Meeting Germany
26.11-02.12.2017
1st summit in Germany, November 2017 | our main tasks | ideas | results
​Getting started and ecological sustainability - 1st LTT and 2nd TPM
The first summit during our two years project: Youth for Europe – Agenda 2017-2019 took place in Kirchheim under Teck, Germany. Students and teachers from Austria, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy and Sweden.
We worked on creating our own agenda for the two years and what kind of challenges the young people have to face and what could be solutions for these challenges. Further we had a look at the topic ecological sustainability.
This is our agenda:
Keller Lufttechnik
On our way to create the agenda, we visited the company Keller Lufttechnik which is a world-wide technology company specializing in the capturing and separating of a variety of air pollutants as well as in the reduction of emissions in industrial applications. After the presentation of the company, we got a tour through the manufacturing part of the company.
Sustainability in Europe - the youth looks in the future
That is maybe one of the most important topics in Europe nowadays. On Thursday, a representative of the city administration met us and explained this issue.
First, he explained what his job is and what connects us with sustainability. We discussed what we know about sustainability and worked together in groups. We made a mind-map consisting of our ideas and opinion about this topic. After that we watched a video about sustainability. It was really interesting to see what all the students from different countries know aboutthat. We learnt what sustainability means and why it is important for all of us. Afterwards, we built groups and each group represented one of these areas: household, traffic, city administration, industry. In these groups he asked us
questions about how much space each group needs. For that we got the map of Kirchheim and each group needs to take one of the pieces. The pieces have different sizes and we have to guess which piece fits to our group. There were more questions about greenhouse gases and energy. It was sometimes shocking how much space the groups take. At the end, we discussed the solutions and have to work with another group. We had to find out solutions for working with the other groups and being sustainable at the same time. That was the hardest task we got but at the end we found few solutions for that. The time was really exciting and we learnt a lot out of this meeting.
Between culture and fun
Everything was inclusive in our free time activity programme: history, culture, cars, shopping and a lot of fun.
The first day started with the ‘Icebreaker- Game’, sadly we were a bit shy so it didn’t work well. That changed at the welcome party because we lost the fear of contact while dancing a traditional Greek folk dance. Even when you couldn’t dance you had a lot of fun with another dance called ‘Macarena’.
After Tuesday evening, we all knew the different names of the others because we played a game called “couch”. We had a great evening with poker and UNO. Our Wednesday was between trying to take a selfie with the castle in the background and having fun at the bowling centre. The climb up to the castle Hohenzollern was very hard but the work got paid with the beautiful view. In Tübingen the students got the opportunity to explore the city by themselves.
On the next day, with big eyes and breathless excitement we went through the beautiful Christmas market in Esslingen.
The Mercedes-Benz museum was exciting even if you are not interested in cars. In the souvenir shop we looked at valuable Mercedes-Benz souvenirs.
After the guided tour through Stuttgart, most of the people got warm in the shopping centre Milaneo. Because of all the shopping, there wasn’t any space in the luggage left. With burgers and fries the exiting week ended at ‘Hans im Glück’.
Meeting Austria
05.03-11.03.2018
2nd summit | Austria, March 2018 | our main tasks | ideas | results
Focus on recycling & food waste | organic farming |How to be active
2nd LTT and 3rd TPM
We continued our focus on ecological sustainability and compared what each school/town/country does for environment, we had a closer look on our surveys on food loss and food waste, decided on solutions and created a booklet.
Also we worked on how to be an activist - because sooner or later things need to be actually done not only thought of.
From Recycling to Food Waste
When we introduced our schools and home countries this time we focused on what each school, each town and each country does for environment. What is the recycling like, what laws do exist, what is important to people? This built the base for our first group work where we compared the positives and necessities as well as the similarities and differences.
The next day we started with our surveys on food loss and food waste. For two weeks each country had a look on how much food is thrown away in their schools or homes and had brought the summary on a poster to our meeting. We integrated the new information in our knowledge and drawings of the previous day and started to create a booklet which should work as a guide on how to reduce the waste of ressources.
In the afternoon we visited an organic farm in the area and learned about sustainability in animal and vegetable farming.
Our booklets:
Saving Electricity - The Earth Hour
Nowadays we need it in most of our tasks for the day: electricity. We charge our phones, listen to the radio, search on the computer, switch on the lights at night... we almost don't realize how much we use it, especially the mobile phones. So we started with an investigation on our ecological footprint, compared the results and tried to find out what might have caused some differences. In a next step we were introduced to the Earth Hour, what kind of event that is, where it started and why it is celebrated. The set task: Create lesson plans for celebrating the Earth Hour in school. It definitely is not easy to leave out all the electricity to serve all our ideas.
To not only talk about the Earth Hour we wanted to experience one. So when we had our afternoon with sledging, there were also some plans for Earth Hour games. After the sun was long set a small competition took place outside in the snow and students challenged each other for finishing the course in time.
Activism - "Sexy" Enough for Young People?
As set task for this meeting in Austria each country had to provide an interview with an environmental activist where they answered questions about their motivation, their challenges and their successes. After refreshing our memories on the videos in the meeting we thought about being an activist. What is needed in order to get things done? Each group created their own ideal activist with his or her most needed characteristics. The thoughts and ideas carried far and with some explanations quite deep. Activism needs to be sexy to be appealing to young ones. Activism means also to stand up for others. Activists need to be informed about the world, about politics and they have to be role models.
Where there is intense work there should be some pleasure...
Of course we were enthusiastic with the work that was done but also we were looking forward to getting to know each other and spending some time together. So on the first day there were icebreaker games, after the first task in school we met the mayor of Judenburg, Hannes Dolleschall, who graciously invited us to the Startower and two shows as well as some lunch. - Thank you very much! In the evening we had a welcome party and connected over some games.
The second day the students went bowling in the evening and the third day there was sledging in the afternoon. For that we went up the mountain, first by bus and then a bit further by foot, had some hot chocolate, got a sledge and raced downhill. After some supper in the hut and a few Earth Hour games everybody was tired enough to already fall asleep in the bus.
On the fourth day there was a visit to Graz on the schedule. We had a guided tour, ate lunch, did a bio-rallye, and had quite some free time to explore the city further or to do some shopping.
Last but not least there was the last day. After having worked in the morning, everybody enjoyed their spare afternoon, some in the Spa, some at the Red Bull Ring, some at some other place of their choice. In the evening we said our farewell via a small gathering of all the students, the teachers and the host parents complimented by an Austrian buffet.
Meeting Finland
30.04-06.05.2018
3rd summit | Finland, May 2018 | our main tasks | ideas | results
Focus on social and ecologiacal sustainability | Green Campus |Gender stereotypes
3rd LTT
On Monday, the First of May, the hosts picked up the visitors from the train station. The visitors settled in. Some stayed at home and the others celebrated Vappu at the fortress where Finnish youngsters usually meet during the First of May.
On Tuesday we went to the school for the first time. To get to know eachother better we did some ice-breakers and they were quite a lot of fun. We also had earth hour introductions of each country to see how they spend it in school and at home. Later on, we baked donuts and drank Sima which are traditional for Vappu. The rest of the day we had free time that we could spend however we liked.
On Wednesday morning we gathered at the school auditorium and had our first workshop. First every country present their presentations about gender equality. After that we summarised the presentations in different groups. The finnish students went to their own classes and the visitors had a lesson about Green reality and the City of Lappeenranta. At 11.00 we continued our group projects and then presented them to the other groups and to the teachers. After that we had lunch and then the visitors had a city walk and a tour at the Wolkoff home museum. At 15.30 we went to Myllysaari and there we had church boat rowing. Then we had a free evening. Some of us explored the city.
On Thursday, we started with a presentation about gender equality on schools and after that we had a workshop. After that we are learning finnish folk dancing. At 12:15 we are having lunch at school. From 13:00 to 14:30 we will visit an Orthodox Church in Lappeenranta. After visiting
the church we will have free time and on 17:00 we will continue with a games night at school until 19:00.
On Friday, we will have the possibility to follow lessons in the morning. After that the students that made the talk show will present it to us. Then we will have the equality workshop and afterwards we are going to have lunch. After lunch we are going to visit the university LUT and then we will go to the sauna and have vety.
On the last day (Saturday), we will meet again at 9 o'clock because we are going to play zorb-football. Our last activity together is to go to the swamp and have sausages at the bonfire. After 1 pm we are free to do what we want to do.
Meeting Sweden
30.09-06.10.2018
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4th summit | Sweden, October 2018 | our main tasks | ideas | results
Focus on the challenges concerning ethnic minorities in respect of Human Rights
4th LTT and 4th TPM
Within this week our main concern was how each country is handling their Human Rights concerning ethnic minorities: Are their rights and their cultures protected? How is the daily approach of society towards people from ethnic minorities? How is our personal approach? And how can we be those who stand up if no one else does?
The introduction
Students from six different countries gathered in Avesta, Karlfeldtgymnasiet, to present and discuss ethnic minorities and how their living conditions look like around the world.
On their arrival, a welcoming ceremony was arranged by the school. There the principal introduced the content and purpose of the Erasmus+ project via presenting the different countries involved and specifically Sweden and Swedish culture.
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Ice Breakers and First Task
After the Icebreakers based on Albert Mehrabian’s 7-38-55 rule of personal communication through which the students had the chance to get to know each other, the welcoming ceremony proceeded by showcasing task 2 and 3 in the Erasmus+ project and later continued with a small tour of the school.
Later on, the schedule moved forward to the first task: the students were assigned to different groups to work in during their weeklong stay in Sweden. There are four task that are divided into groups with approximately six students each. The students also had a segment in the schedule where they started mapping out and planning a charity event that would be held on Thursday afternoon.
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A Day in Stockholm
On the second day of the project the student involved together with the school were headed to Sweden’s capital Stockholm for a fieldtrip. At eight o'clock in the morning, the bus left Avesta and headed to Stockholm. When they arrived in Stockholm they went straight to the Nordic Museum where a tour guide walked them through the museum and taught them about Human Rights and the different ethnic minorities in Sweden. After the tour, the students were offered some free time to explore the city. Some went shopping and some sightseeing, walking around the old streets of Stockholm, also known as “Gamla stan”. The students had the opportunity to visit the Vasa museum, but the majority of the students chose to have some extra free time to explore what this great city has to offer before the bus to Avesta left at 18:00.
Floorball Tournament
It is the third day of the Erasmus week and the exchange students started the day with taking a Selfleader course where they had to participate in different exercises with the purpose of finding different positive features of themselves. They also had a lecture and watched a video about selfleading. Further into the day all the students got together to work with their tasks that are to be presented at the end of the week to wrap up the Erasmus+ project.
After that they had the opportunity to play floorball. The students were divided into different teams and had a small tournament.
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Charity event
After the preparation of the charity event the students decided on a few activities and an organisation, Amnesty International, to which the money would be donated. The students were divided into groups of three, some students prepared games, another group offered henna tattoos and manicures and the last group would prepare a performance.
After the charity event the students gathered in the auditorium to listen to a panel talk prepared by some of the students involved in the Erasmus+ project. To wrap up the exchange students’ visit here in Sweden the school prepared a farewell dinner at Verket.