After enjoying the cool climate and views in Northern Spain, our journey takes us to The South-East, Valencia! Having to switch from wearing 4 layers to just a T-shirt in a couple of hours was as shocking as the incredible architecture and vibes of this city. Julio and Vanessa- who was in the project team of Europe on Track 8 warmly welcomed us and took us to Julio’s place where we met his cousin and 2 lovely puppies!
We were fortunate enough to have a full free day in Valencia, where we (literally) walked the entire city- according to Pipi it was 25 kilometres but Stella dares to disagree and say it was more like 15ish. Since it was Sunday, pretty much all museums and historical places were open to enter free of charge, so we went to see the city towers and some old aristocratic spaces- something that we definitely recommend everyone to do!
On this day, we also got the chance to eat a proper vegan paella- which apparently is not really Paella for Valencians (as it doesn’t have rabbit inside), but it definitely managed to make us happy and full for the rest of the day! In the afternoon we walked along the “river”- which is also not really a river as there is no hint of water, but it’s definitely a place full of life where energy flows and people enjoy their time doing sports activities. That took us to the Valencian Museum of Sciences and the other astonishing buildings around it. We all unanimously recommend going there as soon as possible because- apparently- these buildings will not be there for much longer!
On our last day in Valencia, it was finally time for our workshops! AEGEE Valencia prepared a nice room on the campus of the Polytechnic University of Valencia for us, yet the Easter break still took a toll on the turnout of actual participants.
It was the first time for us to try out the “creating safe spaces” workshop which we created and while we didn’t get to finish everything we had planned in time, the participants had a lot to share, so the main focus of the workshop -safe spaces- was accomplished organically. Besides finding out how to create a safe space for others and for the groups they may be part of in their lives, our participants also exchanged opinions on deeper societal issues like ageism and the ways disabled people are often misunderstood.
The second workshop was about campaigns on gender-based violence. We had a long discussion on what people as individuals can do to make sure a campaign with a good cause is as successful as possible. As part of the workshop, the participants from Valencia also got to create their own campaign plans related to gender-based violence!
The first team created a campaign about the equal treatment of women/ girls in technical universities. They mostly focused on educating the right kind of people to stop the phenomenon of unfair treatment between men and women studying STEM majors in universities.
The second team’s campaign was about finding ways to make the transition of trans people easier. Some of the ways they suggested included making governments and health institutes more inclusive, for example, financially covering transition surgeries in health insurances, getting rid of bureaucracy when it comes to officially changing a name or the gender of a person and others.
In closing, we’re satisfied with the outcomes of our workshops, we’re really hoping to see future campaigns on these topics from Aegee Valencia! Our stay in Valencia was unforgettable, we can’t wait to come back!!!