A new volunteer from France under the programe of the European Solidarity Corps has joined Udruga IKS. He will be with us for a little over a month on a short-term volunteering project. The program offers young people like Alex the chance to volunteer, learn, explore and discover new communities and their culture. Keep reading to learn more about Alex.
”I come from a small village in northern France where there is more cows than inhabitants. I left when i had the opportunity and went to study abroad in Spain at IE University. During those 4 years i had the opportunity to partake in two different Erasmus in Amsterdam and weirdly enough in Paris. Those experience along with my tenure as president of the EU club at IEU considerably strengthen my appreciation for the EU.
French people have a hard reputation abroad, considered to be iliterate in English, rude and self centered, Hence I often received a weird compliment: Alex you are quite cool for a French man. This goes without saying that I clearly was still rude and self centered I am French afterall, I can’t help it. However, I could speak english and was eager to learn from my peers. But I grew to believe that I consider myself more European than French, this reflection stems from my favourite quote ever: “Patriotism is love for one’s own people; nationalism is hatred for the others”.
During my mobility at Udruga IKS, I would love to learn more about the Croatian culture and way of life. This is the opportunity to finish my erasmus trilogy and to get some volunteering experience in a 3rd country.
On my free time i love watching rugby, going to football matches of very low divisions and collect all maps that i come across.”
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Novi volonter iz Francuske, u sklopu programa Europskih snaga solidarnosti, pridružio se Udruzi IKS. S nama će biti nešto više od mjesec dana u okviru kratkoročnog volonterskog projekta. Program mladima poput Alexa pruža priliku za volontiranje, učenje, istraživanje i otkrivanje novih zajednica i njihovih kultura. U nastavku saznajte više o Alexu.
”Dolazim iz malog sela na sjeveru Francuske, gdje ima više krava nego stanovnika. Otišao sam kada sam imao priliku i započeo studij u inozemstvu, u Španjolskoj na IE sveučilištu. Tijekom te četiri godine imao sam priliku sudjelovati u dva različita Erasmusa – u Amsterdamu i, pomalo neobično, u Parizu. Ta iskustva, zajedno s mojim mandatom predsjednika EU kluba na IEU-u, značajno su učvrstila moje cijenjenje Europske unije.
Francuzi u inozemstvu imaju prilično težak ugled – smatra ih se nepismenima na engleskom, nepristojnim i egocentričnim. Zbog toga sam često dobivao neobičan kompliment: “Alex, zapravo si prilično cool za jednog Francuza.” To naravno ne znači da nisam bio nepristojan i egocentričan – ipak sam Francuz, ne mogu si pomoći. Međutim, znao sam govoriti engleski i bio sam željan učiti od svojih kolega. No, s vremenom sam počeo vjerovati da se smatram više Europljaninom nego Francuzom, a ta misao proizlazi iz mog najdražeg citata: „Patriotizam je ljubav prema vlastitom narodu; nacionalizam je mržnja prema drugima.“
Tijekom svoje mobilnosti u udruzi IKS volio bih naučiti više o hrvatskoj kulturi i načinu života. Ovo je prilika da dovršim svoju Erasmus trilogiju i steknem volontersko iskustvo u trećoj zemlji.
U slobodno vrijeme volim gledati ragbi, ići na nogometne utakmice vrlo niskih liga i skupljati sve karte (mape) na koje naiđem.”
