Sixty people, five countries, eight days, one eco-hotel in West Wales, quite a lot of rain……..

Here’s a small selection of what the participants said about the Acting Around exchange, organised by Theatr Fforwm Cymru, in St David’s Pembrokeshire in Summer 2008

What was good?

• Meeting new people
• learning new things
• seeing different beautiful places
• Stage fighting,
• Football
• food
• Coasteering
• Communication
• Humanity
• Forum Theatre
• Meeting and befriending people from different countries.
• Getting to know people better who I already knew and spending more time with them.
• friendly competitiveness
• New friends,
• party times
• Estonian girls
• Feeling “at home”
• All the workshops
• Portuguese boys
• The people, every single person mattered to make it as special as it was.
• I found out new and wonderful things

What did you learn?

• To make a mask, to fight, to be tolerant
• New things of my personality,
• I’ve learned that I shouldn’t judge people on their appearance.  I’ve learned that powerful people are the ones that can smile and can have a good time even if their going through a lot of pain.  I’ve learned to trust people again.
• Making friends, trying everything, overcoming lack of sleep
• That I can do anything I put my mind to. 
• Don’t lose concentration while coasteering.
• I learn to be more sociable respecting other people
• To open in public, to have more courage, to lead
• Stage fighting forum theatre, making masks.
• To be more brave, to listen and to know myself better, to believe in myself
• Swim better, learnt some new fighting moves
• Tricks to stop myself being attached, that it’s important to pack clothes for all weather for one day.
• I’ve learned several words in different languages but most importantly, I’ve learned that there are many good people in this world.  I can say I know myself better now and I am grateful
• Team work, it’s so different and so much better when I work in a team of people I trust and can learn from. 
• UK is so beautiful as shown in post cards when I first arrived in St Davids I cried (honestly). People here are really nice and open, they always try to help.  Exchanges Kick Ass and I can make masks now….and I can swear in Portuguese.

If you want to know more about the exchange, hear more in the words of the young participants, and see many photographs weird and wonderful, please go to www.facebook.com and check out the group “Base 64 Acting Around Exchange”