Let’s break our national stereotypes

LSG has received a financial grant for a project called Let’s break our national stereotypes from Visegrad fund http://visegradfund.org

The International Visegrad Fund is an international organization based in Bratislava founded by the governments of the Visegrad Group (V4) countries—the Czech Republic, Hungary, the Republic of Poland, and the Slovak Republic in 2000.

The purpose of the fund is to facilitate and promote the development of closer cooperation among citizens and institutions in the region as well as between the V4 region and other coun-tries., especially the Western Balkans and countries of the Eastern Partnership. The fund does so through grant support of common cultural, scientific and educational projects, youth exchanges, cross-border projects and tourism promotion, and through individual mobility pro-grams (scholarships, residencies).

The project Let’s break our national stereotypes is about learning about V4 partners, about finding out what we have in common and what is different. Students from the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary will meet, deal with tasks from history, religion, idustry … and experience everything in person.

The project’s partner schools are:

LSG o.p.s., Letohrad , Czech Republic http://www.lsg.cz

Buday Cizterci Szent Imre Grammar school ,Budapest, Hungary http://www.szig.hu

School for extraordinarily gifted children and grammar school, Bratislava, Slovakia http://www.smnd.sk

Janusz Kusocinski Secondary Junior High School, Kalisz, Poland http://www.gimnazjum10.kalisz.pl

The first meeting of Visegrad countries in Letohrad

5th – 10th October 2014

A Polish visit by Cecílie Hrdličková

At the beginning, when I signed up to the exchange stay, I thought that the only reason is not to go to school and visit Poland. But I liked our school programme as well as the programme we have prepared ourselves. I learnt a lot about Poland, mainly about the town Kalizs. Kalizs is a town from which the group have arrived.
Together we visited one museum, two churches and the fortress Orlice. We enjoyed ourselves very much playing bowling, going shopping, eating in restaurants.
But unfortunately the time spent together went really fast and now I am looking forward to our visit of Kalizs.

When I found out I had a Polish girl I cheered. I thought that I could speak with her easily and if we had some problems, we could speak Polish and Czech. We were quite shy the first day after her arrival but we became friends. We played a few games and it was better. The following five days were very exhausting. The program was managed well and when the program finished, we went with the whole Polish group somewhere to entertain. It was hard to agree where to go. So it happened that we came home late and we did not have much time to know each other better. One day she taught me their version of game “prší”- they call it “macao”.Their version is better than ours in my opinion. A day of departure was sad because I enjoyed talking with someone who does not speak or understand Czech.
Amy Šafářová

Thanks to Visegrad project we have opportunity to experience in person what
we have in common and what are differences among us, Polish, Slovak and Hungarian students. The project is helping us to learn to communicate with people from other countries in English. Communication with Hungarians was the best. The only way of speaking with them was English. They are very friendly.
Slovaks are very nice too, but mostly we speak with them in our languages because we understand each other well and it is easy. Polish students talked to us very little, so I don´t know what they are like. I think that the project is very useful for us.

Anička Římánková

VISEGRAD 4 by Doubravka Mikysková

ON SUNDAY WE WENT TO ČESKÁ TŘEBOVÁ FOR OUR GUESTS .IT WAS VERY THRILLING .
HOWEVER I GOT SOMEONE ELSE. IT WAS A BIG SUPRISE . NEVER MIND.

THE HUNGARIAN GROUP WAS SUPER, THEY PARTICIPATED IN OUR PROGRAM .THE POLISH GROUP WASN´T SO ENTHUSIASTIC AND THE SLOVAK GROUP WAS ALWAYS VERY TIRED AND SLEEPY .WE HAD A GOOD PROGRAM. THE BEST DAY WAS WHEN WE WENT TO THE BIATHLON CENTRE WHERE WE TRIED THIS GREAT SPORT.THE OTHER DAY WE VISITED SOME SIGHTS .I ALSO ENJOYED ONE DAY WHEN WE DANCED POLKA AND PLAYED KINBALL .IT WAS SUPER

IT WAS GREAT TO MEET HUNGARIAN PEOPLE AND THEIR CUSTOMS . THEY WERE VERY FRIENDLY, FUNNY AND EASY GOING .

I THINK THAT THE VISEGRAD PROJECT IS A GREAT IDEA. I AM HAPPY I JOINED THIS PROJECT .

I LOOK FORWARD TO VISITING HUNGARY IN NOVEMBER .

Kamila Břízová, October 2014

Visit of a Hungarian student Katica

The visit of a Hungarian student in our place was organized thanks project called Let´s break our national stereotypes. Students from Poland, Slovakia and Hungary came to our country and stayed for five days. I hosted a very nice girl called Katica from Budapest. She speaks very good English and she talked a lot, so I had a great time and improved my English.

We had a school program. This included for example a visit of Orlice Stronghold, Letohrad church, Earth Gate. We also visited Králíky, were we went to a lookout tower. I liked a lot the trip to Neratov church, which is unique, because it has a glass roof. We watched film Kolja, we cooked potato pancakes and decorated gingerbread. The foreign students also saw our lessons at school. We also played with the Hungarian group a game called ´Chubby bunny´.

Out of school program I with Katica visited a church in Klášterec nad Orlicí, we went for a walk together, we were riding our horses, we had dinner in Žamberk pizzeria, we watched a film together and we also had a dancing pad party in our house. We were talking a lot.

During the week we became friends with Katica and I am looking forward to a trip to Budapest.

The second meeting in Budapest

The program in Budapest was super .We were in parliament ,on a large bridge and we also visited the Visegrad . Budapest is really big and great and we were able to visit a few interesting shops ,with our partners .

At the end we were invited to the prom . On the day of our departure there was also a very nice fair . The family that hosted me was very pleasant and friendly .I'm glad that I could be involved in this project .I´m still in touch with my partner by e-mail.

by Doubravka

Budapest is a very nice city. It is big and very modern. I stayed with the family of Gergeli. He is a boy and his nick name is Gergu. He has a brother and a sister. They have a big flat in Buda.

Every morning we had to cross the Danube with the car to get to school in Pest. The school is very big. It has two buildings and an inflatable sport hall. We had an interesting and exhausting program.

The metro station was very nice and the train station too. I think the best day was Thursday, because we went to the blind museum. I think Budapest is not so hectic as Prague.

I enjoyed the trip very much.

WEEK IN BUDAPEST

We were in Budapest from 3rd November to 8th November. We arrived in Budapest on Monday. My partner waited for me at train station. Her name is Sari. Then I went with my partner to a place where is a beautiful view of the evening Budapest. View was wonderful. After we went at home. Her house was very neat and her room was very nice . I lived with Sari in her room.On Tuesday we went to school in the morning.

Then we had a little trip. We visited the Matthias church. Then tour we walked around Budapest and we tried to find answers to guestions. After it was lunch. Their dining room was small and modest. Then lunch we watched film. Film was very interesting and sad. Then film we danced.

Dance was arduous and hurt but very funny. After it was treat. We went at home in the evening. On Wednesday was Szent Imre Day. We had lecture led by member of Parliament.After lunch we had free time. Czech group and our partners had your plan. We went on a blind tour. It was the best day of the days. After blind tour we went to the sweet shop. The sweet shop was very coloured. On Thursday we had big trip. We were on Visegrad , in the marzipan muzeum and bobsled track. Bobsled track was very exciting. On Friday was very replete.

We cooked Hungarian goulash in the morning.Then we had sports games.We were dressed in the national colours. After we visited the Parliament. I bought Rubiks cube in the Parliament and we had Emericus ball in the evening. We came home at 10:30 pm. On Saturday we went to the mart and then we went at train station. We said goodbye and we got on the train.I was very sad. And so ended up a wonderful week in Budapest.

by Marie Karešová

It was 3th November when our big trip started. Our journey was long but I really enjoyed it ‘cause we decided to do our own party and annoy all train with our singing. It was really funny. We arrived about six o’clock to Budapest Keleti ralway station. We met our Hungarian friends and went with them to metro. I totally fell in love with their metro. I love that architecture, they have absolutely amazing ceilings.

We (me with Ann) arrived to their home about quater past six. I met her family.They were really nice. Ann has two sisters – one little Rita and one the same age as I am – Betty. She has two brothers too. We didn’t talk to each other so much but they seemed nice. Parents don’t speak English but they were very kind.

We had to get up about half past six, I guess. It was little bit hard for me because I usually wake up at seven o’clock. Our journey to school lasted half hour. I loved their school! It was so big but soooo beautiful. And I really liked their school-cafetera. They have kind cookers, I don’t understand how it is possible!

Our program was different with every day but honestly, I don’t remember much from it… One day we have something like workshop about literature in our countries, that was really interesting. I really enjoyed the game when we had to go over Budapest and looking for answers to our questions about this city. It was so funny, we had to ask some police-man „where’s the Castle?“ and he tried to explain that „Here. There is military museum and there is gallery… „ and we were like „Okay but where’s the CASTLE?! Like…that building?!“ and he with totally desperate voice said: „THIS-IS-CASTLE!“ And we didn’t get it so we were still like: „BUT WHAT ABOUT THAT BUILDING?!“ and he just: „THERE IS NO CASTLE, THIS IS CASTLE!“ and showed to ground. Well, we understood it.

I’m really glad that we could learn something about hungarian revolution in 1956.

But what was the best about that whole week, was the school ball. I love it, I wanna this in our school! There was karaoke and club and the band what played was totally amazing. It was like big concert at school, that’s awesome! I asked the lead singer of their school-band what they played because I wanted to listen to it in the Czech republic and I’m so thankful to him because I found totally awesome hungarian band and I listen to their songs every day.

There is so much I can say about how much I loved it there. I didn’t want to go home. Budapest is beautiful city with beautiful architecture (I wanna live in their metro station…) and very kind people.

I’m so thankful that I could go there and stood there for five days in the nicest family ever. It was totally awesome

by Klára.

 The third meeting in Bratislava

Visegrad project

we left on 30. 11. in the morning and arrived at 7 PM. Next few days we had a program in the school of our hosts. We visited the school for extraordinary gifted children. We saw a lot of interesting sights of the city.

We really enjoyed shopping at the Christmas market in the city centre. The school was big, though it looked like block of flats, but we really liked it. It was nice to experience the Christmas atmosphere of the city.

We took part in a sport competition and finished third. Students were very informal to the teachers and we liked that. We also visited a university where we enjoyed the food. We really had a good time in Bratislava and we regretted leaving, but it was an amazing experience.

Tereza and Tereza

Bratislava meeting

I think it was cool I have met a lot of nice people. And with some of them I am still in contact. I play cs go with one guy and I enjoy it. I stayed at Matěj‘s. He hosted me for the whole stay. I enjoyed the most that aktivity when we were soldering stuff toghether, they said I was the most capable and I was really proud of myself. Also the computerish stuff was really cool in my opinion.

There was a trip happening and that trip was about going to a castle called „Červený Kameň“. I think a lot of people had a blast… buuuut I did not :/. Just some rocks put toghether on the ground with lot of rooms and some underground stuff etc. After that visit on the castle we went to a town somehow called idk how but there was an awesome pizza. I don‘t know what stuff was on it tho. So in Matěj‘s house we every single day watched TV until like some hours were passed.

And then we went to sleep. And I forgot to mention that I had the best food in decade, especially the KFC one, it was like when a unicorcn was pooping on your tongue. And thats about it. So yea in general it was an amazing trip. I never forget it.

Štěpán

Slovakia

Our trip started on Sunday. We met on Letohrad´s station at half past eleven. Our journey took about four hours. When we arrived, our partners were already waiting for us.

Next day we went through their school. School was beautiful. What was interesting – They had pillows and carpets in every classroom so they could lie there and take a rest.

First day in the school we had lunch in their school canteen. I’m sorry but that was awful. After this experience we decided to eat just in McDonald.

Every day was disposed some program for us. We visited „Bratislavský hrad“ (their castle), we had sightseeing in Bratislava, we played some games and visited some workshops in their school.

After we graduated programs which were organized by their teachers, we could do whatever we wanted with our partners.

We was shopping, visiting restaurants, coffee bars and we once went to the cinema.

Our partners were very pleasants. We experienced a lot of fun and we’re really glad we could be part of this project.

Anička a Petra

 The fourth meeting in Kalisz

Poland

Our trip started by meeting in Letohrad on Sunday at 9 pm. After 4 hours of train ride we changed trains and continued next four hours to the final destination, Kalisz. At 5pm we finally arrived to our new homes and met the families. Next morning we visited their school and we were part of the lessons.

After the lessons we went bowling with our partners. At Tuesday we met with mayor of the city and then we spent the rest of the day in the aquapark. At Thursday we went to visit the castle called Wouchow and then we joined party in the club and we really enjoyed it. At Thursday we cooked soup and Polish national food called “pirožky“. The last day morning we went ice-skating and at 2pm we headed back home.

The families were great and lovely, we all really enjoyed it. I personally would love to join such event next time.

Jakub

Trip to Poland 18th to 23th January

Kalisz - just a name of a city somewhere in Poland. Honestly, I didn’t
even know that it exists before I joined our exchange project. So let
me just tell you what was our trip like. :)

I didn’t prepare much. I packed my stuff during Saturday, woke up on
Sunday and arrived to the train station in Letohrad. That’s where it
started.

We spent 8 hours on board of the 3 definitely worst trains across all
European railways, but we didn’t mind, because we could enjoy the
journey anyway. When we arrived to Kalisz, it was dark already so I
had some difficulties to recognise all the girls, that we met in the
Czech Republic. Right after our arrival I met the family of my host,
got in their car and became so lonely, because it was really hard to
start talking straight away.

Kalisz is not that different from Czech cities such as Pardubice or
Hradec Králové and the Polish guys decided to show us the most of the
city during the week. They organised few walks through the city, even
one guided tour, visits of museums (many and many museums) and on the
other hand, we had a disco, played bowling and had some fun in the
aqua park. We had so many activities, that we didn’t have almost any
free time that I would use to do more shopping.

My host family was really friendly, but I needed to understand Polish
to communicate with the parents of my host. I need to say that they
cook really well and that’s what I really appriciate!

Poland was a great surprise and experience for me. All the people I
met and all the fun I had make me truly glad that a went there.

Thank you and see you again!

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Publikováno: 27.08. 2014 (6573 čtenářů)