Intercâmbio TH!NK: youth & the post-truth era

Aqui podem ler mais testemunhos dos participantes do intercâmbio TH!NK: youth & the post-truth era, que decorreu de 9 a 17 de Outubro de 2017 em Lisboa. 

Dominika Ostańkowicz, Poland

Felling and memories about the exchange:  The story of my exchange started by feeling afraid about people, travelling alone and my not so good level in English. I fastly recognize it wasn't necessary. People in exchange are really amusing we have a friendly atmosphere. We make a little community based on empathy and explore our culture. It was also a great opportunity to practise English. Many of people send me an invitation to their countries, so my calendar is full of places which I have never been before. I will remember this time for so long and recommend to other people. 

Klimentina Gjorgjioska, Macedonia 

Being both a group leader and a participant at this youth exchange, was very challenging for me since this was my first youth exchange. I have already been part of Erasmus mobility projects, but just training courses. Taking part in this project, undoubtedly opened new perspectives to me and reassured me once again how powerful young people are with their skills and creative thinking.I was very enthusiastic about my participation here because as a political scientist I am deeply interested in analyzing the emerging tendencies like post-truth societies and post-democratic practices. This exchange contributed to deepen further my critical and contemplative prism of the reality we are living in.Also, it showed me that engaged and motivated young people can make significant work if they work in teams and respect the opinion of the others.I am glad, I had the opportunity to meet youngsters from Poland, Estonia, Italy, Portugal, Scotland and share with them my opinions as well as experience Lisbon together.It is always amazing to be part of workshops and project that bring diversity and different mindset together because you can always find inspiration there. Thank you, SPIN, for enabling us this great experience. 

Francesco Diperno, Italy 

Getting knowledge about something let you control it; take it for granted and it will control you. That's why it's very important to be aware of what is happening around us, to be curious and especially to start asking ourselves questions that were never lingering in our heads. Critical thinking means get out of society's gates and go directly inside of us. Who are we? What is true? What is false? Why? We were born in an unfair world, where it's easier to believe in lies. During the youth exchange "TH!NK, youth and the post-truth era", 9th-17th October, we focused on this, trying to open our eyes to the world. Recognizing lies covering uncomfortable truths, dealing with journalism and media (even in a practical way, also going to visit "Diario de Noticias"), and, especially, learning by doing. Workshop, activities, visits filled our days make them full of meaning. Every moment was coloured by knowledge, smiles and life. A mix of cultures, languages, habits and different points of view, we were all together to be better, to make the world better, somehow, in our way. I'm very glad to have been part of this project and I really thank Spin organization to all the work behind this. So if you are reading stop sitting on your sofa and start travelling, meeting people from everywhere and being part of Erasmus+ projects. It will change your life! 

Antonio Atanasovski, Macedonia 

Hello everyone, this my first youth exchange. I took one Erasmus+ training, but the concept here is totally different. We had lots of fun and time to enjoy hanging out with people, exploring Lisbon but most importantly learn to think critically. Before I arrived I thought I knew everything about fake news and the post-truth concept, but as I saw I was really wrong. Lisbon is a city with a huge spectrum of diversity, there is the old town which looks exactly like the map from Assasins creed, also the modern buildings, where we visited the office of popular newspaper company and had the chance to write a paper and speak with the journalists. Then there are the museums, we visited the Museum of Liberty, where I learned about Salzar, the censorship and the propaganda that was going. The best part is that I learned that the revolution started when a certain song started playing on the radio. If you take walk on the Bario Alto area, you could notice as you are walking you can hear 5 or more different languages just on one street. 

This a picture of me and my new friends. 

I could write so much about this experience, but I will keep it short. I want to say that there is something magical about meeting totally different people or exactly same as you, which I did. You can see that things have many different perspectives, which sometimes we have the same news in a different form. So if you, my reader, are going into western Europe, visit Portugal. You will learn so much and meet so many beautiful people into the city that never sleeps.