My Last 4 days in Portugal

Jo reggelt as they say in Hungarian (Bom dia/GoodMorning). It's my last 4 days in Portugal and that little nervous thing in your body starts to pump faster and faster, like 10 minutes before a class exam. I'm already starting to check up all my things i need to take. Bags of course (full of clothes and all the stuff which will make myself feel comfortable and which is going to be mine little corner and refuggee things from my country), laptop, camera, not to forget all the papers from EVS - Partnership Agreement, guide of the country, Youth in Action Rules Book, receipts you may need to prove for the budget part, and the most important thing of all, responsability.

I will leave you in this post with more information of what EVS is all about.
So here it goes:

Objectives:
- Promote young people’s active citizenship in general and their European citizenship in particular;
- Develop solidarity and promote tolerance among young people, in particular in order to foster social cohesion
in the European Union;
- Foster mutual understanding between young people in different countries;
- Contribute to developing the quality of support systems for youth activities and the capabilities of civil society organisations in the youth field;
- Promote European cooperation in the youth field.

This is the main visualization of EVS. To have an impact into the society, to be helpful and care about the place you'll live in, integrate in another culture and when i say another culture people usually connect that only to arts, music, food and folclore but that's not true as there's more, a lot more into it. Such as time of works, aproaches of problem solving, time and schdules of the community and the country per si, the body language, facial expresions, nature of friendship, games, dressing... in summing a all new society in a country far way from yours which maybe is not that different from your own society.

Participation of young people:
A main priority of the Youth in Action Programme is the active participation of young people in their daily life. The
overall aim is to encourage young people to be active citizens. Participation takes the following dimensions:
- to increase the participation by young people in the civic life of their community;
- to increase participation by young people in the system of representative democracy;
- to provide greater support for various forms of learning to participate.

The respect for cultural diversity together with the fight against racism and xenophobia are priorities of the Youth
in Action Programme. By facilitating joint activities of young people from different cultural, ethnic and religious
backgrounds, the Programme aims to develop the intercultural learning of young people.

The Youth in Action Programme provides important opportunities for young people to acquire skills and competences. Therefore it is a key instrument for non-formal and informal learning in a European dimension.
Non-formal learning refers to the learning which takes place outside formal educational curriculum. Non-formal learning activities involve people on a voluntary basis and are carefully planned, to foster the participants personal and social development.
Informal learning refers to the learning in daily life activities, in work, family, leisure, etc. It is mainly learning by doing. In the youth sector, informal learning takes place in youth and leisure initiatives, in peer group and voluntary activities etc.
Non-formal and informal learning enables young people to acquire essential competences and contributes to their personal development, social inclusion and active citizenship, thereby improving their employment prospects.
Learning activities within the youth field provide significant added value for young people as well as for the economy and society at large.

Every person who has taken part in a Youth in Action project under Action 1.1, Action 2, and Action 4.3 (Training Courses) is entitled to receive a Youthpass certificate, which describes and validates the non-formal and informal
learning experience acquired during the project.

All Youthpass certificates have a common structure, a coherent layout, and contain the following information:
- Personal details about the participant;
- General description of the relevant Action of the Programme;
- Key information concerning the project and the activities realised by the participant;
- Description and assessment of the participant's learning outcome during the project.

Through the Youthpass, the European Commission ensures that participation in the Programme is recognised as an educational experience and a period of non-formal learning and informal learning. This document can be of great benefit for the future educational or professional pathway of the participant.

I think for now it's a lot of information to gather so i'll leave you with all this and a few more links so that you can search for more opportunities in EVS in this great continent of the world: Europe.

http://www.eryica.org/en/content/youth-information
http://www.youthpass.eu/en/youthpass/
http://ec.europa.eu/youth/index_en.htm