It is very difficult to pack 3 and a half months of experience in Tramonti in only one paragraph, so I decided to write some lists instead, to give a little overview of what my Erasmus Placement internship taught me:

Things I learned:

• To never mix two different kinds of dishes, like Pasta and Salad, in one plate
• How to handle 30 People from 5 different countries and manage to do something with all of them on time
• How to create invitations/ flyers with gimp or photoshop
• “We will go in 10 minutes” doesn’t really mean that we will leave in the next hour
• How to create a slideshow and edit videos
• How to organise work camps, schedules and how to tell people what to do in a nice way (a smile and a “please” is always very helpful)
• Everything about the Re Umberto Tomato

Things that surprised me:

• How open, friendly and naturally everyone is talking to strangers
• The appreciation of food as part of the day
• The beauty of the Amalfi Coast and the valley of Tramonti
• That the Sita busses manage to pass by each other without any damage every time on those narrow roads along the coast
• That Italians indeed eat pasta every day
• How stressful it can be to work independently and be responsible for everything
• How much you work if you can decide your working time freely

My favourite moments:

• lemon festival in Pucara with amazing food like pizza al limone and granita; and a perfect atmosphere in the castle through light and music
• Pizza party at the office during the “Make it MedEATerranean” project, especially the dancing part where we learned sirtaki
• Preparing the mussles we harvested ourselves at the rocks of Minori
• Discovering a hidden beach on Capri Island
• Walking along the Path of Gods, with the beautiful view on the peninsula, and afterwards having the last swim of the year in the sea of Positano

Things I will miss:

• Sal de Riso ice cream
• The sea (I honestly never swam in such soft water before)
• Our office dog Vuva and her puppies
• The view on the mountains from our office
• Every single pasta dish prepared by Enzo, you are a wonderful cook!
• Fresh cornetto from the bakery at night

And of course, I will miss everyone I met here! I had an amazing time, I discovered many new places, improved my organisation and video editing skills and learned about sustainability, other cultures and the work of an NGO. In total, it was an enriching experience in every sense and I am happy that I had the chance to be here. I really enjoyed the Italian mentality and will hopefully take a lot from it to Germany. A big thank you to Vincenzo, Antonio and Maria, for everything.

 

Maike Jebasinski