Between the 7 to 13 of April, 2018 the “United for Integration” youth exchange reached international students living in 4 countries – Poland, Turkey, Hungary and Croatia.
For international students feeling like an outsider, overcoming language barriers, coping with cultural misunderstandings, culture shock, xenophobia are just some of the experiences they’ve had to go through during their time abroad. So this Youth Exchange aimed at highlighting their experiences and helping each other overcome the difficulties. The Youth Exchange also focused on promoting intercultural dialogue, understanding the meaning of culture shock, sharing common values on European citizenship and tolerance.
The objectives of our project were as follows:
– Promoting youth mobility
– Helping students feel more included in their communities
– Sharing life experiences in different cities
– Bringing awareness about culture shock and intercultural learning
– Sharing knowledge about conflict management
– Being a responsible European student and citizen
– Working in a group of internationals
– Breaking stereotypes and prejudices toward specific groups and ethnicities
– Improving participant’s communication and language skills, developing opinions and taking part in activities.
As a result of the project, participants created a booklet with tips they thought would be useful for other internationals going to live in Poland, Hungary, Croatia and Turkey. It is particularly addressed to other international students, so that they know what to expect when they arrive.
The project was realised with the support of the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union.
