On 21 July 2023, five young people from Tiszalúc and two mentors set off for ten days exploring Western Europe's major cities. Across six countries, they covered 4,196 km on 19 trains, spending one day, twenty hours and fifty-one minutes on board. We walked 199,279 steps and 101.86 km. In total, we spent three days and fourteen hours on the move over ten days, with some sleep too, and recorded 45,460 kcal burned.
We visited Milan, Nice, Brussels, Munich and Vienna. Although the participants lived in the same town, attending different secondary schools meant they had not known one another well. The journey brought new experiences, friendships and a strong sense of community.
Participants also learned how to navigate public transport in large cities and broadened their cultural knowledge through landmarks. A visit to the European Parliament introduced its workings, origins and purpose. Their language skills developed too: at first they hesitated even to ask prices, but in Brussels they were helping other tourists with public transport, and on the journey home they initiated conversations with other young travellers.
Overall, the programme gave the young people an unforgettable experience in the year they entered adulthood.
The programme formed part of ‘Ismerd meg a nagyvilágot! – Tudásgyarapítási lehetőség kevesebb lehetőséggel rendelkező tiszalúci fiatalok részére’ (Discover the Wider World! – Learning Opportunities for Young People with Fewer Opportunities in Tiszalúc), reference 2022–1–HU01–KA155–YOU–000103250. During the journey, our activities were also featured by
