Erasmus+ must go on

The informal group of young people, ‘See Why’, has participated in five projects that we have carried out in our region. HEurekians, in turn, visited Cyprus for the first time in May 2018, where they participated in an exchange entitled "Live it, care it, share it", the idea of ​​which was to raise young people's awareness of environmental protection.

This time the topic of the youth exchange was different. Participants from Poland, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Italy and Romania were to discuss their experiences related to participation in youth exchanges, divide into small international task groups, create music and video clips promoting the Erasmus+ program.

Work on the youth exchange started in full swing in June, when a preparatory visit took place in Cypriot town Paralimni. During the meeting, all project partners discussed the rules of participation and refined the division of responsibilities. HEureka was represented by the president of our organization, Andrzej Smyk, and a member, Aleksandra Chudek.

One of our tasks was to create a video showing the actions of the preparatory visit and the places where young people were to act during the exchange. You can see the video here:

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The youth exchange itself took place in the second half of October 2020. The Polish group was composed of: Aleksandra Chudek (a member of HEureka), Emilia Dąbrowska (a student of our partner C.K. Norwid Secondary School from Krasnystaw), and two friends of our organization: Jolanta Kowalak and Agnieszka Urbańska. The leader of the group was Andrzej Smyk.

The first days of the project were focused on integration and team building activities, which were prepared in the way that the participants could get to know each other better, get used to the intercultural environment and test how to work in a task groups.

Then we focused on creating songs and sketching ideas for videos. The sounds of various musical styles echoed throughout the venue. Rap, pop and folk music was a chocie of our groups. During our free time we were able to go to a beach nearby or talk to our peers from the other six countries on any topics we liked.

In the end, the results of our work were ready. Many of them can now be found on youtube.

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The time has come to take a break from work, see the area around and meet the local community. The whole group went to the picturesque town of Ayia Napa, where we first presented the results of our work in a local museum, and then we got to know the most charming places of this city.

Finally, there was an evaluation of our meeting, during which everyone could share with others what they had learned during this youth exchange. We packed our luggages and after long we went to the airport. There was surprising information waiting for us. Our flight was delayed for several hours. After all, a night at the airport is also an adventure ;-).

And what do the Polish group themselves say about the project:

Aleksandra Chudek: I am glad that I took part not only in the youth exchange itself, but also in the preparatory visit. As a member of HEureka Generator, I had many responsibilities here that required responsibility and creativity, and this builds an experience that I can then use in the daily activities of our association.

Andrzej Smyk: It was nice that other organizations with whom we had already cooperated also participated in this project. In this way, in distant Cyprus, we met a few people whom we met, for example, during our projects in Poland before. This showed the participants that the contacts made during the projects could be continued.

Jolanta Kowalak: Despite the fact that I have already participated in many exchanges, that is probably the one, on which I learned how important the role of a leader in the group is; both talking about my own experience of being a leader in an exchange in the Czech Republic, as well as working in a group where the role of the leader was crucial in motivating the team to create a song.