August is the month when a lot of Europeans travel. Therefore, it was not easy to plan a trip for our youth exchange. To fit in the budget provided for each participant's trip, we decided to fly from Warsaw to Budapest. From there, the project organizer provided us with transport by a rented bus to the Romanian town of Brebu, not far from Resita.

We arrived at 7pm. The accommodation has been prepared so as to integrate as quickly as possible. In each room there were representatives of each group: Romanian, Czech and Polish. We had dinner and took part in organizational activities. Then it was time to rest after the trip and sleep ;)

Here you can check the video about our journey to Romania:

The first days of the youth exchange were focused on getting to know each other better, checking how to work in an international group and switching from our language to English. It was not difficult. Workshops were prepared in such a way that the communicative English was sufficient. In addition, we were able to develop our skills in this language in our free time by talking to our peers from Romania and the Czech Republic. Our group has also created a group contract. It was necessary to prevent possible conflicts, which are always possible in an intercultural environment. We have agreed, among other things, to be on time on workshops, to listen to each other and not to use phones during joint activities.

We also took some time to talk about what might be stressful for us at the beginning of an international youth exchange, how we could contribute to the final success of the exchange and what we expect from this meeting. We wrote down all these things on colored cards and hung them up in the conference room. It allowed us to compare our expectations with the expectations of others. The cards were left on the wall until the end of the exchange so that we could compare our thoughts at the beginning of the meeting with what happened in the following days.

In the evenings, we had fun sharing with our peers traditional games and dances from Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic. There was also time to taste our traditional food.

It was highest time to start exchanging experiences related to the main topic of the exchange – active citizenship and volunteering in our countries. Each group presented the most famous volunteer campaigns in our countries. We also discussed what volunteering means to us.

Interesting methods of non-formal education helped us to talk and exchange experiences. An example of such a method is 'Passion walk'. How did it look like? You can see in the video:

During the youth exchange, we also took part in a theater game. It is an activity on the border of game and art, during which participants create and experience a story together. The player usually receives from the creator of the game a scrap of the whole story related to the character played by him and tasks to be performed. On this basis, the player visually prepares to play the character, comes up with a way of speaking and moving that suits the character, creates himself or receives ready-made items related to the hero. The player also prepares tactics to achieve his goals in the game. The 'Game Master' is running the game.

It's time to meet the local community. From our venue we went to Resita. There we met the local organization Nevo Parudimos, which, among other things, activates minorities in this region and works with volunteers of the European Solidarity Corps. We watched the presentation of the activities. There was time to ask questions and talk to members of the organization. After the meeting, we visited a kindergarten where local volunteers were preparing graffiti for children.

We also took part in a city game. During it, we performed tasks related to the history of the city, talked with Resita inhabitants and got to know places related to active citizenship.

Then, in our venue, we took part in many workshops prepared by the participants themselves. Thanks to this, each of us could be active and give something to others. We made bracelets, learned first aid, self-defense and modern dances.

At the end of our youth exchange, we discussed what Youthpass certificates are and why we get them at the end of the exchange.

How do you come home from an international youth exchange? Is it the same as on the way to the project? Has anything changed in 9 days? How long is the journey home? What was the coolest thing about the exchange? Kacper, Weronika, Oliwia, Monika, Amelia, Zosia and Martyna will tell you about it in our video:

HEureka Generator association would like to thank the coordinator - Romanian organization Pro Vitam for cooperation during the youth exchange. We conducted our activities in cooperation with our local partners: C.K. Norwid Secondary School from Krasnystaw and the J. Słowacki Primary School from Małochwiej Duży.

Project in frames of the European Erasmus+ programme, Key Action 1, 'Youth' Sector.