First day
On the previous morning/afternoon a group of motivated young people from Estonia, Spain, Italy, UK, Poland and Bulgaria came for a youth exchange ‘EU & You’ to Bansko. The first day was all a out getting to know each other and team building. We got divided into groups and we had a city game ‘Treasure hunt’, in which we had various tasks, like asking the Bulgarian people how the local food is made or singing a Bulgarian song.
Second day
We had workshops about various opportunities offered by the Erasmus+ and other programmes. We talked about university exchange, European Solidarity Corps, youth exchanges, training courses, mobilities of youth workers, Erasmus internships, youth participation activities. It was a lot of useful konwledge. In the evening we had the intercultural night, where the participants presented some interesting facts about their countries in form of quizzes and tongue twisters. We also had an opportunity to try the local dances, national food and drinks.
Third day
We discussed in the national teams how is Europe and the concept of European citizenship perceived in our countries. We also brought up the topic of Eurosceptisism and propaganda against the EU. In the afternoon we had a session led by one of the participants, Jon from Spain, about the theatre and role-playing. We could perform short scenes, which allowed us to get out of our comfort zone.
Fourth day
Today we had a trip outside Bansko, to explore Bulgaria a bit more. First we went to the Rila Monastery, the largest and most famous Eastern Orthodox monastery in Bulgaria. Then we had our lunch in a beautiful mountain scenery and we hiked up to the St Ivan Rilski cave, a place of religious cult for the locals. We also had a chance to see the city of Blagoevgrad.
Fifth day
In groups we talked about our personal experience with volunteering, the benefits for us and for the community, our motivation, skills that we acquired through volunteering. We also exchanged knowledge about various volunteering opportunities. Later we divided into groups to present the project outcomes.
Sixth day
In groups we worked on making the final video, testimonies, writing articles and the newsletter. In the afternoon we had a session during which using the technique of the problem tree, we discussed the topics of Eurosceptisism and migration.
Seventh day
On the last day of activities we had sesion about Youthpass. Apart from that we had also final evaluation of the project and we had a sesion on follow up activities which the participants had to plan and organize as outcome of the project once back home.