One Word and Thousands of Memories!












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            * One Word and Thousands of Memories!
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            This article was written for a competition held by Charles University by the occassion of 

            30th anniversary of existence of the Erasmus programme. The author is Valentina Appolonova
            University in Estonia, currently hosted by the Faculty of Education of Charles University.
            My name is Valentina, I am 22 years old, my home country is Estonia. This semester I am an

            at Charles University in Prague, one of the oldest universities in Europe. I want to share
            you, because Erasmus is an experience that has changed my life.
            You probably already know that Erasmus is a EU student exchange programme providing opport

            study, work, and volunteer, financed by the European Commission. I first got to know this 
            I was studying in high school, in my home city of Tallinn, and was invited to participate 

            supported, Youth Exchange scheme. I remember thinking about the amount of assignments and 
            at home (the project was running during the school year time) and so made my decision to p
            on, ultimately joining the project at the last minute but in doing so, making a step towar

            best experiences of my life. I was 17 years old back then and it was the first time I had 
            meet people from other countries, communicate with them and do something together. It was 
            experience for me to learn a topic in an informal environment with people of other nationa

            know their cultures and have fun all together. The experience was simply mind-blowing!
            Over later years I participated in nine more Erasmus+ projects; ranging from youth exchang
            training courses. By now I can say that Erasmus is truly the best experience of my life. T

            programme I not only learned about various topics important in the EU and met people from 
            but also travelled to amazing countries (Turkey, Spain, Italy, Norway, Sweden, UK, Cyprus)
            hardly have the opportunity to visit otherwise, being just a student.

            During the Erasmus project, I have learnt how to work in a group, be tolerant and respectf
            cultures, listen actively and speak publicly in front of other Erasmus participants. In ad
            programme was a great opportunity to improve my English language skills and I gained great

            learn other languages as well. I grew personally in being smart, kind, confident and good-
            truly inspired by the people I met. I became more active and initiative in my local commun
            and knowledge I gained during my Erasmus experiences helping me in my everyday life.

            In the near future, I am planning to discover other opportunities of the Erasmus programme
            participated in the Erasmus short-term projects and the longer-term exchange semester in P
            years ago I could hardly imagine that I would have a chance to study in such a beautiful c

            of Europe, sharing my experience with others.
            A very important thing I learned from being a participant of Erasmus is that there is no p
            away from your country because you consider it ‘bad’ for some reason, if, at the same time

            anything to make it better. Running from problems is always easier than solving them – but
            short-term. You should learn how to appreciate your culture, language, country, whatever y
            and make a change in your life if needed; do not just wait for it to happen on its own!