The story of Alicia, the Extremaduran woman who conquered King Felipe with her accent
We cannot deny that the act of awarding the Medals of the Order of Civil Merit is one of the most popular appointments of the royal family. Not because of the event itself, but because of the story behind each of the winners, anonymous citizens, workers, who put the common good ahead of their own interest and who with their gestures make the world a better place. Few of them - if not any - imagine, months before, that they could receive an award from the hands of King Felipe and have the opportunity to live such a moment. It is difficult to get an idea of the emotion they feel, but we wanted to get a little idea. For this reason, we have spoken with one of the winners, Alicia, an ambulance driver from the Red Cross, employed in a pharmacy and a nursing student who received one of the decorations from the Order of Civil Merit and who can also boast that her accent conquered the King. It was not easy, because the emotion and nerves were still on the surface hours after receiving her medal, but Alicia has tried to express to Vanitatis how she felt during the institutional ceremony: "I felt very proud, it was an honor to meet all the winners. And they treated us wonderfully, I felt very welcome.
" If there is something that surprised him about the King and the queen, it was their closeness, something that most of the people who know them in person agree on: "I was very impressed by the closeness they have, the confidence they give, they are very good people, very polite . But not only them, but all the people who work with them. They have made us feel too good, I have no words. " And of course, she was also impressed with Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofía, of whom she got a small 'trophy': "They are beautiful, gorgeous, very polite. I was very excited to take a picture with both of them and I did ".
And it is that, in addition to the official, from what is seen, the imposition of medals and the speeches, during this institutional appointment there is also a time that the royal family spends in private with the winners, in another room of the Royal Palace, at the one that the cameras no longer access. It is at that moment when all the winners have the opportunity to share a few minutes with the Kings and their daughters. Alicia confesses that she was not able to speak with them for long, but enough to get that photo with the princess Leonor and the infanta Sofía so desired and for King Felipe to be impressed by her Extremadura accent. An accent that would attract less attention if it weren't for the fact that Alicia is not called Alicia - although everyone knows her that way - but Alice Mihaela Cozma and she is from Romania.
It is true that she arrived in Spain in 2007, at the age of 19, and since then she has not stopped working, so she is already one more Extremadura. Not only has she been a volunteer for the Red Cross for nine years - an institution to which Queen Letizia is also closely linked - driving her ambulances, but for three years she has been responsible for the Department of Relief and Emergencies of the Tierra de Barros Regional Assembly , based in Almendralejo. There she plans the weekly shifts, the preventive services, the psychosocial services, the continuous training of other volunteers and the control of the medical supplies and the assigned ambulance. Her willingness to care for others has led her during the pandemic to care for and transfer the sick, distribute food or medicine to those who could not move during confinement. With the same spirit, she studied a medium degree as a Pharmacy and Parapharmacy Technician, which allowed her to obtain a job at the Mérida pharmacy where she now works. And she has gone further: she is currently studying the second year of the Nursing degree at the University of Extremadura. It was there, precisely, where she received the news that she was one of those awarded the medal of the Order of Civil Merit, thanks to all these credentials. Her first reaction was very common: she did not believe it and they had to explain and assure her several times. This Friday, at last, she has seen how that call has materialized in a medal, a photo with Leonor and Sofía and some words from King Felipe praising her accent that she already carries forever in her heart.
https://www.vanitatis.elconfidencia...xtremena-conquisto-rey-felipe-acento_3141051/
