Erasmus+ Exchange Slovenia April 2022

Here you can view the presentations used as backdrop during the student's performance:

application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation

PETER_KLEPEC_play.pptx

JurateandKastytis_LIT.pptx

SnowWhites_play.pptx

And here are the scripts, written by the students themselves:

application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document

PeterKlepec_script.docx

JurateandKastytis_script.docx

SnowWhite_script.docx

Places we've visited: Ptuj, Maribor, Ljubljana and Bled

After lunch, it was slowly time to say goodbye as we were nearing the end of the meeting. Renata had kindly prepared some feedback games to evaluate the meeting and collect ideas for future projects. All students mentioned how much they had enjoyed the city trips and their free time together, socializing with their new friends from other countries. They also praised the Slovenian girls for their marvellous work as tour guides as well as their welcoming spirit and agreed that one more week would have been even better.&nbsp; Moreover, the students enjoyed the opportunity to write postcards to each other, and for some this was noticably the first time ever writing a postcard. When exchanging their heartfelt messages, there were even some tears flowing - which only goes to show how profound the bonds between the students are that have grown over the course of&nbsp;the&nbsp;just a few days. You could sense in the room that the students will miss their new friends dearly! This was the&nbsp;final&nbsp;activity&nbsp;carried out&nbsp;during this Erasmus+ project&nbsp;week&nbsp;in Slovenia. The students gained an invaluable and priceless experience of communicating and&nbsp;working cooperatively in international groups, getting to know each other's customs and traditions.&nbsp;&nbsp;

This book was made by... Rita Svediene, Lithuanian project coordinator Liudmila, accompanying Lithuanian teacher Angelina Burdiniene, accompanying Lithuanian teacher Heidrun Franck, German project coordinator Julia Kruse, accompanying German teacher A special thank you goes out to Renata, the amazing organiser of our week in Slovenia, as well as Alenka and Branka, two kind and committed teachers who made sure the days went by seamlessly. The whole school community Gimnasija Ptuj created a wonderfully welcoming atmosphere that made us feel at home right from the start. &lt;3

During their creative photo shoot at the sights in Ptuj, especially the German boys went above and beyond. To no surprise, their group was awarded first place!

Team Germany is ready for the opening ceremony.

In the afternoon,&nbsp;students and teachers enjoyed a guided tour in the Ethnographic Museum to learn about Slovenian culture and heritage. We learnt how people used to fish in the region, where people slept, what they wore in former times&nbsp;and&nbsp;how people were punished. We also found out that beekeeping is still very popular in&nbsp;present-day&nbsp;Slovenia, and there are 11,000 officially registered beekeepers in the country. We continued our journey to Bled, an amazing place with a wonderful scenery: an emerald green&nbsp;glacier lake&nbsp;and&nbsp;a castle on a steep rock, dating back to the 11th century, which some of us climbed.&nbsp;Everybody&nbsp;enjoyed some time in nature,&nbsp;surrounded by friends and the sun.&nbsp;&nbsp; Back in Ptuj,&nbsp;the students enjoyed their evening together with their new friends celebrating Fiene's birthday.

Thanks to the magical powers given to Peter by a beautiful fairy, the trouble makers are defeated - a happy ending to the Slovenian legend.

04. April - First Day of the Project Monday morning the Slovenes kindly let us sleep a little longer after our strenuous journey the night before but at 10 o'clock it was time to kick off the final week of the overarching project 'Europe in Motion' at Gimnazija Ptuj!&nbsp; The Slovenian students, their teacher and coordinator Renata as well as the school's principal warmly welcomed us to their school and one of their impressive school bands played a couple of songs for us. The wonderful Slovenian students introduced their home country to us with a presentation on curious Slovenian world records which was funny and interesting at the same time. We will surely remember the record on the largest chocolate bar or the animal which can live without food for over ten years! Furthermore, they had prepared a presentation on their school's history, starting off with black-and-white photos from the early days and gradually moving into the present. The warm-hearted reception set the tone for the remainder of the week - the Slovenians proved to be kind, open-hearted and perfectly organized hosts throughout the entire project who made us feel welcome from the very first moment.&nbsp;

... and the German students, as well.

At the famous Dragon Bridge ('zmajski most') in Ljubljana, on our way to the Ethnographic Museum.

Watch the students' performances here. Enjoy! :)

The highlight of our sightseeing tour was perhaps the final destination: the castle of Ptuj ('Grad Ptuj'), built in the 12th century, where we were shown the exhibit on the traditional Kurent costumes. These scary-looking garments made of sheepskin with a belt of cow bells attached are worn during the week-long festival in Ptuj. The idea behind the celebrations, which start on Shrove Sunday, is to show the winter the door and finally make room for spring.&nbsp; The German teacher Heidi Franck even plucked up the courage to try on a Kurent costume! Before she can participate in the festival, she has to build up some more stamina, though, to be able to carry the enormously heavy costume on her lean shoulders.&nbsp; The castle and, of course, the magnificent view from the top of the hill made hiking the steep hill worth while, as can be seen in our photos.&nbsp; Before meeting at the homey restaurant 'Gostilna Rozika', we all had some free-time. For dinner, we experienced the mediterranean influence on the Slovenian cuisine and enjoyed pasta with bolognese or tomato sauce.

03. April 2022 - Journey to our destination Slovenia In the afternoon, 2022 students from Lithuania and Germany started their journey to the lovely Slovenian small town called Ptuj. It is located in the east of the country and close to the Austrian border, so we decided on the airport in Graz as our destination where we arrived shortly past midnight. The Slovenians kindly picked us up by bus and took us to our accommodation '<a href="https://www.rooms-silak.com/index.php/de/">Šilak</a>', a cosy Bed &amp; Breakfast near the river Drava (in English 'Drau') and Grad Ptuj, a majestic castle sitting on the top of the hill.

The German students enjoy the weather outside the Ethnographic museum after the tour.

The students perform their creative version of the Lithuanian legend 'Jūratė and Kastytis' with simple, yet effective props and costumes.

Here you may view the directions for the group work:

OUR_LEGENDS_Directions.doc

05. April - Working on the National Legends and Fairy Tales On our second day of the exchange, our students delved into the main project of the week: legends and fairy tales that are famous in their home countries.&nbsp; To give an overview of the main ideas of each legend, the students started the day by putting together a brief presentation on their chosen legend in national groups. Despite only having an hour to prepare, they successfully presented three legends: Peter Klepec (Slovenian group) and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (German group), Jūratė and Kastytis (Lithuanian group).&nbsp; After drawing lots in their multinational groups, the students knew which legend they were going to perform. The remainder of Tuesday was spent writing scripts and creating lists of props needed. In the afternoon, this busy period of work time was rewarded with a trip to Maribor by bus, once again led by the knowledgable Slovenian students.&nbsp; Maribor is a buzzing university town close to Ptuj with many shopping opportunities - a great destination for our students to hang out with their new friends!

Every now and then, there were small breaks in which country-specific snacks from all participating groups could be tasted. Thanks to our hosts‘ grandmothers and mothers , we were served delicious home-made Slovenian cakes such as apple strudel, gibanica or zagorski strukli. German sweets like marzipan and jelly bears were also very popular among the students and teachers. New to all of us were the Lithuanian gourmet varieties of cheese or cucumber with honey and different chocolate varieties from Šiauliai’s chocolate factory Rūta.&nbsp;

Zagorski Strukli&nbsp;

Prekmurska Gibanica&nbsp;

07. April - Performance Day After another abundant breakfast at our&nbsp;B &amp; B, the students rehearsed their plays and added some finishing touches. Each team got some rehearsal time in the 'Cultural Hall', a large professional theatre in the school, before it was finally time to present the fairy tales and legends.&nbsp; The performances were truly impressive, taking into consideration how little time the students had to prepare their plays. Nevertheless, all three groups let their creativity shine through and added a modern touch to their plays. In 'Jūratė and Kastytis', two women fell in love and the antagonists in&nbsp;'Peter Klepec' were two playground bullies wearing sunglasses and boofy down jackets. 'Snow White' also turned out differently from the fairy tale you might be familiar with: instead of marrying the prince at the end, the protagonist Snow White rather chose to reject his proposal and sent him off to the 'friendzone'. Everybody enjoyed the funny jokes, the musical backdrop&nbsp;and great acting skills, the students even found a way to make the most out of the few props they had and e.g. created waves and the sea with blankets. The teachers were, of course, delighted to hear some creative language work, as well. In 'Snow White', the evil step mother mumbled 'An apple a day keeps the daughter, eeeerh doctor, away' - followed by bursting laughter from the teachers' lounge.&nbsp; When the the official program had ended, the students took advantage of their free time before dinner and went to the local bowling alley.

Next, the students stung into action by playing some ice-breaking activities to get to know each other.&nbsp;With&nbsp;a total of 20 participants it was not so easy to remember things you could 'put in a suitcase' or to pronounce the new names correctly. Nevertheless, the students tried their best and supported each other. After lunch, the students came together in their multinational groups for the first time and went on a city tour, professionally guided by the Slovenian girls. As a special activity, the students had to take creative photos at many of the sights, e.g. the wine cellar and the local townhall. You can view a selection on the following pages...&nbsp;

Team Germany at the airport in Graz.

Blejski grad is a medieval castle on top of the hill overlooking Lake Bled.

The project participants at the end of the week: their minds and hearts are full of lovely memories!

The teachers are having fun exploring the school and the artwork on display.

Friday, 08th April 2022&nbsp;- Easter Arts &amp; Crafts So, the final day&nbsp;of the international project meeting in Ptuj has come. In the morning, all students gathered in the school library where each country introduced their way of decorating Easter eggs. Then the Erasmus+ project participants were presented the activities for decorating Easter eggs by teacher Renata who provided them with all the necessary craft material for their creative work. The students took plastic-foam eggs, painted them black and started decorating with red and white acrylic&nbsp;paint in the traditional Slovenian way. At 11 o'clock,&nbsp;the Gimnazija had the evacuation training alarm. Everybody had an unexpected break from our project activities and walked outside where they enjoyed the sunny though windy weather of Ptuj. In ten minutes time after coming back to the school building, the students&nbsp;continued the enjoyable process of decorating Easter eggs.&nbsp;The process was very delicate and the students had to be really precise. All the eggs were put in one basket which was left in the library for the whole school community to have sweet memories of the project.

06. April - Excursion day On Wednesday,&nbsp;we went on a trip to Ljubljana and Bled - a special day, not only because of the trip but also because it was Fiene’s birthday.&nbsp;She turned 16 and was celebrated at breakfast with a song, a birthday cake and candles by all of us. The weather&nbsp;gave us a taste of summer with&nbsp;lots of sun and mild temperatures. We started at school at 7.30 am.&nbsp;Although this meant getting up very early, students and teachers were in excursion mood and excited to see the beautiful Slovenian capital. After a relaxing bus trip, having a small nap or enjoying the impressive view of the snow-covered Alps from the “sunny side”, the Slovenian teachers guided us to the centre of Ljubljana. Students were shown around by their Slovenian hosts in their already familiar groups and the Slovenian teachers Branka and Alenka did the same with the Lithuanian and German teachers.&nbsp; What an incredible, pleasant, architecturally rich city looking magical in the spring light! And again there is a castle towering above the city, you see people sitting outside along the river Ljubljanica, daffodils everywhere – a lively city without traffic in the&nbsp;centre.&nbsp;Ljubljana&nbsp;has been awarded the title of the “European Green Capital” in 2016 and you can see that&nbsp;everywhere.&nbsp;

Waiting for dinner at the restaurant 'Gostilna Rozika'.

Stunning Ljubljana left us speechless; we were grateful to have had the chance to travel around Slovenia.

The German teacher Heidi Franck wearing the traditional Kurent costume

The Lithuanian girls on their way to Slovenia...

We took a guided tour through the permanent exhibit 'Between Nature and Culture'.

The students jotted down their feedback on these hands, e.g. something they really enjoyed, something they would like to point out and what they suggest for future meetings.

The bullies threaten Peter and his sheep in the play 'Peter Klepec', inspired by the Slovenian tale. The students in this multinational group used a variety of large images in a presentation as the background for their performance, another simple but creative solution.

Some impressions of Ptuj, the oldest town in Slovenia and our home base for the project

A typical Slovenian&nbsp;cake baked for us by the grandmother of a student - such a sweet gesture!

As a treat after the performances, the participants tried delicacies from the different countries. So we learned that dipping cheese into honey is common in Lithuania. We were also fascinated with the different shapes sweets take in other places, e.g. a type of candy presented by the Lithuanian group came in the shape of a mushroom.

Ice-breaking activities with the wonderful teacher Renata: Here, students played the game 'Packing my suitcase' with a twist: they had to introduce themselves by name and then say which item they want to bring to a party. This item had to start with their first letter.

Table of Contents 03rd April 2022 - Journey to our Destination Slovenia 04th April 2022 - First Day of the Project 05th April 2022 - Working on the National Fairy Tales and Legends 6th April 2022 - Excursion Day 7th April 2022 - Performance Day 8th April 2022 - Easter Arts &amp; Crafts Some impressions of Ptuj

Antique paper texture

Erasmus+ Slovenia April 2022

Team Germany enjoyed their time at magnificent Lake Bled

The three dwarfs find the sleeping Snow White.

Objects in the ethnographic museum.