I appreciate you contacting me about this interview project and blog. I will get back to you shortly.

Have a great day!

    About the project

    This interview project is about all the people living in the Mediterranean, especially young people, artists, and entrepreneurs. All have their unique stories and a lot of insights and lessons to share. All share the same human values, the desire to live peacefully together – across cultures and religions – and to enrich each other’s lives.

    I profoundly believe in the goodness and kind-heartedness of the people, whatever their status, age, race or religion. We all have just a limited time here on earth to make a difference and to contribute with our best to the well-being of our families, friends, and societies.

    We can learn a lot from each other, we just need to open ourselves and to listen to the stories of the people. Every life has its hardships and its joys, and we learn something from every moment and encounter we make along the way.

    Diversity is really a richness for mankind.

     

    Understanding each other better

    The idea for this project grew from the desire to foster the knowledge and understanding among the people living in the Mediterranean. So far, there is no interview project that tries to connect both shores of the Mediterranean. There is also no interview project that focuses on young creatives and entrepreneurs. And none that will also foster cultural exchange through music, books, and films.

    Celebrating life and its (cultural) richness

    Next to meeting fascinating people, this project also aims to present the different countries and cultures of the Mediterranean. When I say culture, I mean culture in all its forms: religion, food, clothes, language, believes, customs, music and a million other things. I will especially concentrate on music, films, literature that will allow discovering new ways of seeing and thinking.

    We all have stories to share  

    With this interview project, I am starting also a journal and a travel blog. The journal will give insights into the making off of the project and my experiences as well as my learnings along the way. The travel blog will provide you with information about my itinerary. I will give some tips on what to see and where to go for food or a night out.

    Curious about the story behind this project? Read about how everything started here.

    About me

    My name is Annett Räbel (31). I was born in a small town in East-Germany, Merseburg. For more than 10 years now, I am living in the Mediterranean. I lived in Avignon and Montpellier in the South of France for four years before moving to Spain. Since 2012, I do live in the cosmopolitan city of Barcelona. The sunny weather, the Mediterranean Sea, and the many fascinating encounters simply made and make me stay.

    From 2007 to 2010, I studied Media and Communication Science, Romance Studies and Intercultural Business Communication in Jena, Germany. In 2008/9, I did my Erasmus exchange year in Montpellier and later also my Masters in Foreign Applied Languages.

    I love to travel, to learn languages and to discover different cultures. I speak fluent French, English, Spanish and know some basics of Italian and Turkish. I would also like to learn some Arabic next year. Every language opens up a new perspective on the world and new ways of thinking.

    Hello, you!

    Me in Istanbul, Turkey.

    Hello! This is me this year in Istanbul, Turkey.

     

     

    The Mediterranean is my home base

    During the last years, I traveled to a lot of countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa. My home base is the Mediterranean. Next to knowing, of course, France and Spain, I also went already to Morocco, Tunisia, Italy, Croatia, Malta, and Turkey. I am really curious to visit the other Mediterranean countries, to meet the people that live there and to immerse myself in their cultures.

    Before starting this interview project, I worked in a communications and consulting company, specialized in social and educational projects worldwide. I used all my four languages every day, researching information on a plethora of topics we worked on and writing strategies and content for the different projects. I had the chance to travel in Europe and to meet a lot of interesting people that all wanted to change the world positively.

    I cannot imagine living a life without traveling and my international friends. The day I get married, I would like to invite them all to have a great several day-long party. I would like them to meet my favorite people from all over the world, to taste delicious food and to enjoy dancing to new and different sounds.

    For me, the Mediterranean is filled with diversity and surprises behind every corner and every encounter. The Orient and the Occident, its sounds, flavors, traditions, meet and mingle here.

    Contributors

    My local heroes from Tunisia 

    Roua Belghaieb, a lovely girl and psychology student who helped me with the transcriptions of the interviews

    Inés Hamdi, a strong Tunisian-Danish woman and ESL teacher who gave me valuable feedback and proofread the articles

    A project to bring people closer

    With this project, I want to bring the people of the Mediterranean closer together, foster mutual understanding, as well as learning and curiosity. I want to allow also people from other parts of the world to get to know this unique and diverse region.

    This project is my way to contribute to a better and more peaceful world.

    I hope there are a lot of people interested in learning more about the stories of the young creatives and entrepreneurs in the Mediterranean region. I will be grateful to every interested reader, every person that supports the idea of the project as well as for those that will help to spread the word.

    Thank you very much!