Youth exchange blog: GreenART in Murcia, Spain by Kärt

I have been to Erasmus projects before, but they have all been quite different. I decided to participate in this one because there was a bit more freedom on my timetable and the topic of the festival sounded cool. I really like environmental topics and I’m an artist in my free time, so I wanted to get to know other people’s stories and how they connect sustainability with art. Youth exchanges have also been a great way of improving my skills and confidence, so this is also why I like to join projects.

During the youth exchange I participated in group exercises, setting up the festival and creating the Estonian cultural night program.

I learned much about myself, became a better communicator, and practiced my English skills once again. I found out about an organization that makes waste materials from companies into playable “toys” to children. Toys don’t have to be classical, children are creative, just a piece of plastic can become something entirely else in their eyes.

I enjoyed most just the chance to get to experience it all, it is very hard to pinpoint one thing. I think that it made me a bit of a different person overall. But one super crazy thing to see was the super world-famous tennis player Carlos Alcaraz, it was amazing that the organizers made that possible for us.

The project file wasn’t as accurate to what actually happened, so my expectations were different in the beginning, and it frustrated me a bit. I would have really liked for the educational part to be more intense, more talks with experts and there to be more art created ourselves.

During the festival there were booths for the local artists that were very fun to me, and I got to talk with some artists and connect on interests and support them.

The cultural nights were definitely very memorable, I got to learn more about Portugal, Bulgaria, Poland, Italy and taste many new interesting flavours, all while bonding with people.

I felt very deep emotions just walking around the city. I saw so many new things, I had never been to Spain before. All the architecture was so cool, the weather was nice, the plants exotic to me, it just feels so wild to see so many oranges growing around, nothing I could experience like that at home.

I would really recommend Erasmus youth exchanges to my peers and friends, and I already have done so and will continue to do it. They give such amazing experiences, make you more knowledgeable on other cultures, topics, help you improve social skills and make new amazing connections and friends in other countries.