The second day of the You and the Mount Youth Exchange was opened with a presentation on the topic ‘How to Be Safe in the Mountain’. The participants learned that preparation before the hike is very important – choosing correct hiking gear, checking the forecast, measure your possibilities, bring food and water, and if they are unsure about their capabilities, they should never go on a hike alone. Then the participants talked about staying safe on the actual hike for instance to always tell your hike buddies where you’re going, listen to your body and stay hydrated. Later on, we listened to a video filmed by Dejan Petrov.
Deian Petrov, a famous mountaineer from Bulgaria, was presenting his insights about how to prepare for hiking, what needs to be considered in advance, etc. He has mentioned that conditions in the mountains are sometimes unpredictable and therefore it is necessary to be capable of changing out plan during the hike. Very often it is a better idea not to reach the summit, if person does not feel safe. The participants also should not overestimate our skills and should increase the level of difficulty very gradually performance.
After the lunch, the participants met at three o’clock and started with outdoor activities. They were divided into four different team according to the colours. The first activity they were involved in was about finding two injured persons who were stuck somewhere in mountains. They were supposed to communicate with each other in order to come up with a plan on how to rescue those injured people. Unfortunately, some keys went missing during the first activity, so participants had to keep communicating and cooperating as a team in order to find the missing keys. The task was completed successfully, and the keys were used to unlock doors to the new activities.
After the afternoon break, the participants continued with the competitive games in the groups they were randomly assigned to after the lunch. They were engaged in three different activities where they had to strengthen the mutual cooperation as a team through improving communication skills. The activities included playing a snake, tic-tac toe, and duels, and the participants had to engage not only physically, but also psychically to develop the winning strategies. The activities were finished by a large discussion about the purpose of these activities. It was observed by the participants that with each activity, the cooperation was getting better.
The day was finished with an intercultural evening where three countries have presented their traditions and culture. This time, it was Slovakia, Cyprus, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Each country has prepared a quiz on the top of the presentation, so that the participants could compete for different interesting awards. Some have decided to make their quiz more factual, others wished to present their countries through the stereotypes or most interesting things. After the presentations of the partner countries, the participants presented their famous national dishes, snacks, or drinks. Finally, before everyone went to bed, there were a dance classes with the traditional national dances.
You and The Mont 