Programme & action: ERASMUS+, Key Action 1: Contact Making Seminar
Venue: Istanbul, Turkey
Dates: 10 – 17 January 2017
Participants: Miroslava Menšíková, Irena Menšíková
Please read the Co-make -Contact making Seminar for EVS Organisations – InfoPack
Hosting organisation: Turkiye Avrupa Vakfı
Participating organisations: Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Romania Macedonia, Croatia, Italy, Romania, Portugal, Greece, Estonia, Sweden, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, the United Kingdom, Turkey
Project report:
EYCB enabled my sister and me to participate in a seminar called „Contact-making seminar“ that took place in Istanbul at the beginning of January. Although this was our first experience with this youth programme, there was no need to be nervous because both the staff from EYCB as well as from TAV organization made the whole process very smooth from the beginning to the end.
The goal of this seminar was clear – find and establish new partnerships with other organizations. As I’m writing this report I think we met the goal quite well J. Thirteen countries participated in this seminar and some of the countries were represented by more than just one organization so in total we created a high number of quality partnerships with countries such as United Kingdom, Italia, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, and many more.
What people usually think about Turkey is that the country is not very well organized and punctual. However, I have to mention that the organizators did their job perfectly as there were activites planned for everyday and everybody was able to follow them – two sections of activities in the morning, two in the evening. And of course two breaks for Turkish tea. That’s one of the things that have become my new habit after spending a week in Turkey – drinking a cup of delicious black tea in a special glass.
Out of the six days of the programme there was one day off so that the participants could take a break and explore the cosmopolitan city of Istanbul. Trust us, Istanbul is an absolutely amazing place which has lots to offer so it is natural that one day just was not enough to get the whole experience from the city. However, we were able to try several turkish jewels of their cuisine such as kebab, baklava, or ayran.
How did my sister and I leave from Istanbul after participating in this seminar? First of all, with many new valuable partnership contacts so that now EYCB can send Czech participants to more places. Then, with diminshed prejudices – during the seminar we worked in groups with people from countries that have specific „labels“ but we could see that these „labels“ were not true at all. I also assume that our self-confidence went up thanks to the presentations we had to give , at least I had to lose my shyness and present in front of a room full of colleagues. And lastly, besides acquiring knowledge for our professional life, we have also created some friendships which we hope to keep in the future.
Thank you EYCB for this opportunity to represent your organization as well as for enabling us extend our horizons!
Miroslava Menšíková
