I think what motivates me to move forward in the career I have set for myself are the challenges and the constant desire to learn. That's what happened with the Erasmus programme. At that time, I was already working on many projects and travelling frequently to Japan, so the reason for applying was rather to get out of my comfort zone and experience what it's like to live in another country for 4-5 months, what the education system is like, how foreign and Japanese residents communicate and more.

Another reason was to improve my Japanese language skills, so I enrolled in seven Japanese language courses for fluent level and five more courses in English. I left Ritsumeikan with a huge amount of information that is very useful in my career today and if I could go back in time, I would not give up anything despite the difficulties I faced at the time.

I didn't want to give up the activities I already had in Romania, loving what I do very much, so I continued to teach Japanese online to Romanian students and I continued to offer advice and guidance to Romanian tourists arriving in the Kansai area.

Among other activities, I also taught origami in schools and kindergartens in Ibaraki or at themed events, but I also worked part-time at a coffee shop to practice my high level of Japanese politeness. Later I designed and wrote a virtual tour of Osaka for the Questo app, which was tested and highly appreciated by some of my Erasmus colleagues.

The biggest challenge and the most beautiful experience, was to be fukumusume (lucky maiden - virgins that herald good luck), a kind of priestesses for the Ebisu festival at the Imamiya Ebisu altar. Every year, out of 3000 Japanese and 100 foreign applicants, only 40 and 10 respectively are chosen on the basis of an interview. I found out about it from the university, and in addition to being chosen as one of the 50 girls who will be working at the altar and I was also chosen as one of the 4 representatives of the 2020 edition after a TV show.

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

All my friends started university last year. It was only me leaving for a volunteering mission in the city of Marseille from Southern France, far from anything familiar or habitual. But this choice of becoming a volunteer in the middle of the pandemic brought me incredible personal growth and different insights on life.

Volunteering in an association that works on themes such as international mobility or non-formal education, having flatmates and friends who come from Tunisia, Italy, Germany, Spain or Turkey, getting involved and organising projects around subjects such as interculturality or non-violent communication enriched me indeed. I got to better know my European identity, but I also discovered and learned about other cultures, religions and ways of living. 

The European Solidarity Corps is such a valuable source of opportunities! Thanks to this year of volunteering, I learned enough French in order to start my university studies in France, became much more competent in the digital work space and met some of the most authentic and inspiring people. Not even the pandemic stopped the volunteering, so our fears should not either. Volunteering transformed me and given me new perspectives.

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

My name is Martha and I am 26 years old. From 2016 to 2017, I was an exchange student in Belgium in connection with my education at SDU: BSc in Engineering (Energy Technology).

I was only supposed to stay during one semester but ended up staying for a whole year. My biggest motivation was that I wanted to try something new and get a great experience. Even though I love the student life, it can still get a bit dull and I wanted to shake up my daily routine.

My main goal was to get an amazing experience more than developing myself professionally. I believe that a professional development comes naturally when you arrive at a new university so therefore my focus was to meet a bunch of new people from all over the world. I lived and went to university in Leuven, which is a big university city. I found it interesting to live in a place filled with other students and especially international students. At the same time the city is not too big and I could go anywhere on bike, which is nice and important to me.

The best experience was definitely to meet all those people. I made friends for life on that trip and I am still visiting them today. Actually, I just went to see a friend in Germany. I was lucky to live in a house with eight other people where five of them where international students. Those people became like a family to me, and it was great to experience how nine different people could be like a close community. 

When I figured out that my other roommates had planned to stay in Belgium for an extra semester I decided to do the same. It was hard to say goodbye after only one semester and it was important for me to end our stay together because we started it together. And of course it meant even more experiences. 

Economically it was fortunately easy enough. My living expenses was the same as back home – except that I wanted enough money to travel and experience stuff. I had my SU from the Danish government, and I also has my Eramus scholarship, which was super easy to apply for and I got it both semesters. I only had to apply for it through my university back home and take a language test before and after my stay, and that was actually enough. In the future, I would love to work and live in another country and I think my stay in Belgium made mere more capable to jump into it in the future. 

Updated on Tuesday, 17/03/2026

My name is Cristina and I’m 25 years old. In the last 4 years, I had the opportunity to participate in several projects funded by the Erasmus+ Program: I have been part of the youth exchange "Multicultural Sound" in 2018 in Malaga, focused on music, multiculturalism and social inclusion, and after that I participated in a KA3 Capacity Building project, ALL FOR YOU (TH), YOU (TH) FOR ALL", which took me to Costa Rica in 2019 and Vietnam in 2020!!!

With “ALL FOR YOU (TH), YOU (TH) FOR ALL” in particular, I had the chance to deepen my knowledge on the phenomenon of immigration in the various countries involved in the project, and to better understand its dimension. Thanks to these two projects I met many young people, and had the opportunity to discover new realities and wonderful places.

Before, I was shy and did not feel confortable talking to strangers; but experience after experience, I discovered many different aspects of myself that I did not know, I gained enough confidence to dare to speak in English and Spanish, and I understood how to deal with the unexpected, on different levels, searching for new and alternative solutions. 

Slowly I left my comfort zone and during my university studies, I returned to Costa Rica to visit one of the youth associations I met during one of my projects, and with them I carried out a 5-month curricular internship, and a youth exchange at the "Corcovado National Park".

Eventually, thanks to my ability to select the many opportunities on offer and the support of many professionals in the sector, I found my way to become a youth worker! 

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

I'm Maike and I travelled with DiscoverEU for four weeks through Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia - three weeks of which I was completely on my own.

Travelling alone made me realise how many activities I would never do at home without company: eating in a restaurant, going out in the evening or watching a film at the cinema. I wanted to change that and I' ve never regretted it! A phrase I heard often and internalised during my trip is "you never really travel alone". Whether on free walking tours, in hostels or on buses and trains - the longer I was on the road, the better I became at making small talk with strangers in an open and non-judgmental way.

In the hostel in Ljubljana I had two Israeli roommates. We got along so well that the next day we went on an excursion together to a national park in the south of Slovenia. The people I met during my trip made my time much more memorable than all the beautiful landscapes and cities I saw. I am convinced that I would not have made so many of these acquaintances if I had travelled with German friends in a group!

Mostar, a small Bosnian town, will remain in my memory as one of my favourite travel destinations. With my side trip to Bosnia and Herzegovina, I left the EU - but will still call it an important part of my DiscoverEU trip. In Mostar, I was able to interact with locals like nowhere else, learn so much about the history of the entire Balkan region and experience the differences to the EU countries first hand.

During my four weeks of Interrail, I probably had almost as many new beginnings as sunrises - I visited many places, met all kinds of people and reinvented myself over and over again. That's why I can highly recommend not only Interrail and DiscoverEU, but especially travelling alone!

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

I'm Manuel, 21 years old and I'm doing an apprenticeship as an electronics technician for devices and systems in Germany. My vocational school offered me to go to Bisccarose in the west of France for a month for an internship abroad with Erasmus+. Together with two other apprentices, I set off in November 2019.

The first thing I did was visit the partner school. It was very interesting to see how many practical projects the students were working on there. At our vocational school, there are more theoretical tasks. On the fourth day it was time for my first working day. I was able to work at the company Imartec, a small two-man business that repairs defibrillators. The boss, who also spoke good English, showed me around and explained the different tasks. Unfortunately, his co-worker spoke little English and I little French. Nevertheless, we were always able to communicate and got along well. In the three weeks I was allowed to work there, I was given a variety of tasks. I learned a lot of new things about the exciting technology of defibrillators. If you don't work precisely here, lives can be put at risk.

The area where we lived was very rural, which I particularly liked. The sea was nearby and we also visited the city of Bordeaux.

Looking back, I found the time in Bisccarose very rewarding. Everyone I dealt with was very friendly and helpful. I especially appreciate that I was allowed to do the internship during my apprenticeship, as it allowed me to get to know a different everyday working life and gain completely new experiences. I can only highly recommend doing an Erasmus+ internship abroad as well. Even if you have doubts beforehand, it's worth it!

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

I was still in the middle of my European Solidarity Corps volunteering experience in South France when I read about the “DiscoverEU” programme. As the European Union gives away free Interrail tickets to 18-year-old EU citizens, I decided to give it a try – and as luck would have it, I was among the 15.000 winners that year.   

Thus, I extended my trip across Europe: I cycled from South France through Italy and Switzerland back to my home Vorarlberg, where I traded my racing bike for a backpack and hopped on a train that took me northwards. This way, a small dream of mine had come true as I was able to visit some friends that I had made during my year in France.

My journey started off with sightseeing and partying in Berlin, where I was able to catch a glimpse of life outside of a tourist’s point of view. Next up was Stockholm where I went to museums and boat rides and even got to visit some of my family there. My next stop was Tallin, a beautiful city of great contrasts with mesmerizing surroundings and hiking opportunities. After that, Couchsurfing in Kraków showed me the city from a unique perspective, and following that I reached my second to last stop in Prague which has way more to offer than just cheap and tasty beer. Last on my list was Vienna where I attended a homecoming event for Austrian volunteers – and ended up liking the city so much that I decided to study there.

I’ll remember this journey for a long time. Even though it was only a few weeks, this experience moved something inside of me. I developed a sense of ease that, up until then, I had never experienced. Moreover, I saw how easy it was to make friends with locals in all those cities and how manageable it was to get by. Other travelers I met were on the same level as me and occasionally accompanied me on my journey; some of them I even met again in different cities.

Everybody has to experience a DiscoverEU journey at least once. Especially, since the EU gives 18-year-olds this opportunity for free. Do it once and by the end of it, you’ll be coming back for more – I’ve already planned my next journey.

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

Since I was a kid I always wanted to live an experience abroad, in a new country. I love travelling, but I always knew that going just for a few days somewhere doesn’t necessarily teach you about the culture. I wanted to go somewhere and live the culture and traditions, experience the food and meet the mindset while immersing myself in the society with the five senses. So doing a European Solidarity Corps volunteering project abroad was the best decision I’ve ever made.

Of course I had my doubts and sometimes the unknown is scary, but there is no better way to feel alive than getting over your limits and fears to discover new worlds. And that’s what I did. Despite the health crisis around the world and considering it could be difficult to just adapt to a new experience, I really took advantage of many things and the health crisis didn’t diminish how exciting it was to be here. Because I still learned a new language, met new people, tried new food and also visited new places and much more, so it’s always worthy even with a pandemic on the way.

I would definitely recommend it to anyone who thinks about it, even if they are scared. There is no other way to make you feel the experience than experiencing it.

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

I am Amélie, I am 29 years old, and this is what was the European Solidarity Corps for me.

I left my job because I found the perfect place for me: a European Solidarity Corps volunteering opportunity at the European University Sport Associations (EUSA) in Slovenia. Despite the fact I had no professional experience in the field of sport, I get selected! In my opinion, one of the best points of this EU programme, is that regardless your experience and level of English, you can work in a field that you are interested in.

I started volunteering in October 2019. I lived with two other volunteers, a Croatian girl and a Polish guy, in a flat near the city center of Ljubljna, the capital of Slovenia. I was working at the Education and Development department, on the EUSA incident policy and prepared kind of a conduct code for the next European Universities Games which were supposed to take place in July 2020, in Belgrade. I also worked on an Erasmus+ project related to gender equality in sports (it was about fighting and alerting about violence and doping in sports), and I had the opportunity to travel to Hungary and Norway. The association gave me the chance to apply for a small collaborative project that I had to build and write with the two other volunteers. 

Regarding the life outside the association, I must say that the on-arrival and mid-term trainings were very useful. Indeed, the both trainings were the opportunity to meet the other volunteers living in Slovenia and to create a network. So we were doing a lot of things together and we were able to discover different places around Slovenia. I never felt alone when I was in Slovenia even if I didn’t knew anybody before coming here.

During this year, I discovered the amazing country of Slovenia. The landscapes are wonderful and the country is easy to explore. I am also very grateful for this experience, because I had the chance to discovered this country and its culture, meet incredible people, and I was able to understand the complex and interesting history of this European region of Europe. I think I better understand the diversity of Europe now.

To conclude, as a whole my European Solidarity Corps volunteering was an amazing adventure and I just wish I could do it again!

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

This is exactly what I’ve experienced. Doing my Erasmus+ Volunteering in Armenia for a couple of months was one of the greatest and the most valuable things I’ve ever accomplished.  

I could have never imagined what I will come across to before leaving little comfortable Luxembourg. This feelings which are passing through your body once you are there and a little voice in your head whispering ‘Adventure’.

When I arrived there, I was suddenly starving for challenge, experiences, understanding and travelling.

I was passionate by observing people around me and trying to understand why they are acting, thinking and looking like they are. Why are we doing things differently than they are? Are they wrong and we are right? Well, that is a matter of cultural differencies.

My first days were breathtaking, discovering a brand new surrounding and not wasting even one second without smiling into the world. When I realized that girls are not supposed to smile at men because this is seen as a sexual invitation, I obviously stopped smiling to random people, but I was still shining into myself.

Still, this experience is something you will not understand if you haven’t lived it, it is just magical. The thirst for this completely different atmosphere in which you can do something to help. Such heartwarming people not suspecting you to be bad only because you are different.

Can you even imagine that if your car stops working, every single car passing is stopping to see if they can help repairing? Can you imagine a community where your host is more important than yourself? They will host you whenever they can and they will treat you like family.

Erasmus+ Volunteering is a chance to take and give, but I could not even tell you with words what you are giving and what you are taking, experience it by yourself!

Be up for a challenge and accept cultural differences!

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026