Over the summer, we visited our new partner in Crete, EELI. This was a really productive trip and it was great to spend time with our partner colleagues, see the location and visit some of the placements. Our Crete mobility placements will be hosted in Rethymno, a small port city in the Northern side of Crete.
Rethymno has a beautiful old town and port; everything is within close proximity and easy to walk around. It is a university city, so there are lots of young people and a vibrant atmosphere. The apartments that the participants will stay in are high quality and fully furnished, some with views of the sea.
We visited a number of the placements, which are all Hair & Beauty salons and spas. The staff were friendly and enthusiastic about hosting participants, and it was really interesting and inspiring to hear about the work that they are doing. Katarina Giannis, one of the placement hosts, decided she wanted to be a hairdresser when she was 13 and won her first hair competition at 16. She now has four hair salons in Crete, and has trained lots of young people across the island.
Our first placements will be focused on Hair & Beauty, but we have plans in place to offer other vocational placements in Crete soon. Our first group of participants will be heading out to Crete in February 2017, and we are confident that they will have a fantastic experience.
We have shared an album of photos from the trip on our facebook page.