Ehrenamt UkraineIn November we welcomed students from the Nord-Østerdal videregående skole in Tynset. Together with aubiko they had a wonderful time with many impressions. (Here you can download the report as pdf-file)
Monday 04.11.2019
The students arrived on Monday in the afternoon in Hamburg, Germany. After meeting with us at the airport, we took the train and went to the DJh Jugendherberge Horner Rennbahn. Some of the students were still a bit shy to talk in German. The trip to the hotel lasted more less 25 minutes. During this time the advisor from aubiko started telling them about the stops that were important in the city and the ones they were going to use. Some of the girls asked a bit more about this, trying to learn some more about the public transport in Hamburg. Once we got to the Hotel we quickly checked-in and everyone got ready to go the city to start the city tour, they were really excited! The tour started in Jungfernstieg, located in the city centre and next to the Alster. The Jungfernstieg is one of the fanciest streets in Hamburg, having mostly expensive shops, business and hotels. The advisor told them about some of the history and local tales about the Alster and the area. The view from the lake with its boats, swans a beautiful background and the sunset was magnificent. Our visitors from Norway were a bit tired after such a long trip, so we gave them some free time to walk around the area, take some beautiful pictures and enjoy the view, before continuing with the tour. After stretching the legs, we headed towards the “Rathaus”. They said, that the Town Hall´s architecture was astonishing. The advisor told them a bit about the political parties, the mayor of Hamburg and the history of the town hall itself. The students compared it to their Town Hall in Norway and discussed about it. We took a little break again to take some pictures and eat something. Some of them had “Curry Wurst” and the others ate “Kebab”, according to them the food was delicious! After that, we continued with the tour. We went to the Portside. We showed them the musicals and all the boats, which were illuminated amazingly. The Elbphilharmonie was to be seen from the bridge and they loved it. Everyone was really excited, specially the musicians in the group! We entered the Philharmonic and went to the balcony. The view was memorable! Our visitors could appreciate most of the city and the port, even the industry side of the city, which was not possible to see before. The advisor explained them what the industry / commercial side is and what is done there. The students took some amazing pictures of the beautiful sight. The advisor also talked about the history behind the Philharmonic and why there was such a scandal about it some years ago. It is such an amazing building with contradictory opinions surrounding it. After the visit, the Norwegian group head back to the hotel to have dinner and sleep to be ready for the workshop in the morning.
Tuesday 05.11.2019
The day started early, we had a lot to do! The group had breakfast and then went with the advisor to the aubiko’s office. The students and teachers met most of our team, who mostly works in the office. During the workshop, where we prepared the students to visit a german school, we discussed about the main differences between the Norwegian and the German schools and about the German school system. We also talked about the expectations and the route to get to each school. The students were separated in little groups, assigned to different schools. We also talked some more about the political system in Germany, since they were going to have a meeting with a deputy two days later, they wanted to be prepared to ask questions! After the workshop we went to the University Campus, they heard a lot about the university’s history and the different faculties. After having lunch in the “Mensa” with the students in the university’s cafeteria, we had a rally around the campus, where the small groups had to ask around and find out which faculty belongs to which part or building, it was really fun! After the university tour, they had the rest of the day free to revisit any place they found interesting in the city or explore the city by themselves. Some went to the city centre again and separated in small groups to go shopping and exploring!
Wednesday 06.11.2019
Wednesday was the first day of school, each group headed to the respective school and a normal day of classes in a German school, it was really interesting for them! They had the first contact with German students and had a great experience! After lunch in the school’s cafeteria. The whole group met again in “Hafencity”. We had a tour about the sustainability of this whole modern area, it was really informative and they learned a lot about the technology and the environmental measures applied here. The guide was really nice and explained us every important detail there is to learn about the topic, he also explained everything slowly so that everyone could understand and follow what he was talking about. The tour ended in a different side of the port and after that they had free time to revisit the places we thought were interesting.
Thursday 07.11.2019
Thursday, the students had the second and last day of school. Now that they were a bit more familiar with the environment, they talked more with the students and got integrated faster. The Norwegian students participated in the different classes they had and some of even were in a Scandinavian class, where they got to talk about their culture. The German and the Norwegian students surely learned a lot during these days at school. Friendships were made, differences were discussed and overall it was a great experience for everyone! In the afternoon we met again outside the Town Hall. We had a guided tour through the building and after seeing and learning much more about it and the importance of it to the city of Hamburg, the group finally got to meet with a deputy. He showed them around even more and explained them about the different rooms they visited and the rolls of the people working in there. Every question the students asked were gladly answered by the deputy. They students were really grateful for his time; it was truly enlightening!
Friday 08.11.2019
The last day of this wonderful trip started really early, the group had to check-out from the hotel and take the luggage to the workshop. They came to the office again and discussed about the experiences they had at the school with the whole group. Every small group made a little presentation about the school they went to and talked about the great experiences they had, like the approach with the German system, the relations with other students and teachers and the things they thought were positive or negative compared to the Norwegian system. At the end we could see that everyone had a great time. We talked about the new German vocabulary they learned and received a feedback about the whole week. After the workshop was done, they went to the airport to travel back home. This week in Hamburg was amazing for everyone and we hope they visit us in Germany again soon! Thank you!
