EASY DRUGS DON'T MAKE YOUR LIFE EASY by Tolea Postovei

EASY DRUGS DONâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;T MAKE YOUR LIFE EASY

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DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT "Easy Drugs do not make your life easy" was a youth exchange with a week of activities from April 3-12, 2019, in Sarata Monteoru and Buzau, Romania. The partnership included 34 young people and 8 group leaders from eight European countries: Croatia, Greece, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Poland and Romania The context of the project was one in which young people are increasingly consuming easy drugs that lead to negative physical, mental and social effects. The aim of the project was to prevent and combat the use of easy drugs and ethnobotanic substances at physical, mental and social effects. The methodology was dynamic and diverse and based on nonformal education. It included games, presentations, lectures, debates, theater, workshops, media and video creation, visits, intercultural evenings The central part was occupied by three workshops that aim at creative methods: theater, video creation, media creation to identify solutions to promote active and healthy lifestyle and prevent and combat easy drug use. The involvment of youngsters and their leaders was significant resulting in one of the best project our association implemented in Erasmus + programme in last 6 years. We send our apprecition to our partners EYCB – Czechia, IYP – Croatia, Youthnet Hellas – Greece, Associazione Sikanie – italy, ILA – Netherlands, Moke Krzyszkowice – Poland and K’mon – Spain. Also our gratitude goes to our wonderful hosts „Casa cu Tei” Monteoru and Hotel „Sport B90” Buzau and to all other persons and insitutions involved somehow during our activities. Catalina and Tolea Postovei on behal of HAIR REDIIVIVUS Buzau

DRUGS IN OUR COUNTRIES Opiates have been used by people all over the world since the antiqe times. There are records about ancients people like Summerians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Babylonians and Chines enjoying alcohol, tobacco, opium and poppy juice. During the history a lot of new drugs were invented based on plants they are extracted out of. As drugs have been used for hundreds of years all over the world, their effects have been felt for just as long. Since drugs have been used, there were always those who abused them, which led to full-blown addiction and the bevy of side effects that come with it. Psychoactive supstances avaliable on europian drug market continue to cause public health problems and challenge policymakers. Use of drugs not only affects people using it, there is more to it than that. Production and trafficking are led by criminal organizations connected to money laundering, assasinations and other types of criminal actions. Developments in Europian countries are both influenced by and impact on global drug trends. For some synthetic stimulant drugs like MDMA, Europe is major producer exporting products and expertise to other parts of the world. For, cannabis European production has to some extent displaced importation and for cocaine and heroin,the two other major plant-based illicit drugs, production remains centred in Latin American and Asian countries. While Europian and international efforts to restrict the production and availability of drugs had same impact there have been some reports of increased usage and manufacture of these substances within European borders due to new ways of trafficking like internet sales. Here are some statistics for general use of substances in Europe.More than 92 million or just over a quarter of 15- to 64-year-olds in the European Union are estimated to have tried illicit drugs during their lives. Experience of drug use is more frequently reported by males (56.0 million) than females (36.3 million). It is estimated that 87.6 milion citizens (aged 15 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 64) of Europe used cannabis 2

during their lifetime and 17.2 milion young adults (15 – 34) used it last year. 17 milion people aged 15 – 64 years used cocaine in their lifetime and 2.3 milion young adults used it just last year. MDMA and amphetamines were used by 12 – 13 milion people during their lifetime. Opioids, like heroin, were found in 84 % of fatal overdoses so as you can see drug overdoses remain high in Europe. New psychoactive substances and synthetic cannabinoids represent big problem between 15- to 16-year old school students in 24 European countries causing health issues and deaths. Illicit drug markets are complex systems of production and distribution that generate large sums of money at different levels. The nature of the market makes it difficult to monitor but in 2013. European Union retailed market for illicit drugs worth of 24 billion EUR with cannabis responsible for the largest scale (38 %), followed by heroin (28%) and cocaine (24%). To get a better picture of drug situation in Europe we will put out some statistics which drug is consumed where, by whom and why. Across all age groups, cannabis is the illicit drug most likely to be used. The drug is generally smoked and, in Europe, is commonly mixed with tobacco. The most recent survey results show most countries to be reporting either stability or increases cannabis use among young adults. Country where cannabis is the most used substance is Romania with 49 % and behind them is Netherlands where it is consumed by 47 % of population. While it is legal to use for Dutch citizens, it is not legal to sell it out of the coffe shop. It is not allowed on the street, but there is no fine if police catch people somoking it there. Interesting information is that there are more internationals that smoke than the Dutch citizens. Between countries who are part of this project, Poland is second in using cannabis and it is estimated that 30 % of population between 15 – 64 years used during their lifetime. It is followed by Spain with 33 % of population using it, than Greece with 23 %, Italy (20%), Chzech 3

Republic (12%) and Croatia with 10 %. This countries are mostly supplied with cannabis from Albania. Cocaine is the most commonly used illicit stimulant drug in Europe, and its use is more prevalent in southern and western countries. Among regular consumers, a broad distinction can be made between more socially integrated users, who often sniff powder cocaine (cocaine hydrochloride), and marginalised users, who inject cocaine or smoke crack. Usage of cocaine is overall stable across Europe but there are signs of increase. Considering this drug, Spain prevails and it is consumed by 37 % between 14 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 65 years old and they mostly get it on the streets. In Italy it is consumed by 29 % of adult citizens and Netherlands is right behind them with percentage of 26 %. 7 % of Greek citizens used cocaine. At the and there is Poland with 2 %, Croatia and Romania with 1 %. Czechs dont like cocaine as we can see from fact that 1 % of them uses it.

In Europe, the most commonly used illicit opioid is heroin, which may be smoked, snorted or injected. A range of synthetic opioids such as methadone, buprenorphine and fentanyl are also misused. Europe has experienced different waves of heroin addiction, the first affecting many western countries from the mid-1970s and a second wave affecting other countries, especially those in central and eastern Europe, in the mid to late 1990s. Among all drug abusers, even 78 % of them used heroin in Croatia, which is very concernig data. Second place is taken by Greece with 63 % and thir by Italy with 47 %. Luckily, percentages are not so high in other countries like Spain (23 %), Romania (26%), Poland (13%), Netherlands (9%) and Czech Republic (8%). Drugs are mostly used by young adults because they look for more fun when alcohol is not enough. Also they do it because of boredom, troubles at school or at home, trauma from childhood or mental health problems. In that age young adults are searching for self-confirmation and want to look cooler so they fall under affect of these substances. 4

LAND ART As known artists, the youngsters were separated in 6 teams, mixed by nationality and created masterpieces using their bare hands and materials which only nature could provide them.

Team Number 1 : Don’t let your decay affect your environment When people get involved with easy drugs usually they don’t realize that they can affect negatively their surroundings. This house represents decay starting from the bottom and the green on top represents hope. You can still change your life before it’s too late.

Team Number 2 : It’s more easy to get dizzy #helpthepunktogetdrunk This is Marvin. Marvin is a punk guy from Trinidad Tobago. He is broke so he decides to move to Holland for a better future. Although Marvin starts smoking weed because of the friends he makes there. Be careful of the people you choose to socialize with and do not let them affect you negatively.

Team Number 3 : The road This is a stimulation of the road that a man is driving through and the vices he could encounter during his life. At the beginning of the road weed is shown as a getaway drug leading to other wrong turns in life. The road in which you can find ecstasy, cocaine and heroin can lead you to rehabilitation, hospital or death. Do not take that road.

Team Number 4 : Bruno A very successful, attractive, popular and charismatic young man who started using easy drugs for recreation use. Bruno did not realize that his addiction has taken full control of his life. At that time there was nobody from the people he knew and cared about him who would have noticed how serious his situation was and could have acted responsibly. Sour cabbage represents the head or brain. Sawdust represents the lungs. The bag represents an indigence because Bruno lost his house, friends and family.

Team Number 5: Easy drugs don’t make your life easy This is a presentation of a man smoking weed as a getaway to the problems he has. Although the problems keep on dragging him back. He is a desperate man taken by the difficulties of life and mostly his addiction.

Team Number 6: Destroy what destroys you The process of weed. It can start as an “innocent” seed but then it becomes something that destroys you and also has an effect to your surroundings. Do not smoke it, destroy it.

WORLD COFFEE The activity named “World Coffee” has the aim of sharing personal experiences, thoughts with the participants in order to find out common characteristics about a certain topic within easy drugs consumption. The five main topics: causes, physical effects, mental effects, social effects and responsibles for solutions. The activity’s main roles are the mediators and the participants who are supposed to give input during the conversations. After a short interview about each activity, there will be presented a short description about each topic itself.

The articles are based on the following interviews’ questions: a.

What were the things that you learnt during World Coffee?

Mention one unexpected story/ answer during the process.

c. How did you cope with leading the group when the members were running out of ideas? d.

Overall feeling about the process.

Subject: mental effects

Mediator: Angela (RO) The mediator of mental effects’ topic answered that she found out during the process that anorexia is a part of mental problems, caused by easy drugs. Another interesting information received during the activity was that easy drugs have also positive effects such as creativity, imagination. An unexpected fact was that many participants had experiences with suicidal thoughts/ actions caused by easy drugs. The overall feeling regarding World Coffee activity is that it helped by making new friends, and learn useful information within the subject.

Subject: social effects

Mediator: Goran (HR) During the process mentioned above, the mediator learnt about the positive effects on regards of using easy drugs in order to make more friends. Also, there were mentioned useful information on how to be responsible and use properly the easy drugs. The mediator found the most interesting input when the Dutch participants explained how coffee shops work in the Netherlands, and how the locals see this fact. Some participants were inspiring other with their knowledge about drugs, one has done a PHD research into the easy drugs topic.

Subject: physical effects

Mediator: Achilles (GR) The mediator of the topic “easy drugs – physical effects” was happily surprised that the teams were all contributing during the discussions. The new things that were discovered after the conversations were mostly about how some certain type of easy drugs can cure Parkinson, sclerotic issues, and even stopping/ slowing down the cancer process. Finally, there were no silent moments within the groups, since the mediator chose a different method of leading the discussion, by not showing the overview to other groups, therefore to let them think more regarding the topic.

Subject: responsibles for solutions Mediator: Jakub (CZ)

The mediator received solutions from some participants that it will be useful that the musicians must promote controversial songs that express the effects of drug usage. An unexpected story was that in some regions, they already started making school trips to asylums in order to raise the awareness about the negative effects of easy drugs. The mediator suggested that for the next world Coffee workshops might be nicer to have a real coffee during the discussions.

5.Subject: Causes Mediator: Dawid (PL) Dawid, the mediator of the subject "Causes", started the session by asking people about their personal experience, which was an original introduction for the case. An interesting cause of easy drugs for the mediator was micro-dosing in order to combat anxiety, depression, but also for developing the creativity and building inspiration. An unexpected fact is that most of the participants had experience with various types of drugs and there were many stories shared within the groups. Whenever there was a moment of silence, the mediator would show some photographs from a Polish painter, who has been making auto-portraits while being on different drugs, so the participants could come up with more ideas regarding causes. 10

THEATER

For this workshop we were divided in 8 teams, mixed by nationality, and we spent the morning creating different theater scenes. The role plays were about bad situations that can happen in our lives if we start to consume drugs. However, we managed to find happy ending solutions.

Bengt is a young Swedish skinhead. He has been out of work for two years now and despite this, refused all the offers that have been made to him. He prefers to spend his time training his dog, a pit bull terrier, doing body-building and taking drugs in the streets with his mates, who have been linked to several recent racist incidents. He has been arrested for violent behavior and drugs possesion.

Krista, 20 years old, a nice dancer lives in a tiny flat in a very poor suburb of Prague and dreams of living in Germany. She has read an advertisement offering jobs for dancers in Berlin. She called the number and met a man who promised to get her out of poverty saying that she will easily become famous in Berlin. She decides to trust the man and to take the chance to go to Germany. But there she was forced to take drugs and do prostitution. Her best friend, Jana called her several times without any answer.

Bella lives together with her sister, Angelica, in Palermo in Italy. Their parents died when the girls were sixteen and seventeen, which meant that they had to leave school and work to support themselves. They are now twenty-two and twenty-three. Bella has two jobs; she works as a maid during the day and as a cleaning lady in a hospital at night. She also looks after Angelica, who is a drug addict. Bella refuses to let her sister down because she knows how much her sister suffered from their violent father. At one moment, in adisco club, Angelica met a young Erasmus student from Estonia,

Oskar, and they started a romance. After two weeks Oskar discovered that Angelica is a drug addict and left her. She wrote a message on facebook that sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll commit suicide if Oskar will not be back.

Yuriy lives with his parents and two younger brothers in Tomsk in Siberia. He is twenty years old and a very promising ice-hockey player. His uncle in America has offered to try to find him a scholarship to study in an American college. Yuriy's father, Misha, has been unemployed for many months and at the moment, the only source of family income is from odd jobs that Yuriy does. Yuriy does not know what to do. His mother is ill, his younger brother is disabled and the family relies on him. He decided to follow his career and go to America. He had a test for playing in a local team but next day but there he met Ismail that took him to a party 12

where Yuriy discovered weed. The hockey club called him next day but he was so sick and he couldn’t answer. Main character, Marcin (PL): ”It was a great challenge to be in Yuriy’s skin. It was a pretty developing activity and it also influenced my personality because from now I will think twice before thinking about drugs.”

Vasko is a very good Bulgarian drummer and his band just signed a contract for a tour in west Europe. They are very happy and after first gig in Amsterdam, Vasko went to Red Light District to check some coffee shops. He met different people there and had good time with some girls. Next day the band should play in Brussels but Vasko didn’t show up at train station. All the band is concerned but they still hope Vasko will come woth a next train. In the same evening Police announce that they found an unknown body in one of the channels. Brussels gig was cancelled. Story teller, Iulia (NL): ”I liked the fact that I made the script. The teamwork was great.”

Ricardo lives on his own in Barcelona, Spain, in a tiny apartment he can hardly afford. He has only one friend, Alonso. Ricardo has been ill for many months and lives off social security payments from the government. As a driver he used to work doing some deliveries but now there isn’t any offer. While he was drinking a beer in a pubwatching his favourite team FC Barcelona, two guys came to him to propose a job: to deliever some goods to different addresses for quite a good salary. Ricardo accepted and started to work. As there were more and more demands he ask Alonso to help him. Alonso accepted as he needed money. One night a policeman stopped them asking for papers and it was discovered that in the packages they were carrying were ethnobotanic drugs. They were both arrested. 13

Marius is a Romanian DJ, student in economics that works every weekend in a club in Bucharest Old Town. To resist to the programme, his girl friend that studies chemistry, Daria comes every evening bringing him drugs that she buy from a trustful couple. On a friday night after taking his dose Marius felt very bad and vomited all next day and in the evening he couldn’t perform. Daria checked some leftovers of that dose and discovered there were fake substances very toxic. She went to the couple dealers to ask for explanations but nobody answered at that apartment in next week. Marius is still in hospital.

Jack is a handsom guy looking everytime he goes to party to capture attention of beautiful girls. One day he choose Helen as a potential target so he offered her a cocktail in which he added some “pills”. Helen enjoyed the cocktail and after 20 minutes she found herself kissing Jack in girls’ toilet. Mary is another girl that dreamt being in the hands of Jack so she had a short joint outside and then followed the couple in the toilet. Mark, a friend of Jack who saw everything went also in the toilet just in time to see Mary in a jealousy crisis hitting Helen with a bottle in her head. Mark tried to react but Jack slapped him in a volcanic way and both Helen and Mark are now on the floor. Jack took Mary and left the party. After 10 minutes Helen recovered and thinking that Mark attacked her, took the bottle and hit him in the face. Soon, everybody at the party could hear one girl shouting when she enetered the toilet. Blood was everywhere…

VIDEOS Loop of time https://youtu.be/b2usDAc6wZk This is a story about Sarah who is going to the party not knowing that her life is about to change radically. She meets a boy and what seems to look like the beggining of a love story transforms into disaster. He introduces her with drugs and in that moment her life starts falling apart. When she founds out that she is pregnant, the drugs seem like a perfect way out and the authorities are taking child from his mother’s arms. Years later, the moment has come when Alex is about to be cast off from the orphanage. His mother wants to help him, but he doesn’t accept. If we would come back in time and if Sarah accepted help at the right moment, the things would have been different.

It’s your choice https://youtu.be/uDC1YFjVH54 A new challege awaits him. A shy boy in a new city with no friends. First day of school seems like a nightmare when he is mocked and humble at the corridors of the school. In a moment of restlessness, Yasser gets into a wrong company. The three friends urge him to smoke and consume drugs. At first he refuses, but finally he 15

accepts. After some time, he is forced to help his friends and decides to steal from his motherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s bag but even that was not enough so he finds his next target, a girl which he choose to rob. But the girl refuses to give him the money so he decides to hit her brutally. Forced by circumstances, he does the things which he never even imagined to do.

Fotball nightmare https://youtu.be/PR7803eBhfA Two best friends, Adam and Rafael are living a normal life and dreaming of becoming professional football players. After hard years of traning the chance of playing in Barcelona is offered to them but what followed they couldn`t imagine even their worst nightmares. When they met a girl who offered them drugs, their world is about to turn upside down.

Screaming Silenty https://youtu.be/YFmfzvSTq0E We can become unconscious of our own enemies. The Marcin`s story begins in a club. The happiness caused by drugs is all over peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s faces. Because he wanted to do anything to be happy and be accepted by everybody, he begins to consume drugs. While time was passing, Marcin continued doing all kind of drugs and their effects began to increase. He was aware that he needs to stop, but he got stuck in it and it was already too late.

The Purge – 2019 https://youtu.be/TiBOhM5QzZI Based on a real movie, The Purge – 2019 shows us the real fear in human nature and how rules don’t matter when the right day comes. There is a new law that allows people to do all sorts of drugs and crimes for 24 hours and when is it announced, the preparations for the apocalypse begin to increase.

Fading https://youtu.be/VUpeGOM0q7s Do drugs really change your life in a better way? Is it worth to take the risk and blow up the chances that once meant something? Fading is story about five different people dealing with effects of drugs that possess them. Dealing with inside demons can sometimes end up in a way that nobody expected.

The Collapse https://youtu.be/dB2_nItyE68 The Collapse is the story about the boy who was afraid he will not blend in because he was the only one who wasn’t taking drugs. When he started smoking his life got much better, but did it really? By the time he swirled into a drug vortex, he became a burden even for the girl who loved him. 17

FLYERS & POSTERS

DEBATE

PROS OF LEGALIZATION (For example at the Colorado and Washington) 1)Dismantling Black Market

The

For decades, the black market was really the only place to find marijuana. Chances is that you know someone who knows someone who knows someone who was a drug dealer or involved in organized crime (i.e., the mafia or mob). Some of those drug dealers and mafioso even had ties to terrorist organizations in other countries. The legalization of marijuana either put them out of business or made them go legit. Now, the black market is almost completely gone. Cannabisdispensaries are registered with the state. They are regulated. They are taxed. And that’s good news for everyone involved…except the bad guys, of course.

2)Improved Quality Safety Control

We’ve seen how this can work in the alcohol and tobacco industries, and it will certainly transfer into the marijuana industry. Now, users will know they’re getting exactly what they’re paying for. Nothing more, nothing less.

CONS OF LEGALIZATION : 1)Marijuana Is Addictive Scientists are still divided on the subject of addiction. Some claim cannabis is not as addictive as harder drugs like crack and meth. Others claim that one in ten marijuana users develop dependence over time. They point to the fact that stopping marijuana cold turkey will lead to withdrawal symptoms like irritability and anxiety. The same, however, could be said of cigarette smoking (which is legal). More research will need to be done to determine if marijuana is truly as addictive as the opponents of cannabis legalization claim

2)Marijuana Is A Gateway Drug Marijuana has long been considered a gateway drug. It is thought that once a person tries marijuana, he is more susceptible to trying harder, more dangerous drugs. Specialists like to point to research that suggests that using marijuana might be linked to more serious illegal substances like heroin and prescription painkillers. Legalizing marijuana would increase the number of individuals who try marijuana and then, eventually, move onto harder drugs. This could put more financial pressure on the medical system and the public coffers to provide treatment for these individuals when they have serious problems

3) Decreased Mental Health Opponents of legalized recreational marijuana like to point to studies that show that marijuana smokers suffer from everything from restricted blood flow to the brain, to memory loss, to the increased likelihood of schizophrenia and depression. Science is still not completely certain about these assertions. The schizophrenia and depression issue is particularly cloudy because researchers don’t know if the drug itself triggers the problem or if cannabis users use the drug to alleviate and deal with the symptoms.

Improved quality and safety control also translates into less of a burden on the medical system. There is less of a risk of serious problems occurring due to overdoses on unknown substances hidden in the marijuana that is sold on the streets.

3) Increased Revenue

Tax

One of the biggest pros that have come from the legalization debateis that of increased tax revenue. To illustrate the point, legal sales of cannabis products amounted to $996 million in 2015. That’s almost a billion dollars spent! And the tax revenue collected off those sales was equally as staggering—$135 million. That money can be used to fix roads, fund public projects, improve schools, hire more police and firefighters…the list goes on and on.

4) Availability Medicinal Cannabis

Crohn’s disease Epilepsy Multiple sclerosis Migraines Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) Cancer Problems due to chemotherapy Chronic pain Anxiety Psychosis Insomnia Loss of appetite Seizures

Legalization of easy drugs in european union countries is justified only under state monopoly A government monopoly is when the complete control of a particular market―comprising goods or services―is handed over to a government agency. This is accompanied with regulations which prohibit competition from other companies for that particular good or service. It is also known as a public ownership or monopoly. If we were to legalize easy drugs only under state monopoly there are some pros and cons:

Cons: -

They limit competition, which means prices don’t have to be lowered In a free market, competition between different companies ensures a better service for the customer. The lack of such competition is a major disadvantage of government monopolies. In such monopolies, there is no incentive for any improvement in the product or service offered, which is another drawback for consumers.

It may limit innovation. Because there is no competition there is no reason goverments should finance more money so they can make the drugs better and safer for the people

Quality doesn’t have to be maintained

PROS The only advantage of such monopolies is that, they help keep costs low, and provide services which are widely accessible to the general population. They are not affected by market constraints, which helps keep out price rise.

MEETING IN BUZAU

On the eighth day, we visited two of Buzau's most famous tourist attractions:

Muddy Volcanoes:

Here we had a lot of fun, visited the surroundings and admired the way nature can create things so beautiful and impossible to imagine.

Ciolanu Monastery: After we finished visiting this unique place in the world, we continued our journey to Ciolanu, a very popular place among the Romanians, with a stunning view, here the nature blends with the statues and with an old church.

In Buzau, a police representative and other guests came and presented the reasons why people are getting used to drugs and how we can help them quit drugs.

When the debate with the police representative and some students ended, we were able to learn new ways to combat drugs.

After the discussion, we were proud to present the videos we worked on.

“I’ll miss you” – conclusions about the project (Marcin – Poland) Today is April 9th. It is the 7th day of the project „Easy drugs don’t make your life easy”. Time of making final conclusions is coming unrelentingly. So – we are supposed now to answer a couple of seemingly easy questions, for example: „Are you satisfied with this project”. Responses appear to be obvious. However, maybe it is a misconception? Let’s check it!

Are we really satisfied…?

...yes, we are :) First of all, we have to summarise all activities done in Romania. According to the rules of Erasmus+ projects, as participants we were supposed to do a lot of interesting undertakings, like everyday workshops, intercultural (intergalactic?) evenings, debates, theatre, videos and a lot of other stuff. According to the research made during the project, participants are fully satisfied with these forms of activity. But now it is necessary to ask some important questions. What was the goal of spending here more than a week? What are our benefits gained thanks to this project? What made us inspired...?

Bruno â&#x20AC;&#x201C; how not to live; landart

Let’s build something together, not destroy; landart Answers were different, of course. During this project we were learning in the model of non-formal and informal education. It was a different experience for some of us, because we are more used to formal education – grades, obligatory classes, tests and hard regime. Thanks to some activities in style of “Yes – no debate” we had the opportunity to express our thoughts and clarify some important issues. It was really developing! We have broadened our minds and got to know with the conclusion that people’s claims can be different, while it doesn’t mean that we are enemies and we cannot talk in cultural way.

Conversation We had busy days here in Romania, without doubt. However, gains outweigh losses (if there are some). We slept less than at home, for sure, but during evenings we had opportunities to get to know with other people, to meet them and try to understand their life philosophy. Always it is a demanding activity, because we come from different sides of the globe, we live in different societies, we have different interests. Strikingly, despite the 28

obstacles, we succeeded in it! During the evenings a great deal of conversations were held – we talked about everything – from the topic of the projects, through our national cuisines to our hobbies. It was a wonderful moment to find someone from this huge world who is a bit more similar to us! We heard conversations about the Eurovision Song Contest, interesting books, music; thank to Jakub from Czech Republic we have watched a film called “Leto”. It was a really inspiring week! We have developed all of 8 key competences of Erasmus+ during the project. Communication was necessary, either in mother tongue or in foreign language, that is obvious. By counting how many hours of sleep we missed we improved our mathematical competences. Theatre and video making helped us with using our sense of initiative and with digital competences. Everything put together made us more respectful of other people, we became more confident while talking to foreigners. Finally, we have learnt how to learn. To sum everything up, we are satisfied, happy, a bit tired. Anyway, it was a great week and we are looking forward to sharing our knowledge with peers at schools, our villages and cities. And for another Erasmus+ project, of course :)

INTERCULTURAL NIGHTS (Iulia – Netherlands)

During the project “Easy drugs don’t make your life easy” we had the task to present another country. It was a challenge for all of us, especially when we had to present a country that we have never been in before. We decided to interview one representative person from each national group in order to achieve and overall conclusion on regards of intercultural night. The article is based on the following interview questions: a. Describe few reactions about people reaction’s who were tasting the traditional food and beverages b. Did you learn anything about your country while the other team presents it? c. Did you have any moments when you felt that the presentation is going through a wrong path? Explain d. Describe whether or not there were wrong information about your country. Describe it. e.

Overall feelings.

ROMANIA During the presentation about Romania, given by the Czech participants, there were multiple facts about Vlad the impaler that not all the Romanian team members knew about. A good example for this will be that Dracula means “son of the dragon”. One participant from Czech Republic had an interesting input, where he explained that in Banat there is a Czech community, where they create annually a festival based on volunteering, and they raise enough money to live for half a year. Talking about food, most of the people enjoy the ROM chocolate and the gingerbread.

POLAND For the Polish participants, the activity highlighted the fact how their culture is seen by other countries.The Italian team presented Poland. During the process, they learnt more about their country. However, there were few characteristics missing such as the Polish culture. Overall, it was an interesting experience to hear how other people perceived their culture. The whole idea by presenting another country was inspiring and original; an improvement point will be to present 2/3 countries per night, so we could focus more on the entire presentations. Regarding food, the other participants were surprised about a traditional Polish mix, combining a cranberry sauce with a specific cheese named â&#x20AC;&#x153;oscypekâ&#x20AC;?.

CROATIA For the Croatian team there were nice videos presented by the Dutch participants. However, they would prefer if there were introduced better videos with more landscapes, lakes. The participants who have tried their traditional rachia, found it very strong. An interesting improvement point from the Croatian team is that for each intercultural night should be one presentation given by another country, and then a following one from the county itself.

GREECE Romanian team presented Greece. They had an original idea about creating a theatre which will explain an old legend. There were many funny moments during the process, therefore was a good balance between serious topic and amusement.

THE NETHERLANDS The presentation made by the Greek time was original and energetic. The quiz questions were accurate and the topics chosen covered all the Dutch beauty. Some questions were debatable even for the Dutch participants, which means that it challenged everyone to reflect more on the statement. There was one small mistake/ misunderstood regarding a traditional dish, but the rest was perfectly legitimate.

SPAIN After a conversation with the Spanish team, there were few things that they have noticed during the intercultural night; for instance tortilla is a traditional Spanish dish, which the majority likes it, whereas during the cultural evening some participants mentioned that they did not like it. The Polish team made an authentic presentation, with entertaining moments mixed with serious statements.

CZECH REPUBLIC At the same time, the Czech team was presented by the Spanish team. The Czech team was happily surprised to notice that the participants liked the cocktail the team members have prepared. It was a fully Czech beverage, with all the local ingredients (Czech liquor, Czech coca cola). Many people liked the traditional paste with bread, especially the Spanish team, which even tasted more times. After the night, the team realised that the paste contained pork, which does not allow the Spanish members to eat. Despite of that, they still enjoyed it. Together with the Spanish team, Czech members helped with additional information in order to make a totally accurate presentation.

ITALY The last, but not least, after the interview with the Italian team, we found out that everyone enjoyed the traditional food. For the presentation, the information were correct, but they preferred to have more data regarding Italian food, culture and architecture, for example Rome, Venice.

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;