On August 22nd, with our bags packed and ready, we left for the airport with the intention of going to Lithuania for the Erasmus+ project titled: Zero Waste Youth. In the evening of the same day and after crossing many kilometers by air and road, we arrived in Antaliepte, the small provincial town where we would stay for the next 8 days, where the program would take place.
Our first concern as soon as we woke up the next morning was of course to get to know the other members of the Greek mission, but also the people from Lithuania and Ukraine. Even though we all came from different backgrounds, we became a great team very quickly and completely effortlessly. A very important reason why this happened was certainly because we all had common beliefs and opinions and of course because we were all aware of environmental issues. This awareness was complemented by the new knowledge and experiences we gained throughout the program. Each day was different and more interesting than the previous one with games, activities, workshops, excursions and of course the 3 unforgettable intercultural evenings organized by each national mission respectively.
Of course, it would be impossible to fit in this text all these beautiful experiences we had, but we can certainly mention some of the most important moments of the whole trip. One of those moments was definitely our visit to the landfill in the wider area where we learned how waste is collected and then processed. The workshop on clothing processing was also very interesting, where we had the opportunity to 'transform' second-hand clothes from old to new, putting us in the process of discovering our aesthetics and creativity. Finally, we will not forget our trip to Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, where we talked with passing people, informed them about the zero waste philosophy and asked them about their own habits regarding this topic, and later summarized the results of the conversations that we had and presented them as work to the rest of the groups.
It is true that one cannot easily understand what it is like to participate in such a program if one does not experience it themselves. So it is somewhat difficult for us to describe the unprecedented feelings we felt throughout our stay in Lithuania, as this experience changed our way of thinking, troubled us and brought us closer to people in a way that none of us expected.
Thanks!
The Greek team: Lefteris, Olga, Fanis, Myrto, Danai, Dimitris and Dimitris.