Programme & action: ERASMUS+, Key Action 1: Training Course
Venue: Cornus, Occitanie region, France
Dates: 23 September – 1 October 2019
Participants: Karolína Formánková, Kateřina Nováková, Kristýna Prokopová, Adam Kolář, Jan Husták
Host organisation: Associacion Idées
Please read the info-pack
Participating countries: France, Italy, Greece, Czech Republic and Finland
Project report:
Activism, Collectivity and Auto-Organisation on Board – the topic of our training course. And now add to your image a romantic atmosphere of southern France, incredibly tasty vegetarian food, interesting people from all around Europe and no phone signal. A recipe for 8 intensive days full of fun.
During one week we discussed many topics from hierarchy in our society, capitalism, current politics, self-organised places, alternatives in living to just simple evening games “never have I ever” and thanks to the friendly and open-minded atmosphere, no one needed to feel ashamed to express their opinion or a lack of knowledge. We have all learnt together. We have all learnt from each other. Non-formal education at its best. Easy communication with organizers makes us feel very comfortable, their professional attitude and flexibility to adapt to the needs of the participants always amazed me. I learn even in the moments that I did not know I was learning. It is fun, interesting and very different from what we know from school. In the very end of the project, you suddenly wake up realizing how much more open your eyes are now and how it shifted something inside of you for good. For me personally, I love to focus on group dynamics – how the psychology, emotions and communication are changing within the group, how 7 days can feel so much more intense than 7 days in normal life.
This time it made me realize a lot about seeing things only black and white. During one activity we were asked questions and we had only two sides to decide – side YES and side NO. No option in between. Then each of us had to explain why we chose that side, what lead us to it. In that moment if you changed your mind, you could change your side. I am a person who fights for my own opinions and can be sometimes quite stubborn. I was fascinated how often I felt like changing my opinion to the other side after hearing the reasons for choosing those sides of each participant. From total yes to total no and from total no to total yes again. And in that moment, I realized that we are not having a conflict with the other side. We were all standing on two different sides but at the same time agreeing together with so many things and that was the reason why I kept wanting to change the sides. Because in the end of the day it is all just about a perspective. No one is only one side because there is not such a thing. Nothing is ever only black or white but grey. It is not easy to try to understand other perspectives without any prejudice, but it is crucial thing for our society to live in peace.
Au Revoir my new international friends and hope to see you soon anywhere else in Europe again,
Kateřina Nováková
