The Erasmus project in Portugal - being a host

“The Erasmus+ week was one of the best experiences of my life. As a Portuguese host, I got to
know 5 different cultures, improve my English and show (proudly) to the others how there’s beauty
in every corner of my city. The most important is that I ended this week with a lot of new friends,
with whom I shared laughs, new experiences and opinions.They are wonderful and very special
people. The best part is we are already making plans so we can visit each other during the
summer. It was a very intense week, in the best way possible.

I learned so much about the search for a job, the CV and about hard and soft skills. With this
project, I got to know all kinds of things that will be super useful in the future. I’m very grateful
that I got the chance to be a part of this week. For me, the WOW project is like a bicycle. All the
different and necessary pieces travelled from multiple places to Portugal, where they, with the
help and instructions from our teachers, got together us one piece”
Inês Matos, Portugal.

“This whole week was just fabulous. I was not expecting it to be so good. It was very good to
improve our english skills and to learn more about the culture and about the world of work of
other European countries. It was also fascinating to see that even though we all belong to the
European Union and we are in general similar people we have different ways of working and
also different public and education systems.
In my opinion the greatest thing about it was to meet new friends from other countries with whom
we can now maintain contact and hopefully visit one day”
José Magalhães, Portugal

Swedish experience in Portugal

Our journey began in Alvesta, a small town often used as a meeting point during trips like this. We went by train to Copenhagen were we then catched a flight to Amsterdam and further on to Porto. In Porto we were greeted by the Portuguese teachers who took us to the suburb Matosinhos.

Same day as our arrival we started by visiting the city hall of Matosinhos where we had the opportunity to listen to the mayor and learn about how their society works. Afterwards we had a guided tour around the building and later on went to the school for the first time to meet the hosts and the rest of the Portuguese students. During the trip we had the opportunity to learn about work and study opportunities in the different countries that was visiting like Finland, Slovenia, Spain, Greece and of course the host country Portugal. We also had the chance to taste typical Portuguese food together with our new friends around Europe. 

During the evenings we usually went by metro to Porto to have dinner and see the beautiful city. We visited a multinational technical cooperation who developed electrical cars with stations all over the globe and had a guided tour there as well. One of the days we went by bus all around Porto and the surrounding areas. We got the chance to try the famous port vine in of the most popular wine cellars in Porto, a fantastic experience. The week ended with a last night of dance and a lot of food and drinks. We got the chance to try folk dance from different countries and cultures and also show some of our own traditional dances.

It was a fantastic life experience in many different ways. We got the chance to make a lot of new friends, hopefully friends for life, improve our soft skills and our ability to speak English. Leaving the place was difficult for sure but in today’s society staying in touch is not a problem. We are very grateful for the explicit experiences and all our fabulous new friends from all over Europe, this is something we will never forget and hopefully we will meet all of our new friends again.

If you ever have the opportunity to participate in the Erasmus project, you should!

Gummifabriken Värnamo

Today we received a tour of the Gummifabriken in Värnamo. It used to be a rubber producing factory, but today it serves the municipality of Värnamo in many different ways. It has been renovated into a creative place for meeting (library, restaurant, cinema, etc. ) has an educational program and a technology department. The library has two floors filled with interesting books and places to read in silence and relax. We’re very amazed by the amount of books it has and the space of the library.  After viewing the library, we had lunch at the restaurant that takes places in the ground floor. The restaurant has delicious food and is very stylish with beautiful design. After lunch we recieved the tour of the third floor in which they have the science park and the technology department.

We are very impressed by Sweden’s educational system, especially the way they  include creativity into everything they do. We noticed that they really value education, research and sharing knowledge in general. We think the investment they made was beneficial for the community and will help in the development of the region. Our favorite thing about the company is the union of the cultural, educational , scientific area and entrepreneurship.


/Slovenian team

The cozy night by the fire at Osudden.

We met up at 6.30 p.m on Monday evening at a place called Osudden by the lake called Vidöstern. We started a fire and started toasting marshmallows, hot dogs and the typical Swedish "twist bread", pinnbröd in Swedish!



Osudden was a meeting point and everybody dropped in whenever suited them. Even though the lake was still frozen, Aaron from Finland, took a swim so he had to dry up by the fire. After a while, everybody started to grill their food and then some started to climb trees and explore the area. On the other hand, some stayed by the fire and got to know each other better. Benjamin from Sweden brought a speaker so we played music all evening. Eventually, the battery ran out so everybody started singing together instead.

By the time it turned dark we had to put blankets on to keep warm.We stayed there for a couple of hours until the firewood ran out. We had a really good time, especially the ones that come from southern Europe since they are not used to these kinds of gatherings around the fire. This was a wonderful start for the whole week in Sweden.

The technic centre in Gummifabriken 10.4.2018

Today was the second day here in Värnamo and we visited Gummifabriken. First we went to see the library and after the tour we had lunch. After lunch we went to see the technic section. First we saw a huge 3D-printed dinosaurus head. Then we were walking around and looking at the offices. There was also a "creative office" which was a place to create new ideas. Each office there was for a different company. The guide told us that the offices were free for the first six months and after that the workers and companies would have to start paying rent.

Then we went to see the programming area and our guide told us about the things they usually do there and what equipments they have. For example they had 3D-printers and robots. After that our guide taught us how to do basic programming with iPads and Lego-robot trucks. Then we had approximately 30 minutes to program the mini robot trucks to complete a special track which was made for them. After practicing we had a little competition against the other teams.

We had very much fun there and it was also creative and educational. Gummifabriken was a great experience and the building itself was very modern and welcoming.

First entry

Today, April 10, 2018, our six delegations will have their first editorial office meeting and henceforth articles will follow!