Jacopo Casini

ESC International Volunteer

There is a way of saying in Italy that reads “all the streets go to Rome”, well for me it’s London.

Before I explain this, let me introduce myself: I’m Jacopo, I’m Italian and I live near Rome. For me, London has never been an ideal destination place to live or work, but during my master’s degree for the first time this thought occurred. The Internship presented the chance to work for the Italian diplomatic locations worldwide and I had to select two places, one in the west, other in the east. I selected the Italian General Consulate in New York (excuse me London, you weren’t first choice) and the same for Moscow.

I won the position in the Big Apple, but due to the pandemic I never left Italy for the States.

After that, in the Autumn the Italian Foreign Affairs, which organizes the internship, said to me that the overseas destinations were unviable due to covid. However, there was an opportunity in Europe. Well, that was London’s moment to shine. I applied for “la City” and I got the position. Now you would think that I arrived in London promptly, and completed my work, but… no. The second wave of Covid-19 crashed down on England, particularly London, and the opportunity flew away.

But every fairy tale has an unexpected finale!

It all begun on the European Youth Portal website, where a lot of organizations offer placements for flexible internships (If you are reading this and want to apply for placements abroad, I recommend keeping an eye on it).

So, in this portal, I found Sculpt. The reasons that brought me to apply to Sculpt are several. First, the organization facilitates multiple projects, and this will be useful to improve my project management skills. The project that allowed me to arrive in London is ESC; in addition to this Sculpt favours projects focussing on human rights and youth entrepreneurship, something I too am passionate about. Secondly, working in London is a huge opportunity to improve my English. Lastly, working in one of the biggest cities is a huge accomplishment for me and something I will never forget.

My application was successful, and I received this news 2 days before my master’s degree graduation! Now I’ve been with Sculpt, in London, for two weeks, the city is a storm of opportunity. I really hope that these three months are very important for my future.

p.s.

If you are wondering what happened with my internship, well…finally I did it at the United Nations, but in smart working. Guess why…yes due the Covid.