Our Czech Team took part in a project called Speak, Act, Create: The Journey to Self-

Love. This youth exchange took place in Puerto de la Cruz on Tenerife Island, which is

part of the Canary Islands in Spain. The project brought together 30 participants from 5 European countries - Spain, Czech Republic, Malta, Latvia and Croatia. Its goal was to

explore the topic of self-love and well-being through informal learning and a variety of

activities.

We arrived at the hotel in the evening and already started getting to know each other. We

were on the same wavelength right away and it was clear that this was going to be a

great project with amazing people.

Our first full day began with icebreakers and an introduction to the main topic as well as

to Erasmus+ projects in general. After dinner, we had some free time and we couldn’t

wait to swim in the ocean, so almost everyone headed to the beach for a night swim in

the sea. The next day, we started exploring the topic of self-love and also presented the

mental health care situation in our countries.

Then it was time for a workshop day. We spent the whole day exploring self-love through

art, theatre, dance and meditation. We were divided into small groups and each group

led a workshop focused on one of these areas and prepared activities for the others to

take part in. We finished the workshop series with a session focused on non-violent

communication, which we explored in more depth the following day. At the end of the

project, we created toolkits with useful information and excercises on all the topics we

had covered, so others could explore and learn from them as well. I really recommend

checking them out! If you’re interested in what self-love is, how to practice it daily and

finding useful methods and tools, you can access all the toolkits here:

https://sites.google.com/view/selfloveerasmus

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I also can’t forget two trip days. The first was to Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the capital city of

the island, where we visited a local mental health centre. In the afternoon, we held

interviews with local people about their views on self-love and how they practice it in

daily life.

The goal of the second trip day was to explore the island. We visited two historical towns

and saw the oldest and largest dragon tree in the world. We ended our day at Teide

National Park, which surrounds Teide Volcano, the highest mountain in Spain, reaching

3,718 meters.

The project also included intercultural evenings, where we presented our country and

culture and learned about the countries of other teams. Each team brought national

food and drinks, so we got to try local specialties from each country.

During this project, we explored the topic of self-love and learned many tools and

exercises to help us practice self-love daily and improve our mental health and well-

being. We also created unforgettable memories with amazing friends that we made

during the project, and we’ve already started planning when we’ll see each other again.

We want to say a big thank you to all the organizers who made this great project happen,

as well as to the organizing NGO 3dfriends.lv

Of course, we also want to say a big thank you to all the participants and to our sending

NGO EUnity for giving us the chance to be part of this amazing experience!

The project is financed with the support of the European Union administered in Latvia by the

Agency for International Programs for Youth. This publication reflects only the author’s views,

and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the

information contained there in.