Summary of the 1st visit

The first full project meeting was held at Kesämäenrinteen koulu in Finland from October 7^th-11^th 2013.

       There were teams from all eight partner countries present and, as this was the first time that all partners were together, time was spent on introductions and group-building exercises.

       The formal agenda items and discussion centred on organization of the project over the next two years. The proposed project structure was reviewed and amended to maximize student mobilities within the limits of the budget. Another issue raised was the importance of travelling students having the possibility to stay with host families in order to deepen the educational/cultural experience. The project website was established at www.youthineurope.webs.com and each partner country agreed to make their own national blog which would be linked to this website.

        In the discussions, Poland and Bulgaria said that they would have problems finding enough host families, while Romania asked to be included in the programme of visits. The Finnish team said that it would make a maximum of three visits because of its extra travelling costs (Northern location!)

         Effectively, Romania took the activities connected to the cancelled visit to Poland, while Poland took the activities previously allocated to Romania. Specific dates were made for the first three mobilities.

                  Romania 24.3-28.3.14

                  Greece 5.5-9.5.14

                  Turkey 29.10-3.11.14

and provisional dates for the last two 

                   Bulgaria 23.3-27.3.15

                   Spain 4.5-8.5.15

It was agreed that the host country would chair the respective project meetings.

          The overall atmosphere of discussion and joint decision making was very positive.