tale by two foreigner guys catapulted in a small but comforta