More than 7,000 people have already participated in the initiative, which celebrates its 25th anniversary with the aim of promoting intercultural learning
In its twenty-five years of history, the European Projects and Youth Exchanges program has given more than 7,000 people the opportunity to get to know other countries and to share experiences and concerns. Now a new edition is starting, and those interested can choose between thirteen options on different themes that will take place in Croatia, Estonia, Luxembourg, Belgium, Romania, Germany and the United Kingdom. Registration for the 85 places provided can be done through the Informajoven website and applicants have until next Thursday. The initiative aims to promote European citizenship and provide intercultural learning.
Alfonso Alcolea lived the experience of this program in 1997. Now, at the age of 48, he remembers his trip to Berlin as “the opportunity that helped me to have a comprehensive vision of the European horizon and to learn how work is done in other cities”. He assures that he marked a before and after in his life. And that trip he made when he was a 22-year-old boy who now works in the heart of Europe as an official of the European Commission’s Directorate General for the Environment changed his mind so much.
Ana García also has very good memories of her trip to Tunisia in 2003, since in this exchange program the European Commission also finances trips to destinations that are outside the community territory by way of international cooperation. «It was a wonderful experience and a very strong culture shock. We were with people from Finland, Algeria and Tunisia, the host country. This 44-year-old journalist, who still has friends from then with whom she maintains a relationship, remembers how, going alone, she had no choice but to lose her embarrassment and speak in English. «She opens your mind when it comes to relating, since they mix you with groups of different nationalities».
In addition to living the experience when she was 25 years old, Ana was later a monitor in different outings of the European initiative. A change of roles that led him to discover Belgium and Italy. “I really enjoyed the other side, seeing how the young people have a good time.”
“Extraordinary experience”
Germán Teruel also became a monitor after participating up to four times in the program. «When I was 16 years old I went to Finland, where I repeated later. I was also in Belgium and Italy as a student, and as a monitor I got to know Austria and Portugal». According to Teruel, professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Murcia (UMU), these exchanges made him a pro-European. “I remember it as an extraordinary experience with a multicultural environment that made me understand the motto ‘united in diversity,'” he highlights.
Nicolás Van Iseghem agrees with the rest of the interviewees on how exciting the adventure is. “I was in Germany when I was 13 years old. It was the first time I traveled without my parents and I spent a week that I will never forget. He liked it so much that this year he will reapply to travel to Croatia. On the opposite side is Alejandra Armenta. She did not leave Murcia, but discovered it thanks to this initiative designed for the youngest. She arrived in 2009, at the age of 22, from Mexico City and found in the Region a place to develop professionally and personally. “It was the first time I traveled to Spain and I loved it.” Alejandra is an example of what can change a person’s life after living an international experience. «In these thirteen years Murcia has become my home».
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