Youth Exchange: Step In Their Shoes #3: Mountain Hiking in Scotland

Location: Scotland, UK

Dates: 14-22 August 2018

Number of participants: 30

Participating countries: United Kingdom, Lithuania, Norway, Hungary, Spain, Greece

Age: each country send 4 participants + 1 youth leader. Participants are aged 18-30 and youth leader has no age limit

Organizer: Abroadship.org

Apply here: application form

Your applications will be reviewed and you will be selected by sending organisation from your country, so if any particular question, please inquire at following emails:

Abroadship.org UK hello@abroadship.org
NITIN Norway nina.aarstrand@nitin.no
MeOut Hungary info@meout.org
Inovatyvi Karta Lithuania inovatyvi.karta@gmail.com
Solidarity Mission Greece training@solidaritymission.org
LaVibria Intercultural Spain info@vibria.org

Deadline to apply: 1 August 2018

Inquiries about this training course: Justinas at hello@abroadship.org

Costs:

  • 100% accommodation, food and program materials are covered by the grant from Erasmus+
  • 80% traveling costs (only the most economical and agreed before hand at hello@abroadship.org) are covered. Maximum traveling expenses are up to:
    • €20/participant for UK
    • €275/participant for Lithuania, Norway, Hungary, Spain
    • €360/participant for Greece
  • For traveling reimbursement, it is mandatory to keep and bring all your tickets and invoices, boarding passes and receipts (originals). Without these documents, traveling costs cannot be reimbursed.
  • Reimbursements will be given in British pounds currency on the last day of the YE.

Step In Their Shoes #3: Mountain Hiking in Scotland

Download here: Step in their shoes 3 Mountain Hiking in Scotland – youth echange – Erasmus plus – Scotland – United Kingdom – Abroadship.org

Click to access Step-in-their-shoes-3.pdf

Context

We invite you to literallly step in ther shoes and WALK in Wales, RUN in Northern Ireland and HIKE in Scotland, imagining nowadays realities, whereas a lot of refugees had to walk or run over mountains, cross the sea and borders to reach peace in Europe.

During walk, run and hike (outdoor element) and other types of physical activities (sports element) we would like to explore sensitive topics and particularly inclusion.

Step In Their Shoes is a 3-phased empathy developing project to step in variety of different shoes through a our KING methodology: Knowledge, Involvement, Nature, Growth.

Overall Focus

  • To reach personal development which helps to understand ourselves and reflect on own behavior and behavior of others
  • Challenge the perception of the structures within our society that undermine social inclusion or foster discrimination
  • Overcoming the stereotypes of different religion
  • To raise awareness on the topic of discrimination
  • To build a broader understanding of what an inclusive attitude means and to start inter cultural and inter- religious dialogue
  • To understand the connections between culture and sport and to understand the inter cultural aspects of sport
  • To raise the sense of empathy towards other people

Who Should Attend

The background of participants is youth (18-30 years) that are willing to develop empathy in order to be more inclusive and tollerant. Youth that are ready to address or perhaps face(d) themselves racial and religious discrimination. Youth that open minded, care about nearby neighbourhood, local, regional, national and international communities and are sensitive to human right issues.

Programme of Step In Their Shoes

DAY 1: Arrival to Glasgow, Scotland and traveling to Isle of Skye

DAY 2-6: Morning activities. Hiking famous Skye Trail in the afternoon. 5 days of wild camping

DAY 7-8: Intensive programme in Glasgow. Evaluation, E+, Youthpass, Closing

DAY 9: Packing and leaving

Delivery Style

  • “Learning by experience” – learning from experiencing different activities and putting them into practice;
  • “Learning to play, playing to learn” – connected with learning through games, from actions and playful environment;
  • “Learning through outdoor sports” – learning about sensitive topics while being outdoors, hiking and doing sports
  • “Learning with nature” – being aware of the environment and its stimulus to brains, mental and physical condition

Methods Used

  • Experiential learning with running
  • Group dynamic processes, simulations and teamwork activities
  • Inputs from experts through non-formal education lectures and facilitated processes
  • Theater sketches
  • Dynamic workshops and presentations
  • Outdoor environmental work and assignments
  • Intercultural sharings, learnings and reflections
  • Learning by doing in a group setting or individual processes.

Financial Costs

  • 100% accommodation, food and program materials are covered by the grant from Erasmus+
  • 80% traveling costs (only preapproved and the most economical – no first class, no taxy, no special seats, insurances, etc) are covered. Maximum traveling costs:
    • €20/participant for UK
    • €275/participant for Lithuania, Norway, Hungary, Spain
    • €360/participant for Greece
  • For traveling reimbursement, it is mandatory to keep and bring all your tickets and invoices, boarding passes and receipts (originals). Without these documents, traveling costs cannot be reimbursed.
  • Reimbursements will be given in British pounds currency on the last day of the YE

Where

Isle of Skye, Scotland and Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom.

Space

Step in the shoes of Isle of Skye. We will spend 5 days and nights hiking in the mountains and wild camping outdoors without any facilities and 3 nights in Glasgow Eurohostel, In the first place we will hike 8-12km every day and camp under the sun and rain and the last 2 days we will spend in Glasgow, where we will have intensive training and a bit of a taste of the vibrant Scotish life. This is an opportunity to dive into wilderness.

How to Get There

Place of arrival: Glasgow airport.

We will hire a bus to take you from the airport to Isle of Skye. Journey is approximately 240 miles and will take around 6-7h. We will arrive probably at 1-2am at night, and will go straight to sleep in the tents. Prepare for having a very long and tiring trip and acclimatisation. Next day you will need lots of energy – we will have activities in the morning and hiking in the afternoon.

Arrival instructions:
Use azair.com to fly to Inernational Glasgow Airport.

Travel will be reimbursed 80%, up to the limits (see Financial costs slide)

Traveling options must be confirmed at hello@abroadship.org prior to the purchase of tickets.

When to Get There

Arrival Day: 14 August

Programme: 15-21 August, in total 7 full days

Departure Day: 22 August

Days allowed to stay in United Kingdom: Thi is a great time to explore Scotland (Glasgow or Edinburgh?) and England (London?). We will not have a lot of free time during the programme, thus if you want to explore country, please arrange extra days. You are allowed to come max 5 days before the YE or leave after max 5 days after the YE, but the total amount of the days that are not part of the programme is max 5 days. If you decide to stay more than 5 days longer than the official programme, you will have to cover the traveling expenses yourself. During these extra days, you have to find your own accommodation and no other expenses are covered (we will cover just flights on different days).

 

Practicals – What to Bring!

  • Please bring a large (minimum 60 liters), rainproof and very comfy backpack with 1/2 or 2/3 free space, so that you could get on the plane without extra luggage – because we will give you a tent, mat, food to carry and cooking equipment on the hike. And for that you need space! Super important! Come as light as a feather.
  • It is a country of rain and wind, so prepare well with raincoat for yourself and your backpack! Bring waterproof sturdy and very comfy shoes to hike.
  • Sleeping bag and towel – please bring specialised hiking outdoors equipment, meaning light but warm sleeping bag and microfiber towel, that takes little space and dries quickly
  • Clothes – use layering system (like onion) to protect from cold, dry quick, evaporate sweat. Use special materials, avoid cotton. Bring light clothes for sports, swimwear, sunny clothing for warm days and layers to protect from cold and wind
  • Bring camera – lots of great shots to makeHead lamp-torch
  • Insurance – this is critical! Please arrange insurance, because we do not provide and are not liable for any incidents
  • Sun cream and mosquito repellents (sprays)
  • Prepare endurance, Good spirit and Positive vibes!

Weather

In May temperature in N Ireland ranges from 10 to 14 degrees, daylight lasts about 16 hours and of course of course of course (not so) beautiful rain is a constant friend and a mandatory discussion subject in all conversations.

Check the weather forecast here.

Medicine, Allergies and Diet

If you have illness, physical limitations and/or use medicine we need to know about, please inform us. If you are vegetarian or have special diet, let us know, indicating what you can and cannot eat, so that we can arrange the suitable food.

How to Apply?

Fill this application form: https://goo.gl/forms/VRNr4fdY25ZtKAS42

In order to apply for Step In Their Shoes project, you must be over 18-30 years old (except leaders) and a citizen of one of the partner countries. Contact the partner organisation from the list below if you need any support.

Abroadship.org UK hello@abroadship.org
NITIN Norway nina.aarstrand@nitin.no
MeOut Hungary info@meout.org
Inovatyvi Karta Lithuania inovatyvi.karta@gmail.com
Solidarity Mission Greece training@solidaritymission.org
LaVibria Intercultural Spain info@vibria.org

Follow up

There is an option to join the next youth exchange or training course, organized by us, as a group leader. Check Abroadship.org.

Contact

For information about practical matters, accommodation or how to get to the place, please contact Abroadship.org at hello@abroadship.org