It was a few weeks after our Cyprus project when Heleri told me that Stelios is coming to Tallinn. It is a rare moment, because usually people don't find their way to Estonia. So, via Instagram story I followed his trip closer and closer to Tallinn. And on 25 of October he arrived. I had university lecture in the morning and after that I met with my friends from Bulgarian EVS project with Heleri as well. But on my way to meet with Anna and Mustafa I saw a guy who really looked like Stelios. I wasn't sure and it all happened so fast that I didn't have a time to react. His face expression reflected coldness and tiredness. So, I wrote to him and yep, it was Stelios who I saw. Anyway, after few hours spent with other guests and few hours studied for my exam. I met again with Heleri and Stelios. It was dark already but we still took a city walk. Main buildings were lighted so actually everything was beautiful. We visited some sight platforms but because it was super windy we decided to go inside a room. It was kind of too early for the bars, so, we visited a shop bought some stuff and went to my university while we were in old town anyway. After few minutes walk we were there in warm environment. Heleri and Stelios were facinated by my university chilling room. An old iMac made a real buzz. Heleri turned it on with her static electricity and we were a little bit concerned about the situaton, but after few minutes computer went to sleep mode again. Stelios had an opportunity to taste gingerbreads, yes Chistmas season has already started in Estonia. Actually, the most important thing was that Saku drinks were represented. We listened to music, chit-chatted until Laura arrived back from her lecture. She didn't find the right place at the first place, but somehow she still managed at the end. When I waited outside for Laura it was snowing. Grazy stuff but it was Stelios secret dream to see snow here. After making my uni more Cypriot (Stelios wrote to the blackboard "Cyprus loves you Agros") we left the house. Actually I also bought a piece of Cyprus to this room after my trip. I put a cruciform figure magnet on the fridge. Anyway, then we went to Hell Hunt to eat something and talk more. Because it was snowing the topic was snow in Cyprus. Yes, it is snowing in Cyprus as well time to time. Because Laura moved to Tallinn and we hadn't met after the trip we had a lot to discuss about. Heleri's and Laura's conversation went pretty passionate at some point, and yeah they talked in Estonian, so, Stelios was pretty confused. I have been in the same situation in Spain, but it is a good language lessen tho 😄 When we went outside again there wad already a lot of snow. So, we definately had a fun in the snow throwing snowballs and screaming like children in the old town. Only Heleri wasn't so excited, she hates snow. Me too in general but first snow is enjoyable. Me and Laura went to a bus to drive home. Heleri and Stelios continued their pub crawl, actually I guess they visited only one bar. One thing that seemed odd to Stelios was Estonians habit to pay only with a card on the shop. On Thursday I met with Stelios and Heleri right before their leaving. I recommended an eating place for them and also went there. They had walked a lot in the city with that weird weather during the day. I accompanied them to the bus/tram stops and said goodbye. Heleri had to take a car ride back home and Stelios had to reach the bus station to go to Lithuania. It was nice to have a guest from other country visiting us here in Estonia. Maybe the season wasn't the best but at least Stelios got an overview of life in Estonia and a lot of cool memories. Hope to meet you again 😊
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28 of September A day of Urania bought us to Nicosia, to a capital of Cyprus. First of all we went to a House of The European Union House in Nicosia. We passed the security control, in Estonian House we don't have so restrict rules, but the situation in Cyprus is a bit different than in Estonia as well. There was a man who thoroughly explained us how work in European institutions look like. I really loved his presentation, he was so free to talk about that topic. Then we visited an archeological museum. Mighty experience as well . This visit made me feel better about my university. I got so much information and saw ancient works in real life. I was so fascinated that Laura had to scream over the museum my name to remind me that we have to leave the place. We also had an access to art museum. Really modern museum full of Cyprus art. Then we walked directly to the city centre and ate souvlaki once again. I would say that this place food tasted better than in Pafos. Then we went to a city tower from where we had a great panaorama view. There we also had a history lesson about the city. Then started our free time. One thing that you notice in Cyprus is cats, they are everywhere. Most of the people went directly to the Turkish occupied side. Well, yes everything looks like Turkey but your mind just remind you all the time the fact that you are still in Cyprus. Anyway, we visited the market and the mosque. We had to dress up before we went in. Me, Laura, Eva and Helena got new long skirts and scarfs to cover our heads. It is hard to adopt different customs, I really don't understand why you have to cover your head in the church. We are not used to this kind of thing at all, so we acted really carefully with Laura. We had a fear that scarf falls off and then we are in the trouble. Interior of the mosque wasn't something special, I expected more. Back in Cyprus side we spent our time in shisha bar. Fun fact, our tobacco mix was called "Bora Bora". I thought that from capital shops you can find everything, but nope. From the centre they didn't buy Martini Asti, which is a pity. I wanted to celebrate my birthday with Asti. Moreover, I saw this drink in Larnaca's small shop, so, my hopes were high. But now I can say that it wasn't even the worst scenario. We ended our evening with epic karaoke night. It wasn't the best idea to sing Estonian songs because others didn't understand. But night ended with even more difficult songs like "The Phantom of the Opera". 29 of September It might had been the most important of our project. It was a day of the 10th muse Erasmia. In the morning we created a poster about our vision how Erasmia should look like and what values she represents. It was a fun task and results were really creative. We also brainstormed about new project ideas. We got a lot of support from our mentors. Now is also a good time to mention how awesome Diana and Andrea were. The way how Andrea always messed with our names and made up new words like "bollogna". I am not sure this is the correct way how to spell it but it sounded more or less like this. And amazing Diana from Latvia. It is nice to share moments with people who really can relate to your culture. And Vasilis has done a great job planning this amazing project. After end of our sessions we filled in our travel reimbursement documents and packed our bags. Then we all went to our final evaluation party. We published our secret friends and secrets in general. Our secret friend game was really nice. Once when we walked back from our lunch place I talked about it with Czech girls. I mentioned that probably my secret friend is a Czech, though it was just my guesswork. Actually this situation was really cringe because it was hard to say what gifts I have done for my secret friend if your friend is next to you. So, I was really careful to not spoil myself in front of Klara. I got hints from Terzka that led me to a thought that she is my secret friend. She told me in our Pafos day trip that she likes my shoes and wrote the same thing to my envelope. Also, she paid a lot of attention to me all the time, which I am grateful for. Secret friend ceremony was funny as always when someone tried to trick their secret friend with fake hair and other attributes. We had a youth pass ceremony and moreover all the girls got a mirror and all the guys got a luggage name tag. I was about to leave the place to pack some final things when surprise-surprise they switched off the lights and brought out a cake with a birthday song. Heheee, I didn't expect that. I was a bit confused because candles on the cake were 30, but I turned 20. Later they explained that the reason was Erasmus+ 30th birthday and it was a good reason to combine those two things. I can't complain about it because it was my date of birth and I respect Erasmus+ project a lot. By the way, the cake was really delicious. 30 of September Yay, my birthday started in a private bar. They opened the place just for us. Now it is time to talk about the sparkling wine again. I visited local shops at the day time and literally bought a last bottle of sparkling wine. We opened it just seconds after midnight, thanks to Gustavo. I am afraid to open this kind of bottles but if it is really needed of course I can handle the situation (Kyiv 😋). But this last bottle of sparkling wine in Agros tasted as good as Martini Asti and it was way more cheaper. Eric was kind enough to make me special coctails. Music was good and DJ Lorenzo picked great songs. It was so much love around me during all the time and all this dancing and photos. I'll never forget this birthday. I guess it is the best way to celebrate your 20th birthday. Best location, adorable people around you and great feeling inside yourself. I am grateful for my Estonian team who made a birthday present for me. A good wine and roses stuff are always welcome. And those videos that Laura made, wonderful idea. I love people who think out of box. Vittorio gave me earlier literature about Modica's art history, which really was significant for me. It was hard to see people leaving and to leave myself as well. But I am used to being and travel alone, though, it is not worth it at all. My bus from Agros left 4:30 am with Italian team and Stavros. Driving by bus back home was full of emotions. I saw Giulia's tears and it reminded myself last year when I had to leave Sveshtari, probably it was my most emotional night in my life back then. First project departure moment is the hardest one, on next projects it is getting easier. I spent some time together with Italians before I passed through the gates and was ready to start my Kyiv adventure. When I was waiting for my flight one lady came by and made a quick survey about my time in Cyprus. So, the next tourist analysis you see about Cyprus, keep in mind that it consists my contribution as well. If I already told about emotions then I have to mention that my parents birthday messages for me made me so happy again. Support from friends is important, but from family even more. I also sepnt nice time in Kyiv, tho, there was colder than I expected. At least it was a nice test for getting use to with Estonian weather. To get a good overview of my birthday, I made a video about it. Enjoy 😜 Special thanks to Manolin who made a video about our project. And thank you Vasilis, Diana, Laura, Manolin, Chantell, Klara and Janre for sharing your photos with us. They were so great that I'll take the change to use them in my blog posts as well. I tried to use my own material as much as possible but you just captured some moments when I was too lazy to bring my camera out. Thank you Continuous Action for being my sending organisation. Find out active offers for youth exchanges on their webpage. PS! Agros is deep inside my heart ❤️ 25 of September We started our week with Youth Pass introduction. We discussed about 8 key competences. We were divided into 8 groups to make a small summary about our key competence. For me it was easy breezy because I learned all about youth pass when I did my EVS and after that I have had other projects where we have discussed it as well. Funny thing was that I was always in the group with same people. For example Laura, Giulia, Rebecca and Alija were always in my group. In the morning session we discussed about Erasmus+ possibilities. How to apply in different projects and stuff. Also, EVS was a topic, if you still didn't understand what EVS is you can contact with me and read from my blog what life I lived in Bulgaria during my service. We also made small presentation about our sending organization, in our case it was Continuous Action. After morning activities we walked again to our resturant. Funny thing about our meals was that locals don't like to recycle. We didn't have ceramic plates and cups, everything was plastic. And to cover everyone's needs they served pasta, potatoes, rice etc. all together in one meal. Really popular was a lemonade. The real lemonade from lemons and oranges not a Limpa 😝 Because the day was dedicated to Melpomene and Thalia the topic was Tragedy and Comedy. We were divided into groups once again and we had a task to act Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream. This play was full of Greek names, it was such a struggle for me. It took time to get the idea of the plot and at the end we decided to act it as authentic way as possible. We used bedsheets to dress up like ancient people. The same idea that some people used in Banquet for Muses. I commit that our play was pretty boring. I loved other acts about Hamlet. They were so funny and Janre's outfit made my day. And other group passionate performance was also enjoyable. In the evening we had a second part of intercultural evening. We prepared for the night a lot of sweet stuff, chocolates and candies. To get full experience of Estonian food we made black bread with mustard. People's reaction was priceless. We offered also Estonian non-alcohol drink kali and of course Vana Tallinn liqueur. Before coming to Cyprus I visited tourist information point to get some brochures about Estonia. Our presentation was plain, just to give a general overview of our country. We ended our presentation with wife-carrying competition. It made a buzz in our audience but in the end I hope that everyone liked it. Presentation about Cyprus showed us a side of a Cypriot life. Helena's dancing skills just bewitched everyone. Spanish dancing style is unfortunately way too hard to imitate right away. We saw magnificent places in Greece and tasted many delicious snacks. Everybody loved Vana Tallinn and some people drank it too much. Epic night again. This time I also got the experience to handle Laura at night. 26 of September Early in the morning we started our trip to Pafos. We made a first stop after 5 minutes of driving in Agros mineral water factory. We had a small tour there and free water bottles 😀 The factory looked like a mix of Saku Läte and Saku Õlletehas. I live only 100 m away from Estonian biggest water factory. So, from my tap you can get high quality water as well (actually everywhere in Estonia) Sten and Janre struggeled in the bus trip. In the mountains curvy roads it was hard to sleep and guys were really sensitive about everything. Bad side of Vana Tallinn. Our next stop was in The ancient theatre of Kourion. Archaeological site, I am in love with that place. Beautiful theater and ancient ruins and mosaics. Those ruins were conserved perfectly by the way. On our way we passed by the Aphrodite's rock. It was one of the sites in my "I want to see" list. It was a nice beach but without that myth this place wouldn't be so special. Irony of life. Then we finally reach our main destination place, European Capital of Culture Pafos. We had an appointment with mayor of the town. We waited for him in front of the municipality house, there was also the main square. I would say that the centre of the city is pretty minimalistic. I was glad that we visited Pafos because I really wanted to visit it before coming to Cyprus. In general, many my wishes came true. My dream trip. We had a lunch in a traditional place where we tried souvlaki. It was a huge portion of food and it took time to eat all of it. In the bus there was always a radio playing, so we got brainwashed from Greek music. Here is a one example. After lunch we visited the Tomb of kings. Another archaeological site with perfect location. I can imagine working in this kind of site next to a sea, what a wonderful archaeologist life. So, I appreciate a lot ancient people's thinking to base their tomb on just exactly that location. This site wasn't conserved so perfectly, I saw many mistakes. I did a small informative lesson to my compatriots talking about different types of columns. Then we went to the seaside and visited all together an Old castle of the town. From there it was a great view to the city and the sea. Then we went to enjoy free time we had. Unfortunately there wasn't a sandy beach and Spanish people were pretty indignant. Instead of sand there was a rock from where you can jump in the water. Many participants used this opportunity but not me. I prefer just swimming. This time water wasn't so warm as in Larnaca and not so light blue as well. On our way back to Agros we made a stop in Limassol. We had a free time to walk around the city. This city is full of Russian maffia and I also saw many Turkish people there. At least I got a new scarf with good price, because the tourism season is about to end I got a discount. It was getting dark and city lights made the atmosphere mystical. I liked the city and it was sad that we didn't have more time to spend there. On our way back we tried to sleep but it was difficult as always. During the dinner we practiced different languages because it was the European Day of Languages. We had a sheet of paper full of words in our project countries languages. Most of Estonian words were incorrect, don't trust Google Translate if you want to speak Estonian. Klara is a natural talent in Estonian but I need at least 3 years before I am courageous enough to speak Czech in public. 27 of September Day of Terpsichore which meant a lot of dancing. We started morning with fun energizers and then headed to a restaurant where we presented our national dances. Estonian team presented Kaerajaan, it is the easiest dance but we still argued which is the best version to dance it. Probably our performance was horrible but at least you got an idea how this dance looks like. Spanish team represented 3 different dances. First dance was still out of my range but next two ones were great. I guess every children in Estonia can dance Macarena and Las Ketchup since kindergarden. Czech Polka was funny because the song is popular in Estonia and Estonian lyrics are totally silly. But it was nice to dance it and it was also quite easy. Greek Zorbas also was funny and Stelios is a master of dancing it. After lunch we made pairs to make a dance on a topic they told us. Janre cheated a bit to dance with Eva. My dancing partner was Melania and our topic was a tragedy. It all started with choosing a right music for our performence. In the end we chose a song Pursuit of Happiness from a movie Project X. Our story was really contemporary. What happens in the club if you drink and do drugs. I used my digital competence tho solve the task. I downloaded a song and edited it. Throwback to my puberty years when I was really into a photo, video and music editing. I am really good at faking being drunk, it also helps on parties when you actually don't want to drink. Vittorio's and Stoyka's dance was so lovely. It totally touched our souls. They really deserved to win the competition. It all began for me in the summer when I applied for the project. I really wanted to join in this project because the timing and the topic were perfect. So, in the end of August when I got approved for the project I was more than happy. I guess all my Villardi flatmates saw my excitement. Greetings to my "rahvuskaaslased". Our Estonians' team was firm when suddenly our group leader couldn't participate in the project anymore and one of my best friend Heleri got an opportunity to take part in. It was magical because only weeks before I wished her happy birthday with more epic trips together and it all got true. So, be careful what you wish for because you might get it. At least I got a company with whom to travel to Cyprus. We worked together with Heleri in Bulgaria, we shared so many emotions there and she definately made a Cyprus project also better for me. 21 & 22 of September It was a busy day for me. I supposed to have a full day in university before departure but I was too tired to go to my first chemistry lecture and last lecture was cancelled. So, instead of 4 lectures I attended only 2. Oh well, what to say, at least I got time to make a presentation about Estonian art cultivating Europeans consciousness. I met with Heleri in the bus station. I hadn't had seen her since winter time. So, it was a cheerful reunion. We randomly had picked seats next to each other and practically all our way to Riga we chit-chatted about life. In Riga we had way too much time to just sit and wait in the coach station. We went for a walk in the old town and we got lost. It is already a second time this shit happens with me this year in Riga. Fortunately we got out of the street labyrinth and found a right direction. Some more hours of sleep and we arrived to Vilnius. It is so nice that baltic bus companies offer free hot drinks on board. In chilly and raining evening it is so cosy to follow city lights and drink cocoa. We ordered a car through Taxify and only paid 2 euros for that. Vilnius airport was pretty empty but it was good for us, we tried to rest in Samsung corner before our flight to Larnaca. Larnaca's weather was amazing. At first I thought that I am in North Africa, the nature looked like that. Already in the morning it was super hot. It was pleasant surprise that the bus driver spoke excellent English. So, first impression about Cypriots was great. City centre bus route was pretty messy but we ended up in a correct location. We had a filling breakfast and headed to beach. Uhhhh, this water. I am in love, I realized why Cyprus is Gods' island. This beach was AMAZING, I really didn't want to come out of water. Nothing from my previous experiences can beat that swimming there. We tried to visit some sights as well but it was freaking boiling outside and hard to move around. We split with Heleri. She went shopping because she lost her scarf in the morning and needed a new one. After that we met with another part of Estonian group. We went to a cafe and suddenly it was already a time to meet up with others in the bus station. We saw other groups but we were too Estonians to go and talk with them. We sticked together also in the bus. One more common line that connected us was sunburn skin. Mine and Sten's situation looked pretty bad. I can say that I am kind of used to have a red skin on vacations. After hours of driving by bus we had our first dinner all together and we met with Eric, one of the local supporters. At first when we arrived to our hostel it looked like a hospital, long corridor and white walls, darkness makes everything so creepy. It was a good news that we were all together in the same room with Estonians. It is so much easier to communicate with your compatriots in this case. 23 of September First day was dedicated to Clio, a muse of history. Actually was first part of the day full of ice breaking games. Second part of the day we dedicated to history while doing tour in Agros. We started with classic name games. Name + adjective and ball games. We also played games to get to know each other more like asking questions from each other. We also met another supporter Stelios from Cyprus. It was great to have small breaks between our sessions to munch all the delicious stuff they offered us. We all got a present from Cyprus ☺️ After that we started with a mission impossible. We had 15 tasks so solve in 60 minutes. For example, we needed to create a logo of the project, timetable and also stupid tasks like collecting 50 different socks. Somehow I am used to handle with socks, so, I took responsibility to take care of that task. At the end I even had way too many socks. We didn't manage to solve all the tasks but this is normal. I have never completed a mission impossible in 100% Before lunch we had to collect a name tag from the tree and find the owner. It helped us to learn names. On the tag there were most important contacts, this is something new and really professional. Our restaurant was about 700 meters away from our accommodation place. At daylight it was nice to see the whole village. I personally enjoyed every walk to eating place and back because it was charming to walk in Cyprus streets. We only had a breakfast in our sleeping place. But in general I really prefered to keep eating and activity life separated. After lunch Janre made a tour for Estonians because it was his 5th time in Agros. We walked up- and downhill and enjoyed beautiful views and all the nature around us. All the grapes and kiwis that just grow in the gardens. Insane, totally insane. Cyprus is a paradise. Second part of the day we started in our hostel. We chekked mission impossible tasks and played a funny card game. Then we headed to a Agros tour. We visited rose house and degustated different products they are making. It all reminded me Bulgaria and our lovely Sveshtari. Our next stop was sweet factory. The technique they used was pretty interesting and unique, at least for me. We made quick visit also to the sport hall and elderly care home. Then a meat shop, so many different flavors. We got an access to the local Orthodox church. It was great for me. I explored the interior and was facinated by the art there. A priest also told about the history of the place and showed us the chapel full of icons. They preserve really old and valuable piece of art and I love it. During our tour it went dark and cold so everybody enjoyed the time spent inside a room. Finally, we saw how they prepare traditional Cyprus delight lokma. Then we headed back to hostel to prepare ourselves for the Banquet for muses. Spanish team was most prepared for the banquet, their white outfits were pretty authentic. During the banquet we made gossip, secret and punishment(read Spanishment) box. Somehow the free wine we got made us playing a drinking game. Eric rules were pretty simple but effective I would say. Then we went to one of the three clubs in Agros and next is a history. Huuh, it was an emotional night and I lost my scarf. I don't know why Cyprus needs Estonians' scarfs. It was really interesting to watch Laura's snapstory in the morning. 24 of September On Sunday, a day of epic and love poetry, dedicated to Calliope and Erato. We started our morning with stretching exercises and some more ice breaking games. Later we made common rules to make atmosphere more cozy. We also presented our home work about Estonian art. That day I wore a Bulgarian T-shirt and got only good feedback from Bulgarians, they really appreciated my act which was so lovely. In the morning we had a world cafe about epic and love poetry. 5 different topics to discuss about in your group. The topic was linked with my university myths seminar topic and it kind of prepared me for my studies. During our second session we had to write a real epic poem. We were in international group, so we included ideas from different countries in all together. Spanish Laura was a great leader to lead us to the right track to complete this task. She is an excellent youth worker, this job really fits to her. In the end of the day we had our first international evening: Italy, Bulgaria, Malta and Czech Republic. Italians introduced their magnificent region. Bulgarians were fully dressed in their national clothes, it was so marvelous. It was such a cute gesture when Bulgarians gifted me a rose oil. I got so much information about Malta. And in Czechia presentation I saw a castle where I have spent a night, now I know the name of the place where I stayed (Valtice) By the way, we got famous. Publication of our project in Cyprus news accociation, the biggest news network in Cyprus published a photo of us. Click here And some more publications here and here - the article is the same but the publications are different.
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AuthorMy connection with Erasmus+ projects. Youth exchanges and training courses. Archives
January 2020
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