From 17 to 24 June 2025, I participated in the Erasmus+ Youth Exchange project "Empower Tomorrow's Entrepreneurs" in Granada, Spain. In addition to learning new things about entrepreneurship, this project was an important experience for me because it was the first time I travelled independently abroad, met people from different countries and experienced another culture up close.

Throughout the project, we worked in groups with young people from different countries. We took part in workshops on entrepreneurship, working life, personal goals and our expectations for the future. We developed ideas, discussed them within our groups, prepared posters and shared them with the other participants through short presentations.

One of the things I appreciated about the project was that the training programme was not overly intensive. This gave us time not only for workshops and group activities, but also to explore Granada, get to know the city and spend more time with people from different countries.

My First Journey to Granada

The project began with our flight from Türkiye. After landing in Madrid, we continued to Granada by bus.

As it was a long journey, we used the time to talk and get to know one another better as the Turkish team. Spending time together from the very first hours of the project helped us communicate more comfortably as a team during the following days.

We arrived in Granada in the evening and settled into our hotel.

As this was my first Erasmus+ Youth Exchange, I felt both excited and curious. I knew that new people, different cultures and unfamiliar experiences were waiting for us.

First Day: Creating an Imaginary Country

The first day began mainly with activities designed to help us meet and understand one another.

All participants introduced themselves. Simply listening to how people from different countries described themselves was already a good starting point for noticing cultural differences.

We then designed our own imaginary passports. I found this activity both entertaining and thought-provoking because through the passport we were actually trying to express ourselves, our interests and the kind of world we imagined.

We then divided into groups and each group created its own imaginary country. We chose its name, five defining characteristics and its flag before presenting our country to the other groups.

I think entrepreneurship involves a similar process. Generating an idea matters, but developing it and being able to explain it to others are equally important.

Discussing Discrimination in Working Life

On one of the following days, we worked on discrimination that people may encounter in working life.

We first shared our individual experiences and thoughts. We then divided into groups and discussed questions that might be asked during job interviews and could be discriminatory.

Role-playing the situation instead of discussing it only in theory made the subject more effective for me.

Some participants took on the role of employers while others acted as job applicants. We then carried out a job interview simulation.

While working with potentially discriminatory questions, we discussed how important it is for candidates to be evaluated according to their knowledge and skills.

This activity was also connected to entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship is not only about creating a business idea or establishing a company. It also requires thinking about people's rights in working life, their differences and the way people should treat one another.

It was also interesting to see how people from different countries responded to the same issue. On some subjects our views were similar, while on others we could see how cultural differences influenced our perspectives.

Stepping into Granada's History: The Alhambra

One of the best days of the project was the day we took our learning outside.

We visited the Alhambra Palace, one of Granada's most important historical landmarks. On the way, our instructor shared information about the palace and its surroundings.

While exploring the Alhambra, we were not simply visiting a tourist attraction. We were also seeing an important part of the history of Granada and Andalusia.

The palace's architecture, gardens and surrounding buildings were impressive. We also visited museums in the area.

The more I discovered Granada, the more I realized how rich the city's history and cultural diversity were.

Free Day: Discovering Granada Through Our Own Eyes

As the Turkish team, we used our free day to explore more of Granada.

We walked through the city centre, visited Granada Cathedral and later wandered through the streets of Albaicín.

I particularly enjoyed walking through Albaicín. Its narrow streets, historic houses and views from different parts of the district helped me better understand Granada's distinctive atmosphere.

This was also one of the days when I most strongly felt that I was travelling independently abroad for the first time.

Deciding how to travel, planning where to go, navigating with a map and moving around an unfamiliar city felt a little exciting at first. But seeing that we could manage all of these things ourselves increased my confidence.

Designing Our Future

One of the following project days focused entirely on our goals for the future.

We first wrote ten points describing the kind of life each of us wanted in the future.

This created a more personal space for me. In the intensity of everyday life, thinking about what we really want for the future can sometimes be pushed into the background. Here, however, we focused directly on ourselves and our future.

We then brought our individual ideas into group work and prepared posters based on them.

As a group, we also developed a product or service idea and presented it to the other participants in a one-minute pitch.

Explaining an idea in one minute was more difficult than I expected. There were many things we wanted to say, but we had to select the most important points.

Giving space to everyone's ideas within the group and eventually creating a shared product was also an important experience.

Cultural Night: Presenting Türkiye in Granada

That evening, one of the project's most colourful activities, Cultural Night, took place.

Each country prepared food, music and dances to introduce its culture.

As the Turkish team, we brought different foods to introduce Türkiye. We offered the other participants flavours such as Turkish delight, şalgam and cezerye.

We also played traditional music and tried to teach the other participants one of our cultural dances.

Visiting the tables of the different countries was very enjoyable. Learning how a particular dish was prepared, seeing another country's traditional dance or hearing the story behind a piece of music made the cultural exchange much more real.

Final Day: Presenting Ourselves Like a Product

On the final day, the focus shifted directly to ourselves.

We created Europass CVs. Although I had prepared CVs in other contexts before, this time we used a different approach that focused on our strengths.

We carried out a personal marketing exercise by thinking of ourselves as a product.

Although this seemed unusual at first, it actually revealed the personal side of entrepreneurship. Just as an entrepreneur needs to explain an idea or product, an individual needs to communicate their own skills, experiences and strengths effectively.

This gave me an opportunity to reconsider my own strengths. I thought about what I do well, the areas in which I have experience and how I can present myself more effectively to others.

What Did Entrepreneurship Give Me?

Throughout this project, I learned not to see entrepreneurship simply as establishing a company or developing a commercial idea.

Entrepreneurship is also about recognizing a need, generating an idea, developing that idea and bringing it to life together with other people.

Working with people from different countries during the group activities was particularly useful in this respect.

I saw that different people can produce different solutions to the same problem. Sometimes an idea I had not considered came from another participant. At other times, group discussions helped us notice that an idea was missing something.

The process also developed my communication skills. The short presentations gave me more opportunities to practise expressing myself.

What My First Experience Abroad Taught Me

This project was a personal experience for me that went beyond entrepreneurship education.

For the first time, I found my own way around abroad. I used public transport in another country, met new people and socialized in an unfamiliar environment.

Moving around a city I did not know was initially a little challenging, but over time I began to trust myself more.

My time in Granada offered an experience very different from simply visiting another country as a tourist. For a week, I had the opportunity to observe the people, streets, culture and everyday life around me.

I also became friends with young people from different countries and learned about their countries, education, daily lives and cultures.

What I Took Away from Granada

Empower Tomorrow's Entrepreneurs was an important Erasmus+ experience for me in terms of both entrepreneurship and personal development.

For a week, we developed ideas with young people from different countries, worked in groups, prepared presentations, participated in cultural activities and explored Granada.

The fact that the training programme was not overly intensive was also important to me. It allowed us to create a good balance between learning, exploring the city and socializing with other people.

Walking through Granada's historic streets, seeing the Alhambra, exploring Albaicín, participating in cultural nights and introducing Türkiye to other participants were just as important as the educational part of the experience.

Most importantly, being able to move around independently abroad for the first time gave me significant self-confidence.

The project introduced me to a new city, new people and new cultures while also helping me understand my own strengths better. I experienced how valuable it is to generate ideas, work within a team, express yourself effectively and bring together different perspectives.