In September 2018 I had a unique possibility to go to Greece on an Erasmus+ youth exchange project “Taste of Europe”. There has always been a desire to go to Greece and fly – both desires came true at the same time.

There, on the coast of the gulf of Corinth, in small town Xylokastro, participants from 9 Europe countries shared knowledge between each other and locals about the culture, traditions and traditional food of our countries. Such knowledge sharing is very useful because it clearly and intelligibly shows how different, but sometimes so similar our cultures can be. Most vividly I remember the second evening of presenting our countries – both events happened in Xylokastro town square so that locals and tourists also could gain insight into the national cuisines and traditions of different European countries. On the second evening we were one out of 5 countries that where presenting their countries. Ofcourse we had many different dishes and Latvian products with us and one of them were sprats in oil. One of the Italian participants, Marco, liked sprats in oil so much that we decided to gift him one can. Two days after the project Marco sent me a picture of him trying to teach his family how to eat sprats in “Latvian style”. Even bigger surprise I had when Marco found “Riga sprats” at his local market.

At the beginning some participants, including me, had troubles to start dialogue with complete strangers (other participants and local people). However by the end of the week, all participants felt more free and the communication went smoothly.

If I have to give an advice to other youngsters, then I can say only one thing – you have to take part in this kind of project (Erasmus+ youth exchange) atleast one time. And the tastier the topic the better.
 

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

My name is Bruno and until now I have participated in 2 youth exchange projects. Both of them took place in Lithuania 2-3 years ago. I thought it was a cool opportunity, I gained new friends, learned a few words in Lithuanian language as well.
The best part of a youth exchange project, in my opinion, is that everyone is really open minded and share their life experience – also those people who are not participants, but included somehow otherwise – like pupils from local school that we visit or project’s organisers.
It was interesting to visit a local school in one of the projects. During all exchange we had to communicate in English and it was a good language workout. Everyone was super friendly, you feel truly accepted all the time and all that together was what I really liked.

 

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

In February 2021 I started my 6 months European Solidarity Corps in Petrinja, Croatia. My topic, was Education through Puppetry.

The main focus of my voluntary activity was to create puppets with items that you could find at home, publish puppet making tutorials on the YouTube channel of my HOSTING NGO, UDRIGA IKS and perform a theater play with Muppets puppets in front of an audience of kids.

Other tasks were, for example, writing various articles about the life in Petrinja, and the life as a volunteer in Croatia, organize and hold arts and crafts ateliers for kids in container villages, do activities, like cooking and swimming, with blind elderly people, and anything that could help my association and their partners.

Before applying for an ESC didn't know which association was going to pick me or what country I was going to go but I'm grateful I was a volunteer for UDRuGA IKS, in Petrinja, Croatia.

Those 6 months were a wonderful experience. Mainly because of my supervisors at IKS, my Croatian roommate who was also a long term volunteer at IKS, the other long term and short term volunteers I met and became friends with.

My advice, to anyone who wants to do an EVS, is, you should. In my opinion its a great way to step out of your comfort zone but still learn and grow as a person. Especially because you will have people on your side who will take their time to get to know you and work with you.

I will never forget this experience and I'm thankful to anyone I met during this journey.

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

My name is Roos and late 2020, I moved to Helsinki for my European Voluntary project. I work for a ngo as a program assistant, with my role being to help volunteers coming to Finland and going abroad! It’s very interesting and nice. An office job mostly, but with different kinds of tasks still: from answering questions and helping with getting a visa to organizing trainings and helping with communication tasks.

When looking for a volunteering project, I mostly searched for projects in the north. Simply because I’m a big fan of the winter! During my first month here I already saw the northern lights dancing in the sky and the first winter really was a proper winter, frozen sea included! There weren’t just people walking on it, but also playing ice hockey, cross country skiing and biking.

Next to spending time in another country and getting to enjoy winter as much as I get here in Finland, a great thing about volunteering through the European Solidarity Corps is the fact that you get language lessons. Learning the local language really makes it easier to live abroad. My favorite word in Finnish? Korvapuusti! Korva means ‘ear’ and their word for a cinnamon bun therefore  literally means ‘twisted ears’. Quite funny – and really delicious.
 

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

My name is Alicia and when I was 16, I joined a youth exchange for the first time. We had to leave from the airport in the middle of the night and it was super cold, and we were very nervous as well. It wasn’t like anything I had done before, it was way out of my comfort zone. However, I got bitten by the youth exchange bug and have been working on – and have gotten Erasmus+ Youth funding for – our own youth exchange since then.

For eight days, together with young people from Slovenia, Moldova, Cyprus, England and of course the Netherlands, we got together in Slovenia’s capital Ljubljana. We stayed in a hostel that used to be a prison, which made it a very pretty and interesting place. The exchange was called ‘From your passion to your dream job’ and we explored many diverse topics and did different kinds of workshops like cake baking, photography and writing resumés.

Together with three friends, who also were part of the youth exchange in Slovenia, we are now counting down to our own youth exchange, together with a partner from Finland. It’s been postponed because of Covid, but I can’t wait for it to finally happen!
 

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

I'm Tom (25) and after doing my European Voluntary project here in Škofja Loka, Slovenia, I decided to stay. I have been welcomed with open arms and very much enjoyed working in the two youth organizations where I was working as a youth worker. The one organization focused on kids from 10 to 15 years old, and the other on younger adults from 18 to 25 years who are having a hard time. I really enjoyed the variety in tasks: organizing excursions, workshops, playing sports and games and simply spending time together. Very rewarding.

When deciding on moving to Slovenia, in the middle of the pandemic where traveling wasn't as easy as we're used to and my love for biking was growing bigger and bigger, I decided to bike all the way from the Netherlands to Slovenia. I crossed 6 countries and biked 1486 kilometers in 24 days. It was an easy decision: I enjoy riding my bike, and not only having the start and finish point, but a whole trip in between... Of course it wasn't all easy, but it was so worth it.

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

My name is Richelle, I’m 27 years old. I studied German in the Netherlands to become a high school teacher and did part of my studies in Schwäbisch Gmünd in Germany as an Erasmus student. After finishing my bachelor’s degree, I started working as a German teacher and student coach and then realized… this isn’t what I want to do yet! I didn’t feel like working fulltime, and because I studied to become exactly what I had become, there weren’t many other options for me at the time. Other than starting a master’s degree. Easy choice! Though I didn’t want to do this in the Netherlands and as such, started looking abroad.

As I had the time of my life during the four months studying abroad in Germany, it didn’t take too long before I figured I’d go back to Baden-Württemberg. Back to Schwäbisch Gmünd! The city stole my heart and I also liked the school a lot, so in September I moved across the border again to start the master ‘Germanisitik und Interkulturalität/Multilingualität’ at the same school I did my Erasmus exchange at a few years earlier.

It’s great to be back and also to get the opportunity to explore more of Germany while living here. I’m thinking of doing my internship in Austria or Switzerland maybe, but anyhow I know I’ll have more job opportunities after finishing this adventure abroad! It’s a win win win.
 

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

My name is Lesley, I’m from Luxembourg and I was in Tenerife for 2 months. I was volunteering in a little town named Arona for the Atlantic Whale and Dolphin Foundation (AWdF). They run a conservation and research program and call volunteers all over the world to go on whale watching boats and do some observation work to study the behavior of the cetaceans. We went on boats almost every day to do 3 different types of work. We had the datasheets where we had to write down the behavior of the whales and dolphins. Then we had the cameras with us to make pictures of the fins. It’s the only way to identify them because every fin has particular nicks on it and after we compare the pictures with those at home, we can identify which whale or dolphin it is and give them names. Finally, the third mission on the boats is hydrophone, where we put a microphone under the water to listen how they communicate and how the ferries around them have an impact on their communication. The main goal of this project is to make people and the captains of the boats aware of the big impact that the ferries and other boats have on the cetaceans.

Besides that, we had other projects like eco-tourism, where we would go randomly around the Island to find attracting places where the tourists could go instead of the most popular places. We had a creativity workshop to create posters, flyers and stickers to prevent people from going to the zoos and animal parks but also to educate the tourists on the boats. In addition, there was a group working on conservation and a group working on the education for the schools in Tenerife. I had the chance to join the group working on the London Eco Film Festival and I’m still working on it even if I’m not there because I wanted to be part of it. We had a lot we could do and it was amazing.

I stayed in a house with about 30 other people coming from different countries but the main language we were speaking was English. We were up to 6 people in each room so it was difficult sometimes, to have your own space and fit all your stuff but it was amazing to already have a group of friends because you are in the same room. It was challenging to be in a place that’s not so “luxurious” as it is here in Luxembourg but I didn’t have a problem with that personally. We had a place we could call home and we could be all together.

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

My name is Philipp and I did a vocational training as a carpenter. For my internship abroad I wanted to go to a country where wood plays a central role. There are many forests in Finland and the timber industry is the third largest industry there - so it was just perfect.

I went to an inter-company school in Finland. There the trainees build houses, which the school then sells! The Finnish master craftsman explained to us trainees what had to be done. He didn't speak English, so others had to translate for me. What helped me: in theory I already knew how to do it from vocational school in Germany. To do all that in practice now - that was great!

The other trainees were younger than me, 16-17 years old. They don't get paid for their training, you could sometimes tell by their motivation. Nevertheless, we got on well with each other and mostly worked in pairs.

I stayed with a host family - the best host family you can have. There was a programme almost every day so that I could get to know Finland. The typical Finnish sauna was also prepared for me on the first evening. Frisbee golf, also typically Finnish, was something I had to google first. My guest brother often took me along. The principle is like playing golf, but with a frisbee and a basket.

Because the Finnish trainees have a 28-hour week, I had plenty of time for sightseeing. For example, I visited Helsinki and the national park Nuuksio with great old trees and many lakes.

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026

If you see an opportunity, take it! Me joining in youth exchange project in Poland came just because of this saying that I live by. I have no hesitation in saying that it is the best decision I have ever made. Becoming a part of Erasmus+ Project ″Cultural Understanding Leads to Unique Relationship Evolution″ in October had a great influence on my self-growth this year.

While looking for words to briefly describe this project, the first ones to come to my mind are: teamwork, cultural differences and incredible friendships that were made through-out the 7 days’ time. Since it was my first time participating in youth exchange the expectations were pretty high, but everything was fulfilled with a bunch.

Most of the activities the participants did were bonding tasks and projects through which we presented our culture, history and the life of the youth in our countries. I got a taste of Irish, Romanian, Slovakian, Latvian, Spanish, Polish cultures and experienced the native languages of the participants which did nothing but broadened my horizons and built a strong knowledge about different parts of Europe. Moreover, speaking English on a daily basis provided a grand tool for improving my oratorical and grammatical skills.

I feel a need to mention that the very essence of the project were the people and the great energy we created. Everyone made lots of memories that most likely will never fade away. The best moments of that week - celebrating my 16th birthday with newly made international friends, travelling alone and many more will often stay in front of my eyes.

In conclusion, during the mentioned week in Poland I had the time of my life. Despite me being scared to go, I took the opportunity and did it. Hopefully, you will never miss out on similar projects as well.

Updated on Tuesday, 17/02/2026