Under the Green Light • Oct 3, 2022 – Oct 11, 2022 • Câmpina, Romania
Board Diary
2.10.2022
It’s 7:40am and we’re about to board the plane that will take us to this new adventure: Under The Green Lights, in Romania. We arrived at Bucharest in the evening and used the night to do some sightseeing where we saw some monuments like the Arcul de Triumf. Tomorrow our journey in this project will start!
3.10.2022
Today we had to travel to the heart of the mountains in Câmpina, a city 2 hours away from the Paris of the East and we used the rest of the day to meet each other and the place.
4.10.2022
Finally, the first day of activities! In the morning we did some ice breaker games, as for example, in a circle we started saying our name and all the previous ones, so in the end we all had to know everyone. After lunch, we kept doing other ice breakers, in order to get to know each other better and we ended the day with the Spanish intercultural night where we learned about their culture and traditions and also tried their food.
5.10.2022
The second day is already here and the friendships are increasing. To start we wrote a letter to the (future) ourselves, talking about what we proposed to do in order to change our actions regardless climate change and in the afternoon we shared some opinions about climate crisis. In the night, the big moment as arrived: Portugal intercultural night! We had the chance to share our traditional music like Quim Barreiros and also give them a taste of our Porto wine and some food. (They loved it!)
6.10.2022
One more night as passed and today we made some dark humor theatres about this main topic that we’ve been discussing: climate. Besides that, we studied the sustainable development goals and did some reflection about them. One more intercultural night for today: the Turkish one. We enjoyed listening more about their culture while dancing to the sound of their traditional music.
7.10.2022
Today was our day to lead the activities! We started the morning with some energisers, and after we made a personality/personal values test with the other participants. In the afternoon we talked about activists and how they (and we) can change the world, and we ended with a video conference with a famous Romanian activist.
8.10.2022
Trip day is here!!! Today was a different day since we took off to a different city: Brasov was the one. Arriving there, we had to split into two groups as each one wanted. One group visited the city center while the other went to the Dracula’s house: Bran’s Castle. It was incredible!
9.10.2022
Back in the vila, we had to do an example of an EU green deal press conference, with journalists, companies, citizens etc. We really got into the vibe and maybe it got too aggressive, but for sure everyone had a lot of fun!! After lunch, we had to create a service that would help to promote EU green deal actions and we also did some brainstorming about this theme. At night the last intercultural night took place with the last 3 countries: Italy, Romania and North Macedonia, all together.
10.10.2022
In this last day of activities, we split into several groups and had to think of some useful tips and tricks for transforming climate anxiety into actions that would make a difference. In the afternoon we had our final evaluation and packed. Tomorrow is departure day :/
11.10.2022
Today we had to wake up really early in order to leave this little paradise in the mountains but at night we finally arrived at Porto’s airport. Can’t wait for the next project!
Time to meet the Portuguese that participated in this adventure
🙋♀️ Hi, my name is Daniela Nogueira, I’m 21 years old and I come from Paredes, Portugal.
🙋♂️ Hey guys, I’m Miguel Moreira, I’m 20 years old and I come from Santa Maria da Feira, Portugal.
🙋♀️ Hello, my name is Ariana Pereira, I’m 20 years old and I come from Paredes, Porto.
🙋♂️ Hello, my name is Francisco Ferreira, I’m 22 years old and I come from Paredes, Portugal.
🙋♀️ Hey, I’m Inês Barbosa, I’m 20 years old and I come from Paredes as well.
🙋♂️ Sup, my name is Cláudio Pereira, I’m 17 years old and I’m also from Paredes.
How did you guys hear about this project?
(Daniela) I learned about this project through my cousin, Ariana, who was also selected for it.
(Miguel) Last summer, a friend of mine told me about it, and without thinking twice I just applied!
(Ariana) This summer I had a volunteering experience about protecting and conserve the forests. Since the responsible for this project knew that I cared about the environment she told me about this and I decided to give it a shot.
(Francisco) My first contact with the project was through a friend who knew my area of training and knew that one of my concerns was sustainability, leading me to accept the project with all interest.
(Inês) I got to know this project when a friend of mine sent me a link with all the informations related to the project, since he knew I’d like to get involved in this kind of adventures, especially the ones concerning environmental issues.
(Cláudio) I learned about this project from my sister, Ariana, who had already been on a similar project.
Is this your first Erasmus+ experience?
(Cláudio) No. In 2019 I had already participated with my school.
(Inês) Yes, it is my first Erasmus + experience and I loved it.
(Francisco) No, this is my second Erasmus+ project. Both projects were carried out in Romania, one at the old town in Bucharest about fundraising and this one in Valea Doftanei about climate change.
(Ariana) Like I said before, I already did one project like this. It was this January, called “youth in leens” which consisted in a photographic exposition made by the participants.
(Miguel) Not at all. My first touch with the Erasmus world was back in 2018 were still in high school I was part of the Erasmus planning team and also received a greek guy in my house for a week. Then, this february I also did my own Erasmus for education with my university, in Bratislava, Slovakia, for 5 months, and now here I am!
(Daniela) It’s my 2nd Erasmus+ experience. The first was in Malta back in July, on a project called “younited” and it was related to unemployment and youth entrepreneurship.
Francisco, do you know what different kind of Erasmus+ projects exists?
(Francisco) Education, Youth, Training and Sports!
And can anyone tell me the differences between them?
(Miguel) Youth exchanges allow groups of young people from different countries to meet, live together and work on shared projects for short periods, learning in an unformal way. In the opposite, we have education exchanges, which are taken on colleges and it’s the more known one. It leaves us with sports and training exchanges. This last one is similar to the youth one but here you’ll have to work more because it’s main goal is give people the knowledge necessary for working in each area. For last, sports is like it name says, an exchange that incentives the participation in several sports activities.
Why did you decide to come, Ariana?
(Ariana) I decided to join this project because it is related to the degree that I’m taking. Sustentability and the environment are big topics this days and our future is in big danger. It is an area that I’m very interested because every time that I learn more I can improve my day to day actions.
What did you learn on this project? And did it made a difference to be team leader?
(Daniela) I learned to be even more aware of the issue of sustainability, to communicate better and better express my ideas. I improved skills such as communication, teamwork, creativity in the proposed activities and even the English language. I also learned some expressions in other languages and gestures too, new cultures as well as trying new dishes. As for being a team leader, the only extra responsibility I had was to go to meetings and pass on the information that was passed to me to colleagues.
Cláudio, would you repeat an experience like this? Why?
(Cláudio) Of course I want to repeat. I loved the experience and it helped me getting motivation to improve my english.
Inês, for you, what’s the most remarkable moment of this project?
(Inês) It’s really hard to choose only one remarkable moment, because I will remember most of them in the future, but if I had to pick just one it would be the intercultural nights, where we got to know the typical food, drinks and songs from each country, while playing some games and dancing along.
What did you enjoy the most Miguel? And the least?
(Miguel) For me pretty much everything was great! But for sure the friendships that I made here were the best of it! I’m sure everyone would agree with me, because in this kind of projects were we all live together 24h a day, it’s pretty easy to make connections that will go for a lifetime. Can’t wait to visit my new friends in their own countries. As for the part that I enjoyed the least, probably the breakfast 😅 In general, I enjoyed the food, but in the breakfast it was king of weird. As for the rest, I loved it!
Ariana, do you think the staff made a good choice in the place?
(Ariana) In my opinion the responsibles that organised this project chose a perfect location. This because it is an isolated place, in the mountains of the city Câmpina, where we were able to be in touch with the nature.
To end, Francisco, what’s your advice to the organisations that are taking care of this kind of projects?
(Francisco) As a youth exchange project, by young people for young people, it is common sense that we like to keep in touch with the outside world, so my suggestion is to share with the participants which operators provide services in the surrounding area, for example.