Hi, I am Aida. I come from Cairo, Egypt. I am an ESC volunteer in Austria this year. But let me introduce myself in a different way other than the "name-age-work" way. Let me tell you about myself in a way that I prefer more, which is: what I like to do and how I see myself. Well, let me start with this: I am a curious person. I am someone who is so excited to know a lot about almost everything. I want to learn hiking, climbing and become a better jogger. But I also want to learn freediving and become a better swimmer (my definition of a better swimmer is the one who doesn't sink hehehe). I want to learn more about music and play piano, and in the same time I also like drums! I adooore travelling and learning languages (this year it's German, obviously). As I got to know myself more and more, I learned that I like meeting new people and get to know their stories, their perspective of the world, their way of expressing their love towards others. I like listening to people's stories. But you know? Things haven't always been that clear to me. I wasn't born knowing all of these information about myself. And I wasn't always that courageous to go and do it. But I think that there comes a moment in someone's life - a moment of enlightenment, I call it- when you stop and you realise that wow! I need to stop a bit and see where I am at the moment, where I want to go, and whether I am taking the way that gets me there. I had this moment about 2 years ago. I realised that I need to stop the wheel and understand who I am and whether I am actually doing what I want or if it's just the "life inertia"? You know when life is just moving on without you noticing or with you being on the autopilot mode? That's what I call "life inertia", and that's what I realised that is really not a good option for me to live my life. I realised that I need to be more present and learn more about myself personally, mentally and spiritually. This year, for example, I travelled way more than I used to do and I got to know more people and listen to more stories. This taught me a lot. I started by travelling inside Egypt because I decided that I need to know more about my country before travelling to other countries. And I did. I took a big backpack and headed south, to upper Egypt. Then I went northeast to Sinai. And it was one of the best decisions I have taken this year. Now I am in Austria, trying to live in a completely different country with different culture and I am moving around in Europe and meeting people of different places, cultures, points of view, preferences, and I am making friends with them! Something which I am so happy about... So if you wish to know who I am; well, I think that partially answers your question. But the rest of the answer depends on meeting me in person and sharing life with me. Or as the Egyptian proverb says: "You don't really know someone unless you´ve lived with them."