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An experience of letting go and reconnecting with yourself 🐶🌻

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This emotional experience opened my eyes to my abilities, my limits and my desires.

I'm an open-minded but sensitive person who keeps my emotions inside. I need control and to be in my comfort zone to overcome my stress and anxieties.

Having a very low level of English and being at a moment of reflection in my projects, I had the opportunity to set myself a challenge and I went for it. It was a great idea, and it helped me to work hard on myself, both in terms of communicating with others and listening to my body and mind. The language barrier was there, which frustrated me quite a bit, but I met some superb people, whether in the staff or the other travellers, and I'd like to thank them for their kindness.

Thank you for everything ❤

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La plaine de Crau, Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, France

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Hello everyone!

My name is Elisa, I'm 23 and I come from a small village in the south of France.

This place I'm sharing with you is the one where I feel freest, where I can contemplate our world and where time stands still.

These are the same feelings I had when sharing an intercultural 'Interspecies dialogues' in Ligonchio, Italy.

I lived in a community while refocusing on my body and my emotions. It was an experience that enabled me to get to know my limits better, to reconnect with my roots and my deepest wishs.

I was able to meet some incredible people who were put in my path and whom I'll never forget 🫶🏻

I'd like to thank Laure and Airin for their caring and friendliness, without whom this exchange would not have been possible 🌞

After this intense trip, I'm coming home with a lot of memories and moments that will stay with me forever.

I wish you all the very best for the rest of your trip 🌅

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These mountains helped me reach another stage in life, I received my first proposal of collaboration in a topic that really makes my heart on fire❤️‍🔥: connection with nature, ourselves as unique beings part of the One and spiritual research and growth.

Since my first time there I applied what I learned in my travels and discovered a lot about myself and others. Thanks to those mountains I connected with the power and peace of the mountains in general and here in the Ostello I could feel this sensation too, even if more subtle.

Thanks Rodophe Mountains for showing me the way and giving me opportunities to fulfill my purpose on this planet and thanks to the Ostello staff for showing me other points of view and expand my awareness.

Aho mitakuye oyasin

For all my relations

Per tutte le mie relazioni

Grazie 🙏

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Viale Giulio Richard, 1b, Milan, Metropolitan City of Milan

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I still feel in this place, because in there I can feel both everywhere and in no places, but I feel I want to "go downstairs" and to try and feel different directions and experiences, in order to have a true dialogue with people and mountains, and not just watch them from the top of this palace :)

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My world was books and literacy and nature all together. Now I am open for new sensacions and New beatiful creatures in my home and my heart.

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This city of extremes is as connected to its natural environment as it is disconnected from it. The hills and the waters of the Mediterranean shape the city and calm me when I look at them. The Parc National des Calanques gives me new energy when I feel too immersed in concrete. Even in the city centre, species mix: people, seagulls, rats, wild boars, ...

The strong wind, called the mistral, is exhausting and at the same time carries you along. But it also carries the rubbish of the city, which reminds you of our intrusion into nature.

Living in Marseille is both a challenge and an opportunity for change.

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Frazione Les Prailles, 45, Valpelline, AO

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The forest welcomed me and protected me like a mother’s body.

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It might seem as a weird place to be, but it has a deeper meaning. I connected a lot with the people and the other species here in Casalino di Ligonchio and i really felt like home here belonging in a big erasmus family, but as i have been sick for the past few days, i also am homesick because it is my safe place and my comfort zone. So the place i picked is the distance between my house in Athens and here, divided in half.

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Ostello dei Balocchi, Via Popolare, Casa Bracchi, Province of Reggio Emilia, Italija

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Ostello dei Balocchi, Via Popolare, Casa Bracchi, Province of Reggio Emilia, Italija

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Ostello dei Balocchi, Via Popolare, Casa Bracchi, Province of Reggio Emilia, Italija

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This project helped me work on something i have been working on for years and that is my fear of dogs. In this place i challenged myself to interact with them and pushed myself further than ever. I will always remember, not just because it's a place i overcame fear, but it's also a place where i meet a lot of kind people and where i went out of my comfort zone to become more connected to the nature and other beings that live with us.

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Νάξος, Νάξος και Μικρές Κυκλάδες, Ελλάδα

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Νάξος, Νάξος και Μικρές Κυκλάδες, Ελλάδα

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Νάξος, Νάξος και Μικρές Κυκλάδες, Ελλάδα

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Having perfect moments in my favourite place with my favourite people!!

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Ligonchio, Province of Reggio Emilia, Italy

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Ligonchio, Province of Reggio Emilia, Italy

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Ligonchio, Province of Reggio Emilia, Italy

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During this trip we worked on non-verbal communication with other species like dogs and donkeys, but also with trees. We did some meditation exercises and learned how to be aware of our whole body. I especially enjoyed the exercise with the dogs and I will certainly practice it with my own dog, listening to her body language, respecting her boundaries and building a better relationship with her based on trust.

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Hey guyssss . I am Vasilis. This is the place where I spend most of my vacations with my family . There are a lot of similarities such as the altitude ,the weather and the quietness. I feel really comfortable and I enjoy walking through to the forest !

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Walking with my first donkey friend - Camilla

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I really liked engaging with donkeys and other animals and I hope to spent more time with this awesome species sometimes in the future in my home country 🩷

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Ventasso mountain and the marvellous landscape from the Ostello dei Balocchi. 

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This experience took me here, to the city where I felt at home for the second time. The landscapes full of clouds, the rain, the cold, the friends, the good food, the music, took me back in time and space with the people who made me feel good and made me feel strong emotions. I am happy to have participated in this and I thank every single person who shared their time with me.

See you soon.

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Summer vacation

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In this station we remembered the activity we did with Francesco and Daria when we had 5 movement directions: above, around, through, forward and below. This time we didn't do it with another person, but we did it with a tree. We had to engage in the dialog with the tree to see where is it possible to do the desired movement.

After we finished with our different paths we held hands like a human snake and did the next path together as one

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After the bridge we warned people about some strange creatures in the woods and asked them to pick up some branches to protect themselves and be aware of the surroundings using all their senses.

When we arrived to the mountain pastures, we invited to put the sticks in the centre as to prepare a fire and then we told them the magic story about witches. We warned the people if they would look at them in the eyes they would be lost for common life. Witches came and caught them pulling them into a circle that had fire at the centre. Music was playing, everyone was dancing and then singing: "We are a circle, within a circle, with no beginning and never ending". In the end we invited the newborn witches to go into the woods.

The objective was to connect them with their senses and natural landscapes.

It can represent a rite of passage in life into higher awareness and deeper connection between ourselves.

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We lead everyone to the bridge, which signifies a passage through water. Water fosters life on our earth. Trees need water and we need trees. Moreover, water is the bearer of positive and negative energy in our bodies. We are 70% water. We are just water, thanks to it we live just like everyone else. Water unites us and accompanies us.

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The experience was to listen to the sounds we could hear in this place and then to reproduce them with our bodies and voices. We created a wave of sounds, starting with the small sounds we had heard before and then increasing the volume.

Listen:

What does it sound like when birds communicate? When the wind blows through the trees? What sound does a dog make when it is calm?

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Pietra di Bismantova, Castelnovo Ne' Monti, RE

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Pietra di Bismantova, Castelnovo Ne' Monti, RE

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Pietra di Bismantova, Castelnovo Ne' Monti, RE

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️ Parc de l’églantier de Gonesse, Gonesse, France

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️ Parc de l’églantier de Gonesse, Gonesse, France

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️ Parc de l’églantier de Gonesse, Gonesse, France

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So this place is the Gonesse’s lake, it’s my hometown! I really like this place. It’s maybe not the prettiest landscape, but this is still very beautiful, its where I love to go when I feel down. It’s also where I love to go to find peace. I love to go there alone, with my music. I love to go there with people I love, eating, listening to music, doing arts. Basically living ! I live in a city so this is where I go when I want to cut the sounds of the town and find some silence. Silence with just me and the nature. Where I can only ear birds singing and myself.

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Kastelli Pediados Town Hall, Εθνική Οδός Αεροδρομίου Καστελλίου, Μινώα Πεδιάδα

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I am 22 years old, i am a bachelor's degree student and i love nature and being outdoors. This place helps me find peace.

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I position myself in Greece, the land of my mother's origin, but which is also a bit of the mother earth, the land origin of philosophy, theater, the sea and the tiropita. I have chosen to live in the Reggio Emilia Apennines together with Liz,Tina Runa Tadzio and Mimì  and my daughter Gea (who unfortunately did not choose the place) and because of that I try to do everything so that they have a good time. I chose to live in the mountains as a political act.  I chose to live in a small Apennine town that has depopulated with the years and the growth of capitalism and urbanization. I chose to live here to reflect on the contradictions that anthropocentric society brings, thinking that I could find a little more silence and concentration. Though I love the sea, the horizontality, the sand, the soothing rustle of the waves, the sound of the Greek language, the floating of the little wooden boats at the harbors. Maybe someday I will be able to spend part of my life here, and stitch up origins, weave secret connections with people who are no longer here but who made me here, in the world. I am curious to get to know you, you are all so close to the issues that we will be fielding in the work that I already feel you are brothers and sisters in vision. I am also curious then to find out where we will position ourselves at the end of this journey. The fact that I position myself in Greece speaks  about the fact that I struggle to be where I am, or even that I long so much to find roots again, even more so now that I have become a mother. I am a dancer, I love sensing and watching the body in motion . I love to study the relationship between human beings and other species, I ask questions about what is nature, and what is culture.

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Παραλία Κάλαμος, Kalamos

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Heyyyy everyone, it’s Kat and this is one of the beaches that I felt very connected with. Last year I started winter swimming and it was a very unique experience, this place became my sacred spot, my self time space. The journey in order to reach to the beach, the road through the mountains and the actual scenery made this moment very special. So I’m sharing with you, my getaway, hoping that I could find another one in this program 🌊🌊

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Hi everyone ! My name is Ascane, I'm 21 and I'm from France (Marseille). I would like to present you my dog Taya ! Sh'e my sunshine and I love to spend time with her. She's super affectionate and playfull. She loves huggies and actually sleeps with me when we're both home 😆 I wish I could communicate with her like I do with humans, but even without words we quite understand each other. I will miss her during the trip but I can't wait to meet you all, this project us a great opportunity for me to discover activities linked to environment and animals. See y'all !

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Hi! I’m Aurora, i chose Milan even though this is not a city where i was born. I’ve been living here for a few years. I’m starting my first year of sculpture at Brera biennium.

The thing that has obsessed me for a few years now are the dead animals that i found around the Milan’s streets, I find the wayin wich people relate to them very interesting.
Milan taught me how margins and borders as well as dead are not the end but the beginning.

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Me with my friends in Loch Lomond, Scotland, 2019.

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Hi, I'm Emanuele, I'm 24 years old and I'm a university student, attending the last year of the master course  "Biodiversity and ecosystem management" at Roma Tre University. I live in a little town in the north of Rome but my home is that city, because I moved when I was 6 years old, leaving a part of me there.

I love to travel exploring the nature of the other countries, overall Scotland, the state of my dreams. I'd like to move to Edinburgh after the university because I love everything about that city, from people to architecture, finishing with their typical delicious food!

I always wanted to do Erasmus experiences, but due to COVID-19 and time issues I couldn't do it, for all my university years. Now I'm really happy about this project, in which I would like to learn something about different realities and learn to you some nature facts and curiosities. Sharing my competences is the best way to create bonds with people from every part of the world, so I hope you can teach me something as I can teach you something too.

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Hearts in my heart <3

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My forever favorite people in the whole world <3

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Under the oak tree in my school library

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Etienne
Walk, swim, travel ans live elsewhere

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Zakir Hussain Rose Garden, Jan Marg, 16B, Sector 16, Chandigarh, India

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Zakir Hussain Rose Garden, Jan Marg, 16B, Sector 16, Chandigarh, India

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Zakir Hussain Rose Garden, Jan Marg, 16B, Sector 16, Chandigarh, India

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Aurora Giancarli

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Ravin’Art, Via Piagna, 19, 42039 Ligonchio RE, Italia

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Hi, I'm Airin and I've been a member of the staff of the Ostello dei Balocchi since 2011.  I chose this place, Ravin'art, because it was very special to me....before 2020 this forest was long abandoned and difficult to access but from the first time I entered it I was blown away.  The birth of an artistic journey in nature was the realisation of a dream for me and every time I come here I feel at home, in connection with nature and with myself.

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Colle superiore delle Cime Bianche, Ayas, AO

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Hi, I'm Sof, I live in Milan but I don't feel so good here. It's a caotic city where i don't feel free, the high palaces and the grey of this enviroment make me oppressed. I try to find here a connection with nature but sometimes is very difficolt, that's why I often want to escape from Milan and refuge in the nature. Here at Colle superiore delle cime bianche I found a place where there are no words, no caos and no intrusive thought, just  the nature with the montains, the moon and the clouds.
I found the lightness and the true freedom that in Milan couldn't exist.

I love cycling, camping and smiling:)

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Hi, I am Teresa from Milan.
In this place there is an high abandoned palace from which I can see the mountains.
Me and my friends have built in it a kind of shelter and when I am there I feel really alive and free :)

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Aurora Alesi

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Hi, I'm Laura and I've been part of the Ostello dei Balocchi staff for several years.

I am not originally from this mountain area but I saw in this place, a place where I could feel free to express... In my own way

Where to find again a more direct contact with nature and where empathy towards humans and non-humans alike is even more rooted and important.

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Piazza del Popolo, Piazza del Popolo, Roma, RM

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Hic est Roma.

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Hic est Roma.

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Gaia Terra, Via Francesco Petrarca, Rivignano Teor, UD

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Hello dear fellows🫂, my parents called me Giulia but im looking for the real me 🧚🏼 traveling, moving and learning from people and different environments around Europe (for now, but my passport is almost ready :D) .
I introduce u to Pachito, a sweet and playful donkey from a farm close to Berlin where I was volounteering in February, but my journey started a while before, here on the map, where the power of the cold river STELLA ✨ lighted me up and the people showed me how a different life is possible and I made two life changing discoveries at the same time: Erasmus + and Ecovillages.
I wish I could communicate without words with humans as I do with animals and I appreciate how sensitive we all are as beings living this life on the same planet. 🌬🌀
See u soon 🤫🧡

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Ostello dei Balocchi, Via Popolare, Casa Bracchi, RE

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The "Ostello dei Balocchi" project is a CEA (Environmental Education Centre) managed by Legambiente Ligonchio, which was created with the idea of providing a concrete example of sustainable development in the tourism and
environmental sphere, characterised by a strong historical, socio-cultural rooting with the territory. Since 2008, we have been the only facility in the Appennino Tosco-Emiliano National Park offering a new and original tourist formula: "someggiato" (donkey-assisted) tourism, with the help of donkeys, animals that are absolutely and unquestionably linked to the traditions and culture of our territory.

The programme of Ostello dei Balocchi is divided into weekends and initiatives dedicated to the whole family in winter, spring and autumn months, while summer is dedicated to residential and itinerant summer camps for children only. For several years, Legambiente Ligonchio has also been involved in Erasmus+ projects aimed at young people, with a particular focus on youth activation in rural areas.

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Hi! I'm Milo, I'm 22 and I've lived in Ligonchio since 2021, when I became part of the staff of Ostello dei Balocchi. I moved here from the city with the main goal of escaping the chaos and alienation of urban areas and, at the same time, building better relationships with both people and nature. Here I found a place where I can easily escape and take refuge in nature, the only setting where I feel completely at peace. My biggest passions are photography and hiking/climbing.