Ciao Ragazzi! It’s me, your favorite volunteer. And today we have a special guest: our Team Leader from the Youth Exchange – Play with me and Learn from me, in Greece in collaboration with You in Europe, a Greek Organization. From Italy, with love, Anna is not new in this kind of experience abroad, and I think, with a lot of great stories in her backpack to share.
C :So, Anna can you give us a little storytelling post about your life?

A:Hi Guys! I am 34 years old girl from Faenza and I work in communication as a freelance. I normally spend my working time being a social media specialist and content editor. When I was in college I took part in an Erasmus project (I studied 9 months in Barcelona) and after that, I also did an internship in a Web Agency in Spain, Valencia. I love to explore the World and I actually backpacked a lot around Asia, Europe, and South America.

C: Tell me please why you decided to start to participate in Youth Exchange, and when you decided to become a group leader?

A:For me was actually a random choice because I didn’t really decide by myself to sign up for this particular project but an I was asked to do it by a friend of mine. As I’m always interested in a new experience and European opportunities I got this one as well.

C: Just between us, which was your favorite and “less favorite” and why? By the way, can you give us any advice about it?

A: The project I took part was “Play with me and learn from me YE”. I actually enjoyed my time during the exchange, we played a lot (maybe sometimes too much and maybe this one was my “less favorite” part) and we spend quite good time knowing each other better and sharing some quality time, especially during the cultural nights of each country.

C: Shortly, can you give us the feedback of Youth Exchange – Play with me and Learn from me?

As I said, the experience was nice and the time over there actually flew. We had the opportunity to share a lot with all participants and we also had the chance to discuss about some important matters such as gender equalities, young employment status in Europe, personal and private issues and cultural differences between countries, but most of these topics came out during our free time chats and not during the activities itself. This last point I guess is the point that has to be improved in this project, because if not the games are just end in itself. I guess it’s necessary to find a way to relate more to the game to some important topics and reflexion.

C: Before finding you, we were looking for a group leader. Regarding the next projects, help to “define” the qualities that a group leader should have? Does the experience count more than the qualities?

A: I think that a good group leader has to be well organized and patient. Experience not always counts. Indeed, it’s not always necessary to lead the group I guess and, in my opinion, it’s better to give participants enough space to express themselves properly and I was very lucky because the Italians that took part to the project with me were just amazing and perfectly able to interact with everybody successfully.

C: For ending this interview, and you say a message for all the Italian people who are reading this post and thinking to apply to any kind of Youth Exchange?

A: For me was a new experience and my opinion about it is positive. I hope in the future the could have the chance to improve a bit this particular project, as I said before, and for future “exchangers” I totally guarantee that it’s important for improving personal skills and abilities, make good friends and know more about our wonderful Europe!