Today, I travel by local train from Marseille city to the north of Marseille, Saint Antoine, just 15 minutes away. In 1920s, this area was home to a camp of Armenian refugees, the Oddo Camp. Nowadays, there is no longer the camp, but you can find Armenian people live in the neighborhood.

Cosmos Kolej is an organization founded by an artist named Wladyslaw Znorko in 1981. He has performed his art in many countries and decided to settle in Marseille in 2001 where the organization is situated in present day. He calls this place as “the free station” or a sanctuary where people, poetic and artist can stay, create and show their piece of art. The place combines with a house, a garden and an abandoned factory where artist can display and express their work today.

In this place, they have one volunteer working with them named Adriana. She has joined through EVS (European Voluntary Service) program for 1 year. Originally, her family is from Bolivia, but settled in Spain. She has a bachelor degree in International Business and 2 master degrees in International Relation and International Trade. She has been working for 3 years and deciding to come here to meet new people and have a broader perspective for her future study in Strategic Leader toward Sustainability. Her tasks are to look after the garden which creates the link between two communities from Plan d’Aou and St. Antoine. They have workshops for students and children regularly to teach them how to grow fruits and vegetables. However, she is keen to technical work; how to use lifting machine and how to control the light for the stage. Actually, she has discovered herself in many ways while staying here.

This was a testimony from Parin, job-shadower from Thailand. Find out more about her experience in here!