Maxime in Argentina

Participant

Maxime

Programme

Internship

Country

🇦🇷 Argentina

Duration

7 weeks

Short bio

I’m Maxime, I’m 20 years old, I come from a small village in Limburg and I study Public Administration and Government Management

How satisfied were you with the support from Holland?

The support from Holland was good. They were easy to reach and kept in good contact while you were volunteering. You also received all the necessary information beforehand, so you were well prepared for the trip.

My story

“The most important lesson I learnt is that I should be grateful for where I come from. The children in the deprived neighbourhoods made a huge impression on me.”

Maxime · internship in Argentina

At first I found it nerve-racking. This was the first time I had travelled outside Europe on my own. I felt I had prepared well and boarded the plane feeling very confident. Once I arrived in Argentina, I was warmly received at the hostel and soon made contact with other people there. The very next day I had an introductory meeting with my internship supervisor and immediately had everything I needed for the coming 7 weeks (for example a bus card and a SIM card). That same evening I had my first project, the hockey project, and I quickly found out that the Spanish spoken in Argentina is different from the Spanish in Spain. In hindsight, I should have practised Argentinian Spanish more at home, as it was sometimes difficult to communicate with the children during the projects.

After a few weeks I could have more conversations with the children and also teach sports lessons on my own. It also took some getting used to that everything in Argentina goes a bit more slowly; back home I feel a lot of pressure to perform. For the first time in a long while I could let go of that a bit more, and I tried to live more in the moment instead of waiting for the right moments. This meant I could enjoy the moments when I was alone more and became more self-reliant. I let go more so I could simply have fun with the people around me, but I also did lots of things on my own and really enjoyed that too.

The most important lesson I learnt is that I should be grateful for where I come from. The children in the deprived neighbourhoods made a huge impression on me. It made me realise that I have no right to complain and that I’m lucky to have been born in a prosperous country. These children are confronted with crime and neglect at a young age, when at that age they should be living a carefree life.

What advice would you like to give future interns and volunteers?

It sounds like such a cliché, but take that trip (on your own)! You meet wonderful people whose hearts are in the right place, you become more self-reliant, you get to know a new culture and, finally, you feel so much freedom!