"Future In Your Hands"
Youth Exchange Mobility Program. Erasmus+ KA152
SISERA is a participating organization
About The Project
Description
Aim of the project Future in your hands is to encourage us youngsters to think about our future careers, what we can do now to achieve our goals in the future, what are our goals to begin with and how we can implement our talents and our hobbies we already have in our future professions. A lot of us youngsters don’t know what we want to do after we finish our studies, but some have that figured out from very early age. How can we find the best job for us that will make us love what we do? Is it important to stick to one career path or are their ways in which you can successfully change your profession in one part of your life.
Activities
During our Youth Exchange we will have opportunity to talk about our goals for the future, our career choices, steps we already made to succeed and what we have learned during our first experiences. Different topics about how to start our careers will be discussed through various workshops. We will explore how we can implement our hobbies in our professions. We will also use time to talk with people who already made some career changes and with young individuals who made a big success in their early age by doing what they love and now have successful careers. How did they do it? How did they set their goals? Who helped them and so on.
Objectives
The goals of the project are to encourage critical reflection on our own goals we have for our (future) careers and to explore different alternative ways to implement what we love doing in professions we would like to do. We will discuss all these topics in groups, share our experiences and learn from others. During the programme we will also have “out of comfort zone activities market” where we will explore things we usually don’t do which will give use the courage to do that in our future. In all of the activities we will use non-formal learning methods.
Organizers
The project was applied and organised by Youth Centre Domžale. Youth Centre Domžale is public institute, founded by municipality of Domžale. The principal aims of Youth Centre Domžale are:
– to provide support for youth;
– to give them opportunity to spend their free time wisely and
– to encourage them to get actively involved in a society on a local, national
and international level.
To achieve these goals we run various activities, which are held by Youth Centre Domžale alone or in cooperation with other Slovenian and international organizations.
PARTICIPANTS EXPERIENCE
Here we are in the picture, from left to right: Nassia, Chrysa, Liza, Giorgos, Elena and Dimitris!
Future in your hands is a Youth Exchange that took place in Dob, a village in the Municipality of Domžale, Slovenia. The main purpose of the exchange was to make the participants think and discuss about their future careers, goals, skills and also their hobbies. The participants were twenty-five young people from Slovenia, Spain, Italy and Greece. This is an article by the Greek Team in order to share our experience and motivate other people to participate in these kinds of projects.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT - ACTIVITIES
As for the activities and the main program, we think that they were amazing. The first day, the Slovenians welcomed us and helped us adjust to the new environment and get to know each other, which is very important as the project lasted only a week. The first morning in the venue started early with the breakfast, then a fun energizer to help us wake up followed with more social bonding activities. These really helped to “break the ice” and all the people (Greeks, Italians, Spanish and Slovenians) became a big team. As the weather was good, especially for the Slovenian standards, we separated into teams for some outdoors activities. We walked the village all together and we had plenty of time to interact with each other, but at the same time the organizers introduced us to the topic via a very interesting treasure hunt. The same day we talked about the general idea of Erasmus+, and we checked our knowledges via Kahoot. The next day, we woke up with enthusiasm as our first impression was really good. We learned more about the topic and participated in many relative activities. This day the Spanish team represented their workshop, which made us think more about our future careers. But this day had a lot more…
After the dinner we had a guest, someone who inspired us with her life and a speech we will never forget. We have to admit that this woman changed the way we think. After this touching speech, we started to prepare for our intercultural evening with the Italians. The kitchen smelled wonderful and the taste was even better. At this point we have to say thank you to the organizers as they provided everything we wanted to make this evening unforgettable. The next day it was the time for a trip to Ljubljana, but before this, we participated in some other activities. The trip was an exciting break from the activities and the topic. The Slovenians guided us, and we lived for some hours like the locals in the capital of Slovenia. Two days before the end, and you can feel it in the atmosphere… And just like that, it was time for our workshop and time to talk about our hobbies, which may be our future jobs. Then, we participated in some sporty activities that made us really hungry… Time for dinner! After the dinner, the Italians made us think “outside the box” and out of our comfort zones with an interesting workshop.
The last day we built our own companies. We had some ideas for innovating products, and we made campaigns, advertisements, and marketing materials. It was one of the most fascinating workshops. Unfortunately, all things come to an end. It was time for reflection, final evaluation, and Youth Passes ceremony. We woke up the next day in a weird mood, as we had to say goodbye..It is true that when you are having so much fun it is hard to say goodbye.
Greek team workshop
The Greek team had to create a workshop in order to make the other participants think about skills or hobbies that they have, that are not directly related to their profession and how could they possibly combine them. We decided that a debate is the best way to do it. First of all, we had a “warm-up” activity by making a circle and each one of us shared their most important hobby and the strongest feeling they get while practicing it. Then, we split the participants into two main groups consisting of two subgroups each. For every group, there was a main subject of the debate and for every subgroup, the specific opinion they had to support (for or against). The first topic that we choose was “Practicing your hobby as a job or not” and the second one was “Having only one hobby and being the best at it, or many different hobbies – no matter the achievements”. We consider this activity really important, because we had the opportunity to see clearly and think both ways in each case, something that is not always possible in our daily lives. Another amazing thing about this workshop was that so many different and interesting opinions were heard, considering the fact that the group consisted of people coming from different backgrounds. Also, the process went smoothly, always with respect to other people’s views, disagreeing politely. All in all, it was a really productive dialogue which we are going to remember for a lot of time.
"Youth exchange was held in hostel Hiša na travniku, which is located in Dob in the municipality of Domžale"
When it comes to hospitality, everything was just perfect. The accommodation was comfortable and the hosting group were so helpful with everything. They made sure that we would not lack anything, and that every one of us was ok with the food and the hostel facilities. They showed us around, not only at Ljubljana but even at the suburbs where our hostel was located. A huge benefit was the fact that these people all lived nearby and they knew exactly were to take us to and exactly what was worth experiencing in this area. As for the hostel, a big advantage was that we were sleeping not only with people from our national team, but also with people from the other national teams. Another advantage was the fact that we could use the kitchen and the living room anytime to cook or to hang, so that every one of us could feel like home.
Generally, we think everyone enjoyed these nights, because we got to know the other cultures in a very funny and entertaining way. These nights made us feel closer to each other’s cultures and learn new things.
Trip to Ljubljana
The trip to Ljubljana was one of the most interesting and entertaining activities during the project. The trip began at noon, when we took the bus from Dob to Ljubljana. The local people from the Slovenian team where really hospitable and helpful guiding us around, explaining to us the history of the city and showing us its famous monuments. First of all, we visited the artistic corner Metelkova, a very beautiful and inspiring place. We, then, moved to the Dragon Bridge, which is one of the most well-known attractions in Ljubljana. Afterwards, we continued our trip walking in the stunning streets by the river and visited the famous castle of Ljubljana. Walking up high to reach the castle was tiring, but a fully worthy experience due to the fact that both the castle and the view from there were stunning. At the end, it was time for some party! We first went to a pub and then to a club at the center of the city, for unstoppable dancing and singing. At night, we returned to Dob. All in all, it was an amazing trip in which we met different aspects of the city and the life of the people.
