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

I chose to join this youth exchange because I'd never been to Spain, and the project's theme matched my values of helping others. It felt like a good opportunity for personal growth. I have previously been part of two Erasmus+ projects that were both very positive experiences for me, thus my expectations for this project were rather high.

Before the project my contribution was rather small, I only helped with the concept of Estonian cultural night. During the project I participated in every activity and always tried to give my best. I felt like I had a rather big impact on the project because of my active participation in debates and tasks that were given to us.

I learned about the nobles of Comuneros and the values that they carried. I learned that the ideologies they carried, are now part of constitutions from all around the world (for example USA, UK). I am very happy I got to see the city of Villalar and learn about the history there. From personal skills, I learned that human rights are a topic that I would like to pursue even further after the project. I also learned to have an even wider view of the world, I am very thankful for all the participants who shared about their lives, views, countries, and cultures. This experience gave me a fresh perspective.

The next exchanges could follow the lead of this project because I found this project to be well planned and educative. The only thing that I can point out is that the organizers could be more active in leading the group and in giving the group honest feedback. I appreciate that they let us have flexibility and decide many things for ourselves, but it would have been useful if they showed a little more leadership in some cases (time management, etc).

Yes, I would recommend this kind of youth exchanges to my friends and peers.

Most memorable aspects/activities were:

1) Bosnian group sharing about their countries culture and history during the second day in the kitchen. It was the first time I made a connection with someone outside of Estonians and also the first time I really heard something about Balkan history.

2) The Netherland’s intercultural night and the games they planned for us. It was so funny I will remember it forever.

3) When I got to share Estonian history with the rest of the group during our intercultural night. I felt very proud of our country and history. Singing revolution, Baltic chain and our traditions were so interesting for others and most of them had heard very little about Estonia beforehand.