How Anargyros, the new volunteer at Ilmatsalu Youth Centre from Greece, ended up in Tartu

Hello everyone! My name is Anargyros, which is quite difficult to pronounce, so you can just call me Argy for short. An interesting fact about me (or perhaps not so interesting) is that my name has a meaning. Specifically, it means 'no money', seriously. The name is formed from the Greek expressions 'an' (without) and 'argyros' (silver), so combined it means 'a person who has no silver/money'.

I come from a small island called Syros, located in Greece, in the middle of the Aegean Sea. I lived in Syros for just over 17 years before moving to Athens, the capital of Greece, to study informatics at the University of West Attica. That went… Well, it's actually still going, because during my studies, I discovered the world of Erasmus+, which started my journey of traveling around Europe and meeting young people from different countries. I feel that these experiences have 100% shaped me into the person I am today.

During this time, I have had the opportunity to work with many different people across the European Union and organize various activities for young people. I realized that I wanted to work with young people even more, which is why I applied to volunteer at a youth center in the magical city of Tartu. After a couple of visits to Estonia, I quickly fell in love with the country. So you can probably understand why I jumped at the chance to volunteer when I heard about it!

Here I am, excited about the upcoming year and the surprises ahead. I hope to gain knowledge and skills here that will make me a better person!

[ENG]

Hey everyone! My name is Anargyros, which I know might sound like a mouthful so you can call me Argy for short! Fun fact, or maybe not so, my name has a meaning, it means “No money”, no seriously. From Greek, An (Without) argyros (Silver), so “person without silver/money”.

I come from a small island in the middle of the Aegean Sea in Greece, Syros. I lived in Syros for a little bit over 17 years before I left to pursue my academic career in Computer Science at the University of West Attica in Athens, the capital city of Greece. That went.. Well it’s still going, because during my studies I was lucky enough to discover the world of Erasmus+ and thus I started my journey of travelling around Europe and meeting young people from different countries! An experience that to this date I 100% feel has shaped who I have become as a person today.

To this date, I have had the opportunity to work with many different people across the EU in organising different opportunities for the youth and while doing that I realised that this was a path I wanted to pursue a bit more. Hence why I applied to be a volunteer at the Youth Center in the magic city of Tartu in Estonia. After having visited Estonia a couple of times, I immediately fell in love with the country and what it has to offer! So as you can imagine, when I saw that there was an opportunity to go and volunteer there for a year, I immediately jumped on the opportunity!

So here I am, excited for the next year and what surprises it holds for me. Hoping to get more knowledge and experiences that will help me become a better person!

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