Elisa, Manuel, Nina

Within those days we had around 60 hours of workshops, discussions, presentations and activities dealing with individual and group learning processes, needs assessment, learning styles, group dynamics, planning and implementing various activities and methods of non-formal education. 

Thinking back now, Elisa said that before coming to Lecce she was excited to learn what should be considered when designing a training and which are the concepts behind. Furthermore, she expected to find out about the tasks of a trainer and to get to know useful tools for being a trainer. And of course she was also looking forward to meeting a lot of interesting people. A tool that Elisa found very useful was working in the co-trainer support groups. It helped her to stay focused during the whole week and motivated her each day to work on her personal learning goals. In the evenings they met for reflection and talked about what has worked for everyone throughout the day and in which field they still want to improve. Having had this support system definitely boosted her motivation a lot.

What Manuel has learnt most from BTT is that imperfect action is better than perfect

inaction, especially when it comes to trying out something new or to step out of the comfort zone. One can’t plan everything, but it is good to be well prepared and to have a plan B in case things don’t work out as expected. Being good in improvising is a necessary skill for a trainer as well as letting participants decide by themselves how much they want to challenge themselves (challenge by choice). What he found surprising was that is it not as hard as it seems to facilitate a workshop because many things are repetitive and if one knows the basic concepts and methods the rest will just fall in place. But one shouldn’t forget that there is always more than meets the eye of a participant. There is a lot of work and preparation necessary in order to be successful in implementing activities.

After this week Elisa, Manuel and Nina know how to set SMART goals in order to be successful, how the circle of learning works and can be used, which phases groups usually go through, how to give and take feedback and how to implement activities by themselves, to mention a few.

Having taken a first step towards trainership (no it is not a ship with trainers on it), the Austrian participants also got valuable feedback on their own workshop sessions from other participants that they want to share here:

What makes Elisa a great trainer is that she always gives her best and can easily adapt to

Last evening – cheers to new trainers!

different situations. She is able to quickly find her place in a team, puts effort in setting goals and is a well-organized person that still stays flexible if needed. Her positive and supportive attitude are also appreciated qualities.

What makes Manuel a great trainer is that he is curious, creative and has a positive mindset. He asks whenever he isn’t sure about understanding things, creates a great atmosphere in a group and works hard in order to achieve goals. Manuel is also good in motivating people to give their best while giving everyone space to be part of a team.

What makes Nina a great trainer is that she explains things in a peaceful way, is good in accomplishing goals, knows how to organize herself and sessions and is supportive in every way. When leading a session she doesn’t lose control over it, she is consistent and combines learnings in a good way.

Elisa

Hi, my name is Elisa and I am from Deutschlandsberg. I am 21 years old and I study Sustainable Food Management at the FH Joanneum in Graz. In my free time I enjoy organizing and taking part in Erasmus plus projects, doings sports like mountain biking, travelling and spending time with my friends and family. I also love being in the nature, cooking and Spanish and Italian language.

What do I like about youth projects?
My first project was the European Voluntary Service in Santiago de Compostela. It was an amazing year and the start of my “Erasmus life”. Taking part in these kind of projects gives me a lot of new perspectives of life, makes me meet amazing people, allows me to travel all over Europe and encourages me to develop myself. Organizing Youth Projects gives me the opportunity to share all that with young people and to give back what I receive.

What have I experienced by taking part in Youth Projects?
I experienced how diverse Europe is and how many things we have in common. I experienced that stepping out of my comfort zone can lead to great results and is definitely worth it. I experienced that there are a lot of people who follow their dreams and work everyday on their goals they want to reach – and that I can do that as well. I experienced that strangers become friends in a couple of days and spend an amazing time learning together.

Why am I part of wEUnite and who told me about it ?
This summer I applied for a project in which wEUnite was the Austrian partner. So I met Nina for a chat over a cup of coffee. We immediately grew sympathy for each other and were all sure that our collaboration would turn out to be successful. I hope to collaborate with wEUnite in a lot of projects in the future.

Ibrahim

Ahoi ! My name is Ibrahim. I`m 23 and I live and study in the beautiful, chill city of Klagenfurt. I`m a psychology student who likes to read in empty libraries, working out when the gym is not so crowded and to sleep when it’s snowing cats and dogs outside. For the time being, getting my bachelor and other self-improvement activities are the center of my attention.

What do I like about youth Projects?
I love the diversity of people and their Ideas and World-views. People and their stories are very interesting for me as there`s always an idea, a though or a perspective that’s new to me. I also love how relatively fast one can make life-long friendships during projects. I met amazing people and I know that there is still new and interesting people for me to meet.

What have I experienced by taking part in youth projects?
Its very hard to express what I experienced in youth projects. Shortly said, I`ve experienced self-development, meeting great people and learning from them.

Why am I part of wEUnite and who told me about it?
My amazing friend Tini introduced me to a wEUnite project that tackled a very interesting topic, which was youth leadership. The Project`s Title was “Desire to inspire” and it was the first project that I took part on with wEUnite and that proved to be a very good decision.

 

Personally, I find games to be a powerful tool for learning, teaching and integration. The rules of games determine the interactions between participants. During the game, they supersede our general societal rules of interaction – which are often divergent – and make us all speak a common language. Games are an important part of the Basic Synergy training we were part of in Cortemilia. I am happy with how we replicated our learning. 

 

The first game we played was Magic Maze. True to the spirit of „United We Win“ all players have to cooperate and coordinate as a team to beat the game itself. All while not communicating with each other. The game requires trust in others while demanding responsibility from every team member. I was often reminded of experiences from the youth exchange. 

 

We concluded the evening playing „2 rooms 1 boom“, a social deception game. Again trust, communication and seizing opportunities were the center of the game. We interrupted the game for a bit to tell our guests about Erasmus+ projects and shared some of our experiences. Some people stayed even longer and continued the evening by playing some rounds „Werewolf“.

 

To summarise, we had a great evening, applied and shared some of our experience and learnings with others and spread the word about Erasmus+ and wEUnite.

Yours, Magda, Manuel G., Matthias, Nina, Pato

United We Win – Time to play

wEUnite had the great pleasure to join the Synergy Basic training for the first time. The project called “United We Win – Time to play” gathered 30 participants from 5 different countries: Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Italy and Austria. From the 17th to the 27th of June, we learned about ourselves, group dynamics and the so called “WE”. Even though the project duration was just 11 days, wEUnite managed to create close friendships with people from around Europe.

During the first part of the project we learned a lot about ourselves. Not only did we get input to different kind of methods on how to treat yourself well in everyday life, but also getting to know the rest of the participants was part within the first days.

Challenge after challenge our group started to become a unity. Different activities, so called processes, taught us how to work together. Building trust and train our communication skills and our perceptions was part of many activities on slacklines and in solving tricky challenges being blindfolded. Also dancing to the limit and watching our own movements and other movements excited every single participant.

Besides these activities, the project also focused a lot on self-development, on how to become an even better version of yourself and how to overcome the limits you set on for yourself. To do that we used techniques like visualization to face our fears, did performances on stage and did a lot of other tasks to get out of our comfort zone. We also used different kind of meditation methods to focus our mind, get clear visions and to get calm. Many processes were supported by music and motion.

Thank you L’Arca del blues and the Synergy network to let something so unique, beautiful and unbelievable happen! In the end, even with many doubts in between, we all had an amazing learning experience!

Finally, these are personal statements by our participants about the project and their experiences and learnings:

Magda:

Well, I’m honest: this project was quiet a challenge for me. I struggled with the trainers, the project and myself. The hardest part: having to trust in people I’ve never seen before. However this also became my biggest learning: sometimes you just have to let go & don’t think for a moment. I’m still not completely able to do that, but I’m a step further.   Apart from that: this was an amazing Adventure, with ups & downs, with tears & laughters, with foreigners becoming friends ❤

Manuel:

Coming back feels unreal. The world is still the same, but I am not. In terms of self-development, the activities during these 10 days brought a lot to me. I experienced a new level of trust and care, faced many fears and took inside-out approaches to connect to people in a quick and honest way. I have a new perspective on people now in general and my communication, understanding, listening and speaking abilities are renewed and improved. With that, I am able to better connect with (new) people and my beloved ones. I see people now as opportunities. I also learned to be more honest to myself and to others and to see my needs and wants in life. With a clear vision in mind I am going to make my own way. I see fears as friends of mine, I accept them to be with me and still take the next step to go where I wanna be. Big thanks to Fabiano, the co-trainers and all participants for making this project so successful for me and for teaching me things I can not learn in school or university! This project brought more joy to my life! I will share the light of joyfulness with the world!

Matthias:

This training taught me many things about myself and let me see my own priorities in life more clearly. I learned how to deal with the unknown, be it people or situations, and I believe I am more able to recognize opportunities because of it. It was important for me that I didn’t only learn these things intellectually but to have actually gained experiences that helped to internalize these learnings. 

Nina:

United We Win – what a beautiful title for an Erasmus+ project. When I first read it, it didn’t sound any different than my previous projects, but it turned out to be a completely new, unexpected and incredible experience. Having been in Italy for 10 days I had the chance to explore and be part of a Synergy basic training. Every now and then I had my doubts about the program and whether I can take something out for my own learning. Being back home for some days already I can honestly say that this project was one of the best ones I participated in. It changed my perception and empowered my self-confidence. United We Win also taught me that alone you will dream, but together, being united, you can make your dreams become reality. If any of you, my beloved readers of this blog, ever have the opportunity to take part in a Synergy basic training – please, please take the chance and go for it 🙂 I promise, you won’t regret it! 

Pato:

This project was unique in every kind of way. Normally I’d say that friendship and intercultural exchange is the the best part about Erasmus+ Projects. But this time was different. I learned so much about me through others. Sometimes there was no dialogue needed. Sometimes you had to look at things from a completely other point of view in order to deal with it properly. So friendship was still made, but in a completely new and different way. I learned to accept every single participant as he/she is and I would definitely host them in Vienna any time they can come for a visit. They changed me. Thank you synchro for this incredible and undescribable experience.

– Pato, Manuel, Nina, Matthias, Magda