Programme & action: ERASMUS+, Key Action 1: Youth Exchange
Venue: Milcoveni, Caras-Severin County, Romania
Dates: 16-24 August 2019
Participants: Tomáš Fíbek, Dominika Čvančarová, Hana Tomaidesová, Veronika Roušarová, Kateřina Nekvidová, Štěpán Kašpar
Group leader: Victoria Usan
Please read the info-pack.
Hosting organisation: Timis Torontal Intercommunity Development Association
Participating countries: Cyprus, Portugal, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Italy, Hungary and Romania
Project report:
I had been checking offers on youth exchanges for quite some time before I finally decided and sent the application for a “Entrepreneurs in the Village” project in Romania that was held between 9.-18.8.2019. Therefore, I can finally tell you about my first Erasmus + Youth Exchange.
After I arrived in the Marabu Camp, located in Milcoveni, a small village bordering Serbia, I was greeted by all the participants and showed my room that I shared with 3 participants from Portugal, Italy and Lithuania. They were all super lovely and made my stay there just far more enjoyable.
The program itself was led by a facilitator, who was helped the participants in the achievement of their tasks. In the very beginning of the project, we started with teambuilding games and getting to know each other, but it was super easy with such a nice bunch of participants. It was followed by activities that introduced us Erasmus + and its various programmes and I find it vital because it showed the participant how can they benefit out of it. Then We finally got to the core topic of the programme “Entrepreneurs in the Village”. Throughout the programme, we learned basics about entrepreneurship, how to create from business ideas actual business plan and how to “sell” the ideas. It had a variety of forms from games, presentations, field visits in the village to work in groups. Although, it mainly required action from participants and not just listening to lectures. In the end, we came up with ideas for possible businesses that could work in the village and presented it to the local people. And they liked it which was a huge satisfaction for me. Let just hope, that some of them will be brave enough to put it in practice. We did not learn just about entrepreneurship, very important were even the soft skills we acquired along the way. I think that every participant improved their spoken English, presentation skills or group work and for me, it is equally valuable as the hard skills gained during the project.
Our free time was mainly about creating friendships, new experience and having fun. Every night a different national group organized their cultural night, that gave us insight into the traditions of the respective countries. Many times, we ended up dancing national dances or singing traditional songs and this is what it should be about. Exchanging notions of our cultures, creating friendships, learning foreign languages and mainly and enjoying it all along the way of the project. Now it is just up to us how we use the information we gained in there.
Tomáš Fíbek
