2008/05/12

Leaving Fredericia Friday

In the early morning everybody assembled at the station of Fredericia.
The exchange was in its end-phase. Loaded with good memories every-one said goodbye.

I hope that all the participants enjoyed the exchange which have lasted for more than 1 1/2 year. The mutual visit in both countries and the continuous writing between the students have made it possible to enlarge our visions and insight.

I hope it will be possible to continue the exchange with a new class.
This coming Friday I will present the idea to them.

Thanks to all who helped in making the exchange possible.

Thursday 8.th



The last day together - and the programe was full of activities.
Every host took their visitor to Arla Foods. Uffe had arranged a visit that contained a presentation of this international large company, a guided tour, tasting Arla-products and the producing of cheese on a experimental basis.
Arla did a nice presentation although the smell of cheese was harsh. But as one teacher said: "It is the smell of money".
Thanks to Arla for a informative and educational morning.

We were also invited to the city-hall of Fredericia by mayor Uffe Steiner Jensen.
He welcomed us and gave a short historical introduction to the history of Fredericia.
After that we had a good dialogue about the danish welfarestate, problems with integration and the importance of being open-minded in a global world.
The mayor gave presents and autographs. Although his hair is grey he is popular among the students.

The nearby bowling-hall was a good place to unleash some energy. Everyone took part in the great battle of striking the skittles. A nice sandwish ended the day.



Wednesday started with some lessons - the weather was still very good and therefore having sport outside was a good option. Christian one of our new teachers took care of introducing the group to soft-ball. Once again competition and cooperation gave a good lesson in how to do your best although you can loose the game.

The afternoon was leisure-time and one of our young students, with bosnian and hercegovian background, invited all the visitors for a dinner. They had a great time talkning only their mother-tongue. It is very special that Denmark contains a variaty of different cultures so our country is more able to connect with the outside world.
To internationalize is not only a matter of looking outwards - but also inwards your own country and city. Thank you Leo Petrec for the initiative.

Tuesday the 6.th



Tuesday was a day with a lot of activities. The visitors joined their hosts in the two first lessons.
At twlve o'clock Uffe took everybody to Vejle for a visit a centre for ecology.
It is a place where you can touch, feel, and experience different enviroments in urban, rural and nature areas.

Almost just after beeing back from Vejle Camilla Mulvad and her parents had invited the whole group for a barbecue-party in Brejning - just outside Fredericia.
The weather was perfect and the food just good. On a nearby football-lawn girls played against boys. I think the boys won, but only because of their luck.
Indeed it was a international game.

The first day May 5th



At last came our visitors from Mostar. They experienced a tough tour through Europe and came in middle of Sunday night.
But everyone started as planned with breakfast at Fredericia Gymnasium.
Vagn Olsen took the visitors for a tour in the completely newly rebuilded gymnasium.
There was a biology-exercise with bloodtype-definition. Once more Uffe showed how natural science is international because we understood each other using the biology-terms.

Tommy took the Mostar-students for a short tour in Fredericia. The focus was on the history of the city with emphasize on the  military fortification, multicultural citizenship: jews, catholics, huguenots, protestants and modern urban life.

The hosts picked up the visitors and the need for a godd sleep was evident.