PauliTuna: More than singing or playing, it's a family

"If it were a word, no doubt it would be family", this is how Beatriz Barreto, 2nd year student of the Bachelor's Degree in Nursing at the Institute of Health Sciences (Lisbon), describes PauliTuna. It was amidst the bustle and joy that precedes the first rehearsal after the holidays that the student and her colleagues Inês Lourenço and Mafalda Lameiros agreed to talk about this family.

Inês, who is now Magíster - or, for the laymen, President - joined the Mixed Tuna of the Nursing School of the UCP, in Lisbon, in her very first year, and never saw the two rehearsals a week as a chore. On the contrary, she tells us that "PauliTuna was always a way to forget all her problems". So much so that "I would even swap shifts to be able to come to rehearsals."

This is an "escape" that has always "filled her heart". Beatriz joined later. For the student it was "completely out of the question" to sing and audition. But today, it is with emotion that she speaks of the family to which she now belongs. "I never thought I would be as well received as I was in the tuna". It was her colleagues who taught her to play the tambourine, an instrument she chose, although she confesses that "she had no idea how to play it". In PauliTuna this is not a problem. The student explains: "we don't know how to sing, we don't know how to play, but we help each other whenever necessary". For Beatriz, "the essence of PauliTuna is "empathy" and "passion."

This is why they advise new students to join the group. When joining the tuna, they start by being candidates, and the moment that marked Inês most "was without a doubt becoming a freshman." "I cried a lot" she tells us laughing. In order to reach the last level of the hierarchy and become tunantes, they have to be evaluated by the Tunantes Council. "It's not that it's necessarily difficult, but there are certain criteria, like helping other members and the way of working as a tuna", explains the future nurse.

About to join is Mafalda. When talking about what motivated her, she highlights "the joy" and "the songs" of the Tuna. Like Beatriz, she didn't think of trying because she thought she sang "more or less badly", but her colleagues disagree. It was the President and godmother who convinced her: "The Public Relations (PR) is Bia, but Inês is the greatest PR officer ever, because she is always saying: come to the tuna, come to the tuna". And Mafalda did.

The family atmosphere, the empathy, and the mutual help between colleagues brought these three students to PauliTuna. It became an escape from their problems and a way of making friends. But in the Magíster's opinion: "the tuna's special day is yet to come". She looks forward to the publication of the statutes and the official naming of this big family. She believes that "that will be the tuna's greatest moment."