Together in Motion – Erasmus+ in Estonia and it was wicked
Together is Motion
Erasmus+ Youth Exchange 2024.
I would have to say that this was one of the best Erasmus+ Youth Exchanges I have ever had the pleasure to be a team leader at. Well planned, well organized. The fine folks from the Estonian NGO, interEST, put on an exchange that was the largest I have ever been to. Moving 60 people around is no small task. InterEST did it flawlessly.
The venue was excellent, well equipped, well laid out, plenty of space for the entire group to move around Together in Motion. There were enough indoor spaces in case of foul weather, all facilities were clean, well maintained, Food was plentiful and afforded us all an insight into Estonian cuisine and culture.
There was ample free time to allow participants to mingle and hang out. This is truly a key element to Erasmus+ Youth Exchanges and one that is often lacking, or not well planned out. However, here, it was done in a timely manner allowing participants to relax yet learn from each other between and after workshops. For example, the Hungarian folk dance Ördög Útja was a big hit and participants were dancing it in many breaks and in the evening. The Hungarian and Spanish team even held an impromptu dissemination session at the Helsinki airport, dancing it twice and explaining to the passengers about to board a flight to Madrid what the project was about.
The workshops were well thought out, well spaced, even thoug the project was called Together in Motion there were a couple of sessions that were more stationary and these were placed very strategically. This helped participants better understand what the project was about, how Erasmus+ YEs are developed and how to cooperate in international groups in such activities.
All in all, I would like to tip my hat to interEST and to the Poli team. Well done, folks. Well done!
Rob Dawson
This Erasmus+ was my second Youth Exchange project, organised by the NGO called interEST. On our journey to the camp, we spent a day exploring Tallinn, swimming in the sea, and experiencing an authentic Estonian sauna by the beach. I was excited to explore the country and bond with the Hungarian team.
At the camp, we arrived at charming green wooden houses surrounded by a beautiful pine forest. The first day was dedicated to introductions and setting rules, followed by workshops on mental health and group activities. I enjoyed all the programs, with each country offering something unique. The location was perfect, with various sports facilities and even mountain biking through the forest, which was a highlight for me. I made many new friends from different countries and hope to maintain these connections through social media.
The intercultural nights were the most fun, with each country presenting food, folk dances, songs, and cultural facts. We discussed our cultural differences and similarities, broadening our understanding. One day, we visited Pärnu and performed a flash mob, which was a great way to experience another Estonian city. A lake near the camp provided a unique experience, with a mobile sauna and singing around the fire as night fell.
I’m grateful for the opportunity to meet such amazing people and share our experiences during the workshops and even the late-night conversations.
I am very happy to have worked with such fantastic group leaders, organisers and students, and I am sure that we will be able to use a lot of useful things in Poli
Lipták Orsi
At the first night we stayed in Tallin for a day, went sightseeing, swam in the sea and even had a sauna by the beach. So, it was nice for me that we got to know each other before we met the others. The camp was next to the forest and the whole area was beautiful and charming. We lived in little green wooden houses. The food was delicious, and we got to know the Estonian cuisine well. We usually had porridge for breakfast and potatoes every day for lunch and dinner as well, but it was delicious. The participants were so nice, talkative, friendly and so were the leaders. They were from five different countries: Estonia, Slovakia, Palestine, Spain, Bulgaria and Hungary were the sixth. We had a lot of workshops about sports and about our health, how to eat/live healthier. I liked the beach volleyball, and the basketball programmes the most. We also went mountain biking with friends in the beautiful forest. There was a lake nearby and we went there swimming twice. Once they even hired a mobile sauna for us. It was incredibly magical and timeless. My favourite programme was the culture night where each team presented their own country. Everyone brought some national food and usually taught their national dance and song. It ended up being kind of a party. OveralI, enjoyed every part of this youth exchange and I’m so sad that I had to come back to my normal life, but I made some national friends, and I hope that we’ll see each other again sometime.
Somogyi Jana
We embarked on our journey on the 16th of August arriving to Tallin at night. We explored the city a bit and prepared for the next day back at our hostel. On the 17th we explored the city even more, because our arrival to the camp site was scheduled for the afternoon. This day we even got to swim in the sea and some of us even tried out a sauna on the beach. These two days were great for bonding with the Hungarian team before heading to the actual location of the Erasmus. Upon arriving we were shown to our rooms. We unpacked, had dinner and went to get some rest. The 18th mainly consisted of ice-breaking activities and getting to know the other participants from the Canary Islands, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Estonia and Palestine. On the 19th we had some workshops surrounding the topic of mental and physical well-being and had our first intercultural night. Day 3 and the 20th we went to explore the nearby city of Pärnu where we performed a little flashmob. On the 21st we had some sports game workshops, and our team conducted our first workshop about sharing traditions in our countries. At night we had the 2nd intercultural night aswell. On the 22nd we held our second workshop about a nutrition and eating habits in our cultures. This day we also talked about the dissemination activities each of us will perform after the Erasmus. On the 23rd we gave a bunch of feedback to each other and the leaders as well and at night we had a goodbye party where we cooked up some bread by the campfire. Then on the 24th we left the camp early in the morning by bus and flew home. In conclusion the youth exchange was an incredibly fun and productive time where I have met some pretty interesting people and explored Estonia a bit too.
Csabai Zalán
That was my first Eramsus Youth Exchange. It was very good, that we had the oppurtunity to explore Tallinn and swim in the sea. When we arrived, I constantly noticed the kindness of the people, their intelligence and their excellent social skills. The venue was awesome, we had the oppurtunity to do a lot of sports. I liked that, it was very close to the nature and the air was clean, and it wasn’t noisy. There were a lot of interesting workshops about mental health, nutrition, h and about our cultures. We organised 2 workshops: The effect of nutrition and Traditions in our countries. Almost every night we had various events. I enyojed the 2 intercultural nights the most. At this event, we need to present something about our country, for example: folk dance, food, quiz and national anthem. It was very interesting to see the other cultures, and talk about the differences with the others. One day they even rented a sauna for us! It was a caravan near the lake, so after we could run into the lake, cool down, and go back. It was really relaxing, and we had a such good time. On the last night, we made bread on the fire, and we danced a lot with others. It was very sad, that we had to left. I made some great friends and we can stay in touch in the future. This Erasmus was incredible, I really enjoyed. and I met a lot of very kind people. I hope there will be similarly good projects in the future.
Martis Gergő
This Estonian project was my first youth exchange project, and i loved it. I really liked that we could stay in Tallinn for a day, I really liked Talinn we had time to swim in the Baltic sea, which was really cool, and the whole city was just really cool. After Tallinn we took a really chill bus ride to Jõulumäe, where the whole project was located. The camp and the whole complex was great. I really liked that the forest was just right next to us. The was okay, i think, it was different, but it was good. I got really cool roomates, we had a lot of fun, but sometimes they were annoying too. The people were just amazing. The Spanish guys were crazy, in a good way, they were kind and I had a lot of good conversations with them. The Bulgarians were the chillest guys in the project, they English was really good, so it was really easy to talk with them, and having fun. The Palestinian guys were also cool guys, they were full energy. The Estonians were just in chill for the whole week, they are in another universe, but i love them. And last but not least the Slovakians guys were also kind, and it was really good to having a conversations with them, cause we almost have the same cultures, and stuff, so it was great.
The topic and programs were okay, i expected something else, but it was weel organized, and they were not boring which was really good. I really liked the idea of each country doing 2 workshops, it was fun because we could connect a bit and get to know the culture of the organising country.We did two workshops, one about “traditions in our countries”, and one about “The effect of nutrition on a person”, i enjoyed them, they were cool i think. Basically, the whole week was like a big summer camp, which was awesome, i really liked the intercultural nights, the lot of dance we did, we were always dancing Ördög Útja which is traditional hungarian dance and everybody just loved it. I also liked the sauna program, what we did at that wonderful lake, you could run in to the lake right from the hot sauna, it was awesome. In summary this erasmus was on the best thing what i did at this summer, Ivreally didn’t want to come home, it was too good.
Peer Zsombor
This Estonian project was my first Erasmus where I travelled as well, and I can’t imagine a better first experience than this incredible project. We spent the first night in Tallinn, the next day we discovered the old town and even swam in the Baltic Sea. These two days were great for the Hungarian team to hang up and get to know each other before we meet the other participants. We arrived at the camp pretty late, so we ate quickly, unpacked and went to rest. We lived in small green houses next to the forest which was fascinating and magical at the same time. The first days we played obviously a lot of icebreaker games to get to know the other participants as well. They were from Slovakia, Estonia, Bulgaria, Spain and Palestine. Everyone was so friendly, kind and open-minded, I was so happy to speak and spend time with them. We had a lot of interesting workshops where we could try different sports and activities, learned about mental health and healthy lifestyle. We organized 2 workshops, one about “The effect of nutrition on a person” and the other was “Traditions in our country”, I think both of them were pretty cool especially the second one where everyone had to learn a traditional dance from another country then they had to teach it to the others. I really liked the culture nights, I learned lot of things about their traditions, food and basic info about the country and the people. I was extremely surprised how the others loved our traditional dance called Ördög Útja, and after we showed them, they learned it pretty fast and danced it every time we were together, even in the Helsinki airport. Near to our camp there was a lake and one night the main organizer rented a sauna for us, so we could run to the lake right after we got out from it. The whole week was amazing, the place was beautiful, I met a lot of kind new people and had an excellent time. It was the best part of my summer, and it was really sad when we had to say goodbye to our new friends and the gorgeous place where we stayed. I truly didn’t want to come home, I loved every second of the Erasmus and I hope I can see the others one day.
Ceglédi Fanni
This was my first Erasmus project and I loved every single part of it. On the beginning we spent a day in Tallin and it was very cool. We explored the old city which was beautiful and we were also able to swim in the sea. Later that day we arrived at the camp where the project was organized. The camp was very cool it had multiple sports courts and a forest right next to it. On the first day we played lots of ice breaker games so we were able to get to know the other participants who were from Estonia, Spain, Slovakia, Palestine and Bulgaria. Everybody was very friendly which made it easy to talk to and understand each other even though we were from different countries and didn’t speak English perfectly. During the week we had lots of interesting workshops about mental health, sports, healthy lifestyle and our cultures. We also organized two of the workshops one of them was about “Traditions in our countries” where we taught national dances to each other and the other one was about “The effect of nutrition on a person” where they had to make a healthy menu for a day in groups. Almost every night we had different events: a neon party, two intercultural nights and a goodbye party. The two intercultural were the best in my opinion where we showed a part of our culture to the others with dances, songs and foods. After the intercultural part we turned it into a party both times. On our night we taught them a Hungarian national dance called “Ördög útja” which they enjoyed so much that we danced it multiple times in the following days. We even danced it on the airport twice when we met the Spanish team on the way back. Near the camp was a lake and the organizer one day rented a sauna for us and he brought it next to the lake so we were able to cool down in it and it was an experience of a lifetime. This week was the best week of my summer by far I can’t even describe it properly how good it was. I miss it so much already the beautiful place, the nice weather, the food and the people who I met there, I miss them the most. I really hope I’ll be able meet them again someday.
Jáger Szabolcs
I have never been in a Youth Exchange before so I was really excited to experience this kind of Erasmus+ project. On our way to the camp we had a whole day to discover the city of Tallin, swim in the sea and try out a real Estonian sauna next to the beach. I was so happy that we had the chance to discover other parts of this country and get to know the Hungarian team also. Then, we arrived to the camp: little green wooden houses surrounded by a beautiful forest of pine trees, moss and berries everywhere. From the next day the days are melting together in my memories. On the first day the focus was on getting to know each other, learning the names and writing rules for our time together. Then the workshops started in the theme of mental health and moving our bodies together. I personally enjoyed all of the programs. Every country prepared something different but exciting and it was a really good opportunity to build friendships and learn about each other. I loved the location so much, we had the chance to try out a bunch of sports. All the courts were really good. We could even try out some mountain bikes in the beautiful forest, it was amazing I am still dreaming about it. People from every country were so kind and friendly, I made a lot of friends and I really hope that we can keep these friendsips for a long time through social media and maybe one day we can meet again. We had two intercultural nights and honestly I had the most fun during these two nights. Every country prepared some food, folk dance, songs and interesting facts about their countries and it was very exciting to learn all these new things from each other. We talked about our cultural differences and similarities and just expanded our knowledge. At the end of these nights we always danced, it was really nice to connect this way with each other. One day we visited the city of Parnu and did a flashmob on a big square. It was nice to see an other Estonian city, go to the beach and see the people, the architecture, the life there. There was a lake close to the camp and once our project leader rented a mobile sauna for us. It was a unique experience, running to the lake in the last lights of the sun after the hot sauna, and then singing around the fire while it got dark then walking back in te dark forest together, still singing… I am happy that I could get to know the Hungarian team also and we always had a great time preparing our workshops or just chatting in the sauna. I am so happy that I had the chance to meet these amazing people, I also had fun practicing English while talking in the evenings with my roommates. It was sad to say goodbye, knowing that everyone will go home to very different points of the world, but I am grateful that we could even meet and have these nice memories together, and I do hope that I can someday meet with them again.
Dévényi Piroska
