Are you an open and outgoing person? Do you like making new contacts ? Then a youthexchange can be the perfect thing for your spare time...

Youthexchanges can be a good way to get out in the world, see things and meet new friends. 'It's a good way to gain a better insight in other cultures and therefore develop respect and reduce prejudices, says Johanna Arnqvist, 17.

Summer of 2003

Johanna was one of 20 students from Örnsköldsvik in Sweden who went on an exchange with students from both Tenerife and Malta on Tenerife this summer. That was the first step of three for these youths. The idea is to meet once in each of the youths' home countries to experience the culture, climate, social life etc. This is a good opportunity for all of them to get knowledge about each other, and for every trip they come one step closer to a relaxed relationship so that they can have nice conversations without feeling embarrassed. When I talked to some of the Swedes about similarities and differences between them, they all agreed. -There can sometimes be a quite big difference in the way to act and behave. That's why it's very important to be prepared and not be surprised when you for example have to deal with people you don't like or maybe don't share your opinion in some cases as a result from a different religion. Both the Tenerife youths and the Maltese are Catholics, which mean that their general way of thinking is a bit different than ours.

All the people from the three countries got together the 14th of July this summer. Their was going to contain trips and activities, all to help them come closer and hopefully connect, see similarities and have interesting conversations. That's when the possible diversities appear, then it's very important to have patience and show respect. You simply have to understand that people are different, sometimes very different and that things aren't always the way you want them to be. A good example of that is ”Mediteranian's” thoughts about time and whether you should have a straight timeschedule or not. They often plan everything very good on the paper, but in real life it doesn't work like that. You have to be prepared that they might don't know which transport you're going to have, or even where to go! But that can be kind of charming too when you're in the mood. It's good to experience this and when it gets a little bit harder and more complicated than you thought, just relax, sit down for a while, enjoy the nice weather... and wait for them to sort things out...

Give it a try!

Are you 15-25 years old? Do you and your friends like to meet people in your own age from different countries in Europe? You maybe want to show them your areas? Or are you a youthleader who want to do an international project with youths? Then you can do a youthexchange.

Facts: participators: youths, age 15-25 time: 6 to 21 days + time for travelling number of people: 16-60 youths (the foreign group included) + two leaders size of groups :same numbers from the different countries number of countries: two or more projects with more than two countries are priorities. N.B there's no support for school-classes, vacation trips, language courses, training camps and study trips..