Implementation
In this page we are going to have a brief description of what we have done to our project day by day. Just to mention at 29 of June was our arrival to camp where we all came with a bus from Athens approximately at 4 o clock in the afternoon, we had our dinner and free time till next day in the morning. Our departure was early in the morning at 7 of July to Athens.
Day 1: Sunday 30 of June 2024. Cyprus night and cooking from Cyprus
First day of the project! The day began with introductory energizers and ice breaking games by the Bulgarian team. The first energizer was the game with music, where a participant was in the middle, and they had to figure out who the leading dancer was. It was quite difficult, and took quite a while to figure out considering the amount of participants.Right after this energizer, the next ice-breaking activity was the human bingo.
The participants had to figure out unique traits of other participants, such as which participants speak more than 2 languages, or who has no siblings, or who knows 10 European capitals. It was quite tense to run around and finish the bingo first as it was the first time many of us even had a conversation!
Right after this, the next activity was learning special things about the places we came from. For this, we had a map of Europe, where we jotted down the exact city where I from, and something special about this place. Turns out, there's a big statue of potato, literally named "Big Potato" in the small town of Xylofagou.
After the first break, we focused on our fears, expectations and contributions. It was interesting how many different perspectives people had on the things they could contribute and expect!Right after this, another Erasmus staple, we had the Youthpass passport activity, where, in groups, we had a "youthpass passport" and had to go around different stations to do mini-activities, which represents each of the competencies.
As usual, the cultural competency turned into a big dance!In the afternoon, we had two central activities. The first activity, every national team presented the activities that were done before coming to the Youth exchange, as well as presented the research they did in their home countries.
It was interesting how, while each of the countries more or less struggled with the same issues, its impacts were different, either because of cultural reasons or geographic. Yet, the solutions found were different, due to presumably the same reasons.
The last activity was theatre of the oppressed, where there were three plays each with a different kind of oppression and mistreatment, cyberbullying, sexism and homophobia. The audience had to solve the conflicts that were presented on stage.
The evening finished with Cypriot food, and the Cypriot team worked tirelessly to prepare for. There were sheftalies, fries, dolamdakia, halloumi, mahalebi and many more. It was fantastic food. Of course, there was also the cultural night of Cyprus, where we learned about its history, as well as as traditional dances.
Day 2: Monday 1st of July 2024, Portugal Night and cooking from Portugal
As we do every day to have more energy for the activities, we did the energizer. We did one called "what are you doing" wich is a circle and one person says to the other to imitate something, like "acting like a dog", and the person acts like a dog. A little funny game that Bulgarian team did.Then, about 9.30 am, we started our first activity. We went to a stove nearly of our camp. We learned about Greek plants that were planted at the stove. They taught us some names of trees that they were also planting. It was very interesting, even if it was too hot to go on a walk. After this we had a break, and then we had lunch. After the lunch, we did another energizer. This time we did some kind of dance. The Bulgarian team put a beat and we did some dance moves. After the energizer, we did another activity about Greek plants. Today was the day of talking about Greek plants and how they are useful for cooking or even human health. We did 9 teams with different participants of each country. The facilitators gave us some names of Greek plants and the goal was for each team to do a creative poster about each plant with how they could be cooking, helping in medicine and other utilities.
After our afternoon break, the Portuguese Team started to prepare the dinner, while the other participants were doing a different and such a cool activity. The goal was creating a lyric and a beat about certain themes like Global Warming and Food waste then they had to perform to the others what they made. The portuguese team did "Bacalhau à Brás" that is basically cod fish with potatoes and egg, a typical and loved Portuguese cook.
Day 3: Tuesday 2 of July 2024, Visit to Patras, Church of St. Andrew and Achaia Clauss Winery
In the third day of the project, it was time for the team to take a small break and learn more about the nearby city of Patras, which is the third largest city of Greece. After a short morning energizer, the team departed by bus and, on its way to Patras, visited the Church of St. Andrew of Patra. Construction of the church started in 1908 and finished in 1974. For several decades, it was the largest Orthodox church in the Balkan peninsula. A lot of pilgrims from other countries such as Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania visit the Church of St. Andrew throughout the years, and the beautiful hagiography inside amazed many of the participants.
We continued our visit by arriving at Patras city centre, at the Trion Symmachon Square, where the first activity of the day was performing a scripted play for Invisible Theatre. Invisible theatre is a form of theatrical performance that is enacted in a place where people would not normally expect to see one, for example in the street or in a shopping centre. Performers disguise the fact that it is a performance from those who observe and who may choose to participate in it, thus leading spectators to view it as a real, unstaged event.
The theme of the performance was about environmental pollution and the expression of rights between the performers, while several by-standers and passers-by would react to seeing the performance unfold.
After the first activity was finished, the participants were allowed free time to explore the city of Patras and enjoy some good time away from the high temperatures and the hot sun! Several hours later, participants gathered again and attended an arranged visit to Achaia Clauss Winery in Petroto, an area nearby Patras. The winery's dedicated tour guide showed us the amazing collection of wine varieties in the winery, as well as the history from its creation to today. Here are some of the most important keynotes!
In 1859, Gustav Clauss, a representative of the Bavarian company Fels and Co., purchased an area of 60 acres (240,000 m2) of land from the landowner George Kostakis in Riganokampos in Patras at an altitude of 500 meters. His initial interest was in blackcurrants, but he built a summer residence there, where he planted a few vines as a hobby.In 1861 he established the winery Achaia Clauss, which initially was managed by the estate of the Jakob Klipfel company. The first years of Achaia Clauss were extremely difficult since the property was attacked almost daily by gangs of brigands. The new venture nevertheless managed to survive and to establish itself in the region through its links with the central government of the Bavarian King Otto. Since its establishment the site has always been a popular destination for visitors and continues to be so.
When our visit ended, the group returned back to our camp for a much-needed visit to the beach because of the hot weather, and some absolutely necessary rest!
Day 4: Wednesday 3 of July 2024, Serbian night and cooking from Serbia
As usual, the day started with energizers organized by the Bulgarian leaders. As the participants were still sleepy, they stretched in the rhythm of famous songs and chants.Ecological awareness of participants about the importance of preserving the environment was raised through the activity of planting new olive and pomegranate trees. Participants gladly took shovels and hoes and planted 4 new trees in the camping area.
Then came an interesting activity of treasure hunting. Participants worked in mixed groups and they had 8 different tasks to complete. The tasks included making photos, reserching the surrounding area and interviews with local inhabitants. The proofs in the form of videos and photos were uploaded to the given application.The afternoon activities also began with energizers. Participants flexed their wrists "making pizza" on the back of participant in front of them and got a free massage.
The next workshop was "Create your country". Participants developed and expressed their creativity and implemented what they have learned through creating an ideal country. They had to invent the name, president, currency, location, population, language, as well as the laws of the country and the human rights appreciated in the country. They presented their work on a poster using pictures and words.
Final activity of the day was a role play acitivity "Take a step forward". Participants got 4 cards with tasks and had to choose 3 of them to pantomime so the others could guess what it was. The most successful participants got their rewards.In the evening the Serbian team presented their country through most famous scientist, athletes, artists, directors, language and food. The presentation was interactive and included a small reading exercise of Serbian words written in Cyrilic and the participants were rewarded.
Dinner represented traditional Serbian dishes, sweets and homemade products, but also specific way of preparing food above the open fire, showing that food prepared in nature without electricity can be very delicious.
Day 5: Thursday 4 of July 2024, Bulgarian night and cooking from Bulgaria
Day 6: Friday 5 of July 2024, Romanian night and cooking from Romania
Day 6 started with a superb energizer held by the leader of Bulgaria. We listened to music that gave us directions like up or down, and we followed the movements by doing push-ups or squats. The exercise took over 3 minutes, but almost no one managed to finish it. Afterwards we had 2 wonderful sessions held by the Cyprus team. In the first session we all divided into two teams, each team of 20 people. We were assigned a number, and our mission was to capture a towel or touch the person from the opposing team who had the towel. It was a very competitive game, which stimulated our physical skills, strategy but also teamwork because at one point we were no longer 1 vs 1, but also 2 vs 2.The second session was less tense but just as fun. Basically, 2 people had to touch the remaining 40 people. When one of those people touched someone, he went out, and the touched person in turn had to touch someone else. It was also a game of quick thinking, strategy and speed.
In the afternoon, the Romanian team started cooking for the cultural evening, while the others had a team activity to calculate the carbon emissions of their own countries.The Romanian team cooked Mici and Parjoale (meat balls), a dish of mushrooms, fried potatoes and tomato salad, beouf salad (a salad of chicken, mayonnaise, potatoes, carrots and pickles), papanasi (a traditional dessert) and other snacks which we brought such as zacusca, pufuleti or ROM chocolate.After dinner, the cultural evening continued with a broad presentation about Romania, a quiz and then traditional Romanian dances.
Day 7: Saturday 6 of July 2024, Greek Night and cooking from Greece
The final day of the project! The day started with working on a creative reflection of the project! Using theatre, singing/poetry and posters, we represented what we learned throughout the whole week!
Participants prepared in groups, the three different types of art to represent the project.In the afternoon, Bobbie showed participants all other types of opportunities youth can take part in, such as DiscoveryEU, ESC and more. Afterwards we had the youthpass ceremony as well as the project evaluation.
Of course, last but not list, we had the greek cultural night, as well as greek food, which was souvlaki and a farewell party