The definition first
A youth exchange is an Erasmus+ project where groups of young people from at least two countries come together in one place and work on a shared theme.
The rules, straight from the Programme Guide:
- Ages 13 to 30. Group leaders must be at least 18.
- 5 to 21 days, not counting travel days.
- 16 to 60 participants, minimum 4 per national group. Projects for young people with fewer opportunities can go as low as 10.
- No qualifications, no experience, no enrolment required.
You will hear the phrase non-formal education constantly. It means the learning does not happen through lectures and tests. It happens through doing something, then talking about what happened. That distinction sounds like jargon until you are in the room, and then it is obvious.
What a week actually looks like
Definitions are fine. Here is the shape of a real week, which is what people actually want to know.
Day 0 — arrival
Everyone lands or arrives by bus at different hours. Someone from the hosting organisation collects you. You get a room, usually shared with someone from another country, and there is dinner.
The first evening is awkward. Sixteen to thirty people who do not know each other, standing in a room, doing the thing where you say your name and where you are from. It is awkward for everyone equally, which is what makes it fine.
Day 1 — getting the group working
Name games. Yes, actually. They feel childish for about eleven minutes and then you realise you have learned twenty-six names.
Then group agreement — the rules the group sets for itself about phones, punctuality, respect, alcohol. Then the first sessions on the theme. Then reflection groups: five or six people who meet at the end of each day for twenty minutes to talk about what they took from it. The same small group every day.
Days 2 to 5 — the actual work
This is the body of the project. Mornings and afternoons are sessions on the theme, whatever the project was written about: sustainability, employability, media literacy, mental health, social inclusion.
The methods rotate so the days do not blur: small group work, simulations, debates, world café, sometimes going out into the town to interview people or run something in public. If the project has an outcome, and most do, that is what you spend these days building: a video, a campaign, a toolkit, a public event.
Somewhere in here there is usually a free afternoon and a trip to whatever is nearby.
The intercultural evenings
Each national group gets an evening. You bring food, drinks, music, and something you prepared: a quiz, a dance nobody can follow, a presentation with too many slides about your country.
Serbian evenings have a reputation. Live up to it, but read the group agreement about alcohol first, because it exists and hosts do enforce it.
Last day — Youthpass and goodbyes
You fill in your Youthpass. It is a certificate that lists eight key competences and asks you to write what you developed in each one. Doing it properly takes half an hour and it is the difference between a piece of paper and something you can actually quote in a job interview.
Then everyone cries a little, exchanges numbers, and creates a group chat that stays surprisingly active.
Things nobody tells you beforehand
You will be tired. Sessions from nine to six plus social evenings is more demanding than it sounds. Sleep when you can.
The accommodation varies wildly. Sometimes a hotel, sometimes a hostel, sometimes a camp with six people to a room and one bathroom on the floor. The infopack tells you which. Read it.
Food is provided and it is local food. If you have restrictions, put them on the form. Hosts plan around them weeks ahead and they cannot improvise on day two.
Free time is real but limited. One afternoon, evenings after sessions. If you were planning to see three cities, plan a few extra days at your own expense instead.
Phones stay away during sessions. Most group agreements include this and most groups take it seriously.
The group forms fast. By day three the thirty strangers are a unit. It happens every time and it never stops being slightly strange.
What you leave with
A Youthpass certificate. A group chat. Twenty-something people across Europe who will host you if you show up in their city.
And, less measurably: the discovery that you can function for a week in a second language among people you did not know on Sunday. Participants describe that one more often than anything on the certificate.
Is it right for you?
If you are between 13 and 30, have never done a project abroad, and can free up a week — yes. This is the lowest-barrier format in the whole programme, and it is designed for people with no experience.
If you already run youth activities and want a method to take home, look at training courses instead: Youth Exchange, Training Course or ESC.
Read next
- How to Apply for Your First Youth Exchange, Step by Step
- What to Pack for a Seven-Day Exchange
- Youthpass: What It Is and How to Use It on Your CV
Open Educational Vibes hosts youth exchanges in Serbia and sends Serbian groups abroad. Open calls go out on @oev.ngo.
Sources: Erasmus+ Programme Guide — Youth Exchanges · European Youth Portal
