The youth exchange program on Madeira Island involved Polish and Portuguese groups engaging in various activities over seven days, including guided tours of monuments and cultural presentations. Participants learned about tourism and communication, culminating in creating their tourism company and performing guided tours. The program concluded with a traditional dinner, highlighting Madeiran culinary specialties.

1. Adventure in Madeira Island
Day 1 of the Youth-Exchange – Tuesday, 17th of April 2018
This was a very long day for the Polish group, who had to spend all day on a very, very long travel.
However, everything went fine and they safely reached our island and
finally had time for a rest.
In the meantime, the Portuguese group was busy
finishing all preparations for the activities!

2. Day 2 of the Youth-Exchange – Wednesday, 18th of April 2018
On the second day, the Polish group
and the Portuguese group met for the
1st
time!
They saw a bit of the Jesuits’ College and got
to know each other through a few
icebreakers!
After explaining the ground rules and introducing the
topic of the Youth-Exchange, each group had the task of
presenting their country, Poland & Portugal, to the other
group!
To finish the first day, the participants were
divided in small groups, with people from
both countries in each group, and they
went through Funchal, showing the main
touristic attractions for the first time!

3. Day 3 of the Youth-Exchange – Thursday, 19th of April 2018
In the morning we had a special guest: Augustin, from
France, who is a volunteer, took the group on a guided
tour to three monuments of the City of Funchal: The
Farmers Market, the Jesuits’ College and Largo do
Pelourinho.
In this activity, the group learned about
one method used for performing guided
tours: radio guides! This is a device that
enables a guide to perform a tour to
large groups without having to speak
very loud, because he has a small
microphone and the clients (the group,
in this case) has earphones! Very useful!

In the afternoon, each group presented their country in
terms of Tourism, discussing the positive points and the
negative points of each region, and also what they expect
to achieve in this Youth-Exchange!

4. Day 4 of the Youth-Exchange – Friday, 20th of April 2018
To work in Tourism you need to know a bit about the
monuments! So, we met after breakfast and were taken by
Esmeralda, a Swiss-Portuguese staff-member of the
Students’ Union, who introduced the Regional Parliament!
After, Esmeralda also showed us the Cathedral
of Funchal, which is a very important building!
The third guided tour was performed by Weronika,
from Poland, who is also an EVS volunteer! She took
us the City Hall!

5. This evening was a special evening: it was intercultural
evening! It means that everyone got to know a bit more
about each other’s countries! 
Martyna and Paulina presented a few aspects of their
region, and Martyna showed us her musical skills by singing
a traditional song!
The Portuguese group brought several sweats from
Madeira, and each person presented one product!
Below, Daniel is showing the traditional candy with
flavours of “Funcho” and “Eucalipto”! Yummi!
To finish the evening, the group took a walk together,
through the streets of Funchal, to see how it is beautiful
by night!

6. Day 5 of the Youth-Exchange – Saturday, 21st of April 2018
To start the day, we had a presentation from Carlos, a
Portuguese staff-member of the Students’ Union. He
explained to us how the Flower Festival, Madeira’s biggest
annual touristic event, came to be, and how it became
what it is today!
After lunch, a bit of teamwork! We had to create our
tourism company! One group would be the marketing
team, another the financial team and the third was the
management team!
And to finish the evening in style, we watched a Fado concert,
organized by the Students’ Union!

7. Day 6 of the Youth-Exchange – Sunday, 22nd of April 2018
Communication is very important for
guides! So, on Sunday morning, we
started the day by doing communication
exercises, to stimulate quick-thinking and
creativity!
Afterwards, time for us to join in groups again! This time, our
objective is to do more research on the monuments and prepare
the itinerary of our guided tour!
In the afternoon, we had a surprise! We were able to
watch the Flower Festival Parade, one of the main
touristic events in Funchal!

8. Day 7 of the Youth-Exchange – Monday, 23rd of April 2018
Time to see what we have learned! We started the
morning by doing “test-tours”, to see if they were
well prepared! After the last adjustments, each
group performed their tour to the others!
The first group (photos 1-4) did a guided tour to the Regional
Parliament of Madeira, and spoke about its history and
architecture!
After, the second group (5-6)
presented the Cathedral of
Funchal, its importance for
the island and country in
terms of religion and
politics!
To finish, the third group (7-9)
took us on a guided tour to the
City Hall of Funchal! They
showed us several rooms, as
well as the outer spaces!
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2
3
4
5
6
9
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9. Phew, we made it through the guided tours!
Afterwards, we talked about the guided tours
and discussed some of the posivite and
negative aspects! Of course, we have a lot to
improve to be able to create a quality tour, but
it was very good for us to be able to have this
first experience!
Also, as we only had few days to learn, it was
very hard to remember all the information! So,
some of us cheated a bit and used “memory
helpers” (pieces of paper) hehe!
As a reward for our efforts in
planning and performing the
guided tours, we got the
opportunity to visit the
Madeira Wine Institute and
the Nova Esperança
bookstore! These are places
that appeal to a different type
of Tourism: culture and
craftsmanship!
To finish this Youth-Exchange in the best possible way, we had
the dinner at a traditional Madeiran restaurant, where the
Polish group was able to taste some of Madeira’s food
specialities, such as “espetada” or “bolo do caco”! It was the
perfect way to finish this amazing Youth-Exchange! 