ERASMUS+, Key action 1: youth exchange
Dates: 1—10 December 2025
Venue: Banská Štiavnica, Slovakia
Czech team: 5 participants + 1 group leader
Please read the info-pack.
Hosting organisation: Bratislava Policy Institute
Project report:
It was December 1st when four other Czech girls and I arrived in a very lovely small town in the mountains. From the bus, we could see a beautiful church on a hill. We reached our station, where we also met another Czech girl. All the girls I met seemed super nice, and I was excited about the whole project. We stayed at a local hostel.
After settling in at the hostel, we went to dinner. We had lunches and dinners in a different building — a nearby restaurant, only about three minutes away from the hostel. Breakfast was served in the hostel building. The food was amazing. Even Anna, one of the participants, complimented the food a lot. She had already been on five Erasmus exchanges and said that this one had the best food. The hostel itself also looked very nice and cozy.
Of course, we didn’t come there only for the good food, but mainly to gain knowledge about fast fashion. Throughout the week, we participated in numerous workshops and discussions, but in the perfect amount — not too many, so it didn’t become tiring, yet we gained a lot of new information. All the workshops took place in the hostel’s conference room. I really enjoyed the discussions about fast fashion. We talked about how each individual could impact what is currently happening in the fast fashion industry. During the workshops, we learned why this system is not going in the right direction and how it affects our planet. My favorite workshop focused on educating people about this topic through social media, especially Instagram. Radka and Aurel, our organizers, did their best to educate us. The workshops were not only about sitting and listening — we also experienced very playful workshops where we created things, such as drawing or even making our own fashion show.
During the week, we also had the chance to explore the town of Banská Štiavnica with a guide. We also went on a field trip to a local sweater business called Svetro, which everyone enjoyed. It was very interesting to see how clothes could be made even in such a small factory. The company was owned by a very sweet and kind older lady and her family. She led the tour herself, and her niece translated what she said from Slovak. We learned that it is still possible to make clothes sustainably and in very high quality by using proper materials.
On Sunday, we went on another field trip to Banská Bystrica. We visited 365 Lab, run by Moruša Fashion, a Slovak sustainable fashion brand. This place was a small community center where people could upcycle their clothes, and we tried it ourselves. I realized that I wasn’t very good at this because I had never properly learned how to repair my clothes. I now know I need to work on this more, because knowing how to fix things is a key step in stopping the overbuying of new clothes.
I would also like to point out that all the participants were incredibly kind. Everyone was polite, friendly, and communicative. I felt very lucky to hear so many useful opinions during the discussions. It showed how invested everyone was in this topic.
I will definitely miss everyone. I truly enjoyed the whole week — all the workshops, field trips, and also the evening gatherings and parties we had in our free time. I would like to thank the organizers for making this experience possible.
Karolína Z.
