Ireland

In 2008 I attended an AONTAS meeting in Galway about Community Education. As a result I got involved in organising an Adult Learning Festival event in Co. Galway. Shortly after that I became a member of the Executive Committee of AONTAS. In 2011 I was asked by AONTAS to give a talk on volunteering and the Adult Learners' Festival to a group of Grundtvig participants visiting Dublin as part of the "Sowing the Learning Seeds Project". I also had the pleasure of hosting ANDRAS (Estonian Adult Education Association) at our centre Croí na Gaillimhe, St Vincent de Paul in Galway where they launched our Learning Festival. This interaction with other cultures involved in adult learning enhanced my curiosity to learn more. The visit of the Estonian group to our centre, gave the participants great pleasure and a lot of quality cultural exchanges took place.
 
So when AONTAS asked me to go to Slovenia, I was delighted. My overall learning from the trip came from attending the National Opening Award Ceremony of the Slovenian Lifelong Learning Week in Zalec. Before each learner was called to the stage a DVD was presented of their learning achievements. Indeed their achievements were well worthy of being honoured, as there was some exceptional talent present. I learned the importance of honouring the individual learning experience and celebrating their achievements with them as individuals. I also learned about learning circles, a phenomenon I was not familiar with.
 
We attended a workshop on "How to engage new and old media" in Prebold. It was interesting to engage in a workshop with people of different cultures and languages, but we managed to get our opinions across with some difficulty because of the language issue. Our styles in group discussion at times were quite different. Some countries had a community development approach while others were more businesslike.
 
I enjoyed the visit to the Eco Museum of Hop Growing and all the craft circles displayed in the building as part of the Lifelong Learning Week. We visited a museum in Ljubljana, where the history of the country was displayed in "e format "and it was very informative, interesting and touching. In a nutshell the trip was mind blowing. I returned to Slovenia in July to climb the Slovenian Alps and I brought a big Irish group with me. I can see Slovenia becoming really popular as a tourist destination for Irish people. Now when I meet a Slovenian person in Ireland I am really able to discuss the country and my experiences there.