NOORTEVAHETUS

Name of the project: “Youth For Rural” Youth Exchange

Date: 4^th – 16^th August 2023 

City/Country: Szaporca, Hungary

 

What was the main topic of the event?

Diana Bobrinskaja – Rural life.

Ekaterina Vetrennikova – Rural life.

Madleena Mattus – Rural life.

Kerttu Kerdt – Young people for rural life.

Luna Triste Kõu – Rural life, horses, bees, chickens and sustainability.

Nataly Rjabits – Rural life and understanding it, also making it better.

Polina Andrejeva – Educate youth about rural life, how to make your farm environmentally friendly.

What were the biggest learning moments of the event for you?

Diana Bobrinskaja –How people live in farms and take care of animals. Also learnt a lot about myself thanks to new people. I got to know a lot about different cultures and their realities. The biggest learning moment for me is the fact that now I know more about myself and what I want from this life.

Ekaterina Vetrennikova – When we went on a farm one day, and the owner was talking about her forest garden.

Madleena Mattus – The biggest learning moment for me was the culture shock part of this project. A lot of activities, planned starting times and information that was given to us beforehand changed throughout the project. I learnt that I want to be kept updated about changes and provide people with information about changes.

Kerttu Kerdt – Language learning and cooperation with other young people.

Luna Triste Kõu – My biggest learing moment was actually the whole project. Learning about different cultures, the rural life in Hungary which was so different from my countries life. I learned more about projects like this and overall how to connect more with people who aren’t from your country and your group.We had to do a lot of teamwork with others so that taught me a lot of patience and how to talk more with people. Loved the project overall and it helped me to grow as a person too actually.

Nataly Rjabits – I learned to be patient, since there was so many people, who may have taken more time to do or say something. Also seeing the positives in the negative things. But as of the project, learning about rural life in general.

Polina Andrejeva – I learned that everything on the farm is mutually efficient and all aspects (water, animals, products) are necessary for each other. So, because of that we need to protect our environment and planet.

Do you have any plans to continue being active in the field? If yes, in which way?

Diana Bobrinskaja –I would like to! I want to make a research about local farms and in general about rural life. In addition I`d like to go as a volunteer to any farm and help people there, take care of animals.

Ekaterina Vetrennikova – Yes, I plan to participate in more projects.

Madleena Mattus – It inspired me to want to spend more time in rural environments and consider moving to rural villages in the future.

Kerttu Kerdt – I’m not sure, I don’t believe, but I don’t know what life will bring.

Luna Triste Kõu – Well, right now no but i can’t say anything for sure because i live in the city, but if i would to move to the countryside i will for sure be active in the field. But gor now i can say that im very happy that i got to experience this and learn more for the future.

Nataly Rjabits – If possible then sure, but because I’m such a busy person, I can’t say anything for sure.

Polina Andrejeva – Not for now, but in the future i want to have my own little farm and produce my iwn food and be more eco-friendly.

Would you recommend this experience to your friends? If yes, why? If no, why not?

Diana Bobrinskaja –I would recommend it 100%! I got emotions and memories for lifetime, I got to know a lot about myself and now I want to make changes for better! Also I got motivated to be more eco-friendly, eat healthier, be connected more with nature!

Ekaterina Vetrennikova – I would for sure! Besides experience of living in the village, I met such lovely people! It was really great project.

Madleena Mattus – I don’t think i would recommend this experience as a first time erasmus project because there was a lot of bad management. I don’t know if this was because of outside factors but I was disappointed throughout the project. Plans changed on the minute, they told us that activities would start at a certain time but we ended up not doing anything for hours and we had to participate in the festival which wasn’t mentioned in the infopack.

Kerttu Kerdt – I definitely recommend it, it gives a great travel experience in another country and you can experience the life that others live everyday.

Luna Triste Kõu – I would. It was such an eye opening experience that you can’t and wont experince everyday. To go to a country over 2000km away and to learn about life, that’s just something amazing. I got to meet new people and live that life there with so many people and i still talk to some of them. Im just so happy that i had this opportunity and i think everyone who can should try it.

Nataly Rjabits – Yes 100%! It was so much fun. If I was suffering, I wasn’t suffering alone. You meet different people from different countries and maybe even connect with them on another level. Being with them was challenging at first but after some time, they started to feel like a family. Also being away from the city and living in the countryside was hard at first, because you’re so used to everything being so close to you and all the city lights and noises, but in the countryside there wasn’t basically any stores and if there was, you couldn’t get anything you desire. Being there made me appreciate small things, like the stars in the sky, silence and good company.

Polina Andrejeva – Of course yes, because topic about rural life is not very popular among people and they have lack of knowledge about that. Also it is a big problem that there are fewer eco-friendly farms in the world and a lot of animals lives in a bad conditionals. So, this topic of project help people understand more about ecology and our environment, people start learn more how to help to our planet.