In August, Ticket2Europe sent 5 youth ages 16 – 22 on a youth exchange in Rietavas, Lithuania called «Emotions in Motion». During the youth exchange, participants learned about all 5 aspects of emotional intelligence including self-awareness, other awareness (empathy), motivation, self-regulation, and relationship management. Here are the reflections of the participants to see how this project had a impact on them:
Veronica:
The youth exchange »Emotions in Motion» took place in Rietavas, Lithuania, from 19-08-2018 to 28-08-2018. 26 people from Lithuania, Croatia, Romania and Spain participated in it.
The topic of the project was Emotional Intelligence, so each day we worked on a smaller topic about that. The first day of sessions (20-08) was Teambuilding day. We played games and did some activities to get to know each other a little bit.
The following days we learnt about self-awareness, empathy, motivation, self-regulation, relationship management and emotional intelligence in social media. The last day we also got to know more about E+ programme and its opportunities for us.
Besides sessions, we had evening activities. There were two intercultural nights, in which each country had the chance to present their culture and to bring some typical dishes for the rest of the group to try. We had a lot of fun in them and they are also a unique opportunity to really have an insight into the culture in such a short time.
Appart from the intercultural nights, we had a film night in which we saw ‘Inside Out’, a very appropriate film as it talks about the different emotions we have and how important they are.
We had also Passion Night- divided in teams we had to guess who each object from a box belonged to. By the way, our team won 😉
Finally, the night before the last one we organised a Video Party in the Cultural centre of Rietavas (where the intercultural nights were held) where we invited some locals to see our videos about the importance of Emotional Intelligence in the community. At the end we talked with them and we played human bingo!! We had a really good time.
From my personal view, this project gave me a totally new perspective on human connections. For me, they are the most important thing in life and having new skills to manage my relationships is for sure going to increase my level of happiness. I also feel more #open-minded and less judgemental when it comes to meeting new people.
Last but not least, I learnt soooo much about myself and how to control my emotions instead of letting them control me.
I really needed this project at this point of my life, and everyday since I came back home I see myself acting different and being more conscious about me and the others. I’m so thankful I had this opportunity, as with any project I can go to.
I really feel happier now. I’ve fallen in love with the country, its people and its culture. I’ve met new friends that I really know will be friends for life. I’ve travelled not only outside but inside myself. New projects and ideas have come up from this project.
As a conclusion, Emotions in Motion has had a huge impact in me and in our communities, and this has just started for all of us 🙂
Irene:
Del 19 al 29 de agosto tuve el placer de conocer a un grupo de gente en Lituania que me acompañó durante un viaje que hice dentro de mi misma buscando mi inteligencia emocional, la cual era el tópico del proyecto. Tengo que decir que los primeros días fue difícil abrirse realmente con todos los miembros del grupo pero las actividades que hicimos nos llevaron a enseñar nuestras verdaderas personalidades, valores, objetivos, miedos, inseguridades, habilidades y mucho más. Trabajamos como un verdadero equipo que poco a poco se fue uniendo hasta el último minuto del proyecto.
Del propio país, Lituania, tendría que destacar que me sentí como en casa, no solo por los similares paisajes y el tiempo parecido, si no por que la gente fue verdaderamente amable y generosa conmigo aún sabiendo que mi casa estaba muy lejos de allí. Realmente es maravilloso salir de tu zona de confort y sentir que eres tan bienvenido y acogido. Además, se que siempre que quiera podré volver al youth centre en Rietavas porque allí me esperarán con los brazos abiertos.
También me gustaría hablar de mi actividad favorita, “Vulnerability”, creo que fue una forma de unirnos entre nosotros con unos lazos muy fuertes. Desde que comenzamos la actividad hasta que la acabamos muchas emociones pasaron por mi cabeza y creo que al terminar tenía más amigos que al empezar, solamente por el hecho de que abrí partes de mi a otras personas que ni siquiera yo me atrevo a aceptar. Hablar desde el corazón y sobre cosas tan profundas como hicimos nos puso en una situación en la que todos pensamos que no estábamos solos en el mundo, que había gente que nos entendía.
Al margen de lo ocurrido en Rietavas, al volver a mi ciudad todo lo aprendido durante esos 10 días me sirvieron para mucho. Intenté y sigo intentando poner en práctica mi inteligencia emocional, tanto con mis amigos como con mi familia y cualquier persona que pueda conocer. Creo que en tan solo unos pocos días fui capaz de avanzar mucho interiormente como persona y esto me llevó a ponerme más en contacto con la gente de mi alrededor, entenderlos mejor y entender mis propias reacciones, lo que es muy gratificante.
Por último me gustaría hablar sobre Erasmus+ en general. En las dos veces que estuve en proyectos siempre me acordé de mis amigos y de lo mucho que me gustaría que ellos y ellas también pasaran por algo que te abre tanto los ojos. Los YE te enseñan cosas sobre otros lugares, culturas, idiomas, personas, pero sobre todo de ti mismo. Durante los días que estás fuera del país puedes ver cómo reaccionas ante situaciones que no se te presentan en el día a día, en la comodidad de tu casa y con e refuerzo de tu familia, son unos días especiales en los que puedes investigarte. Creo que todo el mundo debería tener la oportunidad de formar parte al menos de uno de estos intercambios que te pueden enseñar mucho más en unos días que en un año entero de clase en el instituto.
Ndeye Ata:
On 19th of August a great project began, that project has got his end on the 28th of the same month. So they was 9 special days. 5 countries were united forming a group of 26 people, those countries were Croatia, Spain, Lithuania, Poland and Romania. Different people, different cultures, feelings and thoughts gathered to discuss a topic together, emotional intelligence. Emotions in motion. We were working day by day on this topic and that was what helped us a lot, because it changed things about us. All gathered to discover more about our feelings and that’s how we took advantage of each day that passed and that was what produced a great union between all until the last minute of the project. And for me it is and will be one of the most important experiences of my life since it opened my mind a lot and changed things about me. And good to thank you all for making this experience unforgettable, you are incredible.
think the world has to discover more things like this, because projects like these help a lot.
Maria:
From the 19th till the 28th of August I attended to the exchange project «Emotions in motion» which was held in Rietavas (Lithuania). The topic of the program was emotional intelligence. Before I went to this Erasmus+ opportunity little did I know what actually meant this two words… emotional… ok, I guessed it was something related to emotions… and intelligence… guessed capacities or abilities. After the project not only my knowledge about the topic has changed but also my perception of myself and others in term of emotions and feelings.
Emotional intelligence is described as «the capacity to be aware of control and express one’s emotions; and to handle interpersonal relationships with good judgement and empathy.» When this description was given to us I did not really think that it would have so much repercussion in our daily life.
Through experiential learning and non-formal education methodology the 25 participants of this project learnt about the importance of the emotional intelligence and what does it cover: the sense of purpose of emotions; the importance of the self-awareness as the personal emotional connection and self assesment; social awareness and empathy, tolerance and communication; relationship management, with collaboration, leadership and communication between others; motivation, attitude, engagement, etc.; and self-regulation with the management of emotions and flexibility in different situations. For example, concerning self-awareness we did an activity in which one of our «senses» was limitied (vision, hands and speaking) and in teams we had to build up a dream house for the whole group. I can point out the fact that I had to accept my difficulties; we all were working out of out comfort zone and had to take responsability of others, including the ones that could not see. At first I felt very limited but after a couple of minutes I realised I had to have the best attitude in order to solve the problem.
The activities were very well-organised and we had a variety of them. In most of them we had to put in practice everything that we had been learning those days: teamwork, active listening and tolerance. I consider that I have grown as a person surrounded by people from 5 different countries: Poland, Lithuania, Croatia, Romania and Spain. These people started being complete stranger for me and they ended up becoming part of my personal-growth, mostly emotional. I have learned to overcome my fears and also be aware of other’s emotions. This opportunity has given me the chance to experience empathy to its fullest; emotional awareness and friendship as well. I feel very proud of myself and also very lucky that I can take part of projects such as «Emotions in motion”.
Alvaro:
Emotional intelligence is described as the capacity to recognize, understand and manage our own emotions, but also others’ emotions. It sounds good, right? Well… at least it did for me. That was my only knowledge about it when I first heard about this project, and the main reason why I applied.
Actually I had no idea about what emotional intelligence exactly was, but I was very excited to learn about it. Maybe it was just instinct, or maybe it was because I say a huge opportunity to grow as a person with this topic. This was my second project, and I had a very bigger self-confidence (although it’s difficult to believe I could have even more… 😝) in contrast with the first one, which was in Nova Gradiška (Croatia), and the topic was Critical Thinking. It was a huge challenge for me, but I made a bigger effort and I could «handle it». That fact encouraged me to go on more project and keep on growing as a person and meeting fantastic people, and also making some friends…
I was really impressed with my behaviour before arriving to Lithuania. I felt 0% nervous, and I didn’t know why! Now I know that this is because challenge and self-confidence are very important values for me, so it’s never an option not to get this kind of opportunities. When I first got there – probably it was 1:30 am or something like that – I felt a very low energy and a pesimistic environment, and I was just trying to make everything seem positive. At least for me. And I think I did. I thought it would be much harder than the first project, but also worse, or at least it was what is seemed like.
The first days people were not very participative, and I was trying hard to know new people and have more participations in the workshops. I felt no connection, and I wasn’t ok with that. Then, on the 3rd day or 4th, I saw people were starting to open themselves, and I liked it. I was trying to make everyone feel comfortable and confident, and as I was one of the youngest participants, I realised that I could encourage people to participate and open themselves by exactly doing that. And things started to go better. Actually much better. And the last 5 days were just awesome. There was a nice connection between almost everybody and a very friendly environment.
I think we got to have this good connection because of that activity. That hard one, yes. «Vulnerability». In this activity emotions were all around everywhere, and I think this was the main reason to get a good connection because I realised that everyone knew in that moment that «You are not alone». No one is. Lots of people were opening themselves and giving a big trust to others, and it made a very big change in the project from my view.
In terms of activities, I feel very fullfilled – activities were very complete, with excellent explanations and very important: we always put what we had just learnt into practice. That was the point that made me really take advantage of every session, because probably every participant felt low in at least one session, but when it was about putting it into practice, it was much easier to understand and also to internalize the session. I think we all are very aware now of what do self-regulation, self-awareness, others’ awareness, relationship management and motivation mean and we also improved them. Now we just have to it in our daily lives.
I’m very grateful to have lived this experience, and to know amazing people, but also very happy to see and share this experience with some friends, like Romy Alexandra although she lives near me, or Luka Tunjić, who is my big brother and I really appreciate him, as he also appreciates me (I’m also glad to have met her sister Petra Tunjic)
Finally I can just say thanks for making me grow as a person and give me this great opportunity, and I would like to thank every single participant for being such good people and making the most of my personal experience. I can only be glad.
At the end of the project, participants created their own videos about emotional intelligence to share with others. Here are links to the videos:
We also have a final video of the whole project and here you can enjoy it:
