
Going into this training course for youth workers there was only one thought on my mind; have fun and learn.
During the days of the program I listened to other participants, worked with them, had fun with them, shared moments, opinions and laughed with them. Engulfed in an accepting, respectful, optimistic and creative environment carefully crafted by both facilitators of this course, we were given the opportunity to share, to listen, to think, to play, to work, to try, to fail, to try again, to be ourselves unapologetically, to support each other, to be there for one another, to laugh, to cry, to give and receive.. We were taught how to look at intergenerational stereotypes without being instructed what to see. We put ourselves in the shoes of others, preoccupied our minds with thoughts greater and more complicated than the ones we are used to in our small individual every-day world.
Going in to this training course there was only one thought on my mind; have fun and learn. Getting out of this program there is another thought on my mind; why does it have to end?
I am extremely grateful to the facilitators for creating a program which provided me with insight in the lives of a different social group than the one I belong to and for bringing me to Szeged. I am thankful to them because coming to Szeged I was nervous and willing to work but I came out a better person. I made friendships, I created memories which will stay permanently inked in my mind, I discovered aspects of myself I knew nothing about and cried upon leaving as much as I laughed the other days, because I wasn't ready to part ways with all those wonderful people yet.
But everything good comes to an end.
Ioanna