Jana is the Director of the Cabinet Department of the Minister for Science, Research and Innovation, and the founder of the organization Youth, Speak Up! which aims to introduce young people and their topics into politics. She has been politically active for over ten years, and opened deliberative platforms for young people in the Chamber of Deputies (Parliament of the Czech Republic) – platforms focused on the youth-oriented political agenda such as environment, mental health, digitalization, and the support of early-career scientists. As a female leader, she emphasizes creating a diverse and progressive environment within the political and scientific sphere. 

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

Hei, I am Veronika. I came from Slovakia, but now I live in Finland. 

But how did I end up living in Finland? That is the story I am going to tell you now. 

As a young person growing up in Slovakia was not easy. I came from a divorce family and I lived with my mum. We never had a lot of money for traveling and my dreams were never to live abroad. As a teenager I got to know a lot of NGO and volunteering. That was one thing that I also took with me when I left for University. During the first year of Uni I got to know people, who were also involved in Erasmus projects. I was 21 years old when I first heard about Erasmus from them. At the time I was learning English for a long time, but just in school and it was just memorizing the words from a book, no real conversations so I didn't feel so confident to speak English or travel alone abroad to learn the language better. 

In the summer of 2015 my friends were looking for a participant for a Youth Exchange. The Youth Exchange was in the north of Poland and topic was “Handmade”. The project was with participants from Slovakia, Poland and Romania. I remember the first travel day of the project I met my Slovak group, 5 other people who I had never met before. We travelled together for 14 hours by car through almost the whole of Poland. In the beginning I was a little bit scared, as it was my first travel alone to foreign country and I didn’t know what to expect. My fears disappeared real soon after getting to the place and meeting other young people from Poland and Romania. We didn't speak the same language, some of them used Google translate or anything that worked to speak with each other, but it didn't stop us from having a great time, getting to know each other and getting to know Poland and Polish culture. The project gave me an eye-opening realization that the young people are the same everywhere. We have the same problems, ideas, hobbies and much more in common than what divides us. 

The first project was just a beginning for me with Erasmus. From 2015 when I was on the first project till the time of this article in March 2022, I was a participant on more than 30 projects in 10 countries around Europe. I was in Youth Exchanges but also in Training courses. As I got to know more people and projects through Erasmus, my participation changed too. In the beginning I was a participant, later on I chose to be a group leader. Then I became a second trainer for some projects, in some projects I was helping with organising the project or I was a trainer. I wrote 2 short term ESC projects and they were approved too. 

During my last few months at Univeristy I got a chance to be part of the Training course to become an EuroPeer. It was an international Training course for people all around Europe and it was held in Finland in the Youth Centre Marttinen. 

At the time I was still living in Slovakia and our Slovak national agency wanted to start EuroPeer programme in Slovakia so they were looking for 2 people to send for the Training course from Slovakia. In the end I was the only one who they chose to participate in the project. In the beginning of March 2018 I travelled for one week to Finland to Youth Centre Marttinen for EuroPeer training. 

We had a wonderful week and at the end of this project as it was March weather outside was at lovely -15℃. As an adventure surprise for us our last activity was bridge swing. I jumped from an old railway bridge which is 14 meters tall over a frozen river. That experience alone was an incredible and great end to our project.  

Thanks to being involved in so many projects, I always knew that I wanted to be part of the EVS (now ESC) programme later when I finished my university studies. 

During the EuroPeer Training course I remember asking local youth worker Antti if they thought of taking some EVS volunteers at some point. We talked about it and decided to speak later to see what the situation is later on. After I finished my University in May I sent a message to Antti asking if they would be interested in having me as a volunteer. Somehow everything was good to go in 2 weeks and in less than 2 months I was moving to Finland for a one year. This is not a normal process, it takes a lot of time to find a place and get accepted. I think somehow all the universe got together and made it happen for me. 

My project was called Breaking Bubbles of Locality Through Volunteering. I was living for a one year in the Youth Centre Marttinen in the small city of Virrat in the middle of Finland. In other words, in the middle of the forest in the middle of nowhere. :)

Before coming to Finland I was nowhere near being an outdoor person, if it was raining I would be inside. I don't understand till today why I chose an outdoor education centre for my project, but it changed me. In the first 2 weeks of the project I was hanging from a 12 meter climbing tower, learning how to use stand up paddle board, learning archery, canoeing, climbing a wall and many other activities which were my daily activities for next year as I was working alongside the youth work team with camp schools, social youth work groups and international groups. Over the year I visited many beautiful places around Finland, where I had a chance to promote Erasmus and ESC programmes. I was helping many local and international projects in local youth work organisations in different cities and youth centres. 

I met many young people and for some of them I was the first person who they met from abroad. The project pushed me to my limits and even over all the limits I had before. I didn't think I could spend a whole day outside in the rain, snow or when it was -25℃. 

During this year I realized youth work is something I want to do in my life, even though I have a master's diploma in marketing from Slovakia. 

As youth work is not considered a profession in Slovakia I decided to stay in Finland. In one year I learned Finnish and was accepted to become a full time student at E.P. Opisto to become youth and community instructor. Vocational education in Finland and in Finnish just after one year of learning the language still sounds crazy to me, but it is my reality. I am almost at the end of my studies but I managed thanks to the Erasmus VET programme to be an intern in Iceland for 3 months. Also in May, me and 7 other classmates are planning a study visit in Czech Republic, to get to know their youth work.  

In 2015 without knowing anything about the Erasmus, Youth Exchanges or Training course or people who organize the projects, I just decided to go on my first project. I don't know why, what kicked me to go, but I am super grateful for that first project. 

After 8 years with Erasmus and ESC programme I can say that I was raised by Erasmus. 

I learned how to be a responsible person for myself, how to budget, how to find the best travel deals. Thanks to meeting so many young people I am open to having discussions with anybody, I learn to listen and accept others' opinions which are different from mine. 

I learned to take responsibility for my own life and believe in myself, believe in my dreams and that anything is possible if I want to. 

I learned English during the projects better than in my whole time at school. I have been learning the Finnish language for 2,5 years. I didn't even know how it sounds 3,5 years ago, today I am fluent and having conversations in school and at work. 

Thanks to Erasmus I got to fly for the first time in my life to Cyprus. I lived in 40m long sailboat for a week, had road trip around Slovakia for two weeks, met a bear in Romania, visited a high security prison in Hungary, a recycle centre in Hungary, lived in the middle of the city, but also in a castle surrounded in nature, lived for a week with ants in the bed. I met over 1000 young people around Europe, and I have a 1000 different stories from all the projects and those stories are part of me every day on my journey.  

Erasmus is responsible for who I am as a person today and what values and goals I have in my life. 

I know for sure that my journey with Erasmus and ESC is not over as I continue to be a trainer for projects and in future I want to support young people to create their own projects. Erasmus is just part of me and my life and I will be forever grateful for experiences I have and friends who I met thanks to Erasmus. 

8 years ago I would’ve never dreamt to live alone in foreign country, but anything is possible and for me Finland became a home. 

I still share my adventures on my Instagram profile, where you can find all my Erasmus projects @nika_lost_in_world 

If you managed to read till here, good job ? thank you for that. My last question is for you: What is your Erasmus story?

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

Dr Ciara Duignan is a Postdoctoral Researcher in Digital Health, at the Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics in Dublin, Ireland. She completed her undergraduate degree in Physiotherapy at University College Dublin, after which she worked clinically before receiving a funded scholarship to conduct her PhD. She works on interdisciplinary projects with academic and industry partners to develop processes and technologies that can support human health, wellbeing, and personal development. 

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

Growing up I was always quiet and reserved. I had friends and I spent a lot of good times with them but I never felt like I could be 100% my true self. The place I found where I could be myself, and where I really found out who I truly am, is Erasmus+ projects. Throughout the years I've taken part in more projects than I care to count in almost every conceivable role, from youth participant to youth leader to participant in a training to being a facilitator or trainer in one. I consider myself extremely lucky and privileged to have had the opportunity to gain all the knowledge and skills that I have through the Erasmus+ programme.

My first experience with Erasmus+ or Youth in Action as it was then called was when I was 15 years old, living in a small town in Finland. My mother worked in a local youth center that was going to host a youth exchange and one of the Finnish participants had to cancel at the last minute and I was offered the spot. I thought why not, I like speaking English and while the theme wasn't something super exciting for me, environmental art which would later become a huge part of my professional and personal life, I decided to say yes and participate in a youth exchange with Spanish young people, who were all several years older than me, as were the other Finnish participants. That was probably the single biggest decision I've ever made in my life, as it set the course for my life going forward, both professionally and personally.

After participating in this training and interacting with people from a very different culture my eyes were opened to a whole new world. I was in high school at that point not having any idea what I would do with my life. Thinking that if these kinds of exchanges are even a small part of youth work then that's what I want to do with my life. So I very quickly started working at the youth center with my mother and dived head first into the international work that they did. I found my own voice and personality through interacting with people from all around Europe and beyond as well as learning more about non formal education than I ever could have learned sitting in class listening to lectures about it.

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I have definitely improved my knowledge and skills in the youth work field through all the trainings I've attended but the most important and lasting impact the program has had on my life are the meaningful connections I've made with people throughout the years. Most of the people I consider to be my closest friends I've only ever seen in person a few times because we live on opposite sides of Europe but are forever connected through our shared experiences. Many of these friends have also become important work partners in developing new projects, which also gives a great reason to meet the people again and create all the more shared experiences.

Truly the best thing to come from all my Erasmus+ experiences is my personal growth, in which all the people I've met in my travels have played a role in their own ways. There is a magical bubble around Erasmus+ projects, you are not living in the real world when you're there. Everyone is exceptionally open and honest and it is truly a safe space to be your authentic self. People will disagree and discuss all manner of topics that they wouldn't dream of talking about without judgement. Because of this bubble it's hard to explain what is so special about these "seminars" "trainings" etc. it is something you simply have to experience yourself and it really can change your life for the better in a big and lasting way.

After all the wonderful experiences I've had in the E + programme I am an adamant evangelist of the values that it represents and try to foster a similar atmosphere in my day to day life as only exists in the magical bubble that is created when people come together under the banner of unity through diversity. So the quiet reserved young man has been transformed into a confident, open, still occasionally quiet, youth worker through the power of Erasmus+.

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Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

In this video, discover the story of Maxime, a French Scout, who took part in European Youth Conferences within the framework of the #EUYouthDialogue (also called "Structured Dialogue" in France) and his committment to an ecological transition.

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

I am a young journalist from Poland. I am keen on media world since two years. I have already experience writing in three youth newspapers and I am also creating a social project about media and disinformation. I am responsible for making podcasts and writing articles. This project won a prize for the best educational project in Poland in 2021. I am volunteering in at the local community level and I am also passionate about all topics related to politics, media and leadership.

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

My name is Paulina. My passion is traveling, sailing, culture, and meeting new people. I am very curious and I love gaining new knowledge. I work for education, the local community, and supporting self-development. I am mostly interested in topics related to travel, ecology, education, culture, and their impact on people.

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

I am a student, activist, and journalist. I have written about climate policy and foreign affairs for several Italian media (Repubblica, Jacobin Italia, theWise) and was one of the correspondents of the newspaper Domani in Cop26, the UN Conference on climate change. I have always been very interested in the subject of the climate crisis - the topic I have written most about, studied most and believe I have mastered best. But I am also passionate of foreign affairs - in particular, I love Latin America - and of everything related to communication and pop culture.

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

I am a 23 years old Irish award-winning entrepreneur and journalist working to empower youth across the globe. I am also the founder of the first Digital Youth Council, a not-for-profit organisation that works to give young people a voice in STEM and education, and ambassador for the #SaferInternet4EU campaign launched by Commissioner Mariya Gabriel. I am currently studying a Masters in Politic Communications at Dublin City University (DCU).

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026