Hi everyone, especially those who love adventure but often let overthinking hold them back.

Here I am, my name is Rana Fares, and if that makes you think of an animal in Italian, let’s just pretend it doesn’t. If you’re reading this after October 15, that makes me 26. I’m from Egypt.

Since university, I’ve always dreamed of volunteering around the world. But life took a faster route, and I started working right after graduating from the Faculty of Mass Communication at Cairo University in 2021. Since then, I have been working as a content creator and scriptwriter for a magazine and a program in Egypt.

About four years after graduation, I realized I still hadn’t achieved what I truly wanted in life, and work had taken up the biggest part of it. So I decided to go back to my original plan: volunteering. I found a volunteering opportunity with Link through Jovesolides Egypt. What attracted me most was the idea of being part of a library and organizing activities that combine some of my favorite things: reading, authors, and sometimes music. I have always loved putting together events that can really make a difference for people, so I knew I had to apply. Less than two days later, I found out I would be joining them in September for six months.

I arrived in Altamura few days ago. I have started to get a sense of how things work in the library, and we have also begun preparing for our first event. I was responsible for the podcast and photography, and I was genuinely excited to do this work outside the comfort of my usual job.

I am really looking forward to learning from this project: how to plan an event from start to finish, what arrangements I will need, and maybe even improve my social skills a bit. It is also a great chance to practice and improve my Italian. I want to try different roles to discover what I truly enjoy doing and to test my own abilities. And of course, I hope to make friends from all over the world along the way.