Dreams drive reality
We said it when we started, our poet said it - ‘Dreams drive reality’!
January 15th, we presented our rich program to the world (yes, we even had followers from the moon during the opening ceremony!) and we dreamt of organising many get-togethers, events and activities to bring Portugal to the JRC and the JRC to Portugal…
Fast forward 6 months, we pushed the dreams through and they became true! All of us and for all of us …
The last months have been non-stop and we managed to organise nearly all we had in mind - even if zoom became our second home and most events had to be held ‘on-line’!
We have left our imprint with…
- joining forces with all other portuguese friends across the JRC and JRC sites. A one JRC virtual semester!
- A fantastic ‘look & feel’… our Armillary Sphere and stylish ‘paper boats’ that occupied the main Ispra ‘roundabout’, our amazing website and app (that will still be around for the next months!) and the various gadgets like the colourful lanyards everyone is after these days...
- We leave behind our contribution to the JRC Career Development and Advice service for those that most need it in cooperation with a Portuguese ‘start-up’!
- We supported various causes, like OceansAlive, the keepers of the sea-meadows, Cartas com ciência and we celebrated many important dates and themes linked to the oceans, water, forests, biodiversity, our children (and teenies too!)
- We tried to get everyone moving with our ‘virtual races’, ‘walks from Ispra to Lisbon’ and the ‘Malhão Challenge’ that started with a Portuguese Traditional Dance Night on zoom, a JRC picnic workshop and ended by bringing so many of us together in this amazing video that we are sharing with you now!
- Amazing ‘photo exhibitions’ and monthly ‘competitions’ – thanks to all for joining!!!
- Cinema and short movie nights on zoom or by the lake (wow!) organised with Portuguese colleagues and the Ispra town hall.
- Our Quercus suber plants will outlive us all - life expectancy up to 250 years! They’ll be present during the many future Portuguese presidencies to come and will give shade and joy to all those in Ispra that pass by!
- We kept our promise and brought our tasty ‘Pasteis de Nata’ (the most voted keyword of the opening ceremony!) and other delicacies to your homes, to our Canteen, the Clubhouse, we even delivered at the JRC parking lot!
- Our colleagues in Geel even brought a gigantic Galo de Barcelos to Geel, Mol and the JRC site
It was amazing to “work” with every single colleague we "worked" with, portuguese by passport or heart in Ispra, Geel, Petten, wherever there was a JRC or a friend. The crew in Ispra kept the boat afloat, brought energy, passion and a genuine wish to shine a light on our country and its people aboard. We were united by our friendship and the values that brought us and kept us together and are so proud to have been part of the most fantastic crew ever! Obrigada ...
It will be difficult to stop now! Our Slovenian brothers and sisters already know, united in diversity we stand and are happy to help and support them whenever they need. We are also tremendously thankful for their active participation in some of our activities and wish them the best of luck for the forthcoming Presidency of the Slovenian Semester!
We keep rocking (see our movie!!) and inspired by our six months together ... dreams drive reality and we'll keep pushing through!