By Billie Morgan
Following the success of Part 1 in April, 18 of us travelled to Chaves, Portugal, in July for Part 2.
On the 5th July, an excited group of young people & youth workers from Involve Meath & Involve Donegal travelled to Chaves. After arriving late in Chaves, it was straight to bed before the full programme began. 
Day one kicked off on the 6th with a focus on building on the friendships formed on the previous exchange, setting out the ground rules for a successful week, doing energisers, and getting to know the space. They spent time getting used to their new surroundings and the heat, a change from what they are used to, meaning ice creams and slushies and AC were in high demand. The day was filled with team-building games focusing on 
working together and inclusion for all people of all abilities. Portugal were in a World Cup game that evening, so we joined the locals in a park to watch the game – maybe we were unlucky when they suffered defeat to Spain 1 nil.
On Wednesday, the young people had arranged a tour of the city with tasks to be completed by the groups and points to be earned. The tour included the famous stepping stones, trying the Chaves medicinal mineral water, which comes from the source at 76 degrees Celsius, Chaves Castle & much more. We then returned to the base to take part in activities which challenged our stereotypes of people and explored more about racism and discrimination for people from various backgrounds. The evening activity allowed the Irish young people to showcase Irish culture with an Irish Table quiz and snacks.
Day 3 of the programme brought us to Boticas Parque, where we learnt about local biodiversity and got an opportunity to relax with swimming, kayaking, and, for those brave enough, an aerial adventure through the trees, finishing with a big zip line. When we got back, we had the Portuguese culture night that allowed the young people to taste some local produce, including pastel de nata, bolinhos de bacalhao, tremocos, folar and pasteis de Chaves. The young people then played some music and showed us a dance before we joined in the city event for the City &
Municipality Day.
On the 9th, we started with some sports and games before it got too hot. They did another workshop on
celebrating diversity before we spent the evening at the local pool to cool down and have fun with each other. A relaxed evening of card and board games was in order before our last full day. On Friday, they split into groups to create videos about what Erasmus + projects are to them and their experience of the week. We began the dissemination activities and had a party to finish off the week.
Saturday came, and it was time to pack up and complete the closing activities before flying home. We spent the morning completing evaluations and our closing activities. Each young person was presented with their youth pass & a postcard with a group photo to take home to remember 
their time here. Tears were shed, and goodbyes were said, and it was time to make the journey back to Ireland, with a suitcase filled with clothes to be washed, my heart filled with life memories!
