In September we had an inspiring Youth exchange in Zboiska, Poland about developing ourselves and our abilities to tackle difficult situations in life. As far as I am concerned this was a success, both because of the program, but also by developing social relations across different country groups. On this exchange we were gathered 43 people from Poland, Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Spain and Denmark. The diversity of the group gave many new perspectives to a huge issue in any given country – the issue of dealing with problematic situations.

Too many people today develop bad tendencies when dealing with personal problems, which can hastily develop into different diagnostics such as stress, low confidence or other mental disorders. The project tried to help the participants cope with everyday problems better, by dealing with the problems at hand instead of letting them pile up.

Okay, now with the scope in place, let’s talk about the project itself. The project was held on a religious farm in a small village called Zboiska. It is a very remote area, so the location in itself definitely encouraged us participants to socialize, because there was not much else to do. During the day we would do activities, with the objective of acknowledging a subject in the area of mental health. There we would deal with the issues each country had within the subject, and try and help each other with different solutions, from different perspectives. One of the most important learnings that I, the author, took away from the experience, was that we don’t develop if we don’t go out of out comfort zone. When we leave the comfort zone, that is when we can expand our perspectives.

At night we would socialize, which in terms of the group of participants, created a strong bond and definitely developed many participants perspectives. For many of the participants, socializing with people who were more or less strangers, was really out of the comfort zone and there were many obvious examples of people eventually leaving that zone, and becoming a stronger version of themselves.

While the project itself had its challenges, we as participants brought many things home with us. For me the most important lesson I take home every time I go on a youth Exchange, is the awareness that people have so many different perspectives than my own, and my perspective is not always the right one. In terms of the project I also expanded my comfort zone, and will continue to do so in the future.

If anyone feels like an adventure in non-formal and informal learning, they should definitely try out a youth Exchange. So go ahead and get in contact with Ways, if this has caught your curiosity and see if you can become part of any future projects. Don’t be afraid to try something new, will be my final words for this time 🙂

 

– Daniel Lima, MA in Applied Cultural Analysis