Stories by Participants from the Youth Exchange: Together for SDGs in Oeiras, Portugal (Epistimi Tsalta)

An amazing experience in Oeiras, PortugalOn the first of July I was lucky enough to become a member of the youth exchange program that was taking place in Oeiras Portugal.

The climate there was very beautiful as many people from different countries such as Spain, Italy, Estonia and Romania had already arrived.

The project managers were very friendly, and we were welcomed in a beautiful place in Cruz quebrada which they had built with the help of volunteers.

Our first group trip was to Sintra. A beautiful, picturesque village near the place where we lived.

The village was full of statues, and on the top of the mountain there was a castle with a perfect view.

In Sintra we were divided into groups and had to complete specific missions that were intended to get to know the village better and get closer to the people of our group.

Then in the free that was given to us we were able to take walks in the graphic streets of the village, buy souvenirs, try traditional sweets and drinks and of course visit the castle.

Another very beautiful day of the program was the one in which I visited with an animal shelter.

There we were able to get in touch with the dogs of the shelter and understand their needs. Many of the
dogs were from Abandoned Families.

Of course, as a cat mom of 3 cats , I took my time and visited the cat shelter. You were not allowed to come in contact with the cats as they were aggressive.

However, as long as I sat with them, I felt them very friendly towards me and took many photos as they were so beautiful and cute.

Every 2 days we had cultural nights where each team made a presentation of their country.

My favorite night, of course, was the Greek one since we were dressed up as ancient Greeks and we had made Greek food which the rest of the participants really liked.

My second favorite night was the Estonian as they had brought a lot of chocolates and had made traditional Estonian sweets. One more presentation that was very interesting for me was the presentation of the Spanish team where we learned fun facts about Spain through the kahoot app (unfortunately I didn’t win)

The workshops were very fun. Especially the Bulgarian team’s which was very creative. We made jewelry with shells we had collected from the beach, traditional braided bracelets, painted stones which made beautiful souvenirs. Anyone who wanted could take his creations with him.

The rest of the work we created were sold at a festival in the center of Oeiras and the money were sent to a voluntary organizational.

On one of our last days, we had free time to visit Lisbon.

The organization of intercampios took us in their own vans to Lisbon and gave us a time frame in which we could visit the city. Then we had to gather for lunch, which was a picnic in a park in Lisbon.

After that, the people of intercampios gave us the choice to go to the castle of Lisbon, or to go back at our dorms.

Those of us who chose to see the castle got a code, which we used for the cost of our ticket and of the food.

After visiting the castle we explored the center of Lisbon, took pictures, walked, admired and bought many cute souvenirs.

Then those of us who had stayed gathered in a large group and went to eat at a Mexican restaurant until it started to get
dark where we started to go back to Cruz quebrada.

Finally, the best experience I have from this trip, was the preparation of traditional food for the festival.

It took 2 days, many people and many different ingredients to cook traditional food from each country.

Interkambios volunteers also took part in this process.

There we met a Greek girl who lived in Lisbon for a year and worked as a volunteer there. She talked to us about her goals and her life there.

The Greek team had to cook at the same table as the Turkish team.
There I took the opportunity and talked with the Turk volunteers about the traditional foods that our countries share and how much similar our cuisines are.

Their food seemed delicious. On the day of the festival, we made the last preparations and immediately started with the vans for the center of Oeiras.
The Greek team was housed in the same kiosk as the Polish team, where my Polish friend had made a lot of pierogis.

The food was free to the public and of course the Greek food was finished in a few minutes.

We serve meatballs, spinach pie, tzatziki, eggplant salad and spicy cheese sauce.

We gathered our plates and went to dance traditional Portuguese dances and watch an amazing show from Portuguese dancers.

Last but not least there were also smaller activities such as beach walks, beach clean up days, sports day when we kayaked and played tennis and golf.

But the most important thing was that we also had free time when we could explore the city by ourselves.

Likely there was a festival nearby that lasted 11 days. I had the chance to be at imagine dragon’s concert and listen to Metallica from my bedroom.

At our free time we got in touch with each other, I met some very special and great people in this program that I still keep in touch with.

Especially withmy roommates.

I was able to learn a lot about their cultures and languages.

I will visit my friends from this program, and I have promised that they can visit me in Athens whenever they want.

It was a fantastic experience that I would definitely like to relive.

– Epistimi Tsalta