My name is Davide, I am an Italian creative and entrepreneur with a strong interest in communication, storytelling, digital content and human connection. Over the last few years I have explored different creative paths connected to social media, branding, content creation and online communication. What fascinates me most is the way emotions, ideas and experiences can be transformed into stories capable of inspiring people and creating real impact.
Beyond the professional side, I have always been deeply interested in personal growth, wellness, nature, sport and community-oriented lifestyles. I enjoy environments where people exchange ideas openly, support each other and grow together. This curiosity naturally brought me closer to the world of entrepreneurship, remote work and coliving.
I decided to participate in the Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs program because I felt the need to step outside my comfort zone and experience entrepreneurship in a more practical and international way. I didn’t want to learn only from theory or online content. I wanted to live a real experience abroad, meet people building projects from different countries and understand new ways of working and living.
When I left Italy for Portugal, I didn’t feel like I was simply travelling for work. It felt much more personal than that. I was excited, but also nervous in a way I hadn’t really expected. You spend months imagining these kinds of experiences, but when the departure day finally arrives, everything suddenly becomes real. New country, new people, new routines, and that strange feeling of not fully knowing who you’ll be when you come back.
I joined the program through POMAR Coliving, in the Algarve, in the south of Portugal. During the first days, everything felt both unfamiliar and strangely comfortable at the same time. The atmosphere was completely different from the fast rhythm I was used to back home. The light, the ocean, the slower pace of life and this strong connection with nature immediately changed the way I felt every day. Even small things like breakfast outside or a coffee in the sun felt calmer, more human somehow.
What surprised me most in these first weeks wasn’t only the professional side of it, but the emotional impact of living in an international environment. At POMAR I met entrepreneurs, freelancers, remote workers from different countries, all with very different stories, ambitions and lifestyles. Some were building startups, others were completely changing careers, others had already left traditional office life behind years ago. Being surrounded by people who had taken unconventional paths and seemed genuinely happy about it gave me a lot of inspiration. And also confidence, which I think I needed more than I realised.
The experience pushed me out of my comfort zone very quickly, in a good way. Speaking English every day, adapting to a new environment, sharing spaces with people I’d never met before forced me to become more open, flexible and confident. But at the same time, it made me reflect a lot on the kind of future and lifestyle I actually want for myself. Before coming here, I mostly associated work with stress, deadlines, routine. Here I started to see things differently. It sounds obvious when you write it like that, but it really didn’t feel obvious to me before.
One of the strongest memories from my first 15 days is this feeling of balance. In the morning I could focus on work, learning and creative projects, and then later go for a walk near the ocean, train outside, or just sit around a dinner table and have a real conversation with people from all over the world. It reminded me how much the environment around you affects creativity, motivation, mental clarity. Maybe more than I expected.
Of course there were also moments of uncertainty. Leaving home and adapting to a completely new reality is not always easy. You miss familiar habits, familiar people, your own language. That kind of discomfort is real. But little by little it transforms into something else, curiosity mostly. Every day felt a little bit like discovering a new version of myself, which sounds cliché but it’s genuinely how it felt.
Looking back at these first weeks, I think the hardest part was simply deciding to leave. Once I arrived, everything slowly started opening up on its own. This experience is teaching me that opportunities like Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs are not only about work or business. They are also about discovering new possibilities, new ways of thinking, and sometimes even new versions of yourself.