Youth Exchange Blog: SOLIDEU in Villalar de los Comuneros, Spain, by Kai

I decided to take part in this project because it seemed very cool and something really out of my comfort zone, because I am a very shy person. I also love traveling so I knew I had to go and see the world. I took this opportunity as a sign to apply and see where life would take me. This was my first Erasmus project and to be honest I didn’t really have any major expectations, because I didn’t want to overthink anything, I just wanted to go with the flow and enjoy every moment in a new country.

My contribution in this project was to represent my country and I really wanted other people to know more about my country, because my country (Estonia) is very small and many people don’t even know it exists or they have heard some things, which they don’t even know are true. During the project I met many people but some of them really stood out for me, and I clicked with them on a deep level. They even wanted me to teach them my language and were constantly asking questions about my country, which was very heart-warming for me because I saw how they want to educate themselves. We did some groupworks too, where we had to discuss different topics and it was very interesting to hear about different people's point of views. Every night we had an intercultural night and when it was Estonians' turn, I prepared a Kahoot game for everyone.

During the project I learned a lot about myself, others and experienced the culture differences, which were very interesting. I learnt that sometimes it is better to keep your opinions to yourself, because sometimes people are very close minded and they are not going to treat you the same, if you disagree with them. Being close minded does not make you a bad person but I would never want to be one. I also learnt a lot about the other countries, that were participating, and I literally remember basically everything, which means that I was indeed very much interested.

I do have some suggestions for the next exchanges. I think that the group should visit different cities nearby with a bus and do some activities there, because in my case, we were in a little town and there was not much to do but I managed because I made friends and I spent most of my time with Italians and I love them very much. One day we went to see a city and it was very nice, I really enjoyed it. The whole time we had free time to see places that we wanted to, and I went on a walk with my friends and also visited some stores. Overall, when I travel, I want to see as many places as possible.

I would 100% recommend these kinds of projects to my friends and I already have actually. I am really happy that I took part in this project, because I made new friends, and it was so refreshing to talk to new people. I really enjoyed the intercultural nights that we had, and I think they were very meaningful for everyone. I learnt that the world is so big, and I have not seen anything in my life yet, I have so much to see and experience and I obviously really look forward to it.