From 6 to 12 of September , 2019, an Erasmus + youth exchange took place in Trento, Italy, with 24 young people from Portugal, Georgia, Italy and Moldova. The topics addressed were: Blogging; Media Literacy; Active Citizenship; Digital Natives; Storytelling .
Trento is the capital city of the autonomous province of Trentino Alto-Adige, situated in North Italy. The city is a major educational, scientific and political centre with sheltering the University of Trento which is ranked among the best universities in Italy and in Europe. The city has a picturesque Medieval and Renaissance historic centre, with typical ancient buildings and touristic attraction points such as the Trento Cathedral and the Castello del Buonconsiglio.
The hosting structure was located in Villazzano, suburb of Trento situated up the hill, disposing a beautiful panoramic view of the city and the mountains around. The structure did not have WIFI. The participants were divided into groups and were responsible for cooking and cleaning; The participants had to organize the national dinners.
Here are some stories and insights of the participants of the project.
- It was a very nice experience with a lot of upsides and almost no downsides. The topic was very relevant and explained properly, as blogging is now a very useful for those who would like to share an interest, an opinion or even a tragedy that had occurred in their past. The participants were very friendly, becoming in the end one big family with one representative nation – the world.
- Youth exchange is a challenge. A challenge to get out of your comfort zone(NO WIFI), to meet new people, to learn something new. This is the 5th project for me, and it will stay in my memory as one with the most breathtaking view on the mountains, and the most intense.The intensity started from our first day when our flight was postponed, and we found ourselves in the middle of the Trento at 3 AM, packed with luggage and without internet or possibility to find a taxi. Our group decided that there is no time to wait, and we took the mountain by assault and walked for almost 2 hours to our final destination, Villazano. We had a lot of responsibilities during this project, including cooking and cleaning in mixed groups of people. Sometimes we stayed till 2 AM doing our duties. There was also no internet!! This triggered us to follow the trail to the bar every evening))) Although it might seem that all mentioned above would lessen from the value of this YE ,actually the bonds which were created during this project, and the insights we had were much stronger than usual due to these factors. No internet caused us to talk a lot with each other, we couldn’t organize our evening or how it will be spent, one would go out into the dining room/courtyard and would see the surprise that awaits you. Cooking, cleaning, working on the blog diary in random groups caused us to interfere with new kind of settings, new environment and new people . Yes, this trip was a challenge, and a challenge worth taking chances.
- You may hear that any Youth Exchange is about stepping out of your comfort zone. In a way, yes. But Youth Exchange ‘Let’s blog’ was about creating a comfort zone, where everyone could share their ideas without fear, be creative and find like-minded persons or listen to the opposite points of view. What’s more important for me is that the atmosphere we created there let us be ourselves and help us grow personally and develop our skills. And all of this was possible thanks to the people who participated in this project. So, yeah, I faced some unexpected problems and challenges, but at the end, the people I met, the projects we did, the time we spend together is totally worth it.
-It was a really nice time which i spend with new friends. I am proud to had part in this youth exchange. From this project i took a lot of knowledge and experience which will help me in my future life with blogging, and i`m also promise that will share this stuff with others
