I'm a nineteen year old boy and I recently took part in an Erasmus+ volunteering project in Latvia, more precisely in Liepaja. Despite the uncertainties about the pandemic situation due to covid, I have always been inclined to join the project, I wanted at all costs to have a different and original experience. So on August XNUMXst I took the plane amidst the uncertainty of having to carry out fiduciary self-isolation which could have ruined the foreign experience because it lasted ten days, a third of the project.
The Latvian panorama seen from the airplane is truly beautiful because it alternates large woods with countryside, cities, some rivers and of course the sea. Once out of the plane you could already breathe a different air and above all perceive a fresh breeze that accompanied me for the entire duration of the month of August. I arrived in Liepaja then in my apartment, unpacked and immediately headed for the beach. I was struck by the parks, by all the greenery that surrounded the city: there were skate parks, playgrounds, sports fields (tennis, basketball, athletics and soccer). A huge public park overlooking the sea, complete with everything that becomes a forest in the long run. The beach was also really beautiful, the sand very fine and above all free, there were no hotels, umbrellas or deck chairs.

The next day I met the members of the Radi Vidi Pats association, all nice and friendly young people.
The association provided me with assignments to carry out during the morning and in the afternoon, while the evening, Sunday and Monday were dedicated to free time. One of the main tasks was to take care of the city garden, a citizen because everyone can take vegetables, sow new crops and water. In this garden, watermelons similar in size to those called 'Black Pearl' also grew; I, one of the last days of August, was intending to take one to eat with the association, I was curious to know its taste, but someone had preceded me that morning and the watermelon was gone.
Among the most significant activities there was the creation of a piece of mosaic, a mosaic which later, once completed, will be part of a public place that can be visited by all. Besides doing activities for Radi Vidi Pats twice a week I was visiting other charities with which I had good experiences. Thanks to "House of Hope", one of these associations, I met some guys with whom I then went out in the evening and on my free days.

Fundamental was to organize free time, find something to do since the members of the association were often busy with work. So speaking only a little English and knowing nothing of Latvian except the word 'thank you' it was difficult to make friends.
So some days were spent together with the association, others with the boys met at the House of Hope.
When everyone was busy then I took the bicycle and reached the edge of the city, visited new places and returned to the prettiest places that a boy from the association had shown me in one of the first days.

 

The experience in a forest picking mushrooms was very nice, as was the tour in Karosta, a fraction of Liepaja, where you can find many ruins of buildings built during the world wars.

 

   

 

 

The best experience was undoubtedly the canoe trip to Pavilosta for which I postponed the flight back to Italy. Pavilosta is a small town not too far from Liepaja where, after the canoe trip, we celebrated and spent the night in a tent. On occasions like this I was able to learn more about Latvian culture, their songs, their typical vegetable soup, which turned out to be very good, and also their liqueurs. I will remember everything forever.

 

   

Lorenzo, August 2021