I Write, I Become: Developing Competences through Creative Writing — Portugal

Portugal, a place which I did not know much about and where I expected a lot of hot weather, the sea and not much more. At the end, I was more than surprised about how much Portugal had to offer and what a beautiful country it is.

 

The project I participated in took place from 19th till the 27th of July and was called “I write, I Become: Developing Competences through Creative Writing. It took place in a small village called Maceira which was about 4 hours from Lisbon and 2 hours from Porto. The place was quite magical because it was quite far from any big city and thanks to that, we experienced a true Portuguese countryside. We visited local nature and historical monuments, we met some local people at the bar and also visited a centre for people with disabilities.

 

The project itself was heavily focused on developing our creative writing. We did different creative activities such as developing a story based on pictures, on assigned words or on certain topics. We also worked in groups where we had to use our creative writing skills for example to come up with a business plan or to fight against the stereotypes for each country. 

 

The project was really great and I felt the urge to continue writing after the project finished. I also have to highlight our facilitators, Vasko and Dominika, who were both amazing facilitators and made sure everyone felt included. 

 

To sum it up, it was a great experience which allowed us not only to develop our writing skills, but also to meet new people from several countries and to explore a beautiful countryside of Portugal.