Seven countries, one chalet high in the Czech mountains. That was Vibe Check, a ten-day youth exchange about wellbeing, and our Lithuanian group was part of it. We arrived in Rokytnice nad Jizerou ready to meet the others and dig into what it really takes to feel well. The whole exchange, from the travel to the programme itself, was co-funded by the European Union through Erasmus+.
Becoming Part of the Seven
The first task waiting for our group was simple and not so simple: get to know everyone. Icebreakers and a shared Code of Conduct gave the week its shape, and our young people, several of them new to all of this, found their footing fast. By the first evening the lines between the national groups had already begun to blur. They were simply part of the seven.
What Wellbeing Is Made Of
The heart of the week was a single honest question: what does wellbeing actually mean? Together the international teams broke it into four pieces, mental, emotional, physical, and social, and looked at how each one holds up the others. A session on the 8 Key Competences tied the theme back to everyday skills, and a tie-dye workshop gave the same ideas a slower, hands-on outlet. Our participants came away with something easy to say and harder to live: looking after yourself is daily maintenance, not a destination.
The learning never sat still in a lecture. Team challenges like The NASA Game and Mission Impossible handed small mixed groups a problem to crack together, and that is where the conversations got honest.
A Film With No Words
One challenge stood out for our group. In Silent 60, teams made a short film about wellbeing without using a single word, telling the whole story through movement, expression, and the way a shot was set up. It is harder than it sounds to show how a person feels without letting them speak. Our young people threw themselves into the filming and editing, picking up real skills in visual storytelling along the way, and the finished films carried more feeling than any script would have.
Invisible Struggles, one of the silent films the teams made during Vibe Check
Bringing Lithuania to the Table
The evenings belonged to the cultural nights, one country at a time. When Lithuania’s turn came, our participants turned the room into a small piece of home. They dressed the table in the yellow, green and red of the flag, laid out a spread of traditional dishes for everyone to try, and presented with Trakai Island Castle glowing on the screen behind them. Paper chains in the national colours crossed the ceiling, and between the songs and the stories a few hearts were thrown to the crowd. On the other evenings they were the curious ones, tasting and listening as six other countries did the same.
What Our Participants Brought Back
At the closing Youthpass ceremony our young people had something real to carry home: a clearer grip on their own wellbeing, sharper communication, and the confidence that comes from having held your own among people from across Europe. For a young person setting out from Lithuania, an experience like this opens a side of the continent that does not usually arrive on its own. Ours went looking for it, and came back changed.
Photo Gallery
A few more moments from this activity :)
Check these and more photos in the activity’s photo album.
