Hi everyone! You may have seen our names pop up on your newsfeeds, discussion groups or emails from time to time. Now that we are leaving the SPEAK team, we thought we would finally introduce ourselves. πŸ˜‰

We are both languages students from the UK. We came to Lisbon to work with SPEAK this year as part of our degree. Both of us had no experience of any kind in start-up projects. I am sure you can imagine this was quite an experience for us! We were very glad to be so warmly welcomed into a lovely team. You are all fantastic and inspiring people. Safe to say we have learnt an awful lot this year including how much Hugo likes to work remotely from some exotic spots. πŸ˜‰

We were really looking forwards to joining this project whose values and ethics are so similar to our own. It was so refreshing to work with such motivated and passionate people. We hope we have added value to the project. Hopefully it continues growing in the way we have seen it grow this year.

For both of us, we were migrating from one country to another, and as you can imagine there were some difficult periods we had to get through. However, looking back on our year in Lisbon, we can genuinely say we have loved our time here. From the many different miradouros, to exploring towns like Cascais and Sintra, to relaxing on the beach in Caparica, we feel like we have definitely embraced the city and it has become like home. Of course, a huge part of our lives here relied on the people and the culture and we are lucky that these have both been friendly and enriching.

We would like to say a big thank you to the SPEAK team and to the city of Lisbon for making us feel so welcome. Safe to say that it has been an unforgettable experience that we will cherish for a long time! See you, Lisbon!

Author: Zoe Ford

Zoe is an intern at SPEAK from England, who loves learning languages and dancing salsa.

Author: Giulia Stracqualursi

Giulia is an intern at SPEAK from Italy, who loves travelling and outdoor activities.

Author: Mariana Brilhante

Mariana is Chief Marketing Officer at SPEAK, she loves nature and adventure, has a sort of obsession for typical sayings!

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