With this project, we want to respond to a real need we feel as young people living in Romania, in a region close to the border with Ukraine. The context we live in is full of uncertainty and instability, marked by the war next door and by rapid social and political changes. This reality affects us every day through insecurity, contradictory news, and the polarization of public opinion between pro-European and pro-Eastern views. In such a climate, the risk of radicalization, manipulation, or losing direction is very high, especially for young people with fewer opportunities, like us. Our need, as individuals and as a group of young people, is to develop critical thinking by stepping out of our comfort zone and going beyond the geographical and mental limits of the community we come from. Only through this project can we truly open our horizons and stop living only from the information we receive from others. Instead, we want to see, to experience, and to understand for ourselves what Europe and its values mean. We want to understand directly how other societies managed to defend their freedom and democracy, to learn what it means to take responsibility as a citizen, and which rights need to be defended. We also want to experience the cultural diversity that Europe has to offer, and to feel that we are part of this Union, this itself being proof that inclusion works. We’re inspired by stories like that of Jan Palach, the student from Prague who gave his life protesting against the Soviet occupation, showing that freedom is not an empty word but an ideal worth fighting for. Just as important are other moments in Europe’s recent history: the fall of the Berlin Wall or the student movements in France, which highlight how European societies, through courage and unity, refused to remain obedient. Experiences like these can help us understand more deeply the dangers of living without freedoms, and the importance of belonging to a common European space, democratic and united in solidarity. Based on this need, our goal as a group is to discover, through direct experiences, the values, history, and diversity of Europe, so that we can develop our critical thinking, understand our rights and responsibilities as young Europeans, and become more independent and confident about our future. This goal fits perfectly with the priorities of the DiscoverEU initiative: •Learning about Europe and its opportunities: not just from books, but through direct contact with other cultures, cities, and young Europeans; •Developing life skills: by adapting to new cultures, communicating in foreign languages, and managing a travel experience together; •Promoting intercultural dialogue: discovering what connects us with other young people and, at the same time, sharing our own Romanian experiences and culture; •Strengthening the feeling of belonging to the EU: by understanding that Europe is not just a geographical space, but a community of values and rights; •Choosing a sustainable and responsible lifestyle: because traveling in Europe is not only about seeing new places, but also about respecting the environment and people’s diversity.