Yesterday, the Erasmus+ National Agency and Eurodesk Iceland held its first DiscoverEU Meet-up. This is the second year that Iceland participates in DiscoverEU, but the project became part of Erasmus+ in 2022. Many young Icelandic people have already travelled to mainland Europe with the DiscoverEU train pass and explored the continent, but the project aims to broaden their horizons and introduce them to other cultures.
Since there is no rail transport to Iceland, young people in Europe can apply for flight tickets to visit the island. DiscoverEU provides the tickets on a “first come, first serve” basis (Icelandic participants always get flights to and from the mainland included). Yesterday, nine young Europeans who have been traveling around Europe, or are about to start their journey, met with National Agency coordinators Miriam and Veronika at Dalur youth hostel in Laugardalur. In addition to them, there were four Icelandic youths who have completed their journey.
After getting a short introduction about Iceland and getting to know each other over coffee and snacks, the group walked into the green valley of Laugardalur and played a friendly game of “kubb”. After that, they went to lounge in the big community pool Laugardalslaug, thus introducing Icelandic swimming culture to the young Europeans. To end the day, the group headed back to the hostel and had a BBQ. When the National Agency staff left the group at the hostel, they seemed happy about their day together and were sitting together at the hostel for an ongoing chat and games.
We wish the travellers a pleasant stay in Iceland and a safe onwards journey through Europe.
