Once again we were lucky to send a team on an amazing project – Palmse (Estonia) it was this time. Wanna know how it was and what it was all about? Read Manuel’s impression 🙂

The Youth Exchange ‚The Science of Boomerang‘ was not my first Erasmus+ project, but it was my third project. It was the first time, though, that I participated in another country. We started our journey on 14th October and came back home on the 24th October.

First arrival was in Tallinn, where Pato, Elena, Julia and I met. We spent the first evening checking out the secrets of this town and enjoying the tasty medieval food. On the next day we met our last participant of the Austrian team, Manuel. And here’s our first group-picture: (left to right Pato, Julia, Manuel, Elena, Manuel)

At evening all 50 participants of the project gathered at a meeting point and we drove off to Palmse by bus. I remember me talking to myself: “Oh my god, who are all those people?”.

Everybody seemed very excited so we spend our first night with some drinks, talking and singing together. It was the beginning of some awesome nights with a lot of joy and activities prepared by the participants. Now, being back home, I would definitely call them friends.

The next day the first project session started, so I was curious and really wanted to know what the “Science of Boomerang” is. As in any of my attended projects so far we started with some icebreakers and group activities. Pretty soon everybody could feel the awesomeness of this group. I never learned 50 names that fast before!

During the project we learned lots about formal/informal/non-formal learning, Erasmus+ and EVS projects, intercultural learning (ICL) and of course about volunteering. But still I couldn’t see what the science of boomerang was… Coming to the end of the project we prepared some volunteering activities, which we were actually doing in Tallinn. 50 people separated in groups were walking with dogs or helping at an animal shelter. Some of us worked with kids like my group. We prepared some dances. At the end we found out, that some of them where awesome dancers. It was a mistake to think that we could teach them something new. After the dancing we all sat down in a circle and talked about our hobbies, dreams and of course about volunteering. Hearing those kids singing, dancing and talking about their dreams was very touching to me. I still think about that sometimes.

After this activity all 50 participants met again in Tallinn city center. It wasn’t planned by the facilitators but the participants organized another big event at the Old Town Square. We organized a flashmob where we danced together in the name of volunteering. We gave it the Hashtag #voluncare so check it out on Facebook and Instagram 🙂

So the YE came to an end after this event and I thought about the science of boomerang once again, but this time it hit me. I remembered how many people started to dance with us on the square. I remembered the smiles of the participants when I did some nice things for them. Mostly I remembered the kids we danced with. I knew that all this happiness didn’t come by accident. It acted like a boomerang that I threw away at the beginning of this project and it came back at the end but much more powerful than I expected.

A big thanks to everyone who made this project this amazing!

Yours, Manuel (without beard)

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A lot of funny and happy moments. Interesting skills and pure humanity.

Why am I part of wEUnite?
By a coincidence I did some help at a project and got a desire for more. It’s the socializing that enthrals me.

My name is Maria and I am 27 years old. My main studies are Culture Sciene and Media Communication. Art, music, sports, sociology and exploring different cultures are my hobbies.

I am very lucky to grab the chance to be part of some training courses of Erasmus+ and I am very proud of it. For me it means a lot to get to know many very different people from very different cultures, backgrounds and livings. I have won a numerous great experiences. It breaks all the self-established opinions you have in your mind. This means a lot to me and my life to live more freely and make life more attractive and fancy.

How it started? Why am I part of wEUnite?
It began 2 years ago, when I was looking for an opportunity to go abroad. I made an appointment at the Landesjugendreferat Kärnten und afterwards, they send me a lot of training offers and youth projects. With time, I got connected with more and more people interested and working in this field – and most importantly, with wEUnite. Luckily, I met the two girls, Tini and Nina, who found their own NGO last year and I am very happy to know them. I also was asked to join their training courses and be part of wEUnite. Within wEUnite I created a lot of special memories, which make my life more adorable and precious.