Almost. Time2Act 5.0.

Even worse than the conviction of the "no" and the uncertainty of the "maybe" is the disillusion of the "almost". It's the almost that annoys me, that saddens me, that kills me by bringing all that could have been but wasn't.

Who almost won is still playing, who almost passed is still studying, who almost died is still alive, who almost loved has never loved.

Just think about the opportunities that have slipped through the fingers, the chances that were lost because of fear, the ideas that will never leave the paper because of this damn habit of living in the autumn. <...>

We decided that our fate is in our hands and the opportunities that should not be missed also depend on us and went to a training course in Lapa do Lobo, following the youth who had just returned from a youth exchange in the same place.

In the previous episode of our blog, we promised to tell you what Malta has to do with it... this is not the country that you all thought of, no 😄 Malta in Portuguese means a group of close friends with common interests, and in general with gthis word you can describe the projects of Gap Year Portugal. They try to make their projects as warm and meaningful as possible.

The training consisted of 5 days and we were from many countries! Estonia, Portugal, Lithuania, Croatia, Poland, Denmark, Ukraine, Spain, Romania, Greece... so many countries and so many good people! On this project, the acceptance of the participants by the participants was especially felt, and therefore the learning process occurred most efficiently and smoothly.

The topic of the project was the development of soft skills of youth, and in 5 days we talked about skills such as communication and empathy, active listening, explored the problems of the local community through various interactive activities and came from problems to their solutions, also improving our public speaking skills.

Located between Lapa do Lobo (the project location was just a dream) and Carregal do Sal, we got to know the local culture a little more deeply, and also had the opportunity to visit a local foundation and learn by example about the good things they do and the solutions they offer.

As Teodora said: "Who almost went to an Erasmus+ project, still haven’t experienced the part of their life called “completely unpredictable personal growth”.

We were made to create impact, obrigado from our part and like we always say, see you around the world!

Text: Aleksandra Galkina, Sarah Westphal