This training course was mostly about discrimination and social inclusion. It took part in a beautiful town in Poland, named Wisla, in the middle of the nature full covered in white. There were participants from Spain, France, Macedonia, Cyprus, Malta, Bulgaria, Hungary, Greece, Italy and Turkey having two well trained facilitators from Poland and Russia.
It was really interesting the fact that we managed to bound with the other participants since the very first day and because of the theme that we approached, we realized that we have even more things in common. We had well organized activities and workshops that somehow made us learn things without realizing. I really appreciated the fact that the activities were so interconnected and I didn’t feel like there is something missing. Shortly I can say that they made us be real facilitators, having the opportunity to create and implement our own workshops. The real challenge was when we worked with teens at a local high school. We were divided into groups and each group should have made an activity in order to raise awareness about discrimination and to promote social inclusion. We had our struggles, but we managed to overcome the unexpected situations, all leading to the desired result.
There is no such thing as a training course or youth exchange without the intercultural evenings. We had so so much fun, we danced all night long, we got to fulfill our appetite with food, sweets and drinks from all over the Europe and learnt how the other countries celebrate. Beside this, after the project, we all stayed in Krakow, one of the most amazing, full of history and fun towns in Poland. That day made me realize that even though the first part of the project was over, we didn’t want to leave and we all met to spend more time together.
Participation in this course was certainly an experience that aimed at a dose of interesting workshops, different types of learning games and meeting young people from different ethnic backgrounds.The experience I had with participating in the organized courses gave me a new perspective on the issues addressed during the course, especially the one related to the management of communication and aspects of the social inclusion of disadvantaged people.Not only the fact that I learnt lots of new and interesting things, but also this training course opened my appetite of traveling even more and getting accustomed to the principles, the culture and the way of living of the other countries.
Having these said, I cannot wait for second part of the project, which will be held in September, in the same place, with the same amazing human beings. Stay tuned!
Boieriu Andreea-Ioana