🇩🇪 Follow-Up Activities – Germany

Bridges to Solidarity e.V.

After the Erasmus+ Youth Exchange "Can't You SEA?", implemented in Pissouri, Cyprus from 12 to 21 November 2025, the German partner organization Bridges to Solidarity e.V. carried out a series of meaningful follow-up and dissemination activities aimed at transferring the project's results to local communities and inspiring further youth participation in European opportunities.

The German follow-up activities focused on educational dissemination, peer-to-peer sharing, and reflection, ensuring that the learning outcomes of the exchange reached a wider audience beyond the initial mobility. One major follow-up action consisted of four structured seminars at a vocational school near Frankfurt, where a German participant presented the Youth Exchange experience to students aged 14–19. In total, 86 students participated in these sessions, which combined information about the project, Erasmus+ opportunities, the European Union, and interactive games encouraging young people to reflect on mobility, learning, and active European citizenship.

In addition, a second local follow-up event was organized in Essen, bringing together university students in an informal and intercultural setting. During this event, participants shared presentations, videos, personal stories, and cultural elements from the exchange, fostering open discussion on environmental issues, cultural diversity, and the Erasmus+ spirit. The event successfully raised awareness of youth exchanges and motivated participants to explore similar opportunities themselves

1st Activity

Due to the distance between Konstantin and the other members of our group, he hosted his own event to share his experiences from Pissouri. He used his connection to his former school near Frankfurt to implement four seminars for students from the age of 14 to 19. Altogether, 86 students participated. The 90 minutes each did not just include talking about the youth exchange, but also presenting all the Erasmus opportunities and sharing his experience of an Erasmus semester. Additionally, the event was equipped with information and discussions on the European Union itself, and was carried out with games and tasks for the students to reflect on their wishes to explore Europe themselves.

2nd Activity

The Essen follow up event took place in Jillian's and Flori's student housing. We invited fellow university students to come join us in our cozy bar and get to know our experiences and the general Erasmus+ spirit. We showed a presentation made by Pia, summarising can't you sea, so that our guests understand the experiences we have made and what we gained from the project. Afterwards we watched the videos we created together and told funny and interesting anecdotes in the meantime. We ended up discussing cultural differences and historical fun facts in the whole group. To round things up we decided to listen to different folk music tracks and tried some dances we have learned in the cultural nights. We were satisfied after the event, because we ended up evoking our guests' interest in Erasmus programmes and had a fun evening together.

Online Dissemination Links

Dissemination was further strengthened through extensive social media engagement, with participants sharing reflections, photos, reels, and stories on Instagram, reaching a broad youth audience and maintaining visibility of the project's environmental and educational messages

The German team also contributed to the project's digital legacy through the creation and promotion of a follow-up YouTube video, summarizing the experience and key learning outcomes of the exchange

Evaluation Paragraphs from participants

Alongside dissemination, Bridges to Solidarity e.V. provided a comprehensive official evaluation of the project, highlighting strong coordination, professional facilitation, effective non-formal education methods, and meaningful learning impact for participants. Participant evaluation chapters further confirmed high satisfaction levels, personal growth, increased environmental awareness, improved intercultural competence, and strong motivation for future engagement in Erasmus+ programmes, while also offering constructive feedback for future improvements.

Konstantin: The organization and implementation of the project was really professional and smooth. There was a pleasant atmosphere and granted by the facilitators, which allowed me to focus on the project and receive all the support I needed. The most valuable aspect of the exchange for me was the cultural exchange, as it was fascinating to meet people from different countries and explore our similarities and differences. This truly made the experience unforgettable. I also enjoyed exploring the island through hikes, going to the beach, swimming and visiting a few cities. I appreciated creative sessions like storytelling. The location of the exchange was appropriate and beautiful.

However, I would like to note that I would have liked to learn more about sea pollution and environmental protection. I think there was more potential for us to gain knowledge on our main topic. Alternative learning methods were interesting but sometimes not effective since they did not provide new information. I think we should have first acquired more knowledge and then applied it in activities. Pitching ideas and playing theatre was not really effective for learning. I also did not enjoy the activities of "skills" because the tasks were neither challenging nor complex. The most effective learning activities related to our main topics were the preparation posters, the adopt a beach activity and the SDG index. Regarding social media campaigns, I think implementation should be mandatory, as sometimes it was unclear what the content we produced was for. In general, I think we had to produce too many videos. It would be better to focus on one campaign project per group, which should continue after the youth exchange.

Furthermore, I am really satisfied with my local follow-up event since I was able to show many young people the amazing opportunities to explore Europe. Overall, the Youth Exchange was highly valuable and meaningful, as it undoubtedly expanded participants' horizons.

Jillian: This was my first experience with Erasmus. During my school days, no projects were offered at my school, so it's all the more wonderful that I can now experience this during my time at university. I really enjoyed the time with the other participants. Great icebreaker games were prepared to help us connect with each other and build a sense of community. I particularly enjoyed the contributions from our guest speakers, who provided great input on the topic, which I will take away with me. The excursions were great and gave us a wonderful impression of Cyprus. However, I see room for improvement in the following areas: One afternoon, the countries offered different workshops. Unfortunately, I didn't find these offerings to be very well thought out or effective. The blindfold task wasn't even resolved. I didn't find the Abigail story appropriate at all. This task was not helpful in strengthening the group spirit. I am glad how the situation was handled after these points were raised. I would like to see these workshop offers reviewed, even if only briefly, by the leaders or a team to see if they are suitable for the group. I am very grateful for this experience with Erasmus+ and am taking a lot of input with me for myself and my teaching.

Flori: Can't you sea was the first Erasmus+ opportunity I participated in and I'm so grateful and satisfied that I had this chance! The mixture of cultural exchange and working on our topic of sea pollution and environmental awareness was great. The general atmosphere of the project was vivid and communicative and the activities were well thought and executed. I had a lot of fun during games and creative work (I will never forget the theatre of the oppressed method!), but my personal highlight was the cooperation with Merlab. The beach clean up and learning about marine protected areas helped me a lot to understand the scientific and civic engagement needed to make a difference. There was also room for bringing in our own ideas and I even got the chance to facilitate my own game activity, which I really enjoyed! All in all a great project I will never forget, but I see room for improvement in two activities: 1. The method of presentation of our preparation activities was not effective. Listening to many dry presentations with similar content was more boring than inspiring. There should be a more interactive method.

2. Workshops planned by single countries should have been supervised! The blindfolded game was not really age appropriate and too time consuming for such little impact on the group spirit. But most importantly: The Abigail Tale. Letting young people uncontrolledly discuss a story containing sexualized violence and a woman being shamed for experiencing it, is completely unacceptable. I was grateful how it was reflected and taken care of in the aftermath, but it should not have happened at all.

Lena: This was my first ever Erasmus project and I am really glad I took part, as it was one of the best experiences I've had this year! I learnt a lot about sea pollution and how we humans should take better care of our environment. Through fun icebreaker games, presentations and group activities we explored the topic and came up with ideas and plans on how to improve the health of the oceans. A key part of this was learning how to raise awareness of the issue and how to alert more people. I really enjoyed the training on how to run a social media campaign! Besides learning a lot about our environment and the pollution problem we exchanged our cultures and learned about typical dishes, dances and other customs. I met lots of lovely people and made a lot of new friends.

Nevertheless, I also see room for improvement in some areas of the project. In my opinion, there should have been more free time in the afternoon, because I think most people can't concentrate as well in the afternoon as they can in the morning. This could have been a good time to relax or go to the beach. To compensate for this, I would have liked more evening activities, especially group activities or games after the cultural night, for example. Regarding the activities themselves, I think some could have been planned better. For example, the photo rally had a lot of questions, which resulted in significant differences in the finishing times and a lot of waiting for some people. Due to the number of questions and the limited time available, we had to rush through the city and did not have time to appreciate the area properly. For the next time, maybe there could be fewer questions, more time or an earlier start.Finally I would like to say that this experience opened a whole new world for me, because I learnt that there is so much more to see and learn, and doing this with Erasmus projects brings me great joy as it supports the youth of our world! Again, I am really glad I got to participate in this project and I would like to thank everyone who made this project happen and all the new people I met and got to learn from!

Martha: This was my second Erasmus+ experience and it only gave me more motivation to do more youth Exchanges. I really like the organisation of this project and how we were treated as participants. I felt really comfortable through the whole week and never felt pressured to do something I don't want or felt like i wanted to leave. The program was really interesting and I liked the variety of workshops, where we switched between intellectual input about marine biology in Cyprus and intercultural learning between the different countries. A workshop that stuck with me after the project was the one where we created a story about marine life and the impacts of man-made trash. I learned a lot about the environment and the pollution in all of the participating countries.

Moreover the location where we stayed was wonderful and way over my expectations! I really like the rooms and the food provided by the facilities. What I would change for the next exchange is the age range of the participants, the range going from 16 to 25 was a bit too much for my experience and it was sometimes difficult to connect with everyone and find common topics to connect about. Nevertheless, all of the participants were really nice and took part in the activities, which I really appreciated.

Overall, I want to thank Erasmus and bridges to solidarity for giving me this opportunity and planning everything so smoothly!!

Pia: This was my first participation in an Erasmus+ project, and while it required flexibility and quick responses at times, I truly appreciated the transparency throughout the process. All tasks, whether for preparation, during the stay, or as follow-up activities, were communicated clearly. I especially enjoyed the hosting location and the well-balanced mix of input-based, creative, and explorative training activities. The project leaders did an excellent job of combining knowledge with engaging and fun formats, keeping us motivated and involved for the entire duration of the project. +local follow-up

One aspect I would suggest improving is the timing of the photo rally. Starting it in the afternoon on a November day meant we had to rush to finish before sunset, leaving little time to fully appreciate the area. Additionally, during the beach clean-up activity, it could be beneficial to involve part of the group in cleaning the surrounding area while others focus on counting trash particles. This would allow for more efficient use of time while increasing the overall impact, without losing the educational value of the scientific approach.

I particularly enjoyed the hike and the guest speakers during the input sessions, as they addressed local challenges and made the discussions very interactive. It was also refreshing to have some breathing space throughout the program, such as time to explore Pafos independently and the flexibility to manage our own schedules during the video project.

Leon: Overall, this Erasmus+ youth exchange was a very positive experience and exceptionally well organised by the host organisation. A clear timetable gave structure to each day, with reasonable session lengths and enough breaks to recover between activities. The programme offered a balanced mix of external input from facilitators and experts, participant-led contributions, group discussions, and informal exchange, which kept engagement high and allowed participants to engage deeply with the topics. Dedicated time for team building and for connecting with the local context (e.g. discovering Pissouri village and visiting Paphos) greatly enriched the learning process. The facilitators were highly professional, approachable, and flexible. Their experience was evident in how smoothly they adapted to changes and balanced the needs of a large and diverse group. Daily reflection rounds with group leaders created space for feedback, and suggestions were taken seriously and implemented wherever possible. A concrete example was the initial lack of vegetarian options: once raised, the host organisation worked with the accommodation to adapt the buffet, which I appreciated. The buffet format itself was a strength, as it allowed everyone to choose according to their needs. The accommodation was ideal for this type of exchange, and the timing in November offered pleasant weather without excessive heat. The follow-up activities in Frankfurt and Essen helped pass on these positive experiences to young people in Germany, with encouraging feedback and genuine interest in future Erasmus+ participation. For similar projects, I would recommend a slightly shorter duration of eight to nine days including travel, as this may help maintain energy levels throughout. Personally, I felt well supported in my role as a group leader and valued the cooperative atmosphere. The project combined peer learning, personal growth, and enjoyment in a very convincing way, and my overall assessment is clearly positive.

Doris: The Can't You SEA Youth Exchange in Pissouri, which took place from 12 to 21 November 2025, was a very successful and enriching experience. Being involved in the project from the planning phase through to the implementation was especially meaningful, as it allowed me to follow the full process and better understand what contributes to a well-functioning youth exchange. The programme was well structured and offered a good mix of learning-focused sessions and more relaxed, group-building activities. A particularly strong aspect was the involvement of professionals, who brought in valuable knowledge and well-prepared tasks directly connected to the topic of the exchange. This added depth to the programme and supported meaningful learning for the participants. The facilitators also managed the daily flow very well, creating a balanced rhythm throughout the exchange.

Another very positive element were the day trips and excursions, which were clearly appreciated by the participants. These activities gave them the chance not only to step outside the seminar setting, but also to get to know the country and the surrounding area better. This contributed a lot to the overall experience. For me personally, taking part as a team leader for the first time was a strong learning experience. It helped me see the youth exchange from a different angle and reflect more on group processes, responsibilities, and facilitation. Possible improvements: Some activities that were organised more spontaneously by group leaders or participants could have benefited from slightly more preparation, especially in terms of clarifying learning aims. Additionally, a smaller age range among participants might have supported an even stronger group dynamic, as the age differences were quite wide. However, this did not significantly affect the overall success of the exchange. Overall, the Can't You SEA Youth Exchange was a very positive and valuable learning experience for me as a partner organisation member and team leader. Thank you for the opportunity and the experience, I would gladly be part of similar projects again!