Here are some interesting materials and opinions from our participants in the Erasmus+ Youth Exchange 'Road safety Consciousness' implemented in the Paralimni, Cyprus 2021
REFLECTION DIARIES ROAD PROJECT
SERBIA
There were a lot of interesting things on the project. The activities that were interesting to me were the activities with the guests. A special impression was the ambulance worker. Several times during his presentation I thought about my life in general. Also, the guests who shared strong emotions with us after the motorbike accident caused strong empathy from my side .I was impressed that they were sharing this for the first time. In this project I improved my leadership skills and empathy.
The campaign we did in Larnaca also left a big impression on me, I realized that even with small steps we can expand our horizons and horizons of other people.
Jelena Pesic
This was my first Erasmus project, so I didn't know what to expect.
I liked the accommodation and food very much. Our tasks were interesting, but I think that we didn't have to do reflection time after every activity. Also I think we needed more free time. Schedule was very busy, especially when we had cultural nights.
I liked working in mix groups, I think it was more effective then when we worked in our national teams. Because we could share and compare our knowledge, which I think is the point of these projects.
The guest were interesting and I liked the best when local nurse came to visit. We could see different point of view on this topic, beside of statistics.
In conclusion, I had a great time. I met a lot of new people and experienced a different way of learning. I will definitely come to another project soon.
Regards,
Ljiljana Adamov
This is my first project, everything is fine, I learned how the system works in other countries and I will pass it on to others. But too much reflection, there is no need for additional conversation after the lecture, we ask the guests everything we are interested in and there is no need to talk again.
Thank you,
Raskovic Jovan
Greeting,
This is my first erasmus + program and I liked it. The food and accommodation are great. The only complaint I have is that we had a little free time during the day. For some things we took too much time and there was no need. I was most interested when he came special guest and when we listened to his life story. At the end of this story just to say that I am glad to be part of this project and that I will apply again for the next one.
Best regards,
Vladana Tesic
POLAND
Hello, I would like to share my opinion about this project. The most important was, that almost all of my expectations was realised, such a nice atmosphere while sharing knowlage. I am really satisfied about activities, they were fascinating, especially meeting with nurse and motor guy and his wife. That was impressive and I think most of participants will remember what they wanted us to relise. Working with groups, practicing English, integrating, this all was good organised and realised great. I appreciated Energisers, funny and useful. For me the best activity was the one in larnaka, because we used creativity to share aware in real life with real people. Thank you.
Karolina Glisciak
Hello,
CROATIA
Hello
my overall thoughts on this Erasmus+ project (which was my first Erasmus+ project ever) are great. I have met a lot of new people, made a lot of new friends while also learning about our topic - road safety consciousness. I learned how important good behaviour is, and how reckless behaviour can be very dangerous and lead to bad things and fatalities.
The activities were good. I liked that we worked in both national and mixed groups. The accommodation and food were also good.
I hope to apply to more Erasmus+ projects and see these people, that I now consider my friends, again.
Best regards,
Lucija
Greetings,
During the Youth Exchange: Road Safety Consciousness in Paralimni, Cyprus for the first time I have gained some insight in Erasmus+ projects. The project was very well prepared and organized, Kiriakos and Renos were great leaders and organizers. The guests were good, but it could be better, especially the presentation by the police. Hearing the story from people who got in accident or who is helping the people who got in an accident really opened my eyes and change my way of thinking in traffic. Project, at first was focused on writing and analyzing the statistics, which was a little bit hard for some people, but the second part where we made our presentation, videos or role play was extremly helpful and interesting. The campaign in Larnaca could be better, but it was okay. Our main goal was achieved and we should be happy about it, because maybe we changed somebody's life today just by informing them or warning them about road safety. In conclusion, the project, for me, was a succes, we were accomodated very well and have a great service (food, rooms, etc..). Hopefully there will be more Erasmus+ projects that Renos and Kiriakos organize so the other people can learn things like I did in this last nine days.
Best regards,
Marko Grudenić
This was my first ERASMUS+ project. Road safety consciousness as a topic was very interesting. Everything I expected before going on the project was fullfield. Different learning methods, formal or non-formal, as brain storming, energisers, development of digital, language or social competence, were very educative for everyone. Personally, I don't have any complaints about accomodation, food, organization and timetable. I have learned so much things about me personally (working in different multicultural surroudings) and about this amazing and very important topic.
Best regards, Dajana Dimitrijević
Dear Renos and all organisers,
This was my first time participating in Erasmus plus project and I enjoyed it very much.
I loved the activities, although some days were bit more stressful than others.
I liked that we first did the whole data analysis and I learned where these data could be found and how to look for them.
I liked that we also had guests and there personal stories, I think this kind of presentations leave bigger impact on person and they should be kept in future as well. One of the presentations was a bit more formal and I didn't enjoy it too much, it was okay but it would have been useful at the beginning of the project not after we already did all research ourselves.
I improved my ability to work in the team.
Since it was my first time participating, I didn't know what kind of energisers are okay and now I am leaving with the knowledge and will be able to implement them on other projects I hope I will participate.
Also I always had a bit of hard time to talk in front of many people and now I feel I got better in it and am not so nervous anymore.
I would also like to mention that being a leader also had positive impact on me and even though I didn't consider myself leading type of person I learned how to get out of my comfort zone and take this responsibility (we were all participating for the first time so I was a leader even though I didn't have previous experience).
Meeting new people was the best part and I hope I will meet them again some time. I learned new facts about theirs countries and cultures (through activities and free time). It was interesting to see how many accidents each country has and how in some things we are all similar, the shocking thing was that almost all of us have a lot of accidents and I liked how we could share in mixed groups the ways our counties are trying to improve road safety.
I think when we all go home from this project we will be more safe and careful on the roads.
Regards,
Patricija
LITHUANIA
I loved participating in this project. Taking part in this project gave me a different perspective on driving. Now I feel like I will drive more responsibly and encourage others to do that. I am thankful for facilitators to allow me to rethink my actions and make me act more mature. I recommend for everyone take part in the Erasmus+ project because it is an amazing opportunity to meet different people from all around the world, learn more about certain topics, and travel. I truly believe that everyone should have some similar experience at least once in life to widen their worldview.
Matas Sepikas
It was my third Erasmus project. With every project I gain social, communication, language, analytical, public speaking skills, which are very useful in my study program management. I met a lot new people from another countries and I hope to be in contact with them If they or me need help in the future.
I didn’t expect that guests who talked about road safety, their experience in this field would change my mind so drastically. Now I want to share it with my friends and tell them about what is the consciousness of irresponsible driving and above all to say how important is to respect yourself.
Nojus Tarvydas
In the project i liked the methods of presenting them the most. i was also surprised by the activities when i first saw it for example for us was told take toilet paper how much do we using always and then we need to sau about us personality facts about everyone depends how many papers we had taken for example 1/1 fact.
i also feel enjoyed in the project mostly liked to work together as team with diffirent countries.i am happy also because i had practised my english learning skills when we discussing about something.i felt part of this project because everyone has accepted me as friend. funniest moments and really interesting for me is energizers. i communicated with some members of this project and will miss them.
Lukas
This project was the first Erasmus+ project in which I was the team leader in my country. It was certainly a responsibility that required a lot of patience and effort. When there were problems in the team, I had to look for solutions to solve the problem and put the team together. This greatly strengthened me as a personality and gained experience that I will be able to be a leader in other erasmus + projects.
I also really enjoyed the activities that were organized, I am very happy that everything went according to the planned agenda and there was a really good exchange :)
What I remembered most was the stories and experiences of the guests. They made the biggest change in my worldview. I realized that safe behavior on the road is vital.
This project and the people I met really made a positive impact on my perception of my life and after returning to these youth exchanges I will really look more closely and attentively on the road and tell my friends about it because I realized it was very serious and in one second carelessness can collapse or a person can die.
I also really enjoyed getting to know other countries and their culture, meeting new people, getting to know Cyprus itself and seeing what a wonderful world it is as soon as you allow yourself to notice it :)
Thank you very much Renos and Keriakos for everything
Austeja Urbonaite
This project was the first one for me, so I didn’t know what to expect and even though I wasn’t sure in the beginning if it’s a good idea, I am glad I participated. I have met new people from all over the Europe, who now I consider friends. Through all the activities I improved my socializing and communication skills, I feel much more comfortable using my English. The guests and they presentations, at least most of them were really inspiring and interesting, they taught me to think twice before doing something dangerous on the road. I think this project will improve my life greatly, because I am willing to learn and participate in these type of projects again.!
Gediminas Dapkus
CYPRUS
ROMANIA
I liked the positive energy around the participants . The weather despite freezing days of rain. I liked the topic of the project and had no idea this was more profound than it actually looked.
I learn more things than imagined about the road safety and the fact that all these 6 countries have a lot of these issues in common and thus a real change could start being imposed from EU with a granular attention and pressure.
I had no expectations before just hoping for all people to understand each other.
I feel like I did set in, unfortunately there are a lot of youngsters that have serious personality issues due to bad parenting they have received. I tried to help in one way or another.
DENIS BILCEC
1. I did enjoyed The non formal type of learning.
The multicultural nights. We had a lot of fun also with The energizers.
I enjoyed The frequent mixing groups so we can share more Information between each other.
2. I've learned that we are different from country to country but we have similar problems.
- I extracted a few ideas (about The subject of The Project) that already are succesfull in other countryes, and could be implemented in my country.
- I've learned that in Cyprus you can not trow into The toilet The toilet paper... So you can not really call it "toilet paper"
3. To be honest, I had low expectations so The Project and everything was over my expectations.
4. The methods that I used was formal, also non-formal.
Ionut Hotka
1. What did you like?
I was enjoying the non-formal activities like the team-buildings, the role plays and the energizers we performed while learning about the competences.
2. What didn't you like?
I dind't like that much the activities based on formal education, like: data, statistics and PowerPoint presentations.
3. What did you learn?
I learned about social competences, digital competences, learning to learn, how to be more creative, how to work with a large group of people and a lot of things about Road safety consciousness. The causes and how to prevent them.
4. What were your expectations before the project? / Did you set it?
My expectations about this project were: to have the opportunity to meet new people, different people from different countries, to learn how to work with a large group, to learn new competences, new things about the topic, to make conections, to socialize and to learn more non formal metods.
A lot of my expectations were accomplished.
Cristiana Duta