The project “Non Formal Lab” in Italy exceeded my expectations. First off all, the venue of the project was perfect. It was an agritourism farm somewhere between Naples and Rome. We stayed in these little wooden houses and there was an amazing big yard. We also had a pool in which we had spent a lot of time in. To get there you had to drive through this dirt road for a bit. Around the whole place were fields of different plants, nuts, fruits and vegetables. In this farm there were so many animals. Pigs, chicken, horses, donkeys, lamas, and most important of all, buffalos. The amazing thing about this place was that all the food was homemade from the plants and animals that were here. So buffalos are obviously the most important because of the mozzarella.
The presentation room was good as well, we had all the needed resources and more. It was a big enough place for all of us to be comfortable in. The team warmly welcomed us. They made us feel at home and in a safe space. Everything was well planned and well executed. The people participating in the project were so amazing. We were 3 people from each country, 24 in total. I met a lot of one of a kind characters, some who you have never seen a similar character to. They were all friendly and always supportive. I met people who will forever stay in my heart.
The first days we were getting comfortable around each other and getting to know each other and slowly opening up. We got to know the basics of non-formal education. Gotten to know the topic and slowly learned about it. We did a lot of team building exercises and exercises in which I personally developed emotionally a lot. We learnt a lot of techniques and qualities of a good trainer. In general most of my competences developed drastically.
On the last two days we were supposed to be in the place of a facilitator and using everything we know and learnt in the past few days to create a workshop. I created a board game in which people get to know each other and trust each other. The topic of the game was emotional intelligence and sharing emotions with other people. Understanding that everyone feels and shares “same” emotions differently. Testing trust and experimenting with peoples thoughts about each other. It was really fun and I received good feedback. I will gladly use this board game in the future, share it with my friends and hopefully use it as a facilitator one day. Other people’s workshops were amazing too. I think that at the end of the project everyone was better, as in competences and character in general, compared to the beginning of the project.
As I said, the project exceeded my expectations. At the end traveling back I really missed the team and the people, and Italy.. I am happy to have taken part in this project, developed myself and to meet all these amazing people. I hope that I will someday meet these people again and I hope that I will have the chance to again participate in a project by CET.
-Summary by Nikola Dinevski
