An Erasmus+ youth exchange "Pool of Cultures" took place on 4-11 November 2017 in Cyprus
"It was my first day of this experience when I travelled by plane and I became a participant of this Erasmus+ project. When we arrived to Agros, I was firstly surprised about their hospitality and felt that I had known this people for a long time.
First steps were a bit difficult because my communication skills were poor but with time it became easier to do it along the different activities. I was listening to all of them with my whole heart and trying to remember their names.
We started a day with the energizers carried by Georgian and Martinique people with some cultural background on it. After that, we did a workshop in which each country shared two legends from their countries, with the intention of learning more about their cultures.
Next morning we did a workshop about stereotypes and how the first impressions can be deceiving: in small groups, we discussed about different topics which gave us the opportunity to learn how stereotypes can be different depending on which culture you are, through our personal stories.
Later that day, we did a workshop called `Step forward`, leaded by the Ukrainian group, in which we increased our awareness about stereotypes through a role game, in which every participant assumed a different social role, to try to be in the shoes of discriminated people.
Finally, that night we had the intercultural night of Ukraine and Spain in which we learned about their cultures, traditions, typical foods and drinks and dances.
During Next days we visited a beautiful city, which is built in the seashore. Before arriving to our destination, we visited an ancient theatre, an impressive archeological ruin with wonderful Mediterranean sights. But what made it even more impressive was the fact that some of our Martinique friends sang on the stage. After that stop, we arrived to Limassol, where we visited the castle (with astonishing views of the whole city. The castle was full of historical monuments. I specially remember St George from Armenia`s coin, made in the 3rd century.
During our free time, we walked around the streets and arrived to the beach. I really felt like Limassol is an awesome summer city. Some of us even swam in their deep, blue, clean waters. Finally, we came back to Agros with the feeling like it had been an awesome day.
Next day we started the day with some energizers carried by the Spanish group. After that we did a workshop called “Benefits of interculturalism”, in which the coordinator asked some questions about interculturalism and every person decided to stand for the answer “Yes” or “No” , followed for a discussion about why we choose our answers.
Later that day the Martinique group created a song about interculturalism of the project for all of us to record it together. In the evening we visited the rose factory and the sweet factory in the village of Agros. For finishing the day we did a workshop carried by the Spanish group about how to write an international or local project to teach new participants and more experienced ones about the process.
In the morning we travelled to Nicosia by bus to visit European house where we learnt about a lot of useful information about European Parliament, Council of the European Union, European Commission, about differences between them and about each duty. Also we knew about programs which give possibilities for youth to study, travel, get working experience.
The last day of the project we spend working on videos, reports, photos and different things for the visibility of the project. We worked in intercultural croups with people of each country in every team.
This day gave us the opportunity to share our feelings and the things we learn during the youth exchange. We finished the day with the reveal of our secret friends, the youth pass ceremony and the farewell party.
Report by the participants
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