CTRL+ALT+FOR WHO?: Travel Blog

By Oleksandra Sereda 

For me and my team, travelling to Erzurum was a colourful and unusual experience.

It was the first time I participated in a conference of this kind, as did most of my team. It was also our first time visiting Turkey. After the always warm Ireland, the weather surprised with its frost and snow.

The main purpose of the conference was to educate young people about the current issues and challenges of digitalisation. During the 7 days we had various brainstorming sessions, workshops, discussion and presentation of our thoughts and ideas on the subject. In the middle of the conference one day was dedicated to enjoying the beauty and sights of Erzurum in a quest format. And one day was in the mountains where we enjoyed the splendour of the mountains and developed our skiing skills.

We visited two major universities in Turkey with over one million students. We talked to their rectors and learnt how the modern education system is introducing digitalisation into the education process.

In the evenings we had presentations of the participating countries: Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Georgia, Spain, Macedonia and of course the Gala evening of the hosts of the conference - Turkey. Although I was familiar with most of these countries, I still discovered new interesting facts.

It was a special pleasure to be in the company of creative young people, open to interaction and learning.

It was a delightful time and will remain a fond memory in my mind for a very long time. Thanks to Debbie and Blackwater Training for allowing us to go and participate and for the all information support. Thank you to the SITODED for creating a friendly atmosphere and warm welcome.