Emotional intelligence has always been one of my favorite topics that I could discuss and “Open Your Mind” Youth Exchange project gave me an opportunity to develop my mind, my perspectives, meet new people and learn new skills. The Youth Exchange took place in Bakuriani, Georgia and it gathered more than 42 people from different cultures and nations. The exciting and educational project was an important component for all the participants to communicate with one another and share their thoughts, cultural thinking and even national cuisine.
During the project we have done lots of group works and they were organized in a way to integrate participants from different countries. For example, in all the group activities the students were chosen randomly and each group included participants from each country. The group activities helped us have a deep communication, we had different conversations connected to our tasks and it made us understand each other better. The tasks which were organized by each country were organized in a sensible way. They moth made us discuss the topics and make friends.
Lots of individual tasks were organized during the project. In my opinion, the individual tasks helped all the participants understand their own feelings and themselves. After each task we had the opportunity to reflect on our participation and discuss our feelings, emotions.
My favorite part of the project were the energizers because they were both enjoyable, fun, educational and included communication among participants. Having energizers together made us become close to one another.
Although it was cold outside we had an interesting trip and really enjoyed it. We visited Vardzia Caves which are ancient Georgian caves inside the mountains. There was an ancient Georgian monastery from 12th century in Vardzia Caves and we also visited the monastery. We also had the opportunity to visit Akhaltsikhe which is a city that has a huge Armenian population. I always dreamed of visiting the Akhaltsike. During the trip we also had an opportunity to see Mtkvari River and visit a traditional restaurant in the evening to taste traditional Georgian cuisine.
