ERASMUS PLUS PROGRAM: Save Our Environment Save Our Selves, Youth Exchange KA105 : 2017-3-CY02-KA105-001119
Report was written from participants in the program and organised by Angelos Pechlivanis
After months of planning and preparing the day had finally arrived and none could really comprehend it. We had our posters, prepared our facts, packed our bags and begun our journey towards a camp in Platres, Cyprus where we’d finally meet each other after long months of speaking through the internet. The moment we stepped in that camp, we found our home filled with people with the same ideals, full of energy and excitement, our SOESOS family.
Our 7 day program was full of activities both mentally and physically demanding. However, as exhausting they were, they still weren’t enough for us.
Day 1 and 2 were full of team-building activities, laughter and awkward introductions between each other. Getting to know 40 people isn’t an easy task, it took a lot of effort and ‘what’s your name again?’s. A lot of people would argue that it would be hard to get along with all these people but we’ve put aside all our differences and put time and energy in getting to know each individual and their culture focusing and bonding on our similarities rather than being divided by our differences.
The next few days were focused on presenting the work we’ve been preparing the past few months and sharing our knowledge and concerns about environmental issues that plague our countries. Surpassingly enough, a lot of these were similar if not identical between each country. We brainstormed ideas and solutions to these problems that were plausible or have already taken place. They were enlightening conversations that gave us hope and motivation in continuing our fight against environmental destruction. With all these ideas and conversations in mind, we were split in several groups that were assigned with the task to great a green company to fight a specific environmental issue. We managed to come up with fascinating ideas that demanded a lot of work (like disposing garbage into space), creativeness (like clothes out of garbage) or public persuasion (using reusable cups instead of plastic) and many more. We’ve already taking a few steps to bring these ideas into life by creating posters, social media pages and some on the spot theatrical commercial with a hint of comedy.
Our programme wasn’t only focused in just creating these green companies. We had a lot of creative games in between, like creating a ‘green’ post-apocalyptic eco-friendly island using renewable energy, treasure hunting and a photo contest. We arranged a beautiful hike along the Kalidonia waterfall trail which turned into a bit of an adventure where one of our teams got lost but finally managed to make it out in one piece! We visited Akrotiri’s Environmental Centre and had a small introduction to the island’s rich flora and fauna as well as a day trip in Limassol’s town centre.
Our nights were filled with laughter and games. Each night 2 countries had the task of presenting their country in a fun and inclusive way, filled with laughter, delicious food and a lot of dancing!! They were nights not to be missed!!
The camp we shared all these memories was a dreamy place. We were surrounded by Troodos’ forest, with a cold summer breeze cooling us down in the hot summer climate. It was such a beautiful place to unwind and be as loud as you want! The best part was the food though! Mr Giannis (the head chef) probably made some of the best dishes I’ve had in my life, I looked forward to every single meal, always taking a second portion! The camp was also equipped with speakers all over the place giving us the chance to jam to endless songs but the waking up wasn’t as exciting for everyone as we had ‘Dancing Lasha Dubai’ blasting from the speakers but Mr Nikolaou’s soothing ‘Good Moring’ after the song made our early mornings a bit easier.
We never fully realised that all this was going to end at some point but it finally hit us on our farewell party the night before leaving. Hugs, dancing, endless promises and conversations, it’s so strange how people get so attached in such a short period of time but when you’re surrounded by all these amazing individuals, I guess it’s only natural. The coming year we have a new meet up, in Greece this time, to discuss how we worked on our green companies and our achievements and turn our goodbye tears to laughter as our story isn’t over yet!!
Report was prepared from the organisation according of what all participants said.
As regards first youth exchange within the SOESOS project that took place in Cyprus I want to highlight some positive and some negative points about the organisation, the exchange itself and overall give a general opinion that is constructed by all participants from Slovenia that took part of the youth exchange in Cyprus.
We want to give thanks to our partner from Cyprus who prepared and hosted the youth exchange over there. As regards, positive part, the participants specifically want to emphasise that we liked the how you connected the activities with the topic on which the project is based. We also felt very welcomed. The highly compliment the food. They really liked the intercultural evenings and the time they spent in nature was very interesting as well.
However, participants think that the youth exchange was taken too long time comparable to the working time during the project. They also emphasise the lack of information during the youth exchange, specifically what regards information about the activities. They also criticize the accommodation and untidiness as well as transport organisation. In general, they think that organisation could be managed much better.
We look forward to the next youth exchange while at the same time hoping for better organisation, particularly as regards accommodation and transport form the airport and back.
Report was written by all participants of Lithuanian team and organized by the leader of Lithuanian team Julija Degtyar.
For most of the team members this youth exchange was not the first one, but most agreed it was the best we have participated in. The perfect combination of beautiful and comfortable campsite in the mountains and very well-balanced content of the project added to the general overall positive evaluation of what we experienced in Platres. Now, we will cover everything in more details point by point.
The place chosen for the camp was perfect. High in the mountains, completely detached from any surrounding destructions, it allowed us to concentrate on our common goal for the week – creation of environmental projects.
The activities were very well balanced: all practical, thought-provoking, encouraging constant communication and collaboration. There were no boring long talks. The only monologues on part of the organizers were instructions of the tasks. Participation of every single person was inevitable as every single day we had team discussions, team tasks and presentations. Everyone had their own space for expressing creativity in the context of environmental ideas.
The guest speaker, inventor of the solar ovens, opened up new perspectives on issues of some poor countries in Africa. The idea of even simple technology that could make a huge difference had never occurred to us before and raised our further interest in the topic. The trip to the Environmental Center and historical sites of Cyprus made our participation in the project even more fulfilling as we could experience the country and its environment from multiple perspectives like nature, history, tourism, contemporary/political situation.
Another great part of the experience were Cultural nights and communication with team members from other countries. We not only learned new facts about other European countries, but also had fun dancing, playing games and literally feeling new countries and cultures. The idea of making multi-cultural teams was great as one more step in intercultural communication.
Lastly, we want to give praise to organizers of the youth exchange who made a great job starting with coordinating of our arrivals and transporting us to the campsite, to designing and coordinating practical and useful activities. A separate “thank you” should go to the chef and kitchen workers as most of the participants were pleasantly surprised with the quality of food which was much better that what we had experienced in youth exchanges before. Finally, the general atmosphere was always pleasant both from the organizers and participants from other countries. We believe this project has started some life-long friendships.
The project has created a challenging and adventurous task for us – to develop an environmental project and present it next August in Greece. We believe the work we put into it will deepen our understanding of the environmental issues of Europe and will make us wiser users of our planet’s resources. In the next years part of the project we expect to even more expand our knowledge in the issues by learning from other teams. We hope to improve our skills on giving presentations in English to multi-cultural audience. We expect to learn more about Greece, its environmental challenges, culture, politics, and traditions. Seeing each other again and realizing how we all will have changed throughout the year will be a great and fun part.
Evaluation was written from Katalina a youth worker in the organization after discussion with the participants of SOESOS
Dear Nicolas,
first of all, our team want to say thank you that we could be partner of this great youth exchange! It was a great experience for the participants and they are looking forward to next year. The feedbacks from the participants have you already received from Victoria. Just our feedback from the partner organisation is still missing but here we are.
From our side there were big personal changes during the project. Altogether 3 persons were involved and that didn’t make it easy for us. In this report I want to give a short summarized feedback of the organisation so far I know it from the team. In general, we can say that your organisation was perfect and very structured. You have a great experience in that field and that success you will see in this project. We are very enthusiastically to being partner of you. Therefore, a big thank you.
I, Katharina, was just a short time part of it and from my side I can say that it was very clear and exactly organized. That means that you and your team are very experienced in handling a such big project. Congratulations to that. I find it positive that you gave exactly instructions what you need from us.
What wasn’t so positive to us, that it’s something we could imagine to change, was the way you send the information. On the one side you send it per Mail and on the other side per Facebook messenger. From your team, Nina Nentwich, is with her private account in this group and for her sometimes it was too much of information all around the time, also on weekend. Maybe it is also a little bit tricky because these are serious information too. For us it would be easier if you send the important info concerning the organization per mail. Another point was the communication with you, the group leader and our organisation. Sometimes it wasn’t clear who is responsible for the task and who will get the information. Also, wasn’t it understandable for me that you already got all the boarding passes from the participants. There was a lack of information for me but maybe it was an inside communication problem.
All in all, you did a very good work and thank you for our cooperation! We are looking forward for common projects in future!
Nice greetings from Tyrol,
Katharina
Evaluation report was written from Romanian youth leader Diana after that she contacted with all participants from Romania team.
During the first part of this Erasmus Project we were given the task of establishing connections and spend time with new groups of people from all over Europe. It’s not easy for everyone to manage this task, but with a little help from the organizers (in the form of games, projects, tasks, free chatting and parties) we were all able to obtain a greater grasp of each countries’ culture and people.
From our point of view, this experience represents a great success in developing ourselves as people by establishing connections with new people and by learning more about environmental problems and methods of solving them. We are grateful for meeting all the people at the camp, and I can’t wait to see them again.
Also, the atmosphere during this project was relaxing, friendly and welcoming, thus enabling us to connect with one another flawlessly in no time. This aspect transcended in the work department, thus making us pass all the tasks with flying colors.
Everyone at the camp was open minded, friendly and willing to learn from each other. We were able to learn more about environmental problems in a unique way and come up with solutions of our own to solve them.
Every activity has helped us accommodate with the people and the place and helped us to discover ourselves and our new colleagues better. We have learned what it means team work, to trust, to overcome certain berries, to express in other language without inhibitions and most importantly has helped us to create true friendships.
As the previous meeting, we hope that next one will be such better as the last one. Amazing people from everywhere can establish a beautiful conversation and we’ve made a lot of friend. As far we are concerned, we can do our best at all of the activities and also the challenges. Hope we’ll see you soon. It’s kind of fun to de the best memories with all of you.
In conclusion, this project has a lot of potential to succeed in making a change in the environmental department by educating young folks about this domain using unique ways.
Report was written from participants in the program and organised by Eleni Kardamitsi
"Generally, I was very nice, and I learned things we all ought to know. I met people who fit me. "Myrto, 17
"It was a very beautiful experience, through which I met young people and new cultures and created beautiful memories. I also learned a great deal about the environment and the environmental problems that are now crucial to be addressed. "Margarita, 16
"I was very nice, and I loved it very much. I am very happy to continue this year. "
"It was an unforgettable experience. I've been in touch with a lot of new people with different interests and opinions. The area was beautiful, the residence was excellent, the work very useful and interesting and the organization of the program was impeccable. Everything was smooth and beautiful. "Georgia, 17
"The whole program was an incredible and unprecedented experience for me with only pleasant memories." Ioannis Diomidis, 16
"I learned to respect the environment" Myrto, 17
"I believe that through presentations and continuous communication with young people from other countries, I learned to express myself without being embarrassed. Besides, I believe it is to be acquainted with other cultures and traditions. "Margarita, 16
"It has helped me to make the right use of natural resources to convert energy and to work with teams totally different from what I'm used to."
"This program is a positive element that will enrich my CV and help me deal with more actions. Personally, my program has learned to listen to different opinions and to see many important issues more spherically. "Georgia, 17
"As far as the professional piece is concerned, I think it is a very good element for my CV. On an individual level, I believe I have learned to cooperate. "Ioannis-Diomidis, 16
"My way of thinking. In essence everything. I began to care about the environment 10 times more than before and became much more sensitive, every minute I was wondering if I was harming the environment with what I did. I also realized how useful it is to know foreign languages. "Myrto, 17
"Personally, I realized how important it is to protect the environment and how each of us can contribute to it. Even a small move, like not using plastic straws, can make a big difference. "Margarita, 16
"I respect the environment more" Nikos, 16
"I want to be more active in such actions and I try to save the environment and not to destroy it." Georgia, 17
"The way I work within a group." Ioannis-Diomidis, 16
Evaluation report was send from Portuguese youth leader Francisca Pereira after that she contacted with all participants from Portuguese team and report was written from all of them together.
This Erasmus project was one of the best experiences that I've had in my life! With incredible people to accompany me and all the comfort given, they made this project even more remarkable.
The theme was well chosen and the way of working on it was undoubtedly very well structured. We had the opportunity to meet brilliant young people filled with ideas to improve our environment and our future.
When we arrived at the camp, we knew this experience would be life changing. Everything was surprising: the people, the variety of activities, the international nights and also the place itself. we loved learning more about Europe's cultural diversity and sharing my own cultural background.
On the last day, when we looked around and saw all those emotional goodbyes, we knew we would be anxiously waiting all year to live it all over again.
And hopefully next year will be the same or better!!
André, Beatriz, Fábio, Francisca, Margarida, Tiago
Report was written from teacher Agata Karolina Kopanska after that she discussed with all participants of Youth Exchange
First of all, we would like to say „thanks” to organizers for the idea and for turning into action. Then Secondly. Congratulations for implementing a great project. In addition, Polish students have never participated in youth exchange before. We are very grateful for the opportunity to be a part of this creative adventure. Students have definitely become much more independent because of spending time in Cyprus. They had to make important decisions by themselves. Moreover, they had to meet and integrate with a vast array of people from completely different cultures. Finding their way around has helped them to develop as a person, students feel that the time abroad has increased their level of independence which will no doubt benefit them throughout the rest of their school time and in their search for a job after graduation. ‘‘to be actually in Cyprus and to witness Cypriots culture was fantastic. I feel that I am better prepared for an English exam”.
Students time in Cyprus has fueled their enthusiasm for studing English back home. They have come back and now feel excited about the practicing foreign language. ‘‘Having got so much information there. I now have a reference point, which I can use to build on from the people whom I met, their attitudes and the lives which they led.” And ‘‘Time which I spent on participating in Youth project in Cyprus was one of the best I’ve ever had in my life so far. Thanks to this I understood, how important is group work and cooperation between people.”