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Youth exchange project
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Youth Media Monday, 20 February 2012
1
Youth Media Monday, 20 February 2012
1
The Eyes of Europe By Paolo Nestola
aving had the opportunity to make this
experience at Oxford, be able to live with
young people from different parts of
Europe with different traditions and different
habits, confirms what I thought before taking part
in this experience and that is that, young people
want to learn as much as possible and to know
themselves too, without limits! Stimulated by the
possibility of participating in various workshops
and recreation, along with the awareness that every
culture and tradition must be known and developed
through dialogue and mutual exchange of ideas, we
have established a climate of dialogue and
participation.
During the street interviews in Oxford, I could see
the desire in each of us, trying to build a common
project; we worked together on the basis of "skills"
acquired during the previous workshop. Through
photography, we described how people from
different countries may coexist in the same place
despite a different way of living their life! Using a
camera, our presence and availability of people, we
have shown and demonstrated that the
overwhelming majority of interviewees were aware
of the traditions and cultures of other European
Union countries, which, in fact, shows that we can
be united not only on paper or on the same
currency, but also through knowledge of the
differences in customs, in full respect for the other
people! I wanted to ask them what they thought
about an active participation in the European
system; how much this is important for the coming
generations, creating a line between past and
present, erasing the boundaries of thought that still
exist in some of us!
Euro Quizzz By Claire Thuet
t was difficult to find
people interested to the
quiz. Some people might
have been afraid of us, they must
have thought why would strangers
want to ask me questions about
Europe. Besides most of them had
to go back to work as it was rush
hour.
However, people who accepted to
participate in the quiz were really
nice. For instance one guy, who
was collecting money for a
charity, noticed that people did not
want to make the quiz, so he
approached us and said that he
would like to do it. But when it
was finished he asked us for some
money for his charity -
Answers were really funny, for
example people said that Estonia
does not exist - really?! Someone
said that Estonia exists but that it
was situated in South
America!!!!! Someone else
thought that it was in Central
Europe near Spain. Well, almost
there, just a bit further north. A
boy answered that Portugal is an
island. Where have you been guys
during the geography lessons?????
All English participants answered
that French are famous for eating
frogs – do we? But most of them
choose the correct answers. I was
proud that people know things
about my country but I preferred
when people choose the wrong
answers. It is funnier.
In France, most people would
refuse to do the quiz. We often
think that French people are
sociable, but they don`t pay
attention to each other in the
underground, the bus. Now, on the
other hand, English people seem
more sociable than French, who
clearly are miss something, as we
had so much fun with people who
accepted to do it.
We were working in couples, there
was one interviewer and one
cameraman. We had the same
reactions: we were irritated when
people refused to do the quiz, glad
when they accepted to, and we
laughed when they had the wrong
answer. Well at least I learned
something: French eat frogs every-
day, I’m sure my mom will be
happy to hear that.
H
I
Youth Media Monday, 20 February 2012
2
Columns
30 bulls attacking
England from overseas
By Édua Kocsis (Eddie)
ometimes I tend to be really superstitious,
judging people based on their looks, age,
where they come from and their degree of
education. All of my stories start out this way. This
was sort of the same. 5 of us got the chance to
participate in a Youth exchange organized by the
TOGETHER “group”. Only this time, not like the previous ones, it took place in Oxford, England.
Great chance for a Hungarian girl living as a
minority in Slovakia. That is how me and 4 of my
friends got on the plane,
and off we went to the
great unknown, to the
country that 3 out of five
had not ever been to
before. The topic of the
training was Media. Five
countries of the EU: Estonia, Check Republic,
Slovakia, Italy and
Portugal. They will be
the participant countries.
Sounded pretty
interesting.
We did a little research at
home. after getting through passport control
we knew where we were
heading. Victoria Station.
Downtown London.
Took an hour and a half
bus drive, half an hour
spent on the train and
another 40 minutes
underground trip to get
us there. By that time we
were really hungry. The most appealing restaurant
was Mc Donalds. It’s sad, but true. London is full
of franchises and it was kind of difficult to find a
restaurant which sells English specialities. So we
ended up with fast food.
Tummies full. Sooo- where is the bus that will take
us to Oxford? 5 pair of eyes searching for the sign:
Oxford Tube Bus. We were lucky. Found it fast and we managed to get a front seat at the top of the
double decker. We were happy to have a little
sightseeing. After five minutes it started to rain and
we were no longer able to nothing but the drops at
the windscreen. Such as life. In Oxford a car came
to pick us up at the station and to take us to our final destination. The only thing I wanted was a
bed.
Sometimes I tend to be really superstitious. I participated in youth exchanges before. They were
all really good, great trainers and organizers, the
people who were there grew extremely fond of
each other. When I got into the common room and
I looked at the people I started to be afraid. 30
people…too much...way too much. The main
organizer girl is 18 years old. I got to catch a world
with the trainers: none had ever done a workshop
before. The participants were all logged in to their
facebook and chatting with friends from home. I
tend to be really superstitious. So I went
to sleep as fast as I could.
The first day of the
exchange was long. Same
pattern all the time.
Rules, Youth Pass,
blablabla. I was still
tired. So I went to sleep.
During the second day
we split up into groups:
photoshop, video, and
jounalism (that was my
group). Then trainers of
each group explained a
little about the goals, the final project and how
they imagine that we will
work. I was surprised
myself on the fact that I
liked it. I actually found
it really interesting. The
whole point was to
prepare a newspaper, to
teach us how to make
interviews, writing
articles, columns. The group where they were
photoshoping enjoyed themselves too. They kept rushing in and out all with cameras hanging in their
hands, taking pictures like Japanese tourists. We
were preparing questions for the interview for the
following day in oxford. I had fun. The 18 year old
organizer girl turned out to be tough herself who
can keep everything perfectly arranged. After
dinner I did not go to sleep as fast as at the previous
day. We were up until 2 AM playing and talking.
By then, I finally memorized all the names. We
were laughing and having a great time.
S
Youth Media Monday, 20 February 2012
3
We started the day with a 30 minute walk down to the bus station. It was worth it! Oxford is beautiful.
Our tourist guide showed us the city from inside
out. It was like a fairy tale. Harry Potter coming
alive. Large pockets of green including spacious
parks and landscaped gardens where the grass is the
type of green which you can only see in movies.
Buildings to which you look at, history starts to
speak and you feel back in the 16th century again.
The main street is full of crowds. All rushing in
different directions. I am not even sure they knew where they were aiming.
Let’s start out mission! Interviewing! Cameras
ready. Questions all set. The only problem we had,
that nobody wanted to stop at the beginning. Pity. It
was time to change strategy from trying to act
professional to just ask if they would be kind
enough to help an EU project. They stopped than.
Some did not know the answers, some answered before we finished the questions and some did not
care for the answers, just started talking off topic.
We recorded 6 hours of video footage including an
interview with the street performer and took all
together
The city was full of street performers playing with
fire and singing and doing different tricks. It is not
the thing, that you can meet any day, especially not where I come from. It was exciting to experience it.
We got 2 hours of free time, and from the shopping
bags and because the next day we almost all had an
oxford university sweatshirt, I could tell everybody
went souvenir shopping. 8 in the evening we all
jumped into the bus and off we went. 30 minute
walk, this time uphill. Everybody laughing. We were tired, but we did
Here I am writing a story of the previous 3 days
and the only thing I can think about is that I do not
want to go home in 4 days. Now I see the 30 people
working together as a team. Sometimes I tend to be
really superstitious. But every time I realize, that it
is just something I have to overcome because
people are nice, and even though we come from different countries, are different in age and have
different customs, we all are just humans. Raising
knowledge of differences by actual experience is
the most effective. It’s not books or pictures. You
ask, they answer. And most importantly, they
explain. Books can never do the same. I am glad I
came and I hope I will have the chance to do it
again.
Richness By Joao Pedro Saraiva Maia da Silva
t’s 8 a.m. and we are leaving our hometown. As it
could be predicted, we were late! After all, we are
Portuguese aren’t we? But we have an excuse. We
got late because when one of us went to pick up
“Quilhoezinhos de S. Goncalo” (I will explain this
word later), there was no one at the bakery. Hence, we
were late because another Portuguese was. I know this
is not the best “business-card” to give, but Portugal has
many beautiful things to offer, believe me… We made
it and just at the last minute, the owner appeared and
we could bring our traditional cake to Oxford- YAY!
We were glad, because when you take a cake, that has
a phallic shape, to a youth exchange, the jokes are
guaranteed! At the last minute we arrived at the airport,
dropped the luggage and everything was fine. Yeah,
living in Portugal is like being in a James Bond film all
the time. Because we have the MI-6? Of course not!
Because everything happens at that last minute when
you pray that seconds to run slower so you can make it!
And usually, you can.
I
Youth Media Monday, 20 February 2012
4
When we arrived at Gatwick airport, the cosmopolitan
life entered instantly
through our eyes. We
took the bus to Oxford
and when we arrived, we
went for a walk while
waiting for someone
from the organisation to
pick us up and guess
what we found. A
Portuguese restaurant
that had at the door one
symbol of our country,
the Barcelo’s cock. We
couldn’t resist, entered
and took something to
drink, while laughing of
what we’ve just found.
Then, when Jirka picked
us up, he was with some
really nice Estonian girls
with whom we were
going to share this great
experience in the youth
exchange. We met
Dominica and Katka
from Czech Republic and
Bea our nuestra hermana
-as we would say in
Portugal- at Youlbury
Scout Centre who
showed our room. And
then, wave after wave, the other country’s teams
arrived. It was really nice to see all those people
entering through the door, while everyone would go to
greet each other. When the Italian team arrived, me and
one of my Portuguese friends, Barbara, looked at each
other and said with joy in our words “These are the
Italians for sure!”. Maybe we and them have something
in common that makes it really easy to find out where
do we come from. Maybe it’s the Latin blood that runs
in our veins.
It might seem really easy for people of Latin
descendent to get together, yet it was also so easy to
interact with other people from other countries like
Slovakia, Czech Republic and Estonia, for instance,
learning to a simple word like “Previet” with Ira and
Zina, the two girls from Estonia who taught me my
first Russian word, Hello. In one of the international
evening, I’ve learned a Czech tongue-twister, and was
able to realize how hard
it was for me to process
languages from some
countries like those
from the East of
Europe. Something that
I wouldn’t expect. I felt
like an clown in the
middle of a circus,
when the two girls from
Czech Republic were
teaching me the tongue-
twister trick, holding a
camera that was
recording my clumsy
words coming out of
my mouth. It was quite
funny actually!
In the evening, when
each country had the
opportunity to show and
share their traditional
dishes, my tongue and
belly had a pleasure
balsam! From the
Italian taraddhri,
passing through French
chocolate, Slovakian
cheese, Estonian kama
drink, each European
taste, just like each one
of us, was unique and interesting. Is it a cliché? No, not
in this case. And let me tell you: our codfish dish was a
real success.
In one of the mornings, I teamed-up with Gabriele
(from Italy) and Nika (from Slovakia) to create an
advert and it was so good to work with them. This was
the concrete example that diversity is richness. They
had so many good ideas that intertwined in such a
flowing and respectful manner…
And at last but not least, I loved to be in Oxford,
getting to know some of the famous colleges and had
the opportunity to do several street interviews. And
these streets that were filled with such a mix of
nationalities and looks… you could see cultural
difference coexisting with ease.
So, this week made me believe that Europa can be
united. We can be united. Get Together!
Youth Media Monday, 20 February 2012
5
Youth Media Monday, 20 February 2012
6
Blond chick
travels to
England!
was in a snowboarding trip last week, when I got a
call from my friend who just said: „on Monday we´re
going to England and you will come with us...“ It
happened on Friday... So I finished my trip in the
mountains and went home. I told to my parents what was
going to happen. They were surprised and on the other
side afraid of the whole trip. I just knew when was our
plane taking off, so they didn´t want to let me go here. I
calmed them down: don´t be afraid, worst case scenario: I
will sleep under the bridge.
Me and my friends met each other at the airport. The
beginning was funny... you know... a blond hair girl is
going to a trip and she packed million clothes to the
suitcase... I had to put some of my clothes to my friend´s
bag, because mine was so heavy. The flight was amazing,
my stomach was moving like a roller coaster and the
people sitting next to me could only hope, that I´m not
going to vomit.
We arrived to London... We took a bus, train then another
bus then another one and another one...It was my longest
journey I´ve ever travelled in one city like London... I
didn´t believe it, that we must have travelled 5 hours to
get off the city... It was incredible.
As long last we arrived to the camp and the adventures
continued on.
Enikő Beke (Nika)
y trip to come here was a nightmare. I had to
take one train and one bus in Italy and, after that,
an airplane to come to London
Stansted. Then, I took two busses to
come to Oxford. The trip started at 7
o’clock in morning and concluded at
10 o’clock in the evening. It was not
such a simple trip, but I was happy
because I was coming here. When I
arrived, there were three types of
pizza, but none of them was good! I
didn’t know that I was going to have
to eat that kind of food every day.
The only exception was the
intercultural dinner where I could
eat different type of food, for sure, it
was better than English food. Another strange thing is the
fact that it is not easy to have a shower, because there is
only one shower, near my building,
for a lot people. But I ask myself,
“Did the organizer not know that we
are in winter??”
During these days, I have met
people of different parts of Europe,
with different cultures, different
traditions and different languages.
Thanks to these differences, I have
learned new things about the other
countries of Europe and I have seen
what they eat or how they dress.
Paolo Nestola
I
M
Youth Media Monday, 20 February 2012
7
uring my time here, I understood several things
about different European
cultures and saw different
stereotypes.
It is my first time in England, so when
we came and sat in the bus to Oxford,
it was a surprise for me to hear such a
big variety of languages. My first
expression was that England is a
European center of different nationalities and cultures.
Unfortunately there are two things that
I really miss in England compared to
Estonia:
1) Wifi-internet. In England it very
slow and they don’t have a lot of free
Wifi places.
2) The food…you know…the good
one. The food which was offered to us
in the camp was “stomach-exploding”.
When we had a trip to Oxford we
planed to check out a typical British
Fish and Chips eatery. Two of my
friends and I after long searches
finally found it on the High street and
the name of the place was CornMax
Fish and Chips. We passed a long corridor and entered a place witch
reminded me a basement. The light
there was like in a cheap toilet at the
train-station, by the way there were no
toilets, and behind the stand was
staying an Indian man who
immediately said to us: “Hello ladies,
three Fish and Chips plates for three
ladies!!!”. He did not even gave us a
chance to look at the menu and prices.
Somehow Indian hypnotized us and
forced to buy his product. Under the influence of the Indian guy we sat
down and started to wait for our
meals. By the way the temperature
was quite low. Finally he prepared our
dishes. The meal looked like it stayed
in the kitchen for one week and
thousands of flies attacked it. The fish
was not fried enough and the same
thing I can say about the chips.
But if you think that it is it, you are
deeply wrong, because I had a complete cultural shock when we
discovered that for all eatery there are
only two forks and one of my friends
had to eat with a toothpick.
That “luxurious” lunch cost for us 10
pounds, but I can truly say you that
we had a big moral harm for rest of
the day.
And for the dessert. It is hard to
believe, but beans are really popular in the United Kingdom
and British people eat them for
breakfast, lunch and dinner. I just
can’t understand how they can eat
them so much and don’t have any
bad surrounding smell. When I
asked our cooker( native British )
WHY, why beans, she answered in
a flash: “Beans are good for heart,
when you more fart.”
For all that I will always
appreciate in British people –
lovely sense of humor.
Xena Vassiljeva
Emotions speak
TOGETHER!
hat I think about this
intriguing experience? I
don’t think! I live it day
by day, hour by hour, minute by
minute, second by second…I could
go if only I knew better than to
split my time. Share our time with
the time of the others is perhaps
the only really important thing for
our freedom, in fact, from first day
to now I feel free! Taking part in this project means sharing your
freedom, culture, art, your personal
joys and fears…Simply, open your
mind to the world and “give a
smile to your emotions”. It’s nice
to see that despite talking different
languages our emotions play the
same song sheet! What’s
“TOGETHER”? I’ll answer with a
tear on my face and then you have
the answer to your question.
Gabriele Ciccarese
D
W
Youth Media Monday, 20 February 2012
8
t’s my fourth time in
England.. However I’m not
yet used to English food. I’m
always thick when I’m in
England. I’m not used to English
style too. I see for the first time a 60 years old man who wore a
dress with pink nail lack.
But what I like the most was free
time when I spoke to other
people, learning things about
their countries. I really enjoy
Gabriel ‘s massage, the Italians
are gifted.
Claire Thuet
am a college student from
Slovakia. One from the lazy
kind. One that leaves herself
no time to retake the exams. This
is, how I ended up taking a test to
pass a class on the 9th of
Febuary. Last termine. I passed.
One of my friend has family in
London. An EU youth exchange,
organized by TOGETHER
England started on the 13th of
Febuary, 2012 with the topic of
Media.
After the examination period of
the first semester, they instantly
started the second one. Ususally
the first two weeks are not
important. I figured, I could
easily go to the training. Hmm. If
I was already going to England, I
wanted to visit London too.
Lightbulb. One of my friend has
family in London. If THE friend
went to visit her sister, I could go
along too. I convinced him to
come with me. But not only to
London, but to the youth
exchange too. It was the 9th. OK.
No problem. We will go
tomorow. TOMOROW?
Fast preparation from 9PM till 11
PM. Getting in the car after 4
hours of sleep. Taking off.
Landing. Of course we almost
missed our taking off part, since
we were really smart and
decieded to have a cofee in the
duty free area.
We arrived to London, got
through customs and grabbed our
bag. The sister picked us up at the
airport and drove us home. We
spent 3 days visiting, hanging out
and having fun.
My friend decided to take me to
visit a particular market, to which
I have decided not to ever go
again. I went there with no
currency that could possibly be
used in England. However, I had
$42 in my pocket, which for the
merchants meant no problem.
They were just as happy with
dollars as they would have been
with anything else. They
willingly take whatever you got.
A resaleor stopped me. Wanted to
sell me a leather jacket. I did not
like it. Was not long enough, was
big at the back. No problem. He
showed me another 40 jackets,
until he found one that I actually
liked myself. When I found a
jacket that I really fell in love
with, I reminded him, that there is
an other obsticle, I had no cash.
At that instant he pulled out a
terminal, literally, of his back
pocket. I was shocked. Visa,
Master Cast, credit, debit – all
was accepted. They were
prepared for everything. This is
how I ended up buying 4 earrings
and my first leather jacket.
After the market, we went home,
had lunch played video games. It
was our last night in London. We
knew that the following day we
had to pick up the other 3
participants at the airport.
One adventure had just ended. At
the same time another was about
to start. Life goes on.
Goodbyes are always hard. But
they are necessary. Every person
just flows in life like ships on the
sea. Sometimes they end up in a
harbour for a while, sometimes
they flounce on the ocean.
Usually they all go by themselves
but sometimes they meet. Maybe
in a harbour, maybe on the sea in
the middle of the storm.
Goodbyes are always hard. But
its good to have somebody by
your side, even if just for a little
while.
Édua Kocsis (Eddie)
I
I
Youth Media Monday, 20 February 2012
9
Games
P R A G U E S D H R M Y
K A Y P U A M J J H F F
G B E E W G D T R T E F H L D L J P O X F O R D
T S B D L M R D T R B C
A T M R D A J J F U X B R M C H A M P A G N E T
A D S T R T R C D R C I
D H X A K B I T L M H E D C W L F R B S F T D K
H U E L G R C T L R U R R T L I S B O N A A F Y
I S S N D R Y K E T V R
A L E P R E C H A U N A
PRAGUE
CHAMPAGNE
PAELLA
TALLIN
TARADDHRI
LISBONA
OXFORD
BRATISLAVA
LEPRECHAUN
TORUN
Youth Media Monday, 20 February 2012
10
MILAN
GUIMARAES
BULL
EIFFEL
VENCESLAO
KAMA
NITRA
GULASH
DANUBE
BEATLES
K G U I M A R A E S Y N
E A M D G R G J V E N I
I E I F Ñ T B U L L H T
F T L K E I Ñ T L T F R
F K A M A N O K O A K A
E Y N F D A N U B E S J
L Q T V I Q I I Y B B H
Ñ V E N C E S L A O Ñ D
L W I Ñ I F P O J A J K
Youth Media Monday, 20 February 2012
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