Registration and travel
The 16-19 February we went – Julie and Maria – from Stockholm, to Malta, to participate in a so-called. Sub Regional Training (SRT). An SRT is a shorter international meeting where members can participate in trainings, workshops and smaller working groups during 3-4 days where you have an 8-hour scheduled work group time per day that revolves around a particular topic. There are many different workshops like SRTs – Julie attended Training New Trainers (TNT) and Maria at Professional and Research Exchange Training (PRICE). You can read more about what these mean below.
The application to Head2theMed as the SRT was called, came out around Christmas. We signed up and at first only Maria got a place, while Julie ended up on the reserve list, but soon also got a seat. The tickets to Malta cost just over SEK 2,000 round trip. Unfortunately we arrived late in the evening so we missed both the opening ceremony and the National Food and Drinks Party (NFDP).
Workshops
As mentioned, TNT stands for Training New Trainers and aims to give the participants understanding and skills to be able to do workshops themselves in the future, in a pedagogical and interactive learning way. We were just over 25 students at TNT and two trainers (+ a third online). During TNT, you also learn to fill in objectives for different sessions, i.e. a plan for what you will learnt. On the last day, a "graduation session" was held where all participants would present a topic related to the workshop, tex. body language, conflict management or personal development.
PRET stands for Professional and Research Exchange Training and was an overview of above all the practical aspects of IFMSA:s main purpose; yields. We discussed values, culture clashes that may arise, problem solving, leadership, rhetoric and compared national differences in exchange programs but both practical, social and theoretical. We formed a small group of around 8 people so we had a little deeper conversation where everyone got to speak. The whole thing was interspersed with games, when the days were long.
Accommodation and food
We lived together with a girl from Poland, in a spacious holiday apartment with a small kitchenette and living room. Both the hotel and the conference complex where all the workshops, NFDP and opening/closing ceremony were held, was beautifully located along the beach with a view of the turquoise sea. Above the conference rooms was the restaurant where both breakfast and dinner were served. Lunches consisted of traditional Maltese sandwiches (which were gigantic!) which we used to eat down by the quay. The dinners were a hodgepodge of Italian, Greek, and Asian and was enjoyed in a much too noisy restaurant but with pleasant new acquaintances.
Social program
The whole weekend was so well organized and also included a social program in the evening. On Friday evening the whole gang left for Valletta, where there was also a colorful and lively carnival in the streets. People were dressed in all sorts of creations and marched forward through the city and large vehicles pimped to max. We ourselves had a list of challenges to complete, for example learning one of the carnival songs from a local, make a TikTok and create a human pyramid. On Saturday we went to Mdina, also called "the silent city" – and it certainly lived up to its name, it was dead quiet there!
What was good?
In terms of accommodation and logistics, they were positive that we lived close to both restaurants, conference room and nature. As Malta is not very big, the journey from the airport was not long either, about 1 hour by bus, which was otherwise cheap. Then they had arranged 2 large buses that took us punctually to the respective cities we visited in the evenings. There are sufficiently intense social activities in the evenings and at the same time also enough time for recovery, as well as the year's first dip in the sea, during lunches. Workshop-wise, I appreciated (Julie) The TNT in its entirety as it gave new approaches to things that had already been done before, such as giving presentations.
What could be improved?
As always, an SRT is incredibly intense. It also makes the evenings late and the mornings early, but a lot must be done in a short time. I (Maria) felt that PRET could have been clarified in its purpose as it was perceived as a bit unclear, when we discussed such broad topics. However, there are advantages to it, of course, but I would like a goal description or similar. As for the TNT, the planning of our graduation sessions could have been a little better. Then the fact that we had a cockroach visit to the hotel was less pleasant, but we survived that!
What do I/we take with me/us from the weekend??
Maria – That we have a lot to learn about each other exchange program – there are many good ideas that you can be inspired by for your own exchange program. In addition, it was rewarding to practice conflict management and to get an overall picture of the exchange. Even though you are indoors during a SRT and don't see much of the country during the day, got them to a nice social program in the evening.
Julie – I think it was rewarding to practice presentation techniques and to learn how to make learning sessions more interactive. We had a lot of fun at all the workshops and my cheeks almost hurt after the weekend from all the laughter. Something else I think is interesting to know more about is how IFMSA is structured in different countries while we belong to the same organization – it's fun to see that there are so many ways to achieve the same goal!
We recommend going on the SRT?
And! An SRT has a different vibe than, for example, the big international IFMSA meetings. There is time to talk more with other participants and is that way more relaxed. We recommend that you like to travel together with someone you know, as it is nice to be able to bounce ideas off the day, and also being able to travel together. Bet on a fast route – SRTs are short and a long journey eats up much of the time you could spend on location
ps. on IFMSA-Sweden's instagram you can see a reel from the SRT in Malta!
Sunny greetings
Maria Moberg & Julie Ahlqvist
