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Challenging Stereotypes in Contemporary Societies
 On the 25. august me and four other Icelanders started our trip from our windy and rainy island. We were all going to follow the sun that recently left our country and our destination was Cyprus. There we were going to take part in a very interesting seminar in Limassol, called "Challenging Stereotypes in Contemporary Societies". When we arrived in Cyprus we found out that the sun was strong and the temperature was higher then we were used to. Limassol was a beautiful place and the natives were so joyful and their hospitality is admirable. The participants from the other countries really opened our mind and taught us a lot about the status in their countries. I really want send many thanks to the groups from: Finland, Sweden, Cyprus, Belgium and Romania. This was a great seminar that really met our expectations and the preparation team gets my best compliments. Hopefully we meet again someday!
Magnus Gudmundsson from the organisation Samfes, Iceland.
Stereotypes make you understand the world piece by piece. Stereotypes ease
 the huge challenge of realizing what the globe consists of. Still, stereotypes can - and very often do - do wrong to individuals. During a seven day seminar we explored our identity, nationality and ethnicity, prejudices and extreme stereotypes. Most of the time we have or have heard of these stereotypes from people who differ from the average. We discussed the life of disabled people and homosexuals and finally we tried to make compromises with people who have totally different views. I'm sure most of the participants consider themselves open minded and willing to learn more about different cultures and ways of living. Still it wasn't an easy task to explore prejudices and stereotypical thoughts that each of us carry inside unconsciously. Media, jokes and cultural inheritance make us what we are and the way we are able to see different people around us. The best way to challenge stereotypes and prejudges we carry inside is to challenge yourself. Admit that you think stereotypically of some group... Find out where it comes from and work to get over with it.
Asta, Finland
 It all started in 26th of August. The weather was hot ( I know that's a rather mild expression ). The theme of the seminar was 'Challenging Stereotypes In Contemporary Societies'. During the week we had some lectures, exercises and discussions concerning different kinds of stereotypes. We talked about immigrants, handicaps, nationalities etc. Are the stereotypes right or wrong? Some of the exercises were easy and quite fun, and some of them made you look deep inside your soul.
 That all happened during the days. During the nights we had a chance to get to know a little bit about local, Cypriotic culture. We visited a local youth club, went to a wine festival, and naturally we also had an intercultural evening.
The best thing in that week was that we had a great chance to meet some great people from different countries and different cultures. It is amazing how well we all got to know each other in just one week. When it was time to go it was really hard to say goodbye to each other.
To all the people who were there: miss you all! Hoping to hear from you soon.
All in all, the week was very educational and extremely fun and yes...hot!
Tommi, Finland
 Being the ECYC Secretary, this was my first seminar. Finally I could see what ECYC is all about. I must say that the seminar was exactly how I imagined it would be: a fun way of learning, getting to know tools and exercises which you can put into practice in your own youth club, and of course meeting lots of new people, including new friends.
It is amazing how people can feel connected forever, returning home, knowing that this seminar brought us together. Even though, we can never all be together again, I know that I have friends abroad I will definitely meet again.
The seminar programme was very interesting and the trainers were very qualified. The seminar was not just about listening and taking down notes, but the programme was presented in an interactive way, using role plays and games so we could all challenge stereotypes ourselves and we all found it to our cost how people are different, think different and act different. This ECYC seminar was a wonderful experience!
Ellen, Belgium
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