Implementation

Welcome to the Implementation page of Can't You Sea?, a unique Erasmus+ Youth Exchange dedicated to raising awareness about marine protection, sustainability, and the role each of us plays in safeguarding our oceans.

Throughout eight vibrant and inspiring days in Cyprus, young people from Austria, Cyprus, Germany, Lithuania, North Macedonia, and Romania came together to explore environmental challenges through non-formal education, creativity, science, culture, community engagement, and personal reflection.

From energizers and teambuilding to fieldwork with marine biologists, from theatre and storytelling to social media campaigns and eco-friendly inventions, every activity was designed to deepen understanding, inspire responsibility, and strengthen connections—with nature and with each other.

This page documents the day-by-day journey of the project, enriched with photos, videos, testimonials, creative outputs, interviews, beach clean-ups, cultural nights, and Youthpass achievements.
It is not only a record of what we did—but a celebration of what young people can achieve when they unite for a cleaner, healthier, and more compassionate world.

Scroll through and relive the experience with us.
Let's dive into the story of Can't You Sea?—and remember that protecting the sea begins with each one of us.

Day 1 - November 13, 2025 - Thursday

Written by the facilitators team!🇪🇺

The first day of the project, and that means tons and tons of icebreaking and teambuilding games! We began the day by having an introductory meeting with Nikolas, who introduced us to Elena and Bobbie, the facilitators of this project. To get us into the mood of meeting each other, we began with a dancing energizer called "find the leader". For this, a volunteer would leave the circle, while one of the participants was the one leading the dance. With some upbeat music, the volunteer had to guess who was the person leading the moves.

Right after that, and to go with our theme of repetition. For this, we had to find a gesture, showcase it to other participants, while we said our name. With a few new names in our memories, we played human bingo, where we had to find facts about each other such as participants who had tattoos, or ones who have traveled outside Europe. It was very fun and we learned a lot about each other.

After creating our playing the name hangman game, for this, we put duct tape on ourselves, and made underscores for the amount of letters for our name. For example Bobbie would be _ _ _ _ _ _ ! We fished for letters from each other, we could only get one and give only one.

After coffee break we started diving deep into what Erasmus+ is, and for this we went over the rules, as well as our responsibilities which are to showcase energizers, create some reels, create this very journal and more, we learned all about the Youthpass, using the passport game. In mixed groups, we had to solve mini challenges for each competency. For example, for the mathematical competency, we had to solve an equation, while for the multilingual one, we had to learn greetings in different languages.

We finished off by making our "backpacks" where thought and wrote down what we brought to our project, what we expect from it, and challenges we may face.

Photo 9 and 10

In the afternoon, we had the chance to take the bus to Pissouri, where in mixed groups, we explored the area while completing some tasks which helped us learn about the village. As a nice reward for all our hard work, and burned calories, we finished the day by having traditional pitta at the restaurant Paradosiokratia Geuseon.

You can check out the tasks we had in Pissouri here! LINK OF TASKS IN PISSOURI 

Day 2 - November 14, 2025 - Friday

Written by the North Macedonian team! 🇲🇰

In the first part of the day, we started with the energizers conducted by the Romanian team in which the participants were supposed to make jesters similar to the samurai. This is called the Hi Ha Hoe activity, where if you made the wrong move, you lose! This energizer was good for boosting energy and strengthening the team work.

Afterwards the facilitators moved on with the second part in which were conducted the following activities and energizers

The first, the blanket game Participants are divided into two teams sitting on opposite sides of a large blanket or sheet held up by Elena and Bobbie. One player from each team quietly moves to the front, close to the blanket. When the facilitators drop the blanket, both players see each other at the same moment and must quickly say the other person's name. The faster player wins the round, and the opponent joins their team. The game continues until one team collects all players or time runs out.

The second, the Tingo Tango activity. For this participants are divided into two groups standing on opposite sides of the space. Each person has a designated partner in the other group. On the facilitator's signal, everyone moves around and searches for their partner. When they find them, they quickly kneel or squat together. The last pair to kneel is out of the game. This energizer encourages movement, quick focus, and most importantly, teamwork!

The third, head, shoulders and pen! Participants are divided in two teams opposite to each other so everyone has his/her partner. The facilitator is giving instructions in which each partner is supposed to touch his shoulder or head or some other body part. There is a pen that stands between the partners. When facilitators shout the word pen, participants are supposed to catch the pen. This energizer boosts a lot of fun and raises the competitive spirit among the participants.

The fourth, pass the pulse - Participants form a circle and "pass" a hand squeeze or clap as quickly as possible; the goal is to keep the pulse moving smoothly around the circle.

The final, the coin game - Two teams race while holding a coin between their legs, trying to reach the finish line without dropping it.

When our bonding games were over, we were finally ready to dive very deeply into the topic, using the World Café method

Participants were divided into small groups and rotated through five discussion stations, each focusing on a key environmental question. These were

  • the biggest polluters on the planet
  • how daily lifestyles contribute to the global plastic crisis
  • the environmental impact of our purchases
  • the state of our oceans and strategies for cleaning them
  • why deforestation matters even for people living in cities.

At each station, groups discussed the topic, shared ideas, and recorded their conclusions on flip charts, which were later presented to the whole group for reflection and further discussion.

In the afternoon, we focused on the SDG Index.

Participants were first introduced to the meaning of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the criteria used in SDG rankings. Then, in small groups, they analyzed the SDG index of their own countries, identifying strengths and areas for improvement. Each group presented their findings to the rest of the participants. To conclude, a quiz was conducted in which participants calculated their personal SDG scores, reinforcing their understanding of the goals and their practical relevance.

You can check out both websites used, which were https://dashboards.sdgindex.org/ and www.footprintcalculator.org/home/en

After the SDGs activity and research we had to present our homework

Participants presented the research assignments they had prepared before the project, focusing on water pollution and possible solutions in their own countries. After each presentation, they received feedback from facilitators and peers, allowing them to reflect on their findings and improve their understanding of local and global environmental challenges.

In the evening, we had social games. This was the last activity: speed-dating activities, and a portrait-drawing exercise, providing a fun and interactive way to relax and connect with each other.

Day 3 - November 15, 2025 - Saturday

Co-written by the Cypriot team 🇨🇾

Today's energizer was Austria's, with an Austrian song called "Gute Laune Überall". In line with the fact that Austria had a cultural night tonight, we learned all about the song, as well as its dance. With our new energy, we went inside the activity room to meet our guest facilitator.

This was marine biologist Angelos Pechlivanis joined by their new intern Andreas, from MER Lab, the Marine and Environmental Research Lab! Over the last 15 years, MER has successfully implemented many projects and research programs around coastal and offshore Cyprus in the fields of marine biology/ecology, aquaculture and fisheries. It currently leads and pioneers the marine research of Cyprus, acting as governmental consultant, and has close links with the fishery industry, divers, and other sea users.

For this workshop, Angelos showcased the "Provision of services for the implementation of marine litter monitoring programs" here in the Republic of Cyprus/ This was the Adopt the Beach initiative, specifically, the sampling protocol. Angels and Christina taught us about the issues that microplastics in sea water, such as entanglement of animals, microplastic ingestion, destruction of marine habitats and even heritage loss and reduced aesthetics.

After teaching us how to sample and understand data of beach cleanliness, we went to Pissouri Beach to actually clean the beach and also calculate this. During the activity we picked up tons of trashed, learned how to categorize them, and more!

In the afternoon, we were divided into teams of 5, and, to our surprise, Elena and Bobbie had collected pebbles from the beach. Using these pebbles, and paint, we created mosaics, creating different animals and their stories, whether tragic, comedic, and often bittersweet, or something in between.

We create a short booklet with the stories each team wrote and added them to this small booklet. You can download it below!

Pebbles and stories

DOWNLOAD BookletAA.pdf

In short, when it comes to the sea, today we covered

  • the aspect of using raw data to understand sea pollution better
  • the aspect of using storytelling and art, and raising awareness to improve how we take care of the sea
  • the aspect of using the beach sustainability, using the method of meditation and yoga.

At night, we learned all about Austria and Cyprus during our first cultural night. We learned Austrian slang, tried Austrian snacks, and humerous mannerisms of Austria. We also had a deep dive in Cypriot history, from all eras, and finished off with tons of dances.

Coincidentally, the World Clup Qualifiers was going on at this time between the two countries, where Austria beat Cyprus 0-2! Whoops!

Day 4 – November 16 , 2025 – Sunday

Co-written by the German team 🇩🇪

Day 4 started off with a nostalgic energizer "red or green light" from the Lithuanian team, to get our creative energy flowing. Our first exercise of the day included another form of storytelling: theatre of the oppressed. Creating a story which illustrates how sea pollution affects the animals and our human involvement through the by-stander effect. This task demanded not only our emotional involvement but also challenged our theatrical competencies.

After a short coffee break, we warmed up for the presentations by playing theatre improvising exercises. Testing our ability to come up with ways to develop silent pictures and activities - alone or in a group - on the spot. For example, managing to build a zoo only with our bodies and sounds but without talking.

In groups of five we came up with very different approaches to the theatre plays. By presenting a story with a sad/bad ending first, the audience was asked to find options to change and influence the play positively. The second round consisted of a repetition of the plays while the audience had to get actively involved and implement their solutions to the problems. This was done by exchanging characters or adding yourself as props.

Check out also 2 full plays below!

The afternoon was organized by the other team leaders. We were divided into groups and the oldest became the leader to guide the then blindfolded members. Through specific taps on the body and trust, the goal was to create the given shape, challenging both the leader and members. Afterwards two students of the North Macedonian team presented "The Abigail story" to spark a discussion on our different views of morals and ethics.

We finished off the afternoon with preparation exercises for the next day where we have to do interviews. The focus laid on spontaneous and improvised story telling which was practiced through a one-word story circle and creating a tv show program for the others to watch.

Today we had another cultural night with Lithuania and Germany. Lithuania began with a presentation about the beauty and diversity of their country. They continued with a fun interactive online game, where the national teams had to escape a castle in Lithuania through remembering and learning new facts. We were presented with an amazing variety of traditional snacks from savory to sweet and got to enjoy and participate in their traditional dance.

Germany did their presentation in the format of a nostalgic kids tv show "1,2 oder 3" to keep the night interactive. The audience was presented with a short live performance of a traditional song which talks about the freedom of our minds. To finish off the cultural night and to kick start a karaoke night, Germany sang "Sperrbezirk" and invited everyone to join them.

Day 5 – November 17, 2025 – Monday

Co-written by the Romanian team 🇷🇴

Today's day was all about cultural exploration and interviews!

As such we spent a full day in Paphos, and we began by visiting Petra tou Romiou, the supposed birthplace of the Goddess Aphrodite. Our next stop was the city of Paphos proper, where we visited two more historical sites. The first was House of Dionyseus, one of Cyprus's most important ancient sites, featuring preserved Roman villas, mosaics, and public buildings. The park covers structures dating from the Hellenistic to the Middle Ages, with the main highlight being the House of Dionysos and its famous mythological mosaics. Afterwards, we visited the Paphos Castle, a medieval fort sitting right at the edge of Paphos Harbour, built by the Byzantines to protect the coastline. Over the centuries it was rebuilt by the Lusignans and later modified by the Ottomans, giving it a mix of historical influences. Today it's one of the city's iconic landmarks, offering great views and a glimpse into Cyprus's defensive past.

Visiting these cultural sights weren't the only thing we did today, as we made two interviews with residents of Paphos, which we will later use in our video making activity, which can be seen under Day 7 in this very website!

Some participants visited the Catacombs, walked through the city, enjoying the local atmosphere, and towards the end of the day we stopped by the mall, where we relaxed and wrapped up the day on a pleasant note.

Day 6 - November 18, 2025 - Tuesday

Written by the Austrian Team 🇦🇹

Today we started off with an Energizer by the North Macedonian Team, it was an interesting game where we were assigned fruits and had to make sure we had a chair to sit on after being called on. The term fruit salad was also used, which made all participants move around.

Afterwards we went straight to our next activity, creating a social media campaign with your national team, in this activity we really got to be creative and make and present our ideas on what a social media campaign would be like, two teams even made actual Instagram accounts (@save.the.danube and@ keep_it_clean_cy go follow!) It was very interesting and we actually learned a lot from it. We learned all about different color choices, as well as how we can use social media campaigns to ultimately turn into physical ones.

Social Media Campaigns

DOWNLOAD BookletB.pdf

Next up was another energizer from the North Macedonian team! We got split into groups and had to basically form a tangle! We then had to undo the tangle, it was very fun!

Our next activity was to create and present inventions to a jury which included a participant as part of this Jury, Michael from our very own team. Each juror with a different gained personality, 4 teams had to compete against each other, with a made-up innovative tool that helps clean up the beach. 4 teams competed against each other, with hard-hitting questions by the jury to see who would win and go to the next round. The winner was ultimately a hat, featuring solar panels which helps charge phones and other devices.

We learned about MPAs, which stands for Marine Protected Areas. With Aggelos' return, we had to create our own such areas, in the format of three island, and we had to pick where 4 types of areas go. These were

  • The main city
  • The tourist area
  • An area suitable for windfarms
  • Area important for fish preservation
  • Seagrass area
  • Turtle nesting beach
  • A monk seal nesting cave

With specific roles in each team, and lots of compromises, we create the most suitable islands that benefit the most sea animals and people.

Last but not least we had the final intercultural nights!!! From North Macedonia and Romania! The best part was when the Romanians married two of our participants! Besides all of that we all had a bunch of fun and excitement today and we always look forward to our next activities!

Day 7 - November 19, 2025 - Wednesday

Co-written by Lithuanian team 🇱🇹

An early day today! Woke up at 8 am today to hike one of the trails in Pissouri. The entire trip took around 2 hours, but it was definitely worth it in the end, because of the views and experience in its entirety. Having a look at sights like this makes us realize why it is so worth it to care about the sea and the environment in general. The sights were breathtaking!

After takin a break to pick ourselves up, we met in the activity room where Bobbie talked all about the opportunities we have if we want to participate in Erasmus+ programs. He mentioned several programs, including "Youth Exchanges", which is open to people aged 13-30, and the "Erasmus Semester. This presentation also included all there is to know about the youth card, training course, Erasmus Mundus and all sorts of types of projects we did not know about.

As for the afternoon, each national group started working on dissemination materials, and in this case, it was the videos. We finally understood the importance of including the local community, in this case Paphos, where we had interviewed people to ask about the current situation in the sea. Curiously, many of us found tourists, including from Romania, Lithuania, North Macedonia and even Germany. Check out each of the videos below!

Day 8 – November 20, 2025 – Thursday

Co-written by the facilitators team 🇪🇺

An early day once again! Waking up again at 8:00 am, because this time around we had a little visit in Limassol! We visited the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Limassol, where we joined up with their ongoing project titled "HERIT ADAPT". This event happened to be the Info day and Capacity building workshop with three important speakers, including our very own Bobbie.

The first, Christina Kanellaki, who gave an entire presentation of the HERIT ADAPT Interreg Euro-Med project. She is the Deupty Director of Limassol Tourism Promotion.

The second, Katerina Papanikolaou, Representative of Department of Antiquities who gave a presentation of the Sanctuary of Apollo Hylates.

The third, Boghos Avetikian, youth worker of the NGO ACPELIA, who presented the Sustainability practices and Heritage through the European programs of ACPELIA.

After a short coffee break, we were finally joined by Mimis Sofokleous, an academic, s well as the director of Limassol Historical Archive, who gave a presentation on Climate change as well as the impact of open-air museum, focusing on Kourion. As such, on the way back to the accommodation, we visited the Ancient Kourion theatre, to actually see the place that Mr. Sofokleous was talking about.

In the afternoon, Nikolas came to talk to us about follow-up activities, we did the evaluation and the moment we were all waiting for. The Youthpass ceremony, where we all received certificates for our hard work in this project!

Participants along with the facilitators also created reels per day, check them out below!