Dadalajf: My first Erasmus+ project in HUNGARY // Dada´s diary

Hi everybody!

As you know, I has started my summer in the best way I could imagine. I told you about my plans during this summer in the previous post (you can READ IT HERE). That time I was getting myself ready for my first Erasmus+ project. I was a bit doubtful, I thought nobody would understand why I was going there and that I really want to work for the European Union, for Europe.
My message is clear, I understand what I want to do and I feel confident with it. However it is difficult to at least make people understand what I see. And I really wanted to send this message in that project. Was I successful?

The project was called CONNECTION, CULTURE - FUTURE and it took place in a small village Kekéd in the north part of Hungary. As you maybe know, I like Hungary a lot, so even because of that I was looking forward to going there again. The organizator which made this project was Aktív Európai Fiatalokért Egyesület (CLICK HERE) and the Slovakian co-organizator was ADEL Slovakia (CLICK HERE).

The first thing I would like to point out was organization of the whole project. It was done so well, we had everything we needed, our food was from the best chef, so I don´t have to mention that our bellies were happy and full all the time. Actually, sometimes too much full :-D Activities which we were doing throughout those days had a good meaning, were funny and every time I took something from them. We had some visitors, a folk dance ensemble from a near Hungarian town, two ladies who taught us how to make knitted basket (I did enjoy it a lot, I made one for myself) and knitted bracelets and so on. The biggest adventure (for me) was when we went to see a near castle. Guys, you know how much I love visiting castles, so I was looking forward a lot. The name of the castle was Boldogkovara and it belongs to the village Boldogkőváralja. Please never persuade me to say this word, I just cannot :-D The castle was really beautiful, exactly what I enjoy.

Cultural nights. Every night (9 pm) one of the national groups was presenting their country. I cannot choose the best one, each night was unique, special in a different way. I took a lot information from each of the night.
I would like to write a few words about Slovakian night. I loved it. I was so proud of us, we did it in a beautiful way, hope everybody enjoyed it. We had a presentation about Slovakia with a mini quiz, we continued with a small performance about typical Slovakian Easter Monday and at the end I had a "speech" about Slovakia. That was an important part for me. I wanted to show other people how much I really adore my country, how thankful I am that I come from so unique and beautiful land, I wanted to show that good people still live in Slovakia, that our nature is wonderful, our traditions are alive, our food and drinks are tasteful and the most important - that Slovakia would be delightful if anybody from them decided to visit it. Just to add, we got ourselves ready in a tradition way - folk clothes took an important place. We offered typical sweets, foods, drinks, beers and of course, a home-made Slivovitz (Slivovica) to everybody. I believe everybody liked our food (it was gone within an half hour, so probably yes) and the massage which we wanted to send was clear and understandable.

And this is going to be especially for you. For you guys who were there with me.

Each of you gave me special memories, feelings, thoughts, ideas,... You were so unique, so rare to be found in a big world. I am so happy I could meet you, I could spend those 8 days with you, I could grow up because of you.

I had never been favorite, liked by another people when I was younger. I was just a girl, nobody really saw me during my teenage life, at school or even between friends. I don´t say that I wasn´t loved, not at all. But I had never been surrounded by people who really wanted to spend their time just WITH ME.
For the first two days, I was a bit confused what was happening, why was everybody smiling on me, why everybody spoke to me, why were people listening to me when I was talking about something. And then I realised. Because I felt good. I felt I had a strong connection with them since the first minutes. I smiled on them, I came to them to introduce myself, I felt self-confident while I was talking to them,... Basically, I felt that I was exactly where I belong. And I was with people who were the same as me. We shared very similar personalities, opinions, hobbies, sense of humour. We found each other <3

A lot of them said thank you to me. And I would love to say one huge THANK YOU GUYS.

Thank you for hugging me, it was the nicest way how to say I like you.

Thank you for listening to me, I know I spoke a lot.

Thank you for sharing some important things with me, it helped me understood that it is worth to be happy no matter what.

Thank you for making me laugh, because I love my life when I am happy.

Thank you for showing me your countries, I am going to visit each of it. And not just once.

Thank you for spending time with me, I will never forget that.

Thank you for smiling at me, do you know how beautiful you were with a smile on your lips?

Thank you for being my friends, believe me, you will stay my friends forever.

Thank you for understanding that I would love to make Europe better place to live in.

And the last thank you... Thank you so much that we were a European family. We come from different countries all over the Europe but we belong together. There is no difference between us. Thank you million times.
I love you.

And for everybody who has never had a friend from abroad, for somebody who has never travelled to another country (please, don´t count a vacation on the beach, you probably have no idea about the real country and people living there), for everybody who thinks that they are better because they come from this or that country and other people are less,... You should go for a project like this. It will teach you how wrong you were. How bad your opinions and thinking was. You will learn respect, solidarity, you will learn how to treat other human beings, you will understand that we all are the same.
Please, don´t think about me that I am in a sect, because I do try to make relationships between people better and stronger. All of this I have written here are my thoughts, nobody persuaded me to write it here. I write what is the truth for me and what I believe is a good way.

And for people who think about this kinds of projects. For people who would like to meet and get to know other cultures, for people who love travelling and learning new stuff. GO! Apply for it, it costs you almost nothing. Believe me, it may become one of the best decisions in your life. You should go. :-)

I didn´t know what was waiting for me behind the door but I opened it. I won´t lie, I was scared. But I over-came my fears and I just did it. And it turned out to be an amazing thing to do. As well as it was with England.

I would like to share some videos and photos with you guys from the project.

the first one is from Krištóf:

and the second one is from our Italian girls (yes, exactly as you would think about Italians - always smiling, hugging, beautiful, caring, living for every second, basically the kind of people you want to have next to you all the time <3):