Blogs of Participants

Agnieszka Piekarz
This is my second project. I'm very enjoyed. This week's bring me benefit. First I'm more creative and open for new things. Second I learn new form education. The best in this project are teams works. Session are intresting and help me understand how I discover myself in new situations. I'm happy because I can meet new very intresting people. To sum up whole project is very fulfilling.

Anna Oblach
Merhaba,
right now I am in the beautiful Antalya with the task of writing somenthing about the training course I am taking part to and I find impossible to sum up in few sentences how amazing this experience is. This is the first time I am attending to a training course...and I would do it definitely again. The course was about Non Formal Education with a focus on youth workers, so a topic in wich I belong. It is fantastic how much you can learn through having fun! I liked espacially the brain storming sessions in wich all the partecipants could confront themselves and, in this way, exchange point of views on specific topic choose with criteria from the trainer. What I love , and I now I will miss too much, is the enviroment. There are 9 countries rappresented by 3 partecipants. During the training course I could acquire a lot of information from their culture and habits even without visiting physically the country. With each of them I partied togheder, shared food (and drinks), we laught, we sang and we exchanged our experiences. This is what I found more important: the fact that i could get in touch with people so differnt from me and discovered that eventually we are not different at all.


Barbora Havranová
The week in Antalya opened our eyes a bit more. Each one of us chellenged himself or herself. Each person did in a bit different way. But the general results were the same for all of us. It made us think... Think about ourselves, about others, about the world, about good and bad... I'm also sure that it will help us to improve our work, not just with the youth, but in general. Finally and very honestly, it was an exhausting week, full of activities, but the delicious turkish food, tea and coffee helped us to stay fit until the end!

Brigita Nikova
I participated in the “Non-formal education for Youth Workers” project based in Antalya, Turkey, that took place between 8-15 February. At the beginning I was quite worried, because I was not so competent on that topic and I was not sure if I could take part in the project. But then when I arrived and the activities started I saw that they were made for both people, that have worked in that field and for people, that have not. I was surprised, in a positive way, to realize that I have a lot of fun during the activities and at the same time I learn new helpful methods of NFE. During those days of the project I learned how to trust others, how to trust myself, thanks to the activities from the second day(first day of activities) and also we did an activity describing the different methods of education that helped me educate myself on the topic. Then on the third day, thanks to the activities, I learned things about me that I have never realized before. I also learned how to define the different conflict dynamics in other people. Then on the fourth day we had to write for ourselves the attitudes, skills and knowledge we received during the two previous days of activities, which was quite hard to write, because I had to analyze myself on a more deeper level and actually go through everything one more time and see for myself. But at the end I saw I actually learn from the activities we have, even if they are not so theoretical, which are fun and really energetic. Then on the fifth day we had a city tour of Antalya, even if I have been in Antalya before and I have seen the old town, I saw more things like two waterfalls, that were absolutely gorgeous, some more of the city center, the really nice panoramic views and the boat tour we had. And even on the city tour I was learning more about Antalya by just going to it. You learn while you have a nice time. On the sixth day we visited youth center in Antalya, where we saw how the municipality of the city takes care of citizens. You could say that they also use a non-formal methods of education for their “students” and then at the afternoon we had an activity where we should create a non-formal method of education, which was really challenging and I never realized how much work that is. It helped me realize and appreciate all the work as the time that the facilitators have put into creating this training course. It helped me get involved in the work of a project and get closer to the workers in the NGO I come from. I’ve had a really nice time during this training course and I learned a lot from it, that I will use in the future and maybe even educate others. I guess the world really is your classroom.

Cristóbal Torres Fernández
"Non-formal Education for Youth Workers" training course has provided us the opportunity to learn new non-formal education tools and methodologies to implement in our projects and lives, in general. I consider the main topic of this training course has been really important because workers should know not only a lot of knowledge and competences or skills, but also good practices of non-formal methods and dynamics. These tools can also be applied to formal contexts, like in my case, at University or in some other situations where the final aim is to engage people to participate. To conclude, I would like to remark the importance of taking participation in such these projects, because they enrich you from different points of view and perspectives, because you can live an unforgettable experience and because you can learn from other cultures and other languages.

Daniel Nilsson
Seven days in Antalya.
While my work previously have been connected to NGOs and self-organized learning situations for now my situation is more restricted to a formal university classroom. I teach a bit, and I'm always looking for other (sometimes alternative) ways to engage students and make learning less streamlined and repetitive.
The academic perspectives in this course definitely have been helpful in several ways (for example analytical tools/glasses given that help us think about conflicts and inclusion in projects). But I would say that the main learning point for me personally have been the games and challenges that our group has been put through to learn about non-formal education itself. They have been giving us conflicts, the need to cooperate, fearless competition, emotional and personal reflection, an outlet for our creativity and a checklist for how creative you can be when teaching concepts.
From my formal education I've been taught to accumulate concepts just by thinking about ideas, and managing them internally and efficiently by wordplay. However, here Ive been shown fantastic examples on aesthetic and kinetic learning, how you can use your own and others bodies to exemplify those concepts, and how you can visualise conflicts, in a clear and very memorable way.


Dovile Stoskeviciute
I was very pleased to attend so wonderful project organized by IYACA team and enjoy an amazing time in Antalya. This week went really fast and each day of the training brought to me lots of excitement, inspirations and new professional ideas. I am just developing my knowledge and skills on non-formal education, therefore, all attended sessions for me were extremely useful and interesting. I am very happy with the kind attention given by the project facilitators‘ team which made our stay in Turkey especially easy and enjoyable. Moreover, I extremely appreciated the work of trainers (our energizing presenters) who were so dedicated to engage all the participants of the training into the team building activities and inspire us to dedicate all ourselves into the learning process. I will definitely come back to Turkey to be part of the future projects of Erasmus +.

Esra Mine Karakaş
Having a mixed group of different cultures, backgrounds and nationalities for me is the most educative thing in this course. This way we never stop learning from eachother. There were participants from different countries who gave me a lot of motivation to be an active citizen in different fields with their experiences and ideas. Every moment of our project my learning process continued.
I believe we have achieved a lot of things in different fields. Mainly in intercultural management and non-formal education. I enjoyed a lot the information we have got in every activity. I gained a lot of motivation to continue my process after this course to learn more and do more as an active citizen. You never forget what you learn while enjoying therefore I believe I will remember my experiences in this course whole my life. At the moment I'm an engineering student. Personally I'm inspired to study a new degree in the field of "education" because I'm aware of the importance of education to be able to reach the societies we want to have. And I would love to take my part in my society as an educator. I feel blessed for being a part of this project.


Jaime Puig Guisado
I enjoyed a lot in this training course about non-formal education. I had the opportunity to know more about methods and tools and I could share my experience with other people from other countries. It was very interesting to learn by doing for me. We developed a workshop including our own dynamics and this is very helpful in our daily life as youth workers.

Justyna Czerwonka
Before coming here I didn't know what to expect but this week was amazing. I experienced a lot and all the information I got helped me to develop my personal skills and the knowledge. Very important for me is that I was always working in international groups which required trust, communication and cooperation with other participants. During the activities we had I also understood my reactions in different situations and could share emotions and experiences with other participants. For me it was a very important lesson which cannot be taught at school.

Kemal Erdem Coşar
Hi everybody! I am Kemal and I am the participant of Iyaca youth association in Ankara. Today I am going to talk about the project that I took part in. First of all, I have to say that both the trainers and the participants were excellent! We spent seven days in Antalya where is the capital city of tourism. Every single day during the project time, I learnt various knowledge about non-formal, formal and informal learnings. We had also amazing moments that I will remember for years as sure even if we all were from different nations.
At the first day, I was shy but then I realized that it was okay to explain my all feelings and thoughts since everyone was really frank! At the cultural nights, I also learnt several local foods and drinks and cultural dances. I learn that every country has great places to visit! Thanks to the activities, I am better at taking place in front of the people. There were a lot of funny activities which made us feel more relaxed, happy and energetic. There were also several challenging activities which required brainstorming and creativity. What about the accommodation? Well, I had no problem about hotel and foods. Everything was okay. Every responsible person of hotel and association was nice and kind.
We have been to ASMEK where all public can get free lessons such as foreign languages and paintings... It was funny to observe there. Apart from the project, we found a chance to discover the beautiful city, Antalya. Overall, I am really glad to be part of both Iyaca and the project.
I am going to miss this week. Take care of you!


María Iglesias Redondo
It's my third time in Turkey and it always surprises me, for its culture, its citizens and for all that I learned. This time we had Non-Formal Education as an object. All activities have been dynamic and active, so I have been able to share experiences and knowledge with people from other countries. All these things have done a multicultural learning that makes me a better person and professional. 

Xuan Mai Phamová
What is valuable on Erasmus Plus projects is not only the knowledge and skills you gain, but also people you meet. Here, I’ve met some of the most interesting people in the world from different countries, different background, age, religions and beliefs who truly inspired me. Ranging from 19 to 40 years, from students to social workers, dancers or professors from 8 European countries, we surprisingly “clicked” together very quickly and found a common passion, passion to make this world better through non-formal education. There were people who worked in an African slum or in bread house for disabled people, or with gypsies in Bulgaria or in a humanitarian project in Cambodia or organizing sport challenges in Lithuanja - hearing their stories really helped me to see and understand the world from different perspective.
Just after one day, I felt like I know these people for more than months or year and despite some challenges (language barrier, cultural differences and many many misunderstandings) - I enjoyed working and learning with them. I think we made together some great memories - chilling and drinking on the beach at night, playing theatre, dancing, singing… it was really fun!
I am really grateful for opportunity to join this project as it was really well organized, we had great facilitators, I learnt really many things which I will definitely use and I hope to see my friends somewhere again! :)
Teşekkür ederim! (Thank you!)


Živilė Jankauskaitė
I‘m coming here with expectations of learning something new regarding non-formal methods working with youth and with a fear that my expectations won’t be fulfilled. Antalya warm attractive place to organize a youth training, even weather is helping to keep participants in good mood and active participation. Surprisingly fast we become a team of totally strangers from different countries. Well, I could say that team building activities were very well prepared and after that made us to feel like one big family with friendship lasted for whole training course and hopefully after as well. New ideas, methods and adaptation of them were ‘thrown’ to my mind. Each provided method used here I am thinking right away how to adopt in my daily work. And I can say that I am full of great new ideas which broaden my daily working methods. Be formal, and non-formal in informal environment!