Charged with positivism

Martina Dimitrova

(Bulgarian Youth Forum)

In February this year I got to visit Romania as part of the project “ActivE+ Youth”. This was the first project I’ve been on and I can say I liked it a lot. In the beginning I was a little reluctant to go because I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy it. I feared I wouldn’t have anything to do there for more than a week if it turned out not to be my thing. Now that I’m back though, I definitely do not regret the experience. Our days were filled, but certainly not overfilled, with all kinds of interesting activities, most of which were a pretty good mix between fun and useful. The environment in general was very tolerant and creative and I liked how there wasn’t any pressure for us to do things, but instead we felt motivated to rely on our own sense of responsibility and to quite literally Be More Active. It was inspiring and I think the experience really showed us how easy it is to make a positive change in the world around us, even if its a small one.

While in Horezu we also got to visit a local center for non-formal education, where kids and young people could take free classes in different arts like painting and dancing. We learned about the area’s unique style of pottery, and watched how its being made by hand.

I also appreciated the opportunity to meet many interesting people from different countries, who despite our differences, by the end of our time together felt like family. Now that I’m back to everyday life, I don’t feel sad that it’s over though, I feel much more glad that it happened, because it charged me with a lot of positivism. I’m definitely looking forward to and hoping to participate in some other project like this in the future.

Sofia,

03.03.2019