Saturday 3rd

After the first night by our hosts, we met at Mostar Gimnazija 9.30 am. At the school we made different sport activities such as table tennis, basketball, volleyball and football. When people got exhausted, we had free time. Some went to the old town and "the old bridge".

The bridge was very beautiful and exciting to watch - some people were paid by the tourists, to jump from the 28 m high bridge into the 7-10 m deep river. After that we went to the nearby museum where we watched a film about “the old bridge”. Here we saw the story of how the old bridge was build-destroyed-rebuild. Some people were emotionally touched by the film. At this time we were hungry so we went to a restaurant where we ate a traditional meal – it was called cevapi and it was made of a mix of meat and bread. After the meal we spent some hours at the billiard club, which is similar to our “Pool House” in Fredericia.

Afterwards we went home with our hosts and had dinner. In the evening we all meet at the disco called Oxygen. Here we had a lot of fun, until we were tired and sleepy – We have to mention that the beers are very cheap, so we drank a lot (:

Stine, Kevin & Elvan 3.c 

3.c arrived well in Mostar

The exchange has started in a good way.

3.c arrived yesterday afternoon at Mostar Gimnazija. All the hosts were assembled in front of the newly restored gimnazija. 3.c was welcomed by the headmaster Krpo Bakir and had a something to drink.

Vanja Kajgana told the students about the coming program and after this introduction the hosts took the visitors to their homes for relaxing and some bosnian supper.

The danish students started in Fredericia at 01.30, but there was no bus. The driver wrongly assumed it to be the next night. So all the students phoned their parents and in a half an hour they organized transport to the airport of Hamborg. It was a miracle. Thanks to all the parents ,who gave 8 hours of their sleep, - we managed to catch the plane in the last second - actually, 3.c delayed the takeoff with about 25 minutes.

In this exchange we already feel the hospitality of the people of Mostar. So we look forward to do the rest of the programme.

Info about Mostar

3.c is ready to leave Denmark and travel to BiH.

Before leaving they had a visitor from Mostar: Mirela Musa.

She is living in Denmark and is a succesful manager of a caretaking firm for elderly people.

Mirela acted as translator in the first meeting between Mostar and Fredericia Gymnasium 2006.

She told the students about the life of Mostar-families, serb-croat language, history of Mostar and the climate in the Neretva-vally. There was a lot of questions which shows that the students a fully aware of the coming exchange.

All the participants are looking forward to the meeting Friday 2nd.

News from the coming exchange

3.c is preparing the tour in BiH this coming October:

• Green Vision will take the class in the beautiful Perucica oldforest. Here the students will experience a green hike.
• Green Vision will also give a lecture about eco-tourism in BiH.
• The class is looking forward to stay at Hotel City Center in Sarajevo.
• It seems to be possible to visit the Danish Embassy.
• Hotel Ada in Blagaj will once more welcome the danish students at their beautiful situated hotel at the brink of River Buna.
• The exchange in Mostar is still being planned.

Before leaving the class will:

• Experience the visit of a danish writer: Martin Glaz Serup, who will tell about visiting BiH and how to write post cards.
• The local library is supporting democracy in Fredericia by giving room for exhibitions. 3.c have produceret photos of the (un-)official parts of the town. They will be present at the exhibition and have a dialogue with the citizens.
• The class will do a hike in Fredericia along the coast of Lillebælt, into the woods and the town. The subject is: "Man and Nature - Harmony or conflict?" Commented photos (mobil-phones) will tell their experiences from the hike. 

Divers from Mostar Bridge

Green Vision has published this link of divers from Mostar Bridge - for sure we are not trying this activity when we will visit Mostar in October.

New article about Tim Clancy from Green Vision

Are you interested in nature and hiking - read this interesting article about the co-founder of Green vision: Tim Clancy.

Nordic Viking-ships in the Balkans

Youth for Europe is an idea that young people should meet across borders and cultures.

Since 2005 has 1.400 young people been togheter on viking-ships rebuild after models from the 9.th and 10.th centuries.

In these summer-days, a gruop of young people from Balkan countries are rowing a viking-boat on a river between Bosnia and hercegovina and Serbia (maybee the river, Drina) Being on a boat together means teamwork and dedication to the idea of travelling as one group.

Green Vision (their homepage with info about lakes and rivers) is supporting the activity - we wish you good luck from Denmark, home of some of the vikings.

2.c is doing a project: "War, media and technology"

2.c is doing a project on the theme: "War media and technology".

The subjects - psychology, biology and history are used in an interdiciplinary way to give an understanding of the civil war in Yugoslavia 1991-1995 - with special emphazise on the war in Bosnia & Hercegovina 1992-1995.

Psychology as a humanistic subject gives the students an opportunity to work with posttraumatic stress disorder.

• What is the definition of PSTD? How does it show and what can be done to overcome PSTD?
• Azra Hasanbegovic is working with PSTD among citizens who suffer from PSTD. She told the class about PSTD, and how to repatriate people in Bosnia and Hercegovina.

History also joined as a humanistic subject:

• Historiy has been working with the development of the Balkans from 1880-1918, 1918-1941, 1941-1945, 1945-1991. We now worked with the civil war in BiH. Everyone was impressed by the semidocumentary BBC-film: "Warriors", 1999. It showed how ethnic cleansening, in Vitez,  was completed 1991-1992.

• Later on Karsten Fledelius gave an interesting lecture on the maintheme: "War and media". His mainpoint was that you always have to be suspicious, independant and critical when you try to understand politics through medias.

Biology, as a natural science, worked with body identification.

Later on the students have to defende their synopse in a oral examination.

For sure this project gives the danish students a broader understanding of BiH when they will visit the country October 2009.

Green Vision and the exchangeproject

Green Vision ,in Sarajevo, is working hard to protect and improve the nature reserves in BiH.

The organisation is also responsible for guided tours into the wildlife and cities of the region.

2.c will enjoy a tour into the oldforest of Perucica Oct.2009 - in continuation of this contact Green Vision and the exchangeproject between Mostar Gimnazija and Fredericia Gymnasium will try to establish a partnership or co-operation with focus on:

• nature reserves
• enviromental sustainiblity
• integration among young people

Fredericia Gymnasium looks forward to strenghten the relations with Green Vision.

The bosnian ambassador, M. Hajdarevic, visited Fredericia Gymnasium

Ambassador Muhamed Hajdarevic visited Vejle and Fredericia municipalities this thursdag and friday.
In Vejle he had a dialogue with the Mayor Leif Skov, Hans Sørensen and Biljana Lozo.
There was also contact with local companies.

There was a nice dinner in Fredericia where Mayor Uffe steiner Jensen welcomed Hajdarevic. The reprensentatives from Vejle where also present togehter with Fredericia Gymnasium. The dinner created a good atmosphere and dialougue about Bosnia and hercegovina and the relations towards Denmark.

See also Fredericia Dagblad.
The good dialogue continued the next day - starting with a visit in Fredericia Gymnasium. Mayor Uffe Steiner and the local buisness-reprensentative was also present.
The ambassador was presented a insight in the danish education-system, the ongoing exchange between Mostar Gimnazija and Fredericia Gymnasium.
Sandra Saabye a former student told the meeting about her experiences with the exchange. Katja H. and Sara F. talked about their expectations in the exchange.

The ambassador questioned a lot and contributed in a dynamic way to the visit.
The issues included importance of ethnic backgruonds, tolerance, opportunities and prospects for young people and how to develop talents in school systems.
The importance of cohesion in the education-system, on a national level, was also discussed.
Fredericia Gymnasium is thanking everyone for a good visit.

Mayor Uffe Steiner Jensen took the ambassador to a meeting with the brewery Carlsberg and the cheese producent Arla-foods.

Mostar and Fredericia on Facebook

The exchange between Mostar Gimnazija and Fredericia Gymnasium is still improving.
We will now try to intensify the comunication between visitors from Denmark and hosts in Bosnia & Hercegovina by activating a groupsite on Facebook.
Here are som interesting facilities which allow the students to see each other as a group and on the other hand they can still be intimate and personal when they communiate one and one.

Valentina, Mladenka and I will try to inspire the students to write about diffenrent themes. The aim is to mix subjects from school with communication in leisure-time.
In this way we hope that students from both countries will know each other better before the physical meeting in October.

Look up the Facebook-adress

The bosnian ambassador in Denmark visits Fredericia

Last May students and teachers: Mladenka and Tanja visited Fredericia Gymnasium.
The bosnian visitors had a good meeting with Fredericias mayor: Uffe Steiner Jensen.
It almost succeded to establish a meeting between Uffe Steiner and the ambassador of Bosnia & Hercegovina from Copenhagen.

The new ambassador, Muhamed Hajdarevic, is now invited to visit Vejle February 19th. Here there will be talks with the mayor of Vejle: Leif Skov.
The next day, 20th, the ambassador will visit Fredericia. When he visits Fredericia Gymnasium there will be a dialogue on issues like integration, democracy, education, international activities and the importance of the European Union in Denmark and Bosnia & Hercegovina form the perspective of young students.
Later that day he will be together with mayor Uffe steiner Jensen.

Fredericia Gymnasium is looking forward to welcome the ambassador.

2.c and the Balkans

2.c has started to prepare the visit in Bosnia and Hercegovina next October.
They will work with the Balkans in different subjects.
The students have just finsished a written paper with emphazise on the period 1870-1945. Major periods in history were:
- Imperialism 1870-1914
- First World War 1914-1918
- the inter-war period 1918-1939
- the Second World War 1939-1945
The main issues were:
- "How does small states like Denmark and Yugoslavia manage to stay independent and free in an increasing political hostile Europe?"
- "What were the political and military similarities and diffenrencies between the Nordic area and the Balkans?".
In the subject, Danish, the students worked with: rhetoric and war as a topic.

Until spring, the clas will study the communist state of Yugoslavia 1945-1980, 1980-1991 and the civil war 1991-1995. One of the main issues is on forces that seperated and united the state. The subjects religion, psychology and english will represent important tools in analyzing the the period of civil war.
Later on we will compare the Nordic welfare state 1957-1998 with communism in Yugoslavia.

The exchange between Mostar Gymnasium and Fredericia Gymnasium is shaping a main thread in our curriculum. The Visit in Mostar makes up a gathering between the real world and theory in class.

Fredericia students will visit B.H. Oct. 2.end.-12.th 2009

The danes/danska are visiting B.H. next October.

We have booked flight-tickets now. The danish students will travel by bus to Hamburg airport and fly to Sarajevo.

Our plan is very similar to the last danish visit.This means 4 days in Mostar with exchange. 4 days in Hotel Ada at the river Buna - here we have the oppertunity to visit each other.
The last two days will be in Sarajevo before returning for homeflight.

The next step is to establish relations between the danish visitors and the hosts in B.H. Hopefully it will bring about some good communication before the visit.

The B.H. Ambassador: Muhamed Hajdarevic',in Copenhagen, is invited to visit the Kommune of Fredericia and Mayor Uffe Steiner Jensen. Vejle Kommune will also participate in the visit. We hope that the politicians and the diplomats will visit
Fredericia Gymnasium.
The agenda ,is among other things, how to enhance industri relations, students-exchanges and education.

The Danish Ambassador in Sarajevo is currently briefed about the relations and we hope it will support the relations and activities between the countries.

A new exchange has started Oct. 2008

Dear students in Mostar and Fredericia

A quick review shows that after a danish visit in Mostar Oct.2007 and a revisit of Mostar-students, May 2008, it is now time for at new start of the exchange-project.

A new class in Fredericia Gymnasium, 2.C, is now working with the history, culture and enviroments of the Balkans with emphasise on Bosnia & Hercegovina. Working with the Balkans gives the students in Fredericia a wider perspective on Europe.
During the next year they will prepare the stay in B.H. during different projects.

The class will fill out indivual profiles so it can be matched with hosts from Mostar Gimnazija. Communication before the exchange is important so everyone feels save and welcomed - both ways.

We are planning to do the visit Oct.2. untill Oct.12. Our stay in Mostar will last from Oct.2.- Oct.6. After the stay in Mostar, the danish group will move to hotel Ada
near the river Buna until Oct.10. The last days will be spend in Sarajevo.

The class is saving money for the trip individually and as a classs.
The students are looking forward to travel in B.H.

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.