Excursion to Maribor

This day and therefore also our last excursion in Slovenia started very early in the morning as our destination was a few hours away. When we finally arrived in Maribor we were positively impressed by the European capital of culture of 2012.

First we got a presentation about Maribor, and the volunteering work related to being a European capital of culture. After this interesting information, we participated in a guided tour by a woman from the tourist information. This tour made it possible to got some more impressions and a good overview of the city!

After the lunch break we had to do some questionnaires preferably with tourists according to Maribor as a tourist destination and especially as European capital of culture. It was interesting to talk to tourists and listen to their impressions and opinions, even if it was difficult to find tourists that were willing to answer the long questionnaire as they preferred to spend their time in the city of culture.

After conducting the questionnaires we had some time of before going back to the coast.

All in all it needs to be said that Maribor is a very nice city, which is definitely worth to be visited. For us it was very interesting to see how being a capital of culture can change a city and that Maribor really used this chance with organisinga lot of events and activities for their guests.

Good bye Maribor, see you during our next visit!

Team Netherlands

Chapter IX - "The ECOC Maribor"

Our trip to Maribor started at 5.45am, really really early...everyone with sleepy eyes and barely talking. 

When we arrived, we met with the reponsible for the Volunteers of the Cultural Capital of Culture, and the she took us to a presentation with the responsible of the Marketing of the events. They talked about the events in general, the most important ones, where they had or will take place, and after about the volunteer work that had been done, and how did it worked, enunciating all the steps that the volunteers had to do. Three of the volunteers also talked about their experience. 

After lunch, we had a task to do: fill some questionnaires about ECOC Maribor, with tourists and day-trippers answers. It was dificult to do all of them, because the people runned away, or they were impolite, or they simply ignored us. But we found some nice people from Belgium, Switzerland, Hungary, Italy, Slovenia, Russia and also PORTUGAL (but they didn't fill in because they were in a hurry, not to be late). 

At 6pm we finally left Maribor, and arrived at 10pm. Unfortunately we are going late to bed, because of the video and the preparation of the final presentation. 

Good night people, see you in 9 hours ;)

*

Maribor

August 1, 2012.

New day. New story... Destination – Maribor! J

Today we woke up in the early morning and at 5.45 a.m. we started our trip to European Capital of Culture and Slovenian second largest city-Maribor. When we arrived at 9.30, the hosts of cultural institute presented us project which is divided into 7 sessions, and importance of volunteering. An important aspects of this project are cultural and art events; festivals, exhibitions, cooking lessons where participate a lot of painters, musicians, writers, dancers, photographers... Volunteers are one of the most importaint aspects of this project because they are in charge to host V.I.P. guests. The project counts 86 volunteers who have obligatory training before starting with their work. Volunteerism is very importaint from social aspect of life because there can particaipate everyone who has passion for culture and working in intercultural environment without age limits: students, employeed, unemployeed and retired people. We also had an opportunity to hear feedbacks of 3 volunteers and their positive experiences.

After morning sessions, we had walking sightseeing tour to the main Maribor's attractions and we also visited the bell of  St. John Cathedral which provide us beautiful city view and a lot of nice photographies. J

Lunch in the local restaurant with traditional food and free afternoon. During the afternoon we had a lot of work with questionnaires about tourism and feedback of Maribor.

Nice day, great experience and a lot of fun!

Thank you...

Croatian team J

Hatsi in the European Capital of Culture 2012

Dear readers,

Today I visited a city with a great cultural and historical background – Maribor – as I found out from the presentation held in the morning by the organizing committee of European Capital of Culture. Later on, we had a guided tour of the city so we could explore it by foot and see the wonders it offers.

After sightseeing, we had lunch in a traditional restaurant, where we had the chance to taste some good food, the famous green beer and ice cream with pumpkin oil and seeds.

In the afternoon we had to complete the assignment we were given which consisted in applying questionnaires to tourists and local residents regarding the changes that resulted from Maribor being an European Capital of Culture. We had some great encounters with some really nice and interesting people, that were willing to answer the questions. My team also had a chance to get involved in a local project for a few minutes on the “Flowers’ street”!

At 6 o’clock we took the bus home and I can definitely say that the way back was very sweet because of the doughnut and fun like a rollercoaster!

Ne vedem dimineaţă!

Hatsi

Welcome Maribor!!!

(...)

BUT! before welcome we need get up really earlier than everyday...

5:45 leaving was for most of us like in the middle of the night...

But we managed this and have grate interesting day at all :)

with interesting lectures about volunteering and European Capital of Culture project (ICOC)

than sightseeing...

walk near the Drawa river...

...and searching street art in Maribor for exemple:

xD

 scary outdoor exhibition...

hmm... like in clasic germany garden?!? ;P

And after sightseeing we've got tasty local lunch and a lot of work with questionnaires about Maribor as a European Capital of Culture 2012

 

 In the end of our all thay long trip we made nice "Fotopączko" :D

And one polish sentence in the end:

"Jeśli Ci się dobrze wiedzie

jadasz pączki przy obiedzie"

try to say it and good luck! :D

31 July 2012.

Hello,


Last day of July... We got our moring session at 10 with Agata Kiluk from Krakow University in Poland. The title of session was «Voluntourism, educational institutions and social capital creation» through which we seen the current situation of the Polish educational system and how the voluntourist are helping to improve the current situation, even by using new technologies. Before lunch time, Miha gave us instructions about the trip to Maribor for tomorrow.

                                                            In the afternoon we had workshops with our groups in order to finish all our tasks in next few days. In the evening we had our dinner and then around 10:30 in the evening took a swam in the sea to refresh ourselves. After the short swam, we returned back to our flats and started to prepare for the tomorrow trip to Maribor.


Best regards! 


Croatian team  - Ana, Filip, Livio & Matija

Wednesday, 1st August 2012

At 5.45am we left Portoroz to take a 3 hour bus tour to Maribor. As most of us didn't get much sleep we continued to sleep in the bus. At 9am we arrived at Maribor and at 9.30am the presentation about the European Capital of Culture ECOC and their volunteering work started. We also had a short presentation of 3 of their volunteer who shared their experiences with us.

After that we had a little sightseeing tour through the city. As the city isn't that big, it didn't take us that long ;) We also have noticed that the buildings in Maribor look very similar to the Austrians, so we felt like beeing home again! At 1pm we had a delicious 3 course menu at a traditional Slovenian restaurant where they also served green beer!!

From 2 to 6pm we had to do a survey about MARIBOR 2012 with tourists and also locals. After finishing it we had a nice walk through the city and enjoyed an ice coffee at the river.

At 6pm we started our journey back to Portoroz which actually took us 4 hours in total. In between we enjoyed a great donut.

Thank you very much for this trip which we really enjoyed even it was a long day.

See you tomorrow,

Jasmin & Stefanie

Workshop-aholic Hatsi

Hello dears,

Today was the last day of lectures and another example that volunteering is a very fulfilling experience, especially when working with children.

After this we had a great lunch in Burin and an afternoon full of hard work and a little bit of sun and sea. Everybody was working with their planet to finish the assignment and to be innovative regarding the video.

In the evening, after a traditional dinner, we decided to try something more international like ice-cream therefor we went to Cacao. In meantime, my popularity increased since I made some pictures with my fans. This made me very happy so I invited them for a Romanian drink on the balcony.

I don’t have time for any more details because tomorrow I have to wake up really early in the morning, in order to meet my fans and friends in Maribor.

Keep in touch!

Ne auzim în curând!

Hatsi

The last beautiful day of July ...

The day started (surprisingly !) at 10 a.m so we had one additional hour for sleeping :) We had a chance to participate in the lectures related with volunteering work in one of a polish school. The project took place in Siepraw ( a small village in Lesser Poland) where kids got involved in a language programme. They learned english in a very innovative way which was a big for them because of skills development.


After lunch, we took a rest a little bit and then at 3 p.m we started preparing our final presentation for Friday :)

The day finished with a refreshing sunbath nearby our restaurant so.... it was so good to jump into the water after hot day and relax!

See you at 5.45 a.m in the front of our hostel,
BR,
Polish team - Karolina, Sabina, Marta & Aleksandra

Chapter VIII - "Last Workshop"

Hey guys :)

So, the day started later today, with the classes only starting at 10am with the Prof. Agata from Poland. 

It was an interesting lecture about the project that she developed in rural schools in Poland. She studied the development of the kids learning a foreign language interactively, and proved that they had better grades in the end than the others that learned from a teacher.

After lunch, each of us went to their final workshop, and prepared everything for the final presentation.

Just to finish the day with best way, we went to the beach. We have to enjoy our last days in Slovenia!

Have a good night and see you at 5.45am... ahahah ;)

*

Day 9

Dear readers, 

The day began around 8 AM because we had to be at the faculty at 9. The lecture was held by a Portuguese professor Goretti Silva and it was about social capital and its impact on  our lives. The lecture itself was pretty interesting because of the way of Mrs Goretti presenting. Also, at the end of the lecture, she put on few songs and one of them was called "I'll be there for you" by the Rembrandts, which her workshop group had to sing. In the middle of the lecture there was a pause, that lasted around half an hour which is longer then usual (and we liked it very much J). After the lecture we had a lunch and afterwards went to take a swim. At 3 PM we had a few hours of very interesting workshops where we had to make plans about presenting our assignments.After we finished all work for today we could have relaxed ourselves by going to the beach and afterwards going for an espresso with our colleges .Espresso has woken us up and gave us energy for the rest of the night. For the dinner we had risotto with schrimps and some salad and it was extremely tasty. After the dinner we made a plan to go to a bar in Mandrać to have a farewell party for the Portuguese professors and their children Francisco and Carolina. The farewell party was great and also very emotional because we enjoyed our time with them as they are great and extremely positive people.So with tears in our eyes we said goodby to them and went to bed. Hopefully we'll see them again!

Croatian Team

Ana, Filip, Livio & Matija

Dear Readers,

This morning, the lecture was one hour later, at 10 am. the day started with a lecture of the polish teacher about how children can be teached by volunteers in primary school. The teacher showed us a programm on the internet where the user can learn a lot of different languages with. We should try to practice with it, but it didn't work on the computers in school.

At 1 o'clock we had lunch as usual in our restaurant at the beach. After eating and swimming in the sea, our final workshop started at 3. We prepared our presentation for thursday and could spend the rest of the day at the beach. Tonight we had a very nice Pasta dinner.

After dinner we went into the city centre to Cacao and had nice ice cream :-)

We have to get up very early tomorrow because we will go to Maribor. The night hours until then, we will spend working on our video ;)

Good night,

Team Netherlands
Fabienne, Joukje, Trudy & Janina

Tuesday 31st July 2012

Today we were lucky and started one hour later at 10am at Turistica. The topic of our lecture was education in Poland and Agata told us about her project of learning polish children English with a computer programme. Unfortunately the programme didn't work on our computers and it wasn't as interesting as expected.
At 11.30am Mitja and Miha informed us about our trip to Maribor tomorrow and also explained us the questionnare which we have to do in Maribor. We will leave at 5.45am tomorrow morning.

At 1pm we had a nice pasta bolognese at our restaurant and also a funny "tabasco-experience"!

In the afternoon we contunied with our workshops, every group did some research and worked on their presentation. After our workshops the Austrian team started with their video and went for a quick swim in the sea.

At 7pm we had our dinner which we concluded with a delicious ice-cream from Cacao.

See you tomorrow at 5.45,

Jasmin & Stefanie

Volunteering in Piran

The contrast of Portorož is Piran, which is known for its rich cultural heritage. It's one of the most known Slovenian towns among foreign tourists. Drinking coffee on Tartini square also appeals to Slovenians.

We went to Piran to meet  the representative of Anbot. She is really passionate about volunteering, so the here lecture was interesting. Even if we couldn't understand her that good, we were enjoying in  lectures and work. 

After short lecture we start with "real" work :) We were divided in  2 groups. First group had to  vault all of the quiz papers into little  boats. Second group hard working Portugese ( Tiago, Claudia and Liliane) and Poland ( Karolina and Aleksandra) had to restorate the shutters. 

Then we were doing the quiz papers into little  boats which we had to do later, when we had to answer some difficult questions about Piran and look for them aroud the city by asking the Lokals, going to the Museum, Aquarium and Tourist Information. 


After lunch we had free afternoon where we went each in our own direction.

Two crows but not whiskey!

Dear all,

In the morning we started to with our lecture from the side of Gorreti and Marco. The lecture was about social responsibility and the opportunities in tourism.  Quite interesting but the break was something special (not just because of the break!) because we realised that that Kaja is incredible storyteller.

Kaja told us a story about two crows that had an excursion to Postojna caves. She is a great story teller and we really enjoyed! Before we continue would you like to hear it as well? ;)

Two crows and a gossip lady in black

It was a sunny day in the middle of July and the heat just started to rise (it was noon, around 12 o’clock). There was a juniper three just next to more than 50 years old pine, looking towards the Postojna caves. When the first grasshopper started to sing the old crow passed above the three tops and landed on the old pine three. Taking grasps of air to continue the search for food another crow was interested in the ants beneath the juniper three. To further observe the ants the crow land just next to the old crow. Old crow starts to smile to jung juvenile searching for food. “You can forget about  that ants. You will never be able to catch enough to fill your stomach”. Jung crow got upset an said “ what do you know old rag!” You can barely fly for more than 10 minutes before you run out of air”!  If you do not believe me go ahead and see! The old crow said. Young crow started to pick the ants but she only garbed one or two and the rest fled to their underground holes. Old crow started to laugh “I told you, you little brat!” What do you know about the food? Where do you get it?” The youngster replied. “I will tell you the secret but before you have to fly to Postojna caves and bring me the proteus (human fish).”

Wanna hear how the story ended? Well you will have to wait till tomorrow when we will have another morning break and Kaja will continue with the second part.

After the lecture we had lunch, with very good steak with potatoes. At 15.00 we started with our workshops, where we  discussed about our ideas for  final presentation of WS.

Later on we had a goodbye party for Portuguese teachers Goretti and Marco. It was hard to say goodbye, because of that we said see you soon!!

Chapter VII - " I'll be there for you :) "

The day started with some nostalgy in the air... we were all thinking about the departure of our wonderful teachers and kids.

After a free day to make a roadtrip around Slovenia, the presentation of Prof. Goretti about Social Capital started at 9am, as usual. It was very interesting and well explained, and we got to know better what was the meaning of the theme and how it is applied. At the end of the lecture, Goretti had a nice surprise in mind: a karaoke song of the music " I'll be there for you". Everyone sang it with a big smile on their faces :D

Then, in Burin we had a delicious meal: grilled meat with baked potatoes.

At 3pm our workshop started, with a lot of brainstorming and preparing the presentations. Let's see how it turns out :)

Later, we all met in "Eskimo" for the farewell party of a part of the Portuguese family. It was pretty sad, but it wasn't a goodbye, but a SEE YOU SOON.