Everything began from the offer which I got from my lecturer – to take part in the project in Poland. The subject of project was Environmental protection. Me and five my colleagues got this suggestion from Innovation Office. I am a student of Vilnius University of Applied Sciences and I study landscape design, so I decided to take part in this project because it would be useful for me.
We left Vilnius in the late evening of Monday and we all met in Vilnius bus station. The travel was longer than expected and it took us 20 hours to reach the main point – Paronin. But to travel so long was worth for some reasons.
First of all, a great company which was made from six countries met us warmly. Without Lithuanians there were Croats, Bulgarians, Italians, Polishes and Romanians participants. When we came after the dinner we started to communicate with other participants and to find out more about each participant. By this, the first day finished. Step by step all students became friendlier because we played some games and did exercises together.
When we started to know more and more about each other, we got some tasks related to our project subject- environmental protection and ecology. Often we were divided into the small groups which were made by students from different countries. It was very interesting because each of us had different thoughts and ideas. Those all tasks, exercises made our teams stronger and we found out about ecological problems in every country. Also, we had leisure time to spend in Paronin, enjoy nature and each other.
Secondly, one of the most interesting parts of this project was intercultural evenings. Every evening participants presented their own countries. They talked about culture: main facts, history, introduced with traditional cuisine and gave us to try some food and drinks. We sang and danced traditional dances. These evenings were really meaningful because we got a lot of information and broaden our outlook. We Lithuanians presented our country funnier than others. We showed some funny videos about Lithuania, prepared a quiz of fifteen questions about our country and finally we organized a party. The party was a huge luck and all were satisfied. So, we showed what Lithuanians are: friendly, cheerful and active people.
Eventually, when all tasks and games were finished there was left one more day which we spent travelling to Tatra Mountains. All together we reached the main point from where we started to rise to the mountains. The trip was exciting. The weather was warm and fresh all the time. We climbed to the cave about 500 meters. This is the only cave with the light in Poland. It was a little bit difficult to climb, especially for tall students, but it was interesting. The incredible views left me a big impression. It was my first time in the mountains. We passed the cave, took a look to the valley and lake in the mountains. Little by little we came back to Paronin. A trip exhausted all of us but students had good memories.
In conclusion, the project let us to get experience in ecology and environmental protection, to find new friends, to deepen our communication skills, foreign language. It was the first project to me. From now on I will try to take part in many projects because these opportunities is a lecture, holiday and entertainment in the one thing.