Our Project
Mission, Vission and Values
Change, Explore and Grow by Exchange is a local NGO dedicated to creating opportunities for personal and professional development through exchange programs. Our mission is to facilitate growth and learning by connecting individuals and communities worldwide. We believe in the power of exchange to broaden perspectives, foster cultural understanding, and drive positive change in the world.
See the Booklet of the project by clicking below.
Our Gallery
Erasmus+ Partners
ASPAYM Castilla y León
ASPAYM Castilla y León foundation takes care of more than 300 people monthly. Those people presents chronical disabling pathologies, such as medular injuries, brain strokes or neurodegenerative processes. We have also a department of youth that includes activities, volunteers, exchanges... Everything focused on people with disabilities. From the Youth Department of ASPAYM Castilla y Leon we organize social and educational activities promoting inclusive leisure and culture, we also design projects and awareness campaigns and normalisation of disability. We also have a line of work in promoting youth participation and volunteerism and enhance youth empowerment for political participation of young people with and without diversity.
Verein MUSE
MUSE stands for Art, Culture, and Creativity.
M U S E works on:
- Creation of tools to deal with individual and collective problems.
- Creating safe environments, conditions, and freedom for interpersonal and intercultural exchange at regional and European levels.
- Exchange of cultural, artistic, and empirical knowledge.
- Promoting a minimalist lifestyle and sustainable consumption.
I-participate
I-PARTICIPATE is a non-profit organization established in 2018 and it is based in Greece. I-PARTICIPATE organization aims to strengthen active citizenship, to support active participation among citizens, to promote European values, ideas, identity and culture and to highlight lifelong learning as a means for strengthening citizenship.
Our activities aim to:
-empower and support young people through non-formal education, sport and culture
-develop social and human capital and create more favorable conditions for strengthening social equality, social cohesion and political activity
-support initiatives to protect individual, political and social rights and human rights in general
-provide, guidance, marketing research, tailor-made training and development programs to promote development initiatives in the fields of culture, sport, economy, youth, the concept of European citizenship and participation, and generally in any sector that will promote active participation in European, International, National and local level
-provide services to help and support individuals of all ages and at any time in their lives, to manage their careers, to choose their education and vocational training
-strengthen innovative programs from any source, World, European or National, to contribute to local, regional and global collaboration
Project Diary
Check these if you are interested on how this project developed day by day
Arrival Day
We made our way to Sapareva Banya and had a nice dinner all together for the first time as a team.
Day Two
Our day started with a nice breakfast and then we had an energizer that helped us remember eachother's names. Owning to the fact, that the energizer was hosted outside, a cute stray dog accompanied us as it really liked our company. It looked like a black wolf, which I found to be very cool. After that we read 3 news reports and answered some questions about media literacy. We had a wonderful lunch, that included an interesting soup, I hadn't tried before. Then we took part in a treasure hunt so we had to collect 40 pieces of paper, in order to link them with their definitions. In my opinion, this was the hardest activity for the day. After that my team had to watch videos about the usage of sunscreen and decide whether or not the information was real or not. This exercise was pretty bonding and let us express our personal points of view. We used different fact checking sites to be sure if the videos were a hoax or not. Very few people used the gossip + secret friend box so we didn't read any of the papers. After our dinner, it was time for my team, the Bulgarians, to prepare an intercultural night. We tried our best to make the experience as interesting as possible. We prepared a quiz and taught others how to dance traditional Bulgarian dances. Everyone had a great time enjoying the night and playing a variety of games.
Day Four
Day 4 has proven to be another day of success. Even though we had only 2 sessions, we combined work with rest time. The day began as usual with the normal activities. We talked about AI, media content and had an interesting workshop on AI content generation. We also had a little tea time! The gossip box was unveiled anew, therefore juicy secrets flew out of its container. We laughed, we suspected & we gossiped more. Furthermore into the day we found ourselves sat at lunch and discussing where we should go, given the fact that it was our free day. That meant no more sessions & zero cultural night presentation. We had more than enough to lose ourselves into the magnificence of our current town, go explore the woods and its mineral waterfalls or some just preferred to have a well deserved rest, by drowning themselves into sweet dreams. By the early night fall half of the participants found themselves chilling in the jacuzzi, where the little us, the child within ourselves came out. Splashing, games and hot conversations were bubbling out of the underground pool. We had so much fun. Afterwards came the long night fall. Dinner was served and it was quickly devoured, due to it being utterly delicious. Savoured to the last bite :). Again by the end of dinner, we were wondering what we should do. Some of us went to the store, some of us played “Never Have I Ever” in the conference room, accompanied by delightful music, some of us stayed in their rooms working/studying or just enjoying nice series with their close friends, the rest… we just played games. It was an amazing night filled with laughs and cultural immersion. If I had to pick my personal top 3 moments, they would be the nice nature visit of waterfall "Goritsa" in Ovchartsi, then it would be Atilla bumping into the poll on the street, something he really didn’t see coming. And lastly, maybe something that is a favourite thing of mine every day - the thought, knowing, that we are all here together, having fun, learning, bettering ourselves and having this one-in-a-lifetime opportunity, huge thanks to Erasmus+ for. Cheers for the unforgettable day 4 and may every day for the rest of this journey be as eventful.
Day One
Today marked the beginning of what promises to be an exciting and impactful journey. We started the day with an energizer that immediately got us all comfortable. “Rock Paper Scissors” seemed simple, but it was a great way to break the ice, and before long, we were laughing and chatting like old friends. The outdoor setting made everything feel even more relaxed, and to our surprise, a stray dog joined us!
The next sessions were all about getting to know one another better. We played a few name games and learned a bit about each other’s backgrounds, which was fun and helped ease some of the first-day nervousness.
Lunch was a much-needed break, and we enjoyed some great food before heading into more team-building activities. These exercises really brought out our creative sides and helped us bond even more. Once we were more comfortable, we dived into completing "mission impossible" tasks.
By the end of the day, we were already working as a team, and I could feel that this week was going to be something special. The day ended with a delicious dinner, and I couldn’t wait for what was to come.
Day Three
Day 3 started with a session on manipulation and propaganda in the media. It was eye-opening and made many of us realize just how much we didn't know about how information is shaped and used to influence public opinion. This project is already proving to be a profound learning experience for all of us.
After a short break, we got energized with a fun activity where we danced together to a rhythm, which helped boost our energy and connect with each other. It was a great way to shake off any lingering fatigue from the earlier session.
Next, we dove deeper into manipulation techniques, working in pairs to complete a quiz using a web app designed to teach us how manipulation works in the media. It was both educational and a little unsettling to see how easily misinformation can be crafted and spread. We learned valuable strategies to recognize and combat these techniques.
In the afternoon, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and moved the session outside to discuss critical thinking and conspiracy theories.
Today was the Austrian intercultural night.
A very fulfilling day!
Day Five
Our Day 5 here like a part of this beautiful trip together, starts with a wonderful healthy breakfast. After that we start with the first activity for the day. Our group had the chance to see a film about the fluence of the social media in our own lifes in the reality. During the second sesson we had a workshop on what our social profile (should) say about ourselves. We also had two very positive and nice exercises before the lunch break. After the lunch, during the first afternoon sesson we were talk about digital wellbeing. We worked in pairs to draw what digital balance looks like, and it was cool seeing everyone’s take on it—basically, how to live your best life without getting sucked into your screen 24/7. Later, we talk about the hate speech and also for the freedom of speech. Also in the last sesson for the day, we had to create in groups an Instagram profile. And our beautiful day here ended with a nice delicious dinner and the Greeks presented their food, traditional dances and words by fun games. 10/10 day for sure.
Day Seven
Our final day was a mix of reflection, learning consolidation, and goodbyes. We started with learning more about the Erasmus + structure and a rechap of the past 7 days. It helped us consolidate everything we had learned over the past days.
After a coffee break, we jumped into dissemination plans preparation. In groups, we brainstormed ways to share the project’s results and keep its impact alive after returning home. Ideas ranged from social media posts to local presentations.
Later, in the final evaluation, we revisited our expectations, contributions, and fears. It was empowering to see what we had overcome. After receiving our YouthPass certificates, we completed project assessments and shared our most memorable moments in a closing circle.
The day ended with a farewell party full of laughter and dancing, celebrating the friendships and memories we’ve created. It was a perfect end to an unforgettable experience.
Day Six
The sixth day of the youth exchange was an intense and rewarding day of collaboration and content creation. Following our breakfast, we began with a discussion about how to create impactful media content. The first sessions were dedicated to learning about target audience and video scripting, essential tools for creating engaging visual media.
After that, we split into small groups to work on our respective media projects. Each group was tasked with creating content that would raise awareness about media literacy issues, such as digital well-being and combating misinformation. The collaboration was inspiring, with each team member contributing unique ideas and skills to the projects.
After lunch, we continued working on our media projects. The atmosphere was lively, with teams hustling to perfect their scripts and footage. The day ended with group presentations of the progress made, where we shared constructive feedback with one another. It was rewarding to see how much we had grown as a group, both in terms of our media literacy skills and our ability to collaborate effectively. Before dinner, we reflected on the day's successes, feeling accomplished and excited to finalize our projects on the last day. Finally, was the long-awaited and rightly so Spanish intercultural night.