„Tolerance or ignorance? II” Erasmus+ youth exchange in Slovakia

Between November and December 2019 I’ve been participating in Erasmus+ project “Tolerance or ignorance?II” which took place in a Stará Lesná village. It was my first visit in Slovakia. It’s pretty similar to my country, but also different, with unique atmosphere.


As usual, the Erasmus+ project gathered people from different parts of the globe to integrate between young people. I had an opportunity to meet new friends from Slovakia, Italy, Turkey, Ukraine and Belgium. Of course, there was also my polish dream team.


The main topic was about cultural diversity, stereotypes, dignity and respect. Each group had to prepare presentation on specific subject. I’ve learned a lot of new valuable things such as Islam in Turkey, conflict between Ukraine and Russia, which was something special, because there were guys among us, who fought on the front line – a real soldiers. Each country had something special to share. I can admit, that from every youth exchange I got something different.
Except presentations, each country had to prepare cultural evening. It was a great time to have some national dishes and snacks, try dances and sing songs.

Another activity was creation of workshops for young people. In mixed groups we prepared some games based on our main topic. After practice we could go to schools in Poprad and Košice to run our workshops.
Our goal was to learn children about stereotypes, cooperation and about differences between countries. As one of the group leaders I can say it was really useful experience. Working with youngsters is not an easy task – in each school children were acting differently. Sometimes they were more brave and curious, sometimes they were shy or quiet. However, I think we made a great job together!

But don’t you think, that there were only workshops and presentations! We had quite a lot of free time. As I wrote before – Slovakia is close to Poland - literally and figuratively speaking. We have a lot in common, like landscapes, architecture and very similar languages. But there is some kind of atmosphere, it is difficult to describe – you have to feel it by yourself.


There are many things that I've loved about this country. High Tatra mountains make a great impression – beautiful views and sound of the waterfalls. Food and restaurants. I am really glad, I could discover such many places in a short time. Also local people, that I met were super nice and hearty.
The time was moving so fast when I was there. At the one of our last days we celebrated Christmas, giving each other presents. We even had our own Santa Claus!

It is important to know, that world needs more tolerance than ignorance. People I met will always remind me that. It was a great time and now it is in my memories. I am sure I will go back to Slovakia in the future.





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