Youth exchange "Colourful Europe" in Koukli Greece, from 6th to 16th May of 2014

A transnational youth exchange project called “Colorful Europe” lasted for 10 days in Koukli, Greece and involved 30 participants from Greece, Latvia, Estonia, Slovakia and Romania. The project and its’ activities were financially supported by European Commission, youth in Action Programme. 

The main topics of the project were EU awareness and art and culture; the main  specific objectives of the project were: to discuss and popularize traditional values – traditional art and culture, to discuss the current situation and the future of the EU, to share cultural and artistic values, to learn new art techniques; to give participants a chance to learn about and share their experiences, knowledge and opinions about the EU, our possible actions for a successful and strong future of the EU in general; to motivate participants to be more active EU citizens and citizens in general; to learn about other cultures, to learn the importance to be aware of different cultures and to find out what connects so many different cultures and nationalities in one European Union; to involve EU topics in artistic expressions; to involve local communities in discussion with foreign participants – to share ideas about the EU and our common future.

Therefore, the main implemented activities during the youth exchange were:  presentations of national groups about their traditional art and culture, discussions about our current situation in EU in different aspects, role play games to learn about the process and difficulties to fight for a better future, simulation exercises about the importance of discovering each other’s cultures, role play to discover the best manners and activities needed to discover new cultures, learning about the history of papier-mâché, painting on wood and collage and workshops of these three arts – all artistic decors were made with motives of Europe and European Union; excursions to Monodendri, Aristi and Vikos gorge, trip to Paramithia to implement a flash mob and share information about the new European Programme for youth opportunities- Erasmus+, visit to Paramithia high school to share participant’s ideas for a common future in the EU as well as to present art work about the  EU that participants of the exchange have made during previous days; visit to the Child care center of Pogoniani and sharing of ideas with children and youngsters on youth opportunities with Erasmus+ and to present some of the artistic decorations made by participants during the previous days of the exchange, visit to a traditional local sheep farm, screening of several movies, excursions to Ioannina town, Dodoni archaeological place and Arhaeological Museum of Ioannina, excursion to the beach of Syvota, discussions about the EU elections of 2014  and intercultural presentations of every national group on their country.