PEOPLE+ | My experience in an Erasmus+ project “The New Age”

It’s been quite some time since I came home from my second Erasmus+ project, but I am glad that I took my time to think about all the things, because there was a lot to think about. Now, that the things have settled in my head, I looked back to reflect on my experience as a whole.

The project was called “The New Age” and took place in a town called Struga in Macedonia. With participants from Slovakia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Italy and Spain, we looked at the topic of conflict management. Every day, we had four sessions starting from 10 till 19 o’ clock with 30-minute breaks in between them. During these sessions, we learned about the main conflicts in each of our countries, such as the LGBT referendum in Romania or the independency of Catalonia from Spain. We then proceeded to exchange our opinions about the conflicts, which gave us different views and opinions on the conflicts. Later, we defined what a conflict is, what the causes of a conflict are and finally, how to solve a conflict, all in an informal form of learning with teams consisting of randomly selected people from different countries, brainstorming, making a poster and then presenting it to the rest of the group. The final result of our work was a small booklet, which should work as a guide in our everyday conflict solving.

But that’s not all, if the sessions were a “formal part” of the project, now I’d like to look at the “informal part”, which was our free time after dinner at 19 o’ clock. During this time, we could actually meet and get to know each other properly, and in my opinion, this is the main part of every youth exchange. This is where I gained the most from the project. While conflict solving was very interesting and helpful, the main value came from the time spent with the people from different countries. From chatting, to deep talks and having fun together, just having to communicate and express yourself in a different language is a great challenge to improve your communication skills, but also learning about different views, opinions and cultures is so fascinating, that I couldn’t go through all the benefits, that it gives you. It develops now often overlooked soft skills, such as empathy, respect, listening to others, putting yourself in their shoes and overall broadens your view in general.

Last but not least we learned about Erasmus+ projects in general - their different levels, topic selection and how to create them as well as where to look for new projects. This gave us an insight into how people can write and organize projects, for those who might be interested in working with youth.

To conclude, I can only recommend the Erasmus+ experience as a whole. Not only do you get to travel, you also learn something new, develop yourself, meet amazing people and most importantly, make yourself some beautiful memories to remember.

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PEOPLE+ | How the participation in the Student Diplomatic Club of Sofia University and Youth Team Eu

How the participation in the Student Diplomatic Club of Sofia University and Youth Team Europe opened opportunities for me? The connection with them to the international environment and the Erasmus + program.

During the first weeks of studies, we learned about the existence of the club - a non-profit-making club for public benefit activities, created and run entirely by students. On a general meeting held in November 2016, together with the approval of the report for the past year and the election of a new Management Board, new members were adopted, and with many colleagues we took advantage of and became part of the SDC. The club's activity is really helpful for students in two directions. Discussions organized by the SDC enable learners to become first-person acquaintances with the analyzes and opinions of competent experts and interesting people from the country and the world on malicious topics - political controversy and institutional conflicts. And since we are fully responsible for conducting these events, we, the SDC members are developing our organizational skills, contributing to the growth of the club, and getting acquainted with colleagues from other courses and majors. Non-member meetings are also organized for members, and ultimately for all of us, the SDC is a community of intelligent friends who would always respond and help a colleague. Networking meetings are also organized for members, and ultimately for all of us, the SDC is a community of intelligent friends who would always respond and help a colleague. That's how it came to the fall of 2017 when I decided to run for the Board of directors as I wanted to deepen my contribution to the development of the club. In the months that followed, with the usual lectures and discussions, we organized a concert in honor of 23 years since the establishment of the SDC, which we had the pleasure to welcome as special guests nine ambassadors, Deans of faculties, distinguished professors and public figures, and of course the Rector of Sofia university. A sign of job well-done was the impression of the former Chairman of the Board, who said the concert was the largest event ever organized in the history of the Student Diplomatic Club.

Again in the autumn of 2017, I became part of the "Youth Team Europe" an initiative of the European Commission directly linked to

Team Europe and Europe Direct, whose purpose is to assist the Representations of the European Union Commission with the communication of European Union - related Issues through the implementation of the "Again to School" project and participation in the organization Events of the Representation of the European Commission in Bulgaria and of the The European Parliament Information Office for Bulgaria. Within 2 months the approved 20 candidates, we went through several public speaking and non-verbal communications.

Particular attention should be paid to our two-day visit to the EU institutions in Brussels, fully undertaken by the EC, during which we had the opportunity to learn from Bulgarian and foreign officials there more about the work of the legislative and executive bodies of the Union. This helped us to make the presentations we had to present to our high school students, "Back to School" initiative. The time and the topic were coordinated with the high school director, and one of the presentations I presented was on the theme "Cultural heritage uniting the path towards a European identity" in the context of 2018 - a year of European cultural and historical heritage. Contrary to popular opinion of ignorance and disinterest among students, after the presentation, a fruitful discussion was held in which innovative ideas were expressed. As a representative of the Youth Team Europe, I participated in the "National Career Days" in early April 2018 - a project that took place in most major cities in Bulgaria and presented to the citizens but focusing on the young, the leading companies in various professional directions to guide young people for their future development.

These two initiatives have given me the opportunity to meet professionals from different spheres of activity, and to exchange ideas with pro-European youths like me. And as this is also part of the Erasmus + goals, there is no better direction for development than for international dialogue and discussion of problems and possible solutions with people with whom we share a common vision of the future.

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PEOPLE+ | A way to Mentorship

Half a year ago began my personal story with National Youth Forum by joining an academy for civil rights, organized by EYCA (European Youth Card Association) & the American Embassy in Bulgaria's Youth Council. I was not aware of all the possibilities I could benefit from. I didn't even suppose that I'll get ever involved in something big...

Last week, I had the honor to participate in the penultimate level of National Youth Academy 2018. NYA is a tradition, which for the past six years has gathered about 900 youngsters with a passion for change. Compared with the previous ones, in this year’s edition the majority of participants was below the age of 21 years, which only proves that there's a tendency of growing interest in informal education among the younger students.

What is NYA? According to a survey, conducted by NSI, only 22% of the pupils and students below 25 are involved in these educational methods. Even I was not aware of informal education before I went to my first Erasmus+ mobility. National Youth Academy is all about that - it is a mentor programme which aims to promote civic engagement, democracy and youth via informal methods. All the topics are divided into three levels:

1. Democracy & Civic Engagement

2. Personal Development

3. Training for Ambassadors of Youth Empowerment

Personally, NYA was another challenge for me. I improved my ability to lead, my communication skills and exchanged experience&knowledge with everybody. I overcame my fears because our personalities came forward and we had the opportunity to redevelop them.

I am currently waiting for the last level’s selection task. I already participated in the previous two – in Atiya and Borovets. They met me with active citizens, changing our broken world from the age of 16. We all participate in Youth-NGOs, volunteer and organize events with a cause. Priceless memories with inspiring people, hardwork and learning from 9am to 9pm. By the sea, in the mountain forests, NYA2018 leaves me open-hearted to new adventures with new acquaintances and sense of self-belonging. Be active and do not hesitate to join in 2019!

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