My experiences on Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps

Hi there! My name is Elisa. I am a student at the University of Helsinki. I study cultural research as my major subject and art history and French as my minors. I have been travelling with my family ever since I was very young, and this is why I have always been interested in travel and different cultures. However, I also wanted to travel independently and get to know other international young people. My friend introduced me to the Facebook account "Go international Villa Elba", through which I learned about the opportunities offered by EU youth programmes.

I recently turned 24, but I have been taking part in Erasmus+ youth exchanges across Europe since I was 15. On my first trip I travelled to Turin in Italy. I participated in a youth exchange with around twenty young people from other European countries, such as Poland and Spain. A youth exchange is a bit like an international camp, with the difference that young people are involved in planning it.

I decided to get involved in international projects because I wanted to develop myself, get to know new cultures and improve my English. Later as an adult I have participated in six-month Erasmus + exchanges through my university in Turkey and later in France. I believe that my experiences abroad have been useful to me in terms of my studies, future career and personal development.

In Italy, the camp's themes were recycling and the environment. We discussed these topics in groups and completed various exercises and workshops related to them. I must admit that I was not very familiar with recycling at the time, and I learned a lot about the importance of recycling and its consequences for the environment on this camp. In addition to the exercises, leisure activities were organised for us, and we toured the city of Turin. We visited museums and got to know each other. I travelled with two other Finns of my own age, and I still keep in touch with them.

My next international youth exchange of one week called 'Tower of Babylon' took place two years later in Belgium. On this exchange, too, I went out with four other Finns whom I did not know before the trip. In this project I was the team leader, which meant that I had to take care of various practical matters.  We lived in a camp centre in Oudenaarde, a municipality in the province of East Flanders. I shared a room with three other female participants.

The camp centre offered different outdoor activities, such as climbing, an obstacle course and paddling. One day, we spent an hour on an adventure trail that had various obstacles, and at the end we were all covered in mud. I will always remember the fun we had that time.

As part of the camp programme, we also paddled together to an island and built a tower with timber we had brought with us. If you did not want to or could not participate in the building work, you could negotiate a different job for yourself. You should remember that you will not be forced to do anything when you go on a youth exchange. You can always find some other task to do if necessary. In this situation, for example, some people did not want to go paddling, and they were given cleaning tasks or asked to help organise the following activities.

Another significant memory related to that trip was the 'international evening', which is usually part of every youth exchange. The idea of this event is that you bring some traditional foods from your country to it and share your culture with the others. It was my job as a team leader to make sure that each member of our group brought the agreed share of the food, such as salted liquorice and squeaky cheese. Before we went food shopping, we were given a budget for buying supplies. We also cooked together, for example Italian gnocchi. The camp focused on taking everyone into consideration, so we had vegan food on our shared meals. This is when I learned that vegan food can also be tasty.

About a year later, I volunteered for one month with the European Solidarity Corps in Greece. We worked in a small village called Krioneri one hour's drive from Athens. I remember how nervous I was about this trip because I had never lived on my own for such a long time before. But I am very pleased that I decided to go.

During the day, we worked outdoors at renovating a historical path and house, gardening and organising events. We also received a daily allowance that we used for travel and food during our leisure time. We got lunch and dinner every day, and we lived in a club house. We arranged an international evening here, too, and I made a traditional Finnish root vegetable salad for it. I prepared a talk on Finnish culture and history and gave it to the other project members and villagers.

I remember how nervous I was at first about living with strangers in a new environment. This project pushed me outside my comfort zone at times, which I felt was very good for me. Such experiences as cultural shocks as well as new environments and adapting to them are very much part of international exchanges. I also believe it was living together that helped me get to know the others very well and make lifelong friendships.

Video presentation on the voluntary project:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gnAtChQmys

The destination of my most recent, week-long youth exchange was a small city called Laguepie in France. The theme was groups belonging to sexual and gender minorities. The youth exchange also had participants from non-EU countries, such as Belarus, Turkey and Ukraine. In the club room, we talked about our personal experiences of LGBT people's rights in our countries and considered solutions to the problems faced by minorities.

During this youth exchange, we lived in a camp centre where I shared a room with a Ukrainian and Belarusian girl. We also chatted about our views of the camp’s themes in our free time. I had some very interesting discussions and made new friends.

In our free time we hitched lifts to nearby villages. It felt safe because the village community was very small and everyone knew each other. On this camp, I learned a lot about the experiences of minorities in different countries and also started to questioned my own views of minority issues in Finland. I also had a chance to use my French, which I had studied at school earlier.

I strongly believe that if you go on an exchange, you should enjoy travelling and everything new cultures have to offer as much as possible in your free time. I find that EU projects allow you to broaden your world view and, as you encounter cultural differences, understand your own culture better. I warmly recommend Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps projects to anyone who would like to learn about different cultures, make new friends and advance their personal development.

Updated on úterý, 17/02/2026