Category Archive : friendship

Friendships around Europe

What’s the best way to start into a new year? For me personally, it’s by having fun, meeting friends and travelling. It is even better to combine these things – that’s why I started the year 2017 in exactly that way – having fun with my friends in a different country!


Anna (from Latvia) and me decided to meet up in Budapest, as she was on her way back to Zagreb/Croatia from her Christmas holidays and family visit in Latvia. Anna is doing is doing an EVS (European Voluntary Service) in Croatia currently, with the organization Syncro-Synergy Croatia (NGO’s Facebook Page). Before Budapest, we met in Rijeka/Croatia on an Erasmus+ project. 


You might know the song „Can’t Feel My Face“ from The Weeknd. This is how we felt walking through the city all the time. It was a new temperature low record in Budapest – something like -10 °C to -21 °C. Nevertheless, this freezing temperatures didn’t change our positive mood!


Anna and me had a great time in Budapest. We did one Free Walking Tour, visited some hipster shops and famous ruin clubs and just explored the city by ourselves. The weather – besides the temperature – was perfectly sunny and we visited many beautiful places, as you can see on the pictures.

   


Thanks to social media, it was very easy to contact other people who were in Budapest on that weekend too. And look whom I found – András and Bálint. Two friends from an Erasmus+ project in Estonia last year. It was great to have some local guys with us as they know all the good and secret (at least for tourists) places. We had a really good time together. Thank you guys for this great evening!

This are just some good reason to be part of the big Erasmus+ community : ) Such projects and shared experiences connect people from all over Europe and that is really important to me. I think it is the foundation for a great future of multiculturality. Don’t be scared of things you don’t know yet, but be open-minded instead and enjoy all the new possibilities and experiences by meeting other people, visiting different countries and get to know new cultures.

I hope to see you all again soon and I wish you all the best!

Yours,
Manuel G.

Local events – our follow-ups!

As a part of the Youth Exchange “I feel good” in Rijeka, Croatia, each country team was supposed to pass the on the spirit of sports & a healthy lifestyle to their friends, families, neighbours, colleagues and as many other people in their daily surroundings as possible. As our team is spread over Austria, we had two follow-up events, on the 19th and 26th November, one in Graz and another one in Vienna.

#1 Graz

During our Youth Exchange in Rijeka we had the possibility to participate in a really cool treasure hunt that enabled us to explore the city and have fun together in a group. Nina, Konrad, and me (Marion) then thought that it would be great to implement a similar event in Graz for our follow-up.

Said and done! We decided it would be best to have 20 tasks for the participants to fulfil within three hours. The tasks were a mixture of fun-facts such as “Which international popstar went to school in Graz?” (Conchita Wurst, by the way) , exercise “How many steps lead up to Schlossberg?” (260) and specific Graz knowledge like “Find the friendly alien” (nickname of Kunsthaus museum). I think we had as much fun thinking about them as the participants did completing them.



We then gathered on Saturday 19th of November at the main square to meet the contestants and let them embark on a self-guided exploration around Graz.

Because it was also a delight for us and because we got so unlucky with the weather the first time, we then decided to do a treasure hunt 2.0 the following weekend. It was a great success not only because the weather was a lot nicer, but also because even more people showed up and wanted to explore the city. And, of course, because there was chocolate as a prize.

Organising an event like this and especially thinking about tasks for participants let us get to know our own city better. We worked as a team and everyone contributed something and had good ideas, so we learned new interesting things about Graz ourselves.


#2 Vienna

The team in Vienna (Alex, Bartek, Manuel) organized a Football Match in the Westside Soccer Arena, on 26th October 2016 at 10:30 am, for their friends and friends of friends to spend some good and active time together. There have been fourteen people who played football in two teams for 1.5 hours. Some of the participants were professional players, whereas others were just amateurs (and sometimes even afraid of the ball); so we had a huge variety of players which was no problem at all, but rather beneficial as we could learn a lot from each other. The primary goal was not to win, it was to be active, have fun and enjoy time with people that share the passion for football. And those goals were definitely achieved!

See them in action:


Thank you very much for having all of you as participants and stay active & healthy! 🙂

Yours, Marion and Manuel

Punch the routine – I feel good!

From 3rduntil 11th of November wEUnite had the pleasure to take part in the Youth Exchange “I feel good” which was organized by Syncro Synergy Croatia. As the title already says, the participants punched their daily routines while being in the beautiful city of Rijeka. Alex, Bartek, Konrad, Manuel, Marion and Nina started their journey to Croatia with lots of motivation to do sports and experience a different, healthy lifestyle – as those were the main themes of the exchange. And they came back with an even higher level of motivation!

Directly after arriving, the team decided to explore the hostel’s
surroundings – as you can see it was breathtakingly beautiful and the weather made the view even more perfect!



With such an amazing view and the welcoming atmosphere, it wasn’t even that hard to get up for Yoga, which started at 7am, the next morning. After having tried out a new sport early

in the morning, there was breakfast and free time until 10am every day. And because all participants were very active and keen on sports (that’s why they chose to take part in this project) there was another sport session from 10-11am each day. Right after the workout all participants had time to write down their feelings and thoughts about the sport activity in their personal sports diaries. Using this tool was new to nearly everyone and seemed strange in the beginning but gave positive energy at the end of the exchange while reading how one’s fitness level and attitude towards sport can change within only a few days.

During “I feel good” the participants did not only learn about healthy lifestyle and sports, but also about different countries and cultures, numerous languages, their personal strengths and weaknesses (enhanced by ‘finding’ all Youthpass key competences during the city rally in Rijeka), the idea behind those Erasmus+ projects, and most importantly: they made friends. Spending a whole week with 30 people from officially 5 (but really 7) different nations

makes you see the world from different angles and understand opinions that differ from yours. You learn so much about others but also about yourself and your country as you talk about all the similarities and differences in your free time. (Which was always a lot of fun, as you can see on the pictures below).





For most Austrian participants this Youth Exchange was the very first Erasmus+ project but definitely not the last 🙂 They all agree that this week was fabulous due to the big variety in the program, the mixture of nationalities, the unexpectedly minute-to-minute changing weather and mostly because they learned in a way that was unusual to what they were used to from university. Non-formal and informal learning was the biggest punch in the Austrians’ daily routine and they will miss it. By the vast amount of hands-on activities and creative tasks throughout the week they learned without having to sit down and study. Having had extremely well-prepared organizers and facilitators all the team realized how easy it can be to feel better and feel good with just little changes in their daily lives.



And what they said right after coming back home from Rijeka:

“Really nice, new experience and a lot of fun!” (Konrad)


“This week in Rijeka was an unforgettable, pleasant experience for my body and my soul that I would not want to miss. :)” (Manuel)

“I really enjoyed the week and I am happy that I learned so many new things.” (Alex)

“Definitely one of the best projects I’ve been to, where I’ve learnt numerous useful things for my future!” (Nina)

“It was great to do so many different activities and having a good time together.” (Marion)

“I really liked the sport activities and that I could push my limits a bit further.” (Bartek)


Big thanks once again from wEUnite, Alex, Bartek, Konrad, Manuel, Marion and Nina to Syncro Synergy Croatia for this great Youth Exchange! See you soon 🙂 


Explore and show Vienna!


On tuesday, november 1st, 2016, Sigita, a new friend from Latvia had a stop in our beautiful capital Vienna on her way to the Youth Exchange „I feel good“ in Croatia. She started with a Free Walking Tour where I first met her. Not only for her, but also for me, it was nice to hear interesting and even unknown facts and stories about my home town. As many other people, I never did a tour in my own home town; I mean I did, but it was a long time ago, when I was still in school. Hence, I enjoyed getting my mind refreshed. After this tour we met Pato and Manuel and continued with a private tour of Schönbrunn. The weather was just perfect and we really had a great time. I am looking forward to show my beautiful city to many friends from abroad.

What Sigita said about her short cultural visit in Vienna:

I arrived in Vienna just after the Halloween evening and one of the first things that came down the street was literally – death. Ouh, welcome, welcome! 😀 But to be honest, I enjoyed the beautiful Vienna architecture, statues, fountains and fantastic autumn colors so much! After two more or less successful explanations on the phone, where I am, my first guide, Manuel, however managed to find me and later his friends joined us, at the end of a free tour. In the metro to Schönbrunn, they suddenly pulled out little notes with compliments and made lot of jokes, how to say non-compliments, it was very funny. At our destination, Schönbrunn Castle, they gave notes to people, it was very nice 🙂. 

Thank you guys for chestnuts experiment! This was the first time I ate them. Thanks for photo session with „rain“ of autumn leaves 😉 I enjoyed to see this little piece of Vienna together with you! Thank you for discussions about procrastination, old-new ruins and that you didn’t let me get lost in metro tunnels! 🙂


Thank you Sigita for visiting and exploring Vienna! It was a lot of fun with you:D


Yours,
Manuel G.

Elena & Pato

Hi, my name is Elena. I am 23 years old and studying Slavic Languages at the University of Vienna. In my free time I try to do as much as possible like going out, doing some sports, travelling, meeting people etc. To get this balanced I also love to stay at home doing nothing and just being lazy.

What do I like about youth projects?
Youth projects are the best way to get to know people from all over the world. It’s not just meeting them, it’s a chance to get really acquainted. It’s unbelievable how much you can learn from other cultures. Another great opportunity are the different topics of the projects. I loved the way of learning, which is proceeded by creative, active and non-formal methods.

What have I experienced by taking part in YPs?

I get to know a lot of interesting people, learned a lot about volunteering and could experience pure humanity with a lot of fun!

Why am I part of wEUnite? / Who told me about it ?
One of the founders asked me if i would like to participate and spontaneously I agreed. It was a really great opportunity and for sure it was not my last project! 🙂




Hi! My name is Patricio, but everyone calls me Pato and I am 22 years old. Currently I am working as a part time social worker in a refugee center and I’m studying international business in the Economic University of Vienna. I have so many hobbies that I stopped counting them – but mostly I love to play guitar and get into the subject of technology.

What do I like about youth projects?
I love the idea because it connects so many young minds and create unbelievable deep bonds in no time. Within one week you will meet people and get so close to them that you get the intention, not even at home you will find such connections. Additionally, you learn so much from every workshop session and every presentation.

What have I experienced by taking part in YPs?
I experienced not only a completely new country, but also numerous different mindsets. Working with people with so many different mentalities let you change the way you think about your surrounding. When you get to know a person during a YP, you start to put yourself in their head. And meeting not only one, but many people during an entire week in a relaxing environment you are more or less empowered to look at situations from their points of view as well. This is basically enough to teach people how to communicate and act in a peaceful way.

Why am I part of wEUnite? / Who told me about it?

Actually I know wEUnite since the first post on Facebook. I know this because a friend of mine – which I regret not having talked to her about wEUnite much earlier – is one of the founders of wEUnite. She is one of the most motivated and caring people I know. I am part of wEUnite because WE UNITE. Learning in ways that are presented at YPs is completely different than what I have ever known before – and I think this has to be spread. wEUnite can definitely help to do that.