Asociația SUPER TINERI (ASIRYS)

In the past few weeks, I've started to feel that the end of the project is approaching. With some members of the team leaving, I can sense that our time here is limited. Of course, I'm sad about this, but speaking with my friends about it, I've started to see the end as an opportunity to imagine a future where we can bring all the things we've discovered here. Despite this, our time here has been full of activity. At the Moldova Highschool, we facilitated workshops with the children to prepare for the Jewish Museum, and I started painting a mural in the school, combining the students' drawings about the mission of the school.  The week after, we went to Bucharest for the mid-term training, where we met many volunteers from different countries. It was very special for me to share with them the good parts of our project, as well as our doubts and fears about the future. Now, we are preparing for the final exhibition of the Jewish Museum, and I'm sure that this las

My fifth month in Romania started with the celebration of the new year in Cluj. We spent time together and we visited a beautiful city with a wonderful Christmas atmosphere.  After the trip we started to develop the Rroma Alternative museum: my purpose was to give value to Rroma artists that are too often marginalized. My students gave their interpretations of Rroma poems, paintings, sculptures, clothes and music using paintings and clay. Together with the canvas that I painted, this drawings took part in "Witch hunt" a small installation inspired by the work of the Rroma artist La Bas.  The topic was not easy because I really think that when you have to speak for a minority to which you don't belong,  you have to take a step back and listen them more than sharing your point of view. The final Rroma exhibition was my favorite one: I enjoyed the work from the beginning and having more time, gave me the chance to think more, connect more with the students, try more things a

I am writing this report from Italy, where I will stay for the Christmas holidays. It's very weird to not be all day in the youth center with all my chaotic friends and so many things to do but I realized one more time how much all this project is important for me.  Another beautiful experience was the Italian night. Chiara and I worked so much to show our hosts the Italian "dolce far niente", but the beautiful atmosphere gave us back all the effort we put into it. I can't wait to come back to Târgu Frumos and see which challenges, feelings, and experiences will bring me in the next months. Federica Colzani from Italy is doing a long-term volunteering project in our organisation, under Arts Lab 4.0, a project funded by European Solidarity Corps , a programme of the European Union.

This third month has been more than ever full of experiences.  After the final exposition of the Muzeul Alternativ de Folclor I realized how much work, feelings and effort we put in our activities.  In my case I presented the mural painting, some drawings that I did during the meetings, a canvas that represents 22 characters of folklore and a series of small paintings inspiring by "Păpădie", the video that Ataota, Chiara, Cihan and Wasan realized based on the story of Miorița. All the products and the workshops created by my colleagues were amazing but we know that we could have never had these results without the help of the local volunteers, the experience of the workshops in Petru Rareș highschool and the help we provided each other.  The Folcloristica festival was important too for the realization of MAF: we had the opportunity to see traditional clothes and dances, to listen to traditional songs and to try traditional food. In the same time, the workshops with the childr

When I realized that I have been here for two months, I felt that the time passed so quickly but at the same time I lived so many experiences that it's like I've been here for such a long time. During this month new people arrived in the project and the relationship between us become very special: everyone wants to learn things from the others but also we have a lot of fun together.  We want to see as many things as possible and for this reason we traveled a lot: we went to the Red Lake, Sovata, Sibiu, Constanța but we also explored the nature in Târgu Frumos and I'm so happy to have the chance to see so many beautiful places with special people.  During our days we worked in the alternative museum of folklore. This topic was very interesting for me because I discovered how traditional art is very similar during the years but at the same time it's not fixed in the past as the people that make and join it are different. Also I think it's very beautiful to have an art

I arrived in Târgu Frumos on 17 August. I was very scared of living in a totally different place, with new people but as soon as I entered our home I felt very peaceful and calm. By knowing the other volunteers I found really amazing people with whom sharing experiences, thoughts, and feelings even if our English was not very good. During the first days, we explored the town and its surroundings: the first things I noticed were the beauty of nature and landscapes, and the kindness of people and local volunteers.   In particular, the Cucuteni museum and the exhibition of the Human symposium were really inspiring for me because they made me think about the importance that art has now and always had for humans. After that, we started working on our first workshop about folklore. I was worried about not being able to do it but we put a lot of effort into it and in the end, I was proud of the result and it was a great experience. In the next weeks, we facilitated activities about Cucuteni a