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Carmen Jiménez Recena is 23 years old.
She is from Spain and she has Down Syndrome.
She is a pharmacy technician.
Pharmacy technicians
assist pharmacists in their work.
Carmen took part in the Erasmus programme
and went to Portugal.
In the Erasmus programme, young people
get to work and study in a different country.
The Erasmus programme is a programme
of the European Union.
In Portugal, Carmen did an internship in a pharmacy.
Carmen was the first person with Down Syndrome in Spain
who took part in the Erasmus programme.
She did an interview at a conference organised
by our member Plena Inclusión Madrid.
Here you can read what she said:
How did you find out about the Erasmus programme?
My sister took part in the Erasmus programme.
She went to France.
I thought: “I also want to do this!”
I wanted to do an internship abroad.
That’s how I decided to go on Erasmus.
What did your parents say when you told them that you wanted to go on Erasmus?
First my parents said no.
But then they supported me!
Where exactly did you go?
I stayed in a small village close to Porto.
Porto is a city in Portugal.
I did an internship in a pharmacy.
I had different tasks.
For example, I had to check
how much medicine we still had left.
I am still in contact with people from there.
Did you get any support during your stay abroad?
I had the support of Alba.
Alba is a friend of mine.
She helped me to understand
how things work in Portugal.
She taught me how people live in Portugal.
She made it easier for me to live abroad,
far away from my home.
How did the Erasmus experience change you?
I found out that I can trust myself.
I am more confident.
The Erasmus experience changed my life.
It was a special thing to do.
It shows that everyone can do anything.
It doesn’t matter if you have a disability.
Where are you working right now?
Until now, I was working in the pharmacy of a hospital.
It was very different from the pharmacy
where I worked in Portugal.
The tasks were also different.
Now I am not working in the pharmacy of the hospital anymore.
But this experience made me understand
that I really want to be a pharmacy technician.
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