ERASMUS+, Key Action 1: youth exchange
Venue: Gåsbustua, Hamar, Norway
Dates: 8—18 December 2023
National team: 10 participants + 2 group leaders
Please read the info-pack.
Hosting organisation: Lafien Jugend e.V.
Project report:
The project “Change” was held in a small Norwegian village called Gasbu, near the city Hamar. The project was mainly focused on developing our soft skills such as public speaking, presentational skills, expressing yourself in theater plays and many others. Apart from the less positive things as an organization and waste management in the venue, a very positive and nice group of people from Czech republic, Turkyie, Latvia and Germany met there. The Norwegian team was unfortunately missing. During the project, an outstanding chef Daniel was preparing food for us. The catering definitely exceeded our expectations and all of us are already missing his meals. Every day, a different national team was helping him to prepare the space and to clean the dishes.
Almost everybody arrived on the 8th december. During the day, there was no official program, so as a Czech team we had plenty of time to get to know each other. The day after, the official program started. We set up the rules. There was only one, called “No drama”. After that we played plenty of ice breaking games and the topic of the day was teambuilding. We tried to remember as many names as possible that day. Secret friend games and gossip box were revealed as long lasting activities.
Secret friends themself were then revealed on the last day of the project. We also spoke about fears, expectations and contributions during the project. Then after dinner, a welcome party started. The tradition of long parties continued every day till the end of the project.
Main program of another day was Mission impossible, consisting of plenty of challenges and we learned teamwork. There were more games focused on teamwork during the project. Another day activity was for example “Game of Thrones” game, where teams needed to play different scenarios. Another type of activity was focused on finance, business and economy topics. One day we learned about the Airbnb company and days after we needed to think about our own business models and ideas, implemented in an activity called shark tank, where we needed to present the idea and “sell” it to sharks. The learning of public speaking was supported by a TEDX game, where each of us needed to speak 1 minute in front of the other participants. The Eurovision contest is also worth mentioning. Monday was planned as a hiking day. We went for a short one hour walk. The following day was settled as a free day and the majority of participants went to explore the capital city of Norway, Oslo. Some of them traveled to the closer destination or went to “charge the batteries” to the amazing Norwegian nature. Last day of the program was about filming and making movies in teams. I am sure everybody enjoyed it and in the end we presented our movies at “Oscars night”.
Pretty last day was about dissemination. We could write messages to each other and enjoy the time together for the last time in Gasbu. Dissemination activities were very short, so later we borrowed a projector and did cozy karaoke night.
Each national team held their cultural night, when they presented their culture and prepared some interactive presentations. The Czech team prepared a presentation, kahoot quiz, tongue twisters and a dance workshop. We also prepared hash browns and unpacked plenty of food we took from our homes. Every team put a lot of energy into organizing. One bad example was the Norwegian team, represented by the main organizer. We didn’t learn anything about Norway that evening.
The program was not taking much time, so we had plenty of time to go for a walk during breaks. Thanks to the pure nature full of silence, it was possible to have a rest from the noisy area of the venue. I am sure each of us enjoyed the amount of snow. We managed to rent cross country skis, so once we had a longer break, we went to enjoy the “white tracks”, which are well known in Norway. Last days, the Aurora lights appeared, so the dreams of many of us came true after this experience. After this project, we can confirm that Norway is full of snow, that you need to try skiing to see the country by locals eyes, that Norway is full of kind people who will not let you wait too long while hitchhiking, that nordic lights is must see and that EYCB is sending friendly and open minded people with healthy level of craziness to the projects. The group we created there was awesome and we all hope we will keep in touch after the project as well.
Tomáš
