Spanish Essay

To understand the youth of one particular moment in history you should analyze all the agents of socialization that are involving that same point in history (political parties, trade unions, media, etc.), as well as the historical background of the country, region or place in which they live.

That’s why although all of us belong to the European Union, the realities change from one country to another and even between different areas of the same country or region.

Young Spaniards have a very special family life which is very different from other places in Europe. In Spain, the most normal thing is to be depending on the parents up to approximately 30 years, until you sure a future employment and a salary with which being able to live independently. It is not easy to study and work at the same time so that makes even more difficult to live away from home and without any kind of financial support. There are very few cases of people that manage to combine work and study.

For our young Spanish, the most important and disputed problems today are: unemployment, their future houses, drugs, education and the crisis.

At the moment, the biggest problem of the Spanish society is the economic crisis that we are experiencing. This crisis will have different consequences in the lives of children, youngsters and adults.

Crisis measures being taken by the State have different readings according to the ages of the Spaniards. Children notice this crisis through the cuts in the salaries of their parents and tax hikes. This means that parents need to limit costs which previously were used to please their children. For example: If before they could please all of their children whims, nowadays this is impossible. If children used to buy the sneakers that they liked without even caring on how much they were, if they could have a next-generation mobile, if they could receive a high pay, etc. Now these costs have to be reduced and it is not possible to give them those whims, so they have to try to understand the new economic situation of their parents.

Young people, who are already finishing their university studies, see the crisis as a problem for their future employment. The nearest future predictions are quite negative: unemployment is very high, about levels much higher than other countries of the EU, the salaries are precarious and the work output is practically non-existent. Every day we are better prepared to be good professionals but unfortunately it is not easy to find a job and much less related to your academic formation. All this situation makes the students raised the possibility of emigrating.

This moment of crisis is helping us to reflect on how we lived so far and the reasons that led us to this situation. Hopefully this will be a lesson for people and the state. This lesson that make us realize that we cannot live above our economic possibilities.

Spain is a decentralized state, there is a central authority that provides general guidelines and establishes the bases from which the autonomous regions may implement their own modifications. Certain powers and competences are transferred from the State to the different regions or territories.

In Spain, each autonomous region has its own competences in very different fields as: education, health, regional budgets, environmental laws, etc. For this reason the reality that you find can be different depending on the region.

In Galicia people with a mental disability or a mental illness are not discriminated or treated differently just because of the fact that they have some kind of limitations.

Since the beginning of 1990s, people with some kind of disability have gained a whole series of rights and freedoms that have helped them to be integrated into the society and to live a normal life.

But this is not always so easy…

It is more bearable during the years of compulsory school. They have a lot of helps but the real difficulties will come once this vital stage ends and the child becomes an adult. At this time they have to start facing the problems of everyday life by their own.

When the disabled kids and youngsters become adults there are just very few public centers of assistance to these issues where places are very limited and there are meet very strict requirements to obtain one. Private institutions and organizations are also very expensive and not everyone can afford them.

All Galician schools have different specific professionals who are in charge of dealing with cases of students who have problems or limitations as: mental disabilities, learning difficulties, social skills difficulties, communication or language difficulties, etc.

These professionals are: the school counselor, the therapeutic pedagogy Professor and the hearing and language professor.

From the Ministry of education it tends to the inclusion and the integration. It is always ensure that all cases of pupils with disabilities, mental illnesses and other similar problems could have a life as more normal as possible, that’s why the first option it is always to make them go to school with other children without such difficulties or limitations. A combined schooling is performed only in the most serious cases of mental disability or mental illness. It consists of this student to attend a few days of the week to the college of special education and the rest of the days of the week to the regular college.

The State and the autonomous region, give them a whole series of helps according to their degree of disability, their family finances and their particular problems.

There are also private professionals. The problem is that not everyone can afford to go to these centers or private services, since the economic possibilities are not the same for all families.

There is no Centre (no private or public) which handles the cases of mentally ill.

Trip to Ämmänsaari on Saturday

Because of the fact that many of the Finnish participants come from Suomussalmi we also spent one day over there. On the drive we stopped at a place where some pieces of art are shown. It is called “Silent People” because there are hundreds of dressed dolls with grass heads.

In the center of Suomussalmi we first got almost two hours of free-time which were spent in the streets and different shops to buy candy, souvenirs, postcards or the last secret friend presents. We met again at a restaurant called “Kultainen Kukko” for lunch before we went to the local Youth Centre together. After two energizers we were separated into groups to start the ”healthy food workshop”. The task was to cook a healthy meal for the group after spending 4€ per person at the supermarket. In one hour all the groups prepared, decorated, cleaned up and cooked the food and then the two judges Prrrtsi and Konrad tasted judged the meals by also keeping an eye on the cleaning, the decoration and the diversity and they asked questions about the experiences we made during the workshop.

 They presented the results and then we needed to be very quick at cleaning up and preparing the public action which followed at 6 o’clock. There Konrad presented the activities we did and Joona translated everything into Finnish because there were people from the Youth Centre who of course were Finns. We sang three songs in Spanish, Polish and German, showed some pictures and also the creative results of the music workshop. 

As a surprise Eija made delicious strawberry cake for everybody, then we relaxed some time at the Youth Centre playing or chatting and after tidying up we returned to Hossa where we spent the evening at the campfire or in the sauna.

by Sarah and Gritt from Germany

The Polish night

On friday, the Polish group made us have a really good night. They started with a presentation of the Polish persons, like teenagers, old women and tourists. It was quite fun.
Then we had a food test. I really liked the food, it tasted really nice.
Then we played the "Krzesełka"(Musical Chairs) and I enjoyed it, but I lost.
What I didn't like was the game of passing the glass and the ball.
But I think it was a quite nice night.

by Pablo from Spain


One part of the Polish evening was a really cool game about the Polish language. We were sitting in a circle and we had a cat (ball) and a dog (glass). Those two started circulating in two different directions. We had to pass them on, telling our neighbor in Polish "This is a cat"-"To jest kot" and "This is a dog" - "To jest pies". Then the neighbor would ask "co?"-"what?" and we would have to ask around all the way back, if it really was a kot or a pies. Now we can say by experience that Polish is a really really difficult language, and we will never ever forget these words in our lives.

by Mareike from Germany and Hilke from Finland

Trip to Kuusamo

On Friday we had to leave our huts very early in the morning to go on a rafting trip in Kuusamo.
We had to take waterproof clothes and life-jacket and then we seperated into 3 groups. For each group there was one boat and one leader.
We went through 7 rapids with different difficult-levels. In the end we all got very wet, but we arrived safely back to the land and we had a lot of fun together.

Then we went to Ruka, where we seperated again into two groups. The first group went to have lunch and the others started with doing the sled track. We went up to the mountain with a lift and then down again - alone or together with another person - with the sled.

 

Then we changed the groups and everybody had time to go to the souvenir shops or to take an ice cream.
After that we went with the bus to the shop of Kuusamo. We had some time to look around and to buy our secret friend presents. In the evening we came back to Jatkonsalmi, where we had dinner and the Polish evening. All in all it was a nice and exciting trip.


by Mareike and Fabian from Germany

German night

 The German night was really interesting and funny. We could learn more things about all the participants of German group and we got to know games.
Later we played two German games.
The first task was guessing what things belong to who. The Germans gived us some things that represented them, and we had to guess.
In the first, one person of each group have to close the eyes and try to find a pot which was hidden in the room.

Next and last game was to teams with a ball they had to make fall a bottle and when a team do that the other team had to run to take the bottle and put it in this places again. And the team wich make fall the bottle had to turn around and drink as uch water as they can.
And the team who finnished first the water won.
In this case was the Finnish Group and they recived german chocolate and it was so good.
We really enjoy this night but we're sure that Spanish night will be better ;-)


by Sara and Inés from Spain.

The blog workshop

The blog workshop was obviously supposed to write this blog.
Every youngster wrote an article about some activity we did or some topic connected to the meeting that they liked and considered interesting.
We hope that this blog will become a nice source of information about International Youth Meetings, about How to make it through life and a nice memory for us after the week is over.
Moreover in the blog workshop we are collecting everyone's photos, so that we can put them on a CD as a memory.

by Hilke from Finland

The music workshop

The music workshop included one national song from every country and a general discussion about which impact music has on our lives. In the second part we were very creative and expressed what music means to us.
Although it wasn't really what we expected from a music workshop (like singing/ playing/ making music on our own) it was a very intense workshop because there was a lot of exchange of opinions and experiences of every single person.

by Gritt and Sarah from Germany

The art workshop

The art workshop was supposed to activate everybody to design their own t-shirt. By using the same symbols on each t-shirt we show a strong connection and equality but because everybody could arrage it in his own way every t-shirt became individual and creative.
Although there were breaks during the work because only a few people could work at the same time and you always had to wait between the different steps, it wasn't boring: The workshop was well organized so we got the chance to paint little stones or add something else on the t-shirts.
All in all everybody was able to enjoy the workshop time outside and also got a unique souvenir.

by Gritt and Sarah from Germany

Our food

Every day we're eating about 5 times a day. We're think the food is very good, because it tasted great. The food is for everyone, becouse our chef cooking for the vegetarian and for people wich eat meat. We're have a few of the types of food, so everyone can find some wich like to eat. The food is really good, because we're not hungry and the food is light. We're want to say we eat really ekology. We think, in the other countries it's really hard to find something like that. Every day it's something else to eat, and we can have water or juice to drink. We're really happy, because that food  give us  energy to play games and thinking. Ewvry day we have something sweet to eat. Our's favorite food is pancakes, we're eating it a lot of. We're want to say thanks you to our chef, because, she's give us good food.

by Mary and Klaudia from Poland

Workshop "Sport and Relaxation"

Wednesday morning we went outside to do sport. We played Finnish baseball, it was really funny. There were people who beat the ball too far and there were others who couldn't beat it at all, so we laughed a lot. There were also people who after beating the ball were so happy, that they forgot running.
Later we played "two fires", it was a game about throwing a ball to the other team to defeat them. We played twice, and one of the teams won the both games.
After that, we did some relaxing exercises. Like rolling on our partners, doing a circle and massage them or sitting on their legs. Then we went to have lunch. We were tired but happy.
After that we had free time. During this break we played more baseball with Niila from Finland and we went to the dining room In the afternoon we had workshops and we had more free time, and we could relax.
At night, we went to sauna, and it was the most relaxing thing we did.

by Anton and Pablo from Spain

German Essay

Problems German youngsters encounter

Computer addiction, alcohol, stress, problems with parents and even drugs are now one of the everyday problems of adolescents. These problems are increasing constantly, partly because of group pressureand thereby there is some young people get pulled in, but also our role models, like our parents or famous people, we encourage to try out this problem. Unfortunately, only very few of the addictions come away again and this causes many other problems like problems with parents, stress, bad grades and health problems are caused. It is with very many young people so often, that they sit a day for 4 hours at the computer and cut it apart from the outside world and no benefit from social contacts in Real life, they communicate only via the Internet with many people they had never have seen. For young people it is not too difficult to get alcohol, which they sometimes drink really in a coma, just to make it because everyone else. These problems can be prevented but not as fast, but there are already many organizations and support groups to which one can turn to.

There are two bigger services, which you can ask for help while university. The Student Advisory Service helps you with choosing the best field of study for you and informs about contents, structure, needs and conditions for entrance of every field of study. The service also helps you, if you have troubles while studying, questions about your field of study, when you think of changing your place of study or if you want to stop you studies and about the changeover to work life. The other one, which can be asked for help is the Student Union. It administrates flats for students, the canteens and is also the one, who gives out loans, so that it is no problem to afford the money for studying. They help, if you have a child and want to study nevertheless, if you are a disabled person, or from a foreign country. The Student Union can also be asked when you have personal problems, exam nerves or problems with your studies (psychosocial advice).

The training may encounter various problems. For example, if annoyed, the apprentices at work, problems with staff and physical problems. Trainees can contact a training consultant, chef, educator or a teacher. In addition, one can say with colleagues and attend a support group. In Germany there are training organizations (chambers), where trainees can address and treat the problems.

Many students do not only face problems in school but also in their private life. Although these might also be solved in school with the help of teachers and social workers, there are other possibilities. On the one hand people would talk to their parents, families, friends, because they can be sure that they can trust them. If there isn't any trust or if youths feel like their problems can't be solved in a familiar setting there are many institutions which offer help. This includes a variety of therapies (single or in groups), family or just somebody who listens to their sorrow. Very important to mention might also be the "Nummer gegen Kummer" (number against trouble) where youths can call for free and keep their anonymity. You might feel very comfortable and secure when you can talk on the phone with people of your age. In case that there are very hard cases there  are always trained psychologists to whom the young telephonists may pass the phone.

In Germany you have many possibilities as a young person to arrange your free-time with activities, that fit your interests and in which you can easily get to know new people. That is a good method to bring fun and variety to your life and to get to know something different than your daily school-/university-/ working- life. Thereby the possibility to get mental problems, to feel alone or not satisfied with your life gets even smaller. You can get active in many ways: There is a big variety of different sport groups or clubs, you can learn an instrument, sing in a choir or participate in a band, you can join a theatre group or engage in a political or social organization, that deals with topics you are interested in. Usually schools or universities also offer some free-time activities for their students. Just inform yourself about the choice you have in your city or your village and most probably there will be something you could imagine to participate in.

The secret friend game

The secret friend game is a game that we play through all the week.
On the first day everyone had to write their own name on a small piece of paper. These papers were mixed and then everybody picked up a paper. The name which was written on your paper was then your "secret friend". The task is to write a letter to this person every day. This letter you put to our special letterbox in the diningroom and every evening at dinner the letters are handed out. It is important not to sign the letter with your name, because your secret friend should not know who is writing to him/her. Besides writing a letter it is also possible to do something else to make your secret friend happy. You can for example ask another person of the group to give a massage to your secret friend or to sing a song for him/her. The sense behind this game is to make your secret friend feel happy and comfortable during the meeting. On the last evening, at the intenational dinner, the game will be solved. For that everybody should prepare a little present for their secret friend. Then one person of the group starts and goes to his/her secret friend and tells "Hey, I was your secret friend!" and hands out the present. This person continues and goes to his/her own secret friend and so on, till everybody knows, which person was writing to them.

By Fabian and Mareike from Germany

Sauna Tradition

When we came o Hossa, the finish group told us about "Sauna Tradition". Thats reallt good operation for skin. Finish people go to sauna for relax and for health. The hot air in that location have 60°C-80°C!!! In the summer citizens from Hossa, go to sauna, stay there 15 min.and after that they ran and jump to the lake. After swimming they are coming back to sauna. Sauna do the great atmosphere, so people there talks more. If u want tou can go to sauna naked or if you are not used to that you can go there in your swimming suit. It is a pitty that u can`t go to sauna together in mixed sex.

by Maciek and Seba from Poland

Place of living

During our Youth Meeting we are living in the national park of Hossa, which is situated 100 km east of the city Suomussalmi and about 100 km from the russian border.
The place where we are living is called Jatkonsalmi. Our huts are laying in the middle of a conifer forest and  next to a big lake.

We have two huts here: The first has a big room for eating and all kind of group or freetime activities, a big balcony, the kitchen and some bed- and bathrooms for girls and boys. The second hut is smaller and includes some bedrooms and a freetime room. We sleep together with 3 to 6 persons in one room.

Moreover there is a sauna house which is directly laying on the lake, so you can go swimming after you went to the sauna.

Outside you have the possibility to play football or volleyball and you can also go jogging or hiking or do other outside activities.
Furthermore there are two boats that belong to the huts. Whenever you want you can take them and go to a boating trip on the lake.

By Mareike and Fabian from Germany

The Finnish Evening

The Finnish Evening took place on tuesday. We would do some typical Finnish things.

We started the evening hiking through the forest. Here we could feel the special atmosphere in the middle of the nature. Although we are used to be in the nature, being here made us feel something different. The beautiful lakes made us feel as being in paradise. Everything around us was new. 

 

We walked until we arrived in a really nice place next to the lake where the Finns showed us some nice traditions. We could share a really nice time cooking pancakes and sausages in the open fire and eating them.

Afterwards we walked to the canoe point to go back to the cottage by crossing the river in the canoes. 

When we arrived to the accommodation we could enjoy typical Finnish sauna.

That was a nice, different way to learn about Finnish culture. We had so much fun!

  

by Anita and Lucía from Spain

TV-Shows

To present their countries and the participants, every national group prepared a TV-Show to show to the others.

The Spanish group showed us an intereresting film, in which they presented themselves and places where they come from. The film had a lot of scenes with beautiful places from Galicia. The production was based on one of the Spanish TV-show.

The group from Germany made a performance which took place in typical German School. There was a teacher, who was asking his students about important things about Germany.  After that they showed us a “volkswagen” commercial. It was humorous.

The group from Finland was making a very funny show about how they deal with extreme situations in their country. We could learn how to survive in Finland with lost internet connection, with too much mosquitos or with lack of sun. In the end original Finish Santa Claus gave us nice gifts.

by Agnieszka and Adrian from Poland

In Polish presentation there was a video which contained introduction of all group members individually. Ther was like listing about the things that people like to do. I liked it because it was funny a, well executed and clear.

by Eero from Finland

"How to make it through life?"

The topic we chose to work on this week was called "How to make it through life?"
Here Annika from Finland and Prrrtsi from Germany wrote an overview about the results of our discussions:

                                                                           

How to make it through life? - Healthy life of young people

From our point of view healthy life of young people consists of five basic needs, which are nutrition, resting, physical exercise, creativeness and expressing emotions.

One part of healthy life is nutrition. Young people should be aware of the food they are eating. They should have enough nutrition and also have regular eating times. Healthy nutrition is not about the amount of food you eat, but about the quality of the food.  You should make sure, that you get enough energy and vitamins. You should also be aware, that drinking too much alcohol and caffeine, and eating sugar and fast food is bad for your health. Eating culture is also a part of social behavior and therefore it is good to share your meal times with other people. It also prevents you to eat too fast.

Another view to healthy life is resting. Young people should sleep approximately 8 hours per night. However the time may vary and it depends on your personal need for resting. In case you are not having enough sleep per night you may feel tired, un-concentrated and it can influence your emotional and social life, which can also easily affect to your successfulness in school, work, hobbies etc.

Besides resting young people also need to do enough physical exercise to have enough power. Physical activity is also good for your mental health. The most important thing is that you exercise at least 30 minutes per day. However, it can be any kind of exercise you like to do. You don´t have to be an athletic to keep yourself fit. Physical activity can mean that you can for example do different things in your everyday life, like working in the garden, cleaning, walking or cycling to school. In addition to that you can also join a sport club or go to a gym. You can choose to exercise alone or in a group. The advantage of group sports is though that you meet with other people and can make new friends. Already playing just for fun keeps you fit. 

Nowadays we have to use our brains for logical thinking quite a lot, which means that our brains are all the time overloaded. Especially for our mental health it is important that we also use our creativeness. In this way we have the chance to express our emotions, but also to be more innovative in our studying and working life. There are many ways of being creative. One can like more drawing and for another person music can be more suitable way to express her- or himself. For being creative you need to have enough time and space in order to be able to relax and enjoy.

Nowadays many young people have problems especially dealing with their emotions. Emotions are a part of life and they should be fully accepted. In order to accept emotions you have to be able to recognize different feelings in yourself. Don´t try to hide your emotions, otherwise they might harm your mental life. It is better to express all the emotions openly from happiness till sadness and share them with other people. Showing emotions means that you are also able to control your behavior for example when feeling angry. Especially while having negative feelings you should remember, that you are not allowed to harm other people. In case you are facing problems with your mental health, don´t hesitate to ask help from other people. It is totally acceptable to feel weak sometimes.

The most important need of these five needs mentioned above is the need of expressing your emotions. It is like the foundation of life. In case you are mentally satisfied with your life, you also have enough power to take care for your other needs in life.

Later on we will present you the essays of the different countries, so that you can learn more about the situations in Europe.