{"id":11560,"date":"2020-09-06T20:00:27","date_gmt":"2020-09-06T18:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.adelslovakia.org\/?p=11560"},"modified":"2020-09-06T20:00:27","modified_gmt":"2020-09-06T18:00:27","slug":"a-week-behind-the-comfort-zone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovio.sk\/en\/a-week-behind-the-comfort-zone\/","title":{"rendered":"A week behind the comfort zone"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello, friends.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u00b4m Patrick and with this greeting or maybe even a\u00a0short letter I\u00a0would like to briefly describe you one of my life changing experience. If you are into traveling, recognizing new cultures or even learning different way from how it used to be in school then I\u00a0hope this article will be just for you and that you will take something out of it. I\u00a0am also counting with possible, at least tiny inspiration or motivation to try and experience something similar.
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La Vecilla, Spain \u2013 a\u00a0small village in the north of the spanish kingdom that turned to be my second home during one whole week of august. I\u00a0travelled for purpose of an international project, specifically youth exchange organized by ADEL, Slovakia agency. Honestly it was my first ever experience with anything of this type, so I have had no expectations at all. Apart from that I have\u00a0also had no idea what the project basics were. But it all changed right after applying for it when I\u00a0immediately got filled with a\u00a0lot of detailed information from the organization about the exchange itself, place to stay, accommodation, food, transport and also about the safety rules and restrictions during the covid pandemic. I\u00a0was so glad for all the details I\u00a0was given about the project, and I\u00a0was getting more and more excited about its beginning. <\/span><\/p>\n

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Day D is written on 12 of august 2020. On that day, me and my 2 colleagues from \u2018slovak team\u2018 found ourselves at the airport of Madrid where 25 more people from various European countries such as France, Portugal, Italy, Czech republic… had already been waiting for the planned meeting at 15:30 I\u00a0guess. The only language of communication we all shared was English and there was no other option than to forget about our mother tongue for few days. Together with all other participants we took a\u00a0bus to the village mentioned earlier. In La Vecilla there had been a\u00a0group of organizators and facilitators expecting our arrival. I will tell you the truth, never have I\u00a0ever seen this enthusiasm for the job as I have seen in those guys. I\u00a0only needed a\u00a0moment to realize it was going to be a\u00a0week I\u00a0would never forget about in my life.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The project was named Cocktail: Gender sports, and its whole schedule was moving around this idea. Sport, gender equality and respect. With these 3 words I\u00a0would sum up the content and meaning of the activities which happened to appear in our project plan. I\u00a0would describe the project\u00b4s goal the same way I\u00a0did with the activities. Justice, equality of opportunities and understanding. If I\u00a0told you that the first time i\u00a0saw my phone was on the plane while returning hole you would probably not believe me at all. Each day was filled with excelent activities. Starting with different types of sport such as basketball, frisbee, dodgeball, kin-ball or other, mostly mixed sports… Continuing with fun \u2018events\u2018 such as talent show, photobombing in the village, etc., ending with team activities in which we collaborated with participants from other countries in one mixed team. The background of each point of the plan was primally a multicultural identity, meaning getting to know other countries as well as their individuals. I would also like to mention the so-called cultural nights. Every evening it belonged to another state which had to prepare something about its country, its history, gastronomy, customs or some curiosities.<\/span><\/p>\n

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At the end of the activity we were surprised in form of typical cuisine of a particular country. We tasted e.g. Spanish sangria, French cheeses, Czech sweets or Portuguese baked baguettes with a specific filling in the middle. We also got to know Spain itself with a day trip to the beautiful city of Le\u00f3n. This enchanted us mainly with its architecture and monuments. In the photo you can see us, the participants, under one of the dominants of Le\u00f3n, Santa Mar\u00eda de Le\u00f3n Cathedral. <\/span><\/p>\n

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After completing the last point of the program we had a free hand. We sang, danced and discussed long into the night. The unstoppable desire to meet new interesting people has become our best friend. And that is what has led us to maintain relationships and communication with each other to this day. From my personal experience, I can say without a doubt that with some people they are lifelong friendships. I would never have thought that there could be a person somewhere in the world who would give you so much in your life. Each of those people was a piece of the puzzle, one piece, but together we created something that will stay glued forever. And such experiences are one of the starting points of these projects. I am extremely grateful for them.<\/span><\/p>\n

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I would like to end my conversation with a thank you. First of all, thanks to the agency itself, down to which I had the opportunity to actually travel at all, which I count as the first and most important step towards what I experienced there. It was Lucia, the coordinator from ADEL, who took care of us and thanks to her we had all the useful information about the project. I mentioned my two Slovak colleagues who formed a Slovak team with me. Thanks to them, it was one huge fiesta, which we fully enjoyed with every sip. Kamil and Martin, thank you. And my last thanks goes to everyone who took part in the project. We were one party, a group of people from every corner of the world, but we immediately found a common language, and I do not mean only the communication language, but also the overall understanding, interests, fun…<\/span><\/p>\n

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I believe that in the future I will still be able to participate in a similar project. It’s a lifelong experience and I highly recommend it to anyone who has read at least the first sentence of my short letter. Enjoy every moment in life, take advantage of opportunities such as projects of such organizations, get to know something new, learn and experience. This is my advice to you. And as one of the participants in the project, my very good Portuguese friend, would say \u201cpeople who pass by do not walk alone and do not leave us alone, they will take a small piece from us and leave some of them in us.\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n

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– Patrik Golia\u0161<\/em><\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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