Testimonial: EUROPE IS US - training course experience

 I arrived to Costești, Chișinău, Republic of Moldova on Monday, 7th of October 2013. It was a challenging trip, but I was happy to find myself in such position. After all, it was only the beginning… 9 countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Greece, Italy, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine), 2 trainers (Basia and Meg), an interesting topic (European citizenship) and many things to learn. In the first evening we had the chance to get to know each other and to explore a little bit the area. Starting Tuesday, we have participated to the course sessions, having different tasks (mostly designed as non-informal education): role plays, games, team work, project idea.

The intercultural night was a real success, we brought in Moldova a small part of our countries (traditional costumes, food and drinks) and we presented the traditional dances and songs. We learned about active European citizenship and its dimensions (social, political, economic and cultural), identity and human rights, communication, European values and most important we have learned many things about us.

The trainers were very professionals, friendly and they managed to make us a very united group. Their arguments, forms of motivation and support during the whole week were delivered in a right way and helped us to understand better the topics and to be active.

We had the chance to visit the Free International University of Moldova in Chisinau and to participate to a presentation about Youth in Action projects, experiences and the future projects.  Also, we had a meeting with Iulian Groza and his team at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of the Republic of Moldova. The debate has focused on European Integration of the Republic of Moldova and Youth organizations projects.

In our free time, we visited a famous winery in Republic of Moldova, Mileștii Mici, finding out more about the history of the place and about the wine related processes and we enjoyed a very nice afternoon with the local guide.

Personally, I consider this experience very useful based on the information that I received (related to the objective of the course, different cultures, new places I visited), the people that I met, the tasks I fulfilled and the future opportunities that were created throughout this meeting.

During this training course I have been active, communicative, flexible, open-minded and I embraced challenges. I also realized the high potential development of such activities. I learned that description, interpretation and evaluation (DIE) combined method should be applied on a daily basis. I learned that we need enough information in order to make a decision or a judgment and we have to be creative in order to achieve more.

To conclude, I gain new friends, I improved my skills and my  knowledge, I looked into myself and I evaluated my personal resources (the intangible ones) as a preface of my potential as a member of the European community. 

Written by Anamaria Avadanei