"We are all Pieces of the European Jigsaw Puzzle" The exchange project is a journey on the way to European citizenship, with the jigsaw puzzle as a theme. Youngsters of Aalst, Belgium and Gabrovo, Bulgaria are similar but not the same: every individual is a unique piece of one giant puzzle. Every piece has different points of contact. Sometimes the pieces fit, sometimes they don’t… When multiple pieces are fit together, the puzzle becomes stronger and more beautiful. We are all parts of the European jigsaw puzzle. During one week in august 2014, youngsters from Gabrovo and Aalst will meet each other. By doing different activities, we will find out how similar or how different the lives of these youngsters are (life, work, education, family, free time, youth culture …). Every evening, we make a jigsaw puzzle to evaluate the day. Where are we different? Where are we very much alike? At the end of the week, we will have built one giant puzzle as a result of the exchange project and as a symbol of the European identity: every single piece is unique and is an indispensable part of a bigger picture. This exchange project is the result of a first prospective visit of some youngster from Aalst to Gabrovo in August 2013. During a midweek they exchanged a lot of experiences and met new friends. The whole concept was related to the European town twinning project that was officialised in 2010 by the municipalities of Aalst and Gabrovo. The participants in this "Pieces of the European Jigsaw Puzzle" project will be representatives of multiple youth organisations from both partner cities: as the youth council, youth associations, youth volunteer organisations ... Also individual youngsters will take part in this group exchange. 10 youngsters of each city and their leaders will form a group of about 23 participants. The program is based on activities with multiple objectives as cultural knowledge, exchange of good practices and experiences on youth work, informal learning, personal contacts ... A mix of methods will be used by the implementation of the activities; always with the focus on a dynamic group process and sustainable relationships over the borders of the European countries. Through the activities and the informal contacts between the participants, they will go through a individual learning process and gain new personal competences. This will be monitored and will led to a Youthpass certificate. The aim is to establish a good network between individual youngsters, organised youth organisations and youth services of the municipalities Aalst and Gabrovo. A network that can grow in the near future, that can strengthen the town twinning relations between the 2 cities and that can show a united Europe from west to east. All Pieces of the European Jigsaw Puzzle!