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Meiningen - a german story

Travel to Germany

Reisebrev fra Erasmus + og Meiningen i Tyskland 23.-29. november 2014

Det første besøket var november 2014. Dit reiste Flavio Duarte Andersen og elevene Jessica og Dasha fra 1stb og Giselia og Amanda fra 1ste til Meiningen i Tyskland, tidligere Øst-Tyskland (før 1989).

Meiningen er en by med ca 20000 innbyggere og har en stor videregående skole som heter Henfling-Gymnasium . Skolen lå i fine omgivelser kort utenfor sentrum. Selve Meiningen by er en middelalderby med en rekke severdigheter.

Etter 12 timer på reise ble vi mottatt av vertsfamilier i byen Meiningen som skulle bli vårt bosted de neste seks dager. Elevene og vertsfamilier var tydelig spente. Vi lærere var ikke mindre spente og gledet oss svært til disse dagene. Mandag startet skoleuken som ble en opplevelse i tysk kultur. Elevene måtte tidlig opp hver dag, skolen startet ofte 0730, og enkelte av elevene hadde lang reisevei. På skolen var det lunsj og kveldene gikk med til sosiale middager. Både elever og lærer tok del i flere ulike prosjekter, de var med på å utforme logoen til prosjektet, var med på utflukter til et fantastisk julemarked i byen middelalderbyen Erfurt, vi stod på skøyter i en gigantisk skøytehall i samme by, hadde omvisninger i Meiningen og var på en rekke middager og kafebesøk. På kveldene var elevene med sine familier eller tyske medstudenter på kafeer, shopping, teater, skolekonserter og andre sosiale aktiviteter. De hadde også faglige oppgaver.

I Meiningen presenterte elevene ulike sider ved sine egne land, og elevene hadde digitale presentasjoner for hele prosjektgruppen som bestod av ca 50-60 elever og lærere. Lærerne på sin side hadde også bli-kjent-øvelser, jobbet med formelle sider ved prosjektet og planla neste tur til Hellas.

Turen var meget vellykket, og alle elevene og lærerne storkoste seg.

English translation (Google translate)

Travel logue from erasmus + project to Germany and Meiningen 23. - 29. November 2014

Meiningen is a town of about 20,000 inhabitants and has a large secondary school named Henfling-Gymnasium. The school was located in a nice setting short outside the center. Meiningen town is a medieval city with several attractions.

After 12 hours of traveling we were received by host families in town Meiningen who would become our residence for the next six days. Students and host families were clearly excited. We teachers were no less excited for the very next days. School started early monday and the week was an experience in german culture. Students had to get up early every day, school started often 0730, and some student had a long journey. At school it was lunch and evenings went with social dinners. Both pupils and teachers took part in several projects, they were involved in designing the logo of the project, went on a trip to a fantastic Christmas market in the town of medieval Erfurt, we where skating in a giant ice skating hall in the same city, had tours in Meiningen and was on a variety of dinners and cafe visits. In the evenings, the students with their families or german fellow students went at cafes, shopping, theater, school concerts and other social activities. They also had academic tasks.

In Meiningen students presented various aspects of their own countries, and the students had digital presentations for the entire project team in which consisted of about 50-60 students and teachers. Teachers on their side also had ice-exercises, worked with formal aspects of the project and planned next trip to Greece.

The trip to Meiningen was a great adventure for all norwegians.

Makrakomi - the little city

Travel to Greece

Reisebrev fra Erasmus + og Hellas og Makrakomi 1.-7. mars 2015

Makrakomi er en liten by sør i Hellas. Byen har ca 3000 innbyggere og har en videregående skole som ligger idyllisk til fem minutters gange fra sentrum. Dette andre besøket i Erasmus+ prosjektet skulle komme til å bli en fantastisk opplevelse for prosjektleder Flavio D Andersen og medlærer på Jo Keim Olsen sammen med elevene Martine Torve og Cecilie Dahl fra 1 ste og Mia Dale fra 1std og eneste hane i elevkurven Christer Vego fra 1stc.

Reisen startet en værtung morgen fra Torp med bytte av fly i Nederland, og så gikk turen til flyplassen i Athen. Deretter var det tre timer med buss til Makrakomi der en stor mottagelse av elever og vertsfamilier var på plass.

Elevene fikk gjennom denne uken være med på alt fra norsk høstvær til fantastisk norsk sommervær, de fikk sine kaféturer, folkedans på skolen, spiste gresk mat, fikk mange gode venner og fikk se steder de kanskje aldri senere vil se. Den sosiale delen var vektlagt og det satte eleven stor pris på.

Lærerne jobbet med planlegging av neste møte, besøk på museer, offentlige kontorer, og sammen med eleven var vi på de sagnomsuste stedene Delfhi og Thermopylene. Uken gikk raskt, og inntrykkene var enorme.

Å se Hellas fra innsiden ble for alle en annerledes opplevelse. Menneskene var varme, og vennskap mellom alle parter ble støpt i jern. Den økonomiske situasjonen fikk vi liten grad føle på, men gjennom samtaler med grekerne var det tydelig at ting ikke gikk på skinner økonomisk sett. Men landet gav, og vi tok i mot, og opplevelsene vil for alltid være med oss.

English translation (Google translate)

Trave logue from Erasmus + project to Greece and Makrakomi 1. - 7. March 2015

Makrakomi is a small town in Southern Greece. The city has about 3,000 inhabitants and has a secondary school which is idyllically situated five minutes walk from the center. This second visit to Erasmus + project was to be a wonderful experience for the project manager Flavio D Andersen and teacher Jo Keim Olsen with students Martine Torve and Cecilie Dahl from 1 st and Mia Dale from 1STD and only rooster in student cart was Christer Vego from 1stc .

The journey started one rainy and cloudy morning from Torp, so some hours in Netherland, and so we went to the airport in Athens. Then it was three hours by bus to Lamia and Makrakomi where a large reception of students and host families were in place.

Pupils got through this week taking part in everything from norwegian autumn weather to stunning norwegian summer, they got their cafe tours, folk dancing at school, ate Greek food, made many good friends and got to see places they might never see later. The social part was emphasized and it was something the studens greatly appreciated.

Teachers worked with the planning of the next meeting, visits to museums, government offices, and together with the students, we were on the fabled places Delfhi and Thermopylae. The week went fast, and impressions were enormous.

Seeing Greece from inside was for everyone a different experience. People were warm and friendship among all parties were obviously. We got little feeling of the economic situation, however, through talks with the greecs it was obvious that things were not going smoothly economically. But the country gave, and we took courage, and experiences will forever be with us.

Going outside EU and meeting Turkey

Travel to Adana may 2015

Trave logue from Erasmus + project to Turkey and Adana 3. - 9. May 2015

Five students and two teachers started to prepare

their travel to Adana one dark and cold morning in

Horten May 3rd. The trip to Adana started about

0700 AM and ended up in Adana 1100 PM in warm

and beatiful weather. What a change. At the airport

we were met by Erbay and a lot of parents and

excited students from Turkey. The foreign students went
home with their host families, and teachers was taken to

dinner. Since both students and teachers from different

countries did not meet at the same time, first next day we

were met all together at the school Sadika Sebanci in Adana.

The School welcome was overwhelming. Never before and may be never more we will meet so many excited students. Of course this was a secondary school so that was of course one of the reasons. But it was like this every day, and we will never forget.

This week should in many ways be different. The huge different in living conditions was a challenge. The turkish families met us with great hospitality, tried to take care as best as they could and shared the small homes with our students. I think the hospitality from the families and students could learn us a lot. After all, Turkey is a country with a huge part of the inhabitants living way behind norwegians and other western living conditions. However, the warm and friendliness was so great that it shows that it is no connection between wealth and poverty when it comes to hospitality. Actually, people with low income seems to share more of their warmness and friendliness than we ever meet in our own countries.

When it comes to history, Turkey offered us deep caves in Tarsus, caves in mountains in Cappadonica, and also showed us how the city looked like. A city with 1.5 million citizens. The speed limit in the city was about 100 km and beeing a pedestrian was really a challenge. Cars and buses seems always to be in hurry, and the horn was the most common way to say stay away from the streets. Motorcycles with three persons, mother , father and a little child, all without helmets was common. It says its extrem sports in turkish way of living. We can agree. Syrian beggers you could fine on street corners and outside strategic shops, but after all, we can understand those poor people. Children down to one year were taking care of by young sisters and brother often no more than four to five years. We will never forget that.

The trip home had to come. However, the flight was cancelled due to birds crashing into the flight we should have taken, and we had to take another flight next day. Hotel room was ordered, a last day in Adana soon come to and end and at three a clock AM we left Adana. and set home to Horten in Norway.

The land of the portuguese -visiting Leiria

From 18th of October to 24th of October I (Flavio Duarte Andersen) had the oppurtunity to visit Portugal and Leiria in the project. As a coordinator I always have to go visit the host country to keep up the contact, to keep up and focus on the work, and to show what work the norwegian students had prepared for the meeting.

This meeting focused on "festivities and problem solving" as told in the "News and events" and "Student topics".

The trip started from Torp, went to Copenhagen, and then to Lisboa airport, home again I went directly to Gardermoen, and I had to take a train back to Skoppum.

Well, the week went fast. Sunday I arrived at 1800 but we had to wait for the greece and wasnt at the hotel before 2300. Monday we get to know the school, the students, the city and the teachers. Tuesday we went to Lisboa, and was shown around to some great landmarks, and wednesday was a full working day at school. That day started at 0800 and ended late evening. The students presented all their topics/papers and they also worked on different local school projects about the Erasmus project. The teachers also had a workshop about "Problem solving" in school. Thursday we went to a great old/ancient city named Obidos, so a visit to a garden of "Eden" named Bombarral. So we ended the trip in an old fishing willage or cost city with a fantastic beach, great scenery and also we were lucky with the weather. The city Nazare showed us that sand and old buildings can be a beautiful place to relax. It must have been 24 degrees in that city that day. Friday was closing day. We met outside a theatre in Leria to watch students singing songs and play music. The afternoon was at last given room for some free time. All in all a great week, much work and events, and saturday we all went home. Thank you Leiria for the hospitality and well prepared meeting.

Give me a coin for Coin in Spain

February 2016 it was time for Coin in south of Spain. The travel began as usual on Sunday and ended Saturday. This time also without students because the student just have two countries to visit left. And that will sooner be Poland and at last The Netherlands.

Well, the weather was first of all very good, even though it was winther time. But to go back to the aim of the trip. On schedule it was Family life and communication. The student had to plan a lot of papers about familiy life. Norway this time, talked about Poland, how was it to grew up in a polish family. Set up a video, they interviewed another polish student, actually a friend of their own. Other student groups had made a questionaire and made a really interesting inquiry about habits in another country, some students made an animation who also was really good. All in all many very good presentations. In that way the teacher and also students were very impressed.

But it is also some events on the program. Three cities was on the schedule. First Granad was on the program, visiting the great Alhambra. Malaga was the next stop. Malaga is the fifth largest city on the Costa del Sol in Spain. In the city we was guided around by a fantastic guid from the school we visted, IES Los Montecillos. He was only fifteen, but he acted as a pro and showed us famous places. We also went on a boat trip, but the waves was to high and we just went for a short trip, but long a enough to make some students see sick. Marbella and a day at the walking on the pavement downby the saeside was also very amazing trip. All in all everybody had a great time. Coin met us with great weather, fantastic trips and well organized stay. Muy Bien Coin.

Meeting in Norway 3.-9. April 2016

Meeting in Norway was for most of the students and teacher from the ten countries a new experince since almost nobody ever had been in Norway. The weather was not on our side during three of the days, but at Blefjell were we went skiing the sun the barbeque and the skiing was a fantastic day. Unfortunately one of the students fell and broke the arm. It was some dramatic minutes for the sudent but all went well after all. Another day included a visit to VERDENS ENDE at Tjøme and was for many a really fantastic experince because meeting norwegian climate and nature for many was really fantastic this day.

The meeting also included a stay for student from The Netherlands, Poland, Czech and Portugal with a norwegian host family. To stay in another family for boys and girls at the age from 14-16 was a new experience both for host families and visiting students. We hope all you enjoyed the stay.

All in all the meeting in Norway, despite the brokeen arm, was a meeting with a warm atmosphere, cold weather, beatiful nature, barbeque in the mountains and many satisfied teachers and students. Thank U all of U for making this week worth while.

A NIGHT TO REMEMBER IN CZECH REPUBLIC MAY/JUNE 2016

The trip to Czech started at Horten, alone with my luggage I went to Oslo lufthavn, then directly to Vienna for a bus trip to Breclac. The scenery looked a little as Norway, but when we came to Breclac the different was obviously. Breclav was a part of early east block buildings and those very nice old classic buildings. The school was very well kept and inside it was a really nice school.

Monday we started withe the course and a visit to a former castle for some wine testing. The temperature was great, really a hot summer in Breclav. Next day Prague was on the program, and a great three hours visit ended with heavy rain before the sun again came through.

Wednesday the students presented their topics about artists, that went great, and mant different papers were introduced, evening we spent with a Zuzana in her home town Brno. It was a great trip and the food we ate tasted fantastic. Brno was fantastic.

Thursday was the great cultural day with visiting the castle in Lednice. The castle was well worth a visit. Inside the fantasic castle showed us great architecture, and the garden was like an english country house garden.

The trip the last day brought us to the top of a hill in Mikulov. We went up in a small path and after half an hour we were at the top. Both teachers and students had a great time on the hill.

WELCOME TO THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE POLISH BORDERLINE

POLAND MEETING SEPTEMBER TO OCTOBER 2016

Five girls was at Gardermoen, excited and happy to go to Poland after years of waiting. You could say years because the girls have been in the project since it started in November 2014. They were then 16, now they are 18. And its their last year at Horten high School in Norway.

This time we also brought Bjørn Erling Løken, he was one of the founder of the project meeting with all the coordinators in Poland one day in 2014. This was his last trip in the project and he was very excited and me and him had a nice trip together. He, as always, enjoyed the stay, and meeting old friends made the trip was very good for him

Poland full filled their mission. We got was we expected, we went to historical places like the Salt mines, like Auschwitz, and old cities like Krakow.

W were situated in the little town Rawicz in the middle of Poland, an agriculture and some industrial winds blowed over the city. It was quite modern, at the same time also historical.

Much good food and nice people and a great scenery made the event a memorable time. The only hit in the stomach was that I, became ill for one day, and that was the bad thing.

Welcome to Slovakia 15th - 21st an CHMLEC

Welcome to this travel to Slovakia and Chlmec a little city close to the Ukraine borderline. The weather this time was very cold and unusual for slovakian people. It was full winther, one meter snow and a cold wind, but the people was great, and made the trip very warm and nice for us who visited the little city in east part of Slovakia.

We came sunday to Budapest iin Hungary and had to drive for three hours by bus and arrived late evening at the hotel Kralovsky Chmlec.

This week we should visist the school of course, have time to see all the presentations as ususal, so a visit to the Town house for a short brief of whats going on in Chmlec. Next day we went to a large town named Kosice. It was a town divided into an old part and a part from the east-block time. next day we wnt to Vysoke and Levoca, it was a kind of culture happining, but very cold day. We also visited a great wineyard close to the city and we went to later in the week we went to High Tatra which are the mountains between Poland and Slovakia. The trip was fantastic, we had a really good weather, ate local food and visited a very funny place called Triclandia.

All in all a great cultural happening in Slovakia, very good food, nice cultural trips, and a funny time at Triclandia gave all the visitors a nice stay in the land of agricultar, wine and high mountains.

THE FLYING DUTCHMEN

MEETING IN ALMELO; THE NETHERLANDS MARCH 5th to 11th 2017

THE LAST MEETING in the little city of Almelo, well, 70000 inhabitants isnt so small, became the last meeting in the project. we all were very excited thinking that this last meeting was a kind of farewell meeting for the hole project. And it became the last meeting in many ways of course. It was the last time we met in a country, it was the last sharing dinners with students and teachers and parents, it was the last course of action, it was the last time many of us would be together, and it was the last time for a project with so many countries, but it was a big event, it was a huge coordination meeting, it went so well, and as a cultural and peace project it really is of great importance. Europe feels so great, there are so many nice people out there, there are so many interesting, nice places to see, and most of all, we mostly have the same ideas all of us, to keep peace, to be friendly, to get friends, to drink beer, to taste wine, to eat good food, to meet so many nice students from so many countries. The city of Almelo, the people at school, the teachers, the students, the parents, they all did the best for us and memories from little Almelo is one of ten great stories to save in our minds for the rest of our lives. BYE BYE ERASMUS PLUSS 2014-2017