ERASMUS+, Key Action 1: youth exchange
Venue: Uzana, Bulgaria
Dates: 25 June—3 July 2023
National team: 4 participants (18-30) + 1 group leader (18+)
Please read the info-pack.
Hosting organisation: Europe in Your Hand
Project report:
Our project called ‘Social Media: a Powerful Instrument for Youth Work’ took place in the beautiful Bulgarian mountains between the 25th June and the 3rd July.
Our 8-day erasmus experience began with a meet-up in the country’s capital, Sofia. There, as five teams from five countries (Czech Republic, Macedonia, Serbia, Italy and Spain), we all got to meet each other and benefit from a tour of the city provided by the organizers. We spent the rest of the week afterwards surrounded by mountains and untouched nature.
The project’s goal was to teach us how to use and interpret social media in a better way and how to navigate through them. To achieve this, our amazing facilitator Tichomira, which we thank for all the support, has prepared a series of workshops, activities and even taught us how to facilitate. We learnt what a competence is and the eight key ones, we talked about social media influence and how much it can really have an impact. Through workshops prepared and led by ourselves, with Tichomira’s guidance, we got to make videos, presentations, outdoor activities and more, touching topics such as active citizenship, audience engagement, participatory democracy or visual storytelling. We became one step closer to becoming facilitators ourselves, if we ever wanted to.
On the other side of things, after talking about virtual matters, we would often head outside for walks, sport or exercising, which was possible thanks to our amazing surroundings. This allowed us to get to know each other better and feel like a big family with positive vibes. On the last day, early in the morning, one of the organizers took us to see the sunrise from the top of a nearby mountain. It was stunning and I view it as one of the best experiences from this project. Moreover, we had the opportunity to taste the Bulgarian cuisine, learn their traditions and of course dances.
In the end, we all had a good time, got away from our daily struggles and just lived in the moment. (Jonas Pejcha)
