YE Slav Life

YE Slav Life

Over 30 people from five nationalities, all sharing a common Slavic heritage, gathered for the Slav Life project in Slovenia. This shared background permeated the entire project, helping us realize not only what divides us but, more importantly, what connects us. On the first day, we had ice-breaking activities where each of us created a movement to remember names, which we then combined into a dance. In the following days, we fully immersed ourselves in the program, starting with morning games where we tried to communicate in our native languages, followed by afternoon presentations from the participating countries. We began with Serbia's presentation, which showed us not only their traditions but also how young people live there today. The next day featured Slovakia's presentation, where over three hours we put on a 'Milujem Slovensko' show, played the telephone game, taught everyone to dance the 'karička', and held a dance competition around a bottle. We also showcased traditional folk costumes and an outdoor 'oblievačka' (Easter Monday dousing ritual). We also gave them insight into the life of a modern Slovak, including the challenges and joys of daily life in our country. The other participants rated it very highly, and since it was interactive, I'm sure they weren't bored with us. We also offered them Slovak sweets and other specialties :).

The following days included presentations from Montenegro, then Slovenia, and finally the Czech Republic. I can say that we also enjoyed their presentations and learned something new. Throughout the project, we had the challenge of learning 5 words in the language of all the nationalities present, and at the end of the program, we shared them with each other. Regarding the travel day in the middle of the program, we visited the city of Graz, its museum, and surrounding sights. Overall, I rate the project positively; we enjoyed it and I hope we meet again sometime 🙂