06 June 2018

TC, FACE 2.0, Beja, Portugal

For a couple of days in April (17.04.2018-24.04.2018), Beja was the home to a life changing experience for Tudor and Iulia. A training course aiming to encourage personal development in areas of public speaking, teamwork, intercultural communication, facilitation and workshop delivery, managed to make a real difference in the life of the participants.

From the simple journey to Beja and the mosaic on the Lisbon buildings, everything was about details. From the trainer's simplest gesture to the most advanced sentence spoken in English in an attempt to express the enthusiasm that you had when you got the chance to take part in such an experience you realized that it was all about you. Perhaps at this moment you do not realize how much it counted, but after a while, you realize that you have changed more than you thought you would.

A journey offers the opportunity to interact with various social groups that we do not usually interact with in our usual activities, helping to increase solidarity and tolerance. We had the chance to meet with people who have opinions that were really different. We learnt to respect, to understand opinions that, in a different context, would seem impossible to accept.

Different perspectives
Here is how Tudor saw the experience: 
"At the end of the project, I realized that all the problems we face each day can only be solved with a little empathy to the one next to you. After such an experience, I think that the key by which we can change the world is through empathy and respect for the one next to you.

For me, the hardest part of this project was to realize that, although on the surface I was different from the rest of the people, inside we are all the same. We feel in the same, we think in the same, and we live in the same way. The feeling I had when I first stepped out of the coach and felt the Portuguese land under my feet made me realize that it was time to learn something new. From the very first day, I discovered that the world is not exactly the way I've seen it before. I can say it with all my soul that I have learned to understand myself better. 

All the training sessions, whether they were on Feedback or on Public Speaking, managed to broaden my horizons. But I think that what really counted the most were the people who facilitated this training. I thank them so for warm smiles, for the words coming from her heart, for the warmth and enthusiasm they had, no matter what time of day it was.

The team
 
Overall, it was a wonderful experience, full of beautiful people, each with his own story. I do not think there is a day when I am not thinking of how great I felt in Beja, in the warmth of April, of the busy mornings, of the nights that started with a simple talk and ended with a story I will always remember, and of the people with whom, for a week, I shared a common purpose."

Read more information and experiences about Training Courses here.