#ThoughtAboutIt je serija tekstova sudionika razmjene mladih “Let me think about it” o svom iskustvu i dojmovima s razmjene. U ovom nastavku donosimo vam tekst voditelja turske grupe, Şayana Arısana. Enjoy 🙂
The Project “Let Me Think About It” organized and conducted by the host organisation “Udruga Studio B” from Croatia, has been held in Nova Gradiška, Croatia between 8-17 March 2018 with 36 young souls from 6 countries: Croatia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia, Spain and Turkey.
There was a warm atmosphere since the first day of the project. We met each other and then we had some time to rest in order to get rid of tiredness. The next day, we had a chance to get to know each other better with some name games and energizers. Then we learned much about the project details and had a great welcome party after.
Main topic of the project had a critical importance; “Critical Thinking”. As most of the young participants were taking part first time in a Youth Exchange; we firstly received a detailed information about Erasmus+, Youth Exchanges and Non-Formal Education. Throughout the project, participants worked interactively on subjects like Critical Thinking, Circle of Creativity, Active Communication, Self -Development, Goal Setting, Public Speech, Awareness of Different Cultures with the Non-Formal Education methods.
Also some of the activities undergoing during the project were especially effective. For example the “Group Building” activity on the second day of the project; taught us the real team work and how to work as a group. “Decision Making” activity in the following day showed how big of a role external factors play in human’s decision making mechanism. The “3 Colors of Culture” activity in the next day showed us that Culture was not only a word, it was a much more deeper matter with a universal content. “Mid Term Evaluation” on the 5th day of the project was a proof of how much participants have learned, how much they got used to each other and what a great project we were having.
Of course our learning process within the scope of the project wasn’t limited to only these activities. All of the countries had organized their own Intercultural Nights and they provided all the participants with some information of different cultures. In these intercultural nights; history of the countries, cities, traditional dances, music and food were the main topics and all of the participants had an intense cultural exchange. These were unforgettable memories for us all and every member of each country was proud and happy to be representing their countries in their own intercultural nights. These intercultural nights helped us to be aware of cultural differences.
Apart from these, a trip to Starci Village has been organized on the 6th day of the project and it was amazing to feel the nature there. During our village trip, we continued with the activities. These activities were done in a friendly and natural environment without stress. Besides, we also visited a local high school in order to spread Erasmus+ and Youth Exchanges to the wider crowds of people. There, we were together with some young high school students from various age groups. For these young people; we firstly provided information about Erasmus+, Youth Exchanges and Non-Formal Education. Later on, we introduced our project to them through some stories, games and energizers. The interest and eagerness to learn of these young people to our project and Erasmus+ was spectacular.
Thanks to this project, we have made a great progress in some matters like the importance of critical thinking in our daily life and contribution of creativity to our self-development. Most of the participants who took part in a Youth Exchange for the first time were aware that Erasmus+ Projects provide life-long learning and awareness. The project continued with the “Youthpass Certificate” ceremony.
And the last day finally arrived. Even though they had been together for only 10 days, it wasn’t easy for the participants to bid each other farewell after they got used to each other so much. The tears in the participants’ eyes showed us what an unforgettable experience we had throughout this project. It was Spanish Team to leave first. We were all there to say good-bye to them. Later, a group of Polish and Lithuanian participants left Nova Gradiška early in the morning. Next, it was time for Slovenian Team and after saying good-bye to them, it was time for us, the Turkish team. We were the last ones leaving beautiful Nova Gradiška and it wasn’t easy. But luckily, we met with Polish and Lithuanian participants in the Zagreb Airport. We have done our energizer one last time together and it was the best moment of the project for me.
I would like to thank everyone who made it possible for me to take part in such a wonderful project but especially to all the participants who carried it out.
