Report about Erasmus+ project made by participants:

 

  • Luka Smiljanić
  • Maša Opalić

 

This project is youth excange that took a place in Bulgaria / Tryavna from 28th May to 6th June 2022. organized by association "The change is in you".

 

There were 32 participants from 8 countries: Bulgaria, Greece,  Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary, Serbia, Slovakia and Spain.


The main purpose of this project is to show the participants the importance of being properly informed by using reliable sources of information only, and to emphasize the importance of the fact, that media could be seen as our window to the reality of the other countries . This is extremely important, because globally, we see that the problem with the freedom of speech as well as the manipulation and fabrication of news. This part of our main goal is to provide detailed information about all types of media and to show their development and the advantages and the disadvantages of each and every one of them. All of this plays a huge role in your life, so if you want to be a responsible and active citizen, you to know what is happening around the world and be sufficiently informed.



Here is detailed report by the days:

 

Day 1 – Saturday 28th May


Welcome to Tryavna! On the traveling day, we gathered in Belgrade – Luka, Masa came from Apatin, and Nikola came from Novi Sad, European Capital of Culture 2022. Emilija, Katarina, Milica, Dimitrije, and Jana from Belgrade joined. The adventure started at 14.30 pm until we arrived in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia where we met with the Greek team. Later on, we picked up the Spanish team from the airport and continued our trip by minibus to SOS children’s village in Tryavna. Here we are – 3 am, jumped into our rooms waiting for the excitement of the next day.

 

Day 2 – Sunday 29th May


We met Stanimir! After the introduction of the project, we started to get to know each other firstly in pairs followed by careful listening and energizers. We continued with establishing group rules and team-building activities.


In afternoon sessions, we went to the center of Tryavna and explore the town by ourselves. We met in the park near the Police station and the Asian and African art museum. Then we had a chance to hear more about Erasmus+ program and opportunities for young people, such as youth exchanges, European Solidarity Corps volunteering projects, youth work training, etc.


Later on, we mentioned the YouthPass certificate and discussed our fears and expectations of this project. Also, we expressed some ideas on how we can contribute to the project with our skills, interests, knowledge, and hobbies. Dinner - barbecue, cevapi with specific spice, named Cubrica.

 

Day 3 – Monday 30th May


The day started with energizers – broken phones and we had a lot of fun! After that, we discussed the importance of communication and active listening. 


The first international teamwork task was related to identifying of disadvantages of teamwork and how to overcome any obstacles that come up on our way. Some of the problems would be miscommunication, leadership struggles, lack of motivation, egoism, and proper delegation of tasks. Keywords would be solidarity, flexibility, synergy, and democracy.


The next session was about mind maps, so we were assigned a task to create a mind map about our ideas, problems, professional orientation, goals, jobs, niches, and future plans.


We also had an opportunity to hear more about photography. The session named ‘Photography 101’ was facilitated by Volen from the Bulgarian team. It was quite an interesting session where we heard basics about photography, to use PRO mode on our cell phones.


The first cultural night was dedicated to the Spanish team. We heard more about Spanish geography and history and participated in the Kahoot quiz. Guess who knew Spain the best – Serbians! J We enjoyed the Spanish night, sangria, and tortilla.

 

Day 4 – Tuesday 31st May


We met Liliya, a journalist and media specialist. The day started with the presentation about traditional and new media and later on, we were splitted up into international groups and assigned the task to brainstorm about the advantages and disadvantages of different types of media, such as newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and internet. Serbians gave Liliya two additions of well-known Serbian magazines – Politikin zabavnik – as a valuable example of the interesting practice of creative and interesting usage of information.


One of the tasks was to write a short story related to our national legend or myth. Another option was to make up an original one. 


The afternoon session was dedicated to visiting two museums – The old school and the Museum of wood carving and icon painting. For more details about the Old school, read the article named ‘From thorns to stars’ / ‘Od trnja do zvezda’.


People from the group were interested more in less known historical details regarding the specific locations, than facts, and legends about Tryavna followed their tour guide Stanimir!


Later that evening, the Hungarian team presented their culture with food and traditional drink. The fun fact video presentation was followed by a Kahoot quiz. And guess what – it’s important to participate!

 

Day 5 – Wednesday 1st June


In session Media Content Creators and Consumers, we read and discussed our articles and received feedback from Liliya. After that, we presented our approaches to topics we discussed the previous day within the international team. We continued watching videos related to media manipulation.


Some of the people from the group went exploring the surrounding of the village and discovered a nearby lake in the middle of the forest and came across beautiful horses.


In the evening was Lithuanian night. We learned about their religion, sport, and culture in general. And we tasted a lot of Lithuanian specialties such as, for example, apple pie, some Lithuanian cheese, etc.


Guess who won again – Serbians!

 

Day 6 – Thursday 2nd June


The planned activity was hiking. But before hiking, Guillermo from the Spanish team was presenting the filmmaking process and explained to us about the pre and post-production as well as the production, then we talked about light and shadows, frames, colors, etc. After that, we went hiking in the mountains. We were led by a facilitator. The first destination was Hydra cave where we got the task to make a certain kind of a report about that day (for more information, read the article Bulgaria through our eyes / Bugarska kroz nase oci).

 

Day 7 – Friday 3rd June


About 12.00 pm, we made two groups: one was supposed to go by car and another one by train. Both ways of traveling were interesting in their own way and we arrived in the city at about 13.00 pm. The group that went by car had an opportunity to see the university from Veliko Tarnovo, and then we met at the statue of Asenevci. Then we went to eat. After that, we were walking through the city until we arrived at the square of Tsar Ivan Asen I, and at that point, we bought tickets to enter the modern reconstruction of the fortress of the middle ages named Tsarevgrad Turnov. At the top of the hill, we had a chance to visit a modern church-constructed museum, modern art frescos, with all Bulgarian most important historical events. etc. Since we wanted to visit a church where Saint Sava died, a woman showed it to us, but unfortunately, it was closed to the visitors. From the spectacular landscape, we could see a church. Sonly after, we were walking back to the meeting spot, and then we went back to the village.

 

Day 8 – Saturday 4th June


The day started with an explanation of the formal part of the project – dissemination. We had a task to write a short summary with these points:

 

  • Timeline
  • Target group
  • Channel of communication
  • Expected results
  • Tools for measuring and monitoring results

 

After the session, we had free time to think and write a document on our plan for dissemination. In order to get more information about Erasmus+, which was important for dissemination, we have been presented a short presentation by our group leader, which is actually the Erasmus+ ambassador in the youth sector back in Serbia within Foundation Tempus, a Serbian national agency. Since we are not from the same city, we made a few different dissemination plans.


After the break, we must have presented what are we going to do after coming back home in order to promote the whole Erasmus+ program. Then, the facilitator provided us a chance to listen more about Erasmus+ and how it functions. So he explained to us about writing a project etc.


In the evening we had Balkan night, which started at about half-past nine. The three countries that were presenting were Greece, Bulgaria, and, of course, Serbia, which opened the night. After the presentations, we had a chance to teach and to be taught other traditional dances, such as Greek Zorba. Also, we are the winner of the Greek Kahoot quiz!

 

Day 9 – Sunday 5th June


Free activities.

 

Day 10 – Monday 6th June


Going back home.