Young people and experiences of the city

17 August 2006

Young people and experiences of the city

5 – 14 August 2006, Ferrara, Italy

For me this exchange started on 4 August at dawn (5:00 AM!) when we took off with our yellow, funny, small coach. Our yellow „friend” was really good place for integration of our polish group and new friendships we made and what, in my opinion, will last in our memories for years. When we reached for Ferrara we were warmly greeted and for the first time on this project we could taste delicious italian cuisine. Our hotel was situated close to the centre of Ferrara, the town where at every step we could feel wonderful italian culture, drop into small, lively „caffeteria” for strong caffe. We enjoyed sweet italian breakfast and lunches with many kinds of noodles. There were people from Italy, Estonia, Bulgaria, Romania and Poland involved in this exchange who were interested in dicussion about activities, roles, responsibilities of youth in political, social and community life. Moreover, participants spoke about ways of empowermenting young people to act more efficienty and about the aspect, problems or benefits of youth mobility in Europe. All workshops were well prepared and professionally led so that we were able to meet friends and to get to know new cultures. And here is the list of most interesting points of a project:
– orienteering walk aroung Ferrara.
– meeting with local government and participation in townhall council debates
– intercultural evening in „BuskersGarden” when we could see traditional dances, cuisines and customs of participating countries
– „experiment of handicap” that was a important experience for participants and that enlightened us on a need of building open society and on a issue of implementing architectural, technical and metodological solutions giving the handicapped a chance to be a part of a community
– an excursion to „Parco del delta” where we could admire natural inhabitants of the park and was given possibility to ride on horse and to bicycle.
Of course all good ends. Thanks to new friends we met, experiences we got and places we saw, we are able now to live in more colourful way.

Tomek Bednarek

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