How do you start writing a post about your experience in an Erasmus+ project? And most importantly, do you start writing during the days the project takes place, or afterward, while reminiscing?

To cut the suspense, I have started writing the text on a hot afternoon in Athens, right in front of the air-conditioning and the first thing I am reminiscing about is the relatively good temperature we experienced in Vilnius.
Anyway, Ι stop to expatiate. But thinking of the great memories we gained during this experience, I cannot help but reminisce on the people I met, the adventures, and - above all the topic. “Stand-up comedy for raising human rights” is what brought 24 passionate and curious on the subject individuals, across Europe and beyond, to Vilnius on the 7th of June.
The journey started way before, sometime in May, when the whole team had the first meeting, a “get together” and “know us better” meeting. An “Infopack” with thorough information on the topic was given and also a couple of assignments were given to us beforehand; research and present in front of the other participants two violations of human rights that are a hot topic in our countries and also a way to present our countries to the other participants.
The 6th of June arrives and we are all rushing to the airport, catching our flights and thinking of how it will be when we land and the new adventure we land upon! Well, in my case nothing quite could predict what I was about to experience.
The 7th of June was the very first day of the training project and two smiley and warm people were in the conference room to greet us. To break the ice we all started a round of speed dating, introducing ourselves and what are our inspirations. As the training day progressed, we were able to form groups and start working together on both finding out milestones on human rights, as well as making comedy sketches and presenting them to the rest of the team. If that wasn’t enough, we were divided into groups and the end goal was to narrate a human rights violation story through 3 photographs taken by one group member.
Mission accomplished! During the first day, the ice broke and everyone started feeling more comfortable with each other!
During the days that followed, we delved more into topics of human rights and how to crack some jokes. The latter bit is what strikes attention, as one can hope that with the right techniques, they can be funny.
Also, the fact that we had all felt pretty comfortable with each other made it easier to open up and make jokes - even if some of them were not considered that funny! To “abate” this fear of ours, Paulius Ambrazevičius, a comedian and an LGBTQ+ activist joined the training programme and gave us his insights into the failures of jokes and how we should never lose faith in our comedy attempts! I would say that for me and my co-trainees, this was one of the highlights of the whole programme!
Another honorable mention needs to given to the intercultural night, where all of us got the opportunity to understand better the cultures that each of us come from! Sweets, treats, sketches and a bit of delicacies coupled the amazing ambience in the Lithuanian nature and created a real sense of unity, regardless our individual differences!

Aaand it was one of the first times that we were able to perform and crack jokes about our own cultures and use stereotypes for our favour! The BBQ also gave us a bit of stamina in order to practice our dance move and indulge ourselves into the different music that each country has to offer.
Did anyone say punchlines? The moments of anguish occurred when we were supposed to write and structure our one set of jokes... Thank God both Rasa and Stefano were there to save the day and but for their help, we wouldn’t have made it.
A lot of brainstorming and team work helped us shape some of the jokes that we would be using at the grand night of the Open mic event.

A pre-event of stand up comedies during the last days of the project helped us both relax, gain confidence and see some of our co-trainees live in action! Sam, Laura, Eliseu, Aadil (who is a big deal) and Miguel indulged us in laughter and positivity with their own bits in different open mic events!
Guys, sincerely, thanks for the great experience :)

The days continued smoothly until the grand finale, one would say: the Open Mic event, hosted in the Vijokliai Beer Garden. Each one of us came up with great stories and in many times self-depricated jokes that really made us laugh and created a nice set for upcoming stories to be told by each of us! Of course the night was over in a sentimental mood of all the participants, as we really grew in a big and happy community!
The help of the organisers, the great ambience and the people that we met are some of the attributes that made this programme one of a kind! Here’s a photo of us certified to make people laugh while raising awareness for human rights!I really can’t thank enough the organisers for the impeccable planning of this course, I can’t be grateful enough for the people I have met and I hope we won’t lose contact!

Here’s to more programmes as this one and may all the Erasmus+ projects be as cheerful, as positive and as informative as the one we took part in!

Thanks and much love from a Greek girl who was chuffed to bits with this project.

Bis bald,
Eleni