Dadalajf: My fourth Erasmus+ project in SLOVAKIA // Dada´s travelling

What a change. Finally I was part of a youth exchange which took a place in Slovakia. How glad I was for the opportunity to be there!

Let me start with a person thanks to whom I was there. Veronika, you are crazy and I am so happy you shared your travelling craziness with me. There is just one ~~negative~~ positive thing about it - I do not how to stop anymore.

I will explain what exactly happened. Veronika called me four days after we came from Cyprus home (yes, she was there with me) and said to me that we were going for another project which was happening in Slovakia. She also mentioned that "I did not have to go" but to be honest with you, I do not think so she would have taken a different answer than YES. Nevertheless, I fancied going there, so in the evening I packed my stuff and on very early Monday morning I was travelling to Košice.

First of all, it is worth considering some basic information about the project or the youth exchange we were part of.

The tittle of the project was "FROM SCHOOL TO REALITY".

The main topic of the project was youth unemployment in Europe.

The aim of the project was to increase participant's ability to find a work.

I am going to be honest with you as always. I thought there would not be that much to learn, it is about each personality of human being to force themselves to find a work or to find better work. My opinion was that I could not learn more about this topic, you just have to prepare a good CV, get yourself ready a start looking. Well, you should to do this as well, but there is much more to know about European's unemployment and how to find a good job or how to prepare yourself.

We were taught about employment rates in European Union's countries, we were looking for solutions of issues young people whom are out of the school usually have, discussing how the perfect CV should look like, had workshops which were supposed to prepare us for a job interview.

We improved with our communication skills, each of us prepared a time schedule of our Typical/perfect day, we learnt how to deal with stressful situations, we presented Erasmus+ in school (which was very useful and motivating) and of course, we were usually working in teams, so ours ability to work in the team enhanced a lot.

We also could see two „volunteer" workshops and I participated in both of them. One workshop was about DRUGS, which was interesting and it helped me to realise some things about it. I was mainly watching other's participants behaviour, how they reacted; listening their opinions and looking for the truth around myself basically. It is interesting how much people say without knowing about it. So, this workshop was very suitable for me, I took a lot from it.

And second was quite essential for me. The workshop was ought to presented to us more information about HOW TO WRITE A PROJECT. I do not really want to talk about it here; I am still thinking how I feel about it. But I will share this - I have some ideas in my head and I hope I am able to turn them into reality something in the future.

It was cool to represent the host country of this project; you take and get a lot of stuff from different point of view. The most important – you want people to feel good in the country, especially during the project which was happening in your country. Since the topic of the project was about unemployment and economics states’ of European Union countries; I could see how people took this information about Slovakia, how they reacted on it or what did they say. Mostly they have had quite similar situations in their country, something was better in this country, something in that country. None country of the participated countries was without problems.

So I asked a lot of people from abroad how they felt here; what they thought about the weather, people, towns, anything. I received mainly positive answers, which I was so happy about. Nobody had any serious problem, Hungarian, Czech and Polish people come from almost same countries if we take it generally, so they couldn’t see a lot of different things, although food could have been slightly different for them. In my view, Italians were really positive and some of them adore it here. So, well done Slovakia <3

About the project itself I have to write about some memories which are in my head and I keep repeating them almost all the time.

We had an offer of visiting a wellness centre which belonged to the hotel where we were staying. I was satisfied with it a lot with it even I did not want to go in the beginning. We relaxed and had so chilly time, we also made fun and I am not going to count how many times I ended up in the swimming pool because SOMEBODY was pushing me into it all the time. But he will pay for that once, I believe in it ;-)

Not just positive things but also one negative thing was going on through the exchange. There were some complaints about our group (or about some people from the group including me). Yeah we made some noise, we smoked in a saloon or in our rooms what we weren't supposed to but we didn't destroy anything and when we opened windows for few hours, the smell disappeared. I am not apologizing for what we did and if I do then just a bit. The final punishment for us was to pay a small fine, which was not that bad. However what was really bad and unfair was that for two nights we had a group of people there (around 30 years old) and that was a mess guys I have to say. I do not really think they would have ever read this article but if they would have, I have got a message for them - What the hell do you think about yourself that you were acting like that?!

I have never seen or heard stuff as they said or did. Disgusting.

And another essential thing to add.

Slovakians, you again showed how great people you are. I am so proud of us, especially on our organisational team. I was not expecting this kind of professionalism. Well done, I mean it. Everything was almost perfectly done. I just hope I will be a part of some of yours future projects.

I desire to work with you again <3

And to guys from the exchange - anytime you need anything, just call me, come to me, write me, or send me an owl... I will be there or here for you. I will come without any problem. To have fun and go for a party, to experience some adventure, to solve your problems, to chill with you, go for a trip, or just stay with you.

I did let you know I care about you during the last day. Let's not forget.

Take care and see you in the future <3