Programme & action: ERASMUS+, Key Action 1: Youth Exchange
Venue: Trento, Italy
YE dates: 21 – 29 July 2017
APV dates: 23 – 25 June 2017
Participants: Terezie Svobodová, Barbora Petrlíková, Vojtěch Lipták, Michael Csepcsar
Group leader: Martina Novotná
Participating countries: Italy, Czech Republic, Spain, Hungary, Lithuania, Romania, Turkey
Please read the info pack
Hosting organisation: Eufemia
Project report:
This was already the second project based on the same topic and took place in The Dolomites as last year. All Czech participants were new to this youth exchange but some of us already had experience with Erasmus+ or other international projects. The age range of participants was between 17 and 25 years.
The daily programme consisted of workshops that every country had prepared and short activities such as morning groups, name games, energizers and well-being sessions. We also had some free time so we could go swimming in the hotel pool or spend some more time our foreign friends.
The first two evenings were dedicated to presentations about every participating country. We had a lot of fun trying to dance national dances or tasting delicious specialties. Other participants liked Czech cheese hermelín or Kofola drink the most.
The topic of “Think Global, Act Local II” was environmental sustainability therefore everybody took certain steps towards environmental-friendly behaviour. For example we arrived by train, we brought our own sheets and towels so that the hotel didn´t have to provide them and change them. We were also cleaning after ourselves using ecological detergents and reusing cups not to generate waste.
We had some outdoor activities as well. We went trekking in the mountains and saw some beautiful waterfalls. We visited a landfill and learned about the recycling system in Trentino region. Most of the participants also tried orienteering for the first time in their lives and learned how to work with a compass. Another activity was a kind of treasure hunt in Dimaro village and we were using a smartphone application to follow the tasks. In one workshop we learned how to upcycle used clothes and how to make our households more environmental-friendly.
The main workshops were about environmental entrepreneurships and other initiatives, immigration, recycling, pollution and food waste. We learned about environmental policies in other European countries. Our team prepared a workshop about fast fashion. This year was specific regarding participants´ high interest in acting so there were various activities where we had to act and prepare plays. We laughed a lot!
The organizers also suggested a system of claiming badges of what we learned during the stay. Unfortunately, most of the participants had issues with self-evalutation and didn´t consider it modest so we didn´t really use this concept. But for sure for our CVs we should learn it and work on it.
As we had such a busy week, time went by so fast and we had to say goodbye to each other. We are hoping to keep in touch with our new friends and use in real life acquired environmental knowledge.
Martina Novotná
