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Saturday 23 November 2013

Reflections upon 5th Comenius Project Meeting – Dunaharaszti, Hungary


Viribus Unitis
http://viribusunitis.org/
7th -11th October 2013
Written by the students of VIII PALO Kraków, Poland
Polish Representatives:
Tadeusz Borucki – deputy head, Anna Krzemińska-Kaczyńska – geography teacher

VIII PALO International Baccalaureate Students: Daria Omilianowska, Magdalena Zawieracz, Jędrzej Miklaszewski, Julia Fiutowska, Justyna Kacińska, Agnieszka Dzido

TOPIC: ALTERNATIVE SOURCES OF ENERGY

1.                  By Magdalena Zawieracz, pre-IB
We arrived to Hungary on Monday, 7th of October, but the official part of the meeting started on Tusday, 8th of October.  Our Hungarian friends welcomed us with open arms. At first we went to the community centere were school choir and band performed Abba songs. It was rather pleasant and very enjoyable. Pupils form Hungary made some special hungarian cookies and cakes for us and they were all so delicious.  Afterwards every  country had an introducing speech about themselves,  school they came from, and a little bit about their country . After lunch there came time for presentations about alternative sources of energy. Each country had a presentation about the wind energy, bio gas, solar panels etc. Though the presentations were very similar, we enjoyed them and we could not wait to show our movie to people form  other countries.  After few hours of presentations there was Hungarian Dance party, and it  was my favourite part of that day. It was a  very nice change  to dance after  spending the whole day on sitting and watching the presentations.
The next day we went to Budapest to explore the city. We saw some beautiful places like The Parliament or  the glorious Budda Castle and  we went to a boat trip on the river Danube. We had some  free time just for ourselves and it was a great adventure to walk through the city streets with a map and get to know the Budapest better . That day we also had a delectable meal in one of the Hungarian restaurants.
On Thursday  we went to the South – Pest waste plant that produces  bio gas and bio energy. We learned a lot about the process of production and we were able to feel how it is to work in a waste plant. The odor was horrible and we could not breath without the scarf. Although it was a very interesting place we were happy when we finally got to our car and went to the hotel. That afternoon there was a farewell party. We had a lot of fun dancing and eating Hungarian food.  We met some new people and we had an amazing time. Unfortunately it was our last day in Hungary, but we will never forget this trip and we will think fondly about it.
I enjoyed this Comenius meeting very much! I can not wait for the next meeting that is going to take place in our beautiful city of Cracow.

2.                  By Julia Fiutowska, pre-IB
The first day of our trip was Monday. We arrived in Dunaharashti at 4PM  and depending where we were suppose to live some of us stayed at the hostel and the rest went with their host families houses. I lived with Dankó family, they live in a small village called Apaj about 30 km from Dunaharashti. After we got to their house I met the whole family and with Lily we went for a walk around Apaj.
On Tuesday all participants of the Comenius Project arrived to the Community Centre where the opening ceremony begun. First the headmaster of the school gave the opening speech both in English and Hungarian, later the local band and school choir performed ABBA songs. The next part of the meeting were intro speeches. Every participating country (Hungary, Czech Republic, Finland, Slovenia, Greece, Turkey, Lithuania, Poland) gave about 10 minutes long speech about themselves. After that we watched a movie about Hungarian school that hosted the project this time and later the most important part of the meeting started. Every country starting with Hungary made a presentation about  alternative energy sources in their country. Some of them were shorted some were longer but each country tried to make their presentation special and unique. The one I remember  best in Finnish students presentation. They not only made a presentation in PowerPoint but also they showed us short interviews they made with workers of factories connected with creation and extraction various kinds of energy. When our Polish team finished our presentation we also showed all students and teachers a short film about Cracow and our school because it is where the next Comenius Project will be held. The last attraction prepared for Tuesday was Hungarian Folk Dance Party. I have to admit we had a lot of fun during that dance. Later all groups came back to hostels or their hosting families but we went with our teachers to see Budapest at night. It was an amazing experience for me because it was my first time in Budapest and I was really amazed by the view. Around 9PM we came back to Dunaharashti and went to sleep.
On Wednesday we went for Budapest tour. Firstly we all met in Buda castle and we spent there two hours. Later we had a boat trip on Danube river. Thru the windows we could see the parliament, which we visited after the boat trip and lunch break.  In my opinion it is a really beautiful building both on the inside and on the outside, it looked very official and the colours that dominated in it: green and gold showed the importance and richness of that place. After that we split from the rest of the group, they went to do  more sightseeing and we had a free time for shopping. Later we came back to our houses to rest before the next day.
Thursday was our last whole day spent in Hungary. In the morning we drove to the South -Pest Wastewater Treatment Plant to see the production of Bio energy. For me that was the least enjoyable part of our project meeting. After that we went to buy our family some souvenirs and we ate lunch, Student’s Workshops at school were suppose to start at 2PM. During those lessons we were divided into three groups and each group did something different. In my group we made a brochure of the meeting in Dunaharashti in which we participated. Than we had to prepare for Farewell Party Diner which started at 6PM and ended with dance party at 10PM. We spent really great time at that dance mostly thanks to a band that was playing. I think all participants would agree that they did a splendid job.
   Friday was the day of our departure. I was sad to leave this place and all memories behind. As a goodbye gift I gave my hosting family souvenirs from Cracow and by my surprise they also gave me a small present. Later we gathered in Dunaharashti and started our journey back home. We arrived in Cracow around 3:30PM, and that was the end of our short adventure.
It was the first Comenius Meeting I participated in, and I have to say it was a really great experience. I met a lot of new people and the family that hosted me was really amazing, and I think I can say that they did everything they possibly could to make my feel welcome and make my stay there special. Also I was able to see a lot of new places thanks to the trips that were organized by the Hungarian team. I am pleasantly surprised by the appearance on Hungarian people. They were all very friendly and despite small communication problems we got along very well.           
3.                  By Agnieszka Dzido, pre-IB
The first, and official part of the meeting started on Tuesday, 8th of October. At first, we were amazed by the hospitality of our friends, Hungarians. They’ve made an effort to create welcoming signs for the participants in their native language. A Simple, but very nice gesture. Then the opening ceremony begun, performed by the school choir and band which we had real pleasure to listen. After the welcoming, and introduction speeches of each country, there came a time for the most educational part of the meeting, presentations about alternative energy sources. Each presentation was really interesting, and even though they were on the same topic, they were all different, and were carrying some thought- provoking messages. The whole day finished with Hungarian Folk Dance Party which was a very pleasant change after spending rather passive then active day, and by the way a lot of fun! Of course, during the day we got lunch and some other goodies served on the spot.
On the next day, we were sightseeing wonderful Budapest. The most important places we saw were: The Buda Castle and The Parliament. Both were extremely beautiful and definitely worth seeing. Between  them, we had a boat trip on River Danube which let us admire Hungarian architecture. After all we were given some free time to explore the downtown of Budapest by ourselves.
The last day of the meeting (except for the day of departure), we started with visiting the South- Pest wastewater treatment plant to see the production of Bioenergy. A very lecturing trip, yet also a little bit hard to resist because of the bad odor. Later on that day, we were taken to some really involving workshop classes at the school. We finished that day with the farewell party, where I made a lot of new friends, and had some absolutely amazing time until the very last second.
I wanted to thank all the Hungarian participants, for organizing this meeting, and I hope to see you again next time in Poland! J
4.                  By Justyna Kacińska, pre-IB
Introduction
From October the 7th- 11th 2013 there was Comenius meeting in Dunaharaszti, Hungary.  Six students from our school took part in this exchange. Three of us were living in hotel and the rest was living in host families.
 Formal parts of meeting were very interesting. During the first day we went to Dunaharaszti community center. The opening was amazing. There was an orchestra and school’s choir performance. Later, every team (Hungary, Slovenia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Finland and Poland) had presentation about their school and renewable resources. On Thursday we went to biogas plant. The trip lasted about 2 hours and our tour guide told us about the processes wastes need to go through to obtain the energy. In the evening there was official dinner gathering all people from countries taking part in Comenius.
Of course, there were informal parts, which were enormous virtues. On Thursday evening and Wednesday we had a chance to explore Budapest. Beautiful buildings and incredibly nice people made this amazing atmosphere, which makes Budapest such a beautiful city. Hungarian team took us for a boat ride through the Danube. Except that we went to the Parliament and, Budai Castle and Citadel.
Conclusion
To conclude I think the meeting in Hungary was really amazing. People from other countries were nice and hopefully there were almost no problem with hosting families. We had great time in taking part in program that promotes healthier and better for our planet life. Now we are looking forward to organizing the next meeting in Poland in February 2014.

5.                  By Jędrzej Miklaszewski, pre-IB
Firstly we had to get there, the road wasn’t so boring because of our lovely geography teacher, who organized all this project meeting to Hungary. When we finally get there those who were living in the families met them and those who were sleeping in the hostel  started to unpacking themselves. On Tuesday we have in plan the official part of meeting in Hungary which was that all the countries (Greece, Hungary, Czech Republic, Turkey, Lithuania and last but not least- Poland) have to present the renewable energy in their countries (wind, solar, biogas, geothermal, , water, ).  I’ve been twice in Budapest and every time it makes me really excited. It’s such a  beautiful place where I could surely live in. On Wednesday we were exploring the Budapest from the best sites , we’ve visited old castle on the top  of the hill and the beautiful and exciting parliament, but before that we took a boat trip upon the main Budapest river Danube which was cool too.  On Thursday we were taken to waste plant center, which was really really stinky but also very interesting. In this place they produce biogases  and bioenergy with waste plants, unfortunately our clothes didn’t smell beautifully after all. In the evening we have official ending of our meeting on Hungary, which was really cool and we have so great time with all of those project participants and the greatest part I think was the party which was on the last evening  everyone danced and it was so great. I miss all of these people but they will come to Poland in February so its time for us to show our national and local green city!



Organized by VIII PALO school project coordinator AK-K

Our Comenius Project Meeting in Ljubljana, Slovenia

Our Comenius Project Meeting in Ljubljana, Slovenia

Viribus Unitis - help the world with joint efforts!
2013

From the very beginning I had big expectations from this project. First of all I really love travelling so I was very happy to be able to visit green Ljubljana.  Secondly – I was looking forward to meet new people, get to know their culture, outlook and all the differences between our countries. The last from the most important aspects was the language – I had a wonderful occasion to practise my language skills. And so I did! Furthermore, I learned some new words in Slovenian – “hvala!”.
Just as we arrived to Ljubljana, we met our native guide – Jaka. Our group immediately found him very friendly. He also had the same sense of humor, so every time we went out with him we had a lot of fun. He also introduced us to his friend Daniel. And so we already had two new native friends. On the second day the students of the hosting school prepared for us a quick tour around the building, showed us the classrooms where we could see how things worked and we could talk with the teachers.
During next few days we had a chance to get familiar with students from other countries. Students that I personally remember the most were from Czech Republic and Turkey with whom I had a pleasure to work with during creating posters on recycling.
In the evenings we had enough time to look around in Ljubljana, do some shopping and drink hot chocolate while admiring the view of the city. The teachers also had planned a small tour to the castle of Ljubljana, Predjama castle (which was simply breathtaking), and Postojna cave where I took many photos. The great national Slovenian heritage was presented to all ECO-PARTENRSJ
The most important and awaited parts of the whole trip were our presentations. I was very nervous before our “Mineral resources” presentation, but the audience was very sympathetic and full of enthusiasm. Despite the technical problems, even our short play about Cracow’s culture worked out nicely. I also had a chance to present some green photos from Kraków taken by me to the participants of Comenius which was a big pleasure and pride for me.
I would certainly wish to take part in such event again. I also can’t wait to greet student from different countries here, in Poland, and to listen to teachers from India and the USA as they are going to visit our school soon.
I would like to thank for this chance, and I hope to come to Ljubljana once again in the future.

Agnieszka Kunstman, IB 1

Reflections upon 1st Comenius Project Meeting – Yalova, Turkey


Viribus Unitis
http://viribusunitis.org/
6th -9th November 2012
Written by the students of VIII PALO Kraków, Poland
IB2 class student: Maciek Bielski :
Preparations for our meeting in Yalova within the Comenius project started in mid-October, just after we
made our team consisting of me and my three classmates: Gabriela, Karolina and Weronika. We have started
from gathering useful data that would help us with preparing the presentation on the project’s main theme
– water. Each of us was allotted the questions that we were supposed to answer the presentation. We were
also asked to prepare a questionnaire that we published on the Internet in order to get as many answers as
we could. In the mean time we managed to make a plan of our preceding visit in Istanbul and organize things
such as hostel etc. Then, after collecting all needed data, we made the presentation that we were about to
show in Turkey.
Istanbul welcomed us with warm weather and great atmosphere. Three days we spent there were great part
of our whole trip, as we could not only see but also experience life there. We were sightseeing the oldest
part of the city with all the monuments and mosques, which will certainly be remembered for a long time.
Then we went to Yalova for the project itself. Our host-families greeted us with great hospitality, it is
perceived as really enlightening experience. We managed to make new friends and we are looking out for
other meetings.
VIII PALO – IB World School – Kraków, Poland. http://www.viiipalo.krakow.pl/
Page 2
IB2 class student - Weronika Kiebzak:
Our trip to Turkey was undoubtedly an interesting experience. We started our preparations long before the
actual depart by gathering information on conditions of water in Cracow and preparing a presentation. We
carried out a penetrating research that deepened our knowledge on this subject. In Turkey, we were able to
watch the presentations of other countries. During our stay in Yalova we found various ways to
communicate with our host families and other participants of the Comenius. Luckily, we were able to make
new friendships. We were also astonished by the great hospitability of Turkish people. We were treated as
members of our host families and our correspondents saw us off with tears.
During our stay we spent 3 days in Istanbul and a few days in Yalova. We were able to observe cultural
differences between Polish and Turkish people and even between citizens of those two cities. Moreover, we
were very pleased with the atmosphere of Istanbul, which was rather surprising, as we had heard that this is
a dangerous city. Still, it must be admitted that Istanbul has a specific atmosphere that can’t be compared to
any other European city. Is it surprising how many differences there are between Istanbul and Yalova
although they are so close.
All in all, our trip to Turkey was very inspiring. We have many new experiences, we managed to work
collaboratively with others on WATER, we developed our organizational skills and increased our awareness
of the cultural diversity across the world.
IB2 class student - Karolina Sioda:
On 10th November me and three other students from my class had a chance to go to Turkey for a six day
trip. Three days of our journey we spent in Istanbul living just by the Blue Mosque. We saw a lot of amazing
places and monuments and mosques including Hagia Sophia and Marmara Sea coast. After three days of
fruitful sightseeing mostly around Sultanahmet district, we went with students from Partner countries to a
small city called Yalova. It is on the opposite side of Marmara sea and it is a small village. We went there for
the Comenius project, which aim is to unite people from all Europe, exchange each participant country's
culture and to discuss a important ecological issue. In our project, during the first meeting we were talking
about water and it's resources. Each group talked about their water reservoirs, drinking water and sewage
systems. We also had a chance to see water treatment plant and Yalova's water source.
The whole trip was a great experience and opportunity to try Turkish cuisine (kebab is much better in
Poland, but Turkish tea is just amazing!), know their religion and customs better. Also knowing people from
Slovenia, Latvia or Finland and other partner schools was really nice and we had a great time there. We are
all looking forward for next meeting hopefully in Slovenia!
Organized by PACK school project coordinator AK-K