part 1 BU, part 2 FI, part 3 GE, part 4 IT

Part 1

Sara was an untypical teenager. She was really ambitious and had big plans for her future. Sara wanted to be an archaeologist because History was her favourite subject at school. She adored visiting different landmarks and museums but her parents weren’t able to send her to explore the world and she was really sad for that. The young lady read a lot about the Maya civilisation, the Egyptian pyramids and the ancient culture of the Greeks and was curious to learn more about a history of an unpopular country. She went to the library at her school and found an old book, named “the nation, that has never lost its flag in a battle”. This book surprised her and she took it immediately. It described the history and the customs of a small country in South Europe - Bulgaria. Sara had only heard about the capital of Bulgaria but didn’t know anything about the culture of this small country. She read the book very fast and the Bulgarian carnival against evil spirits - “Kukeri” really impressed her. It was similar to Halloween because of the scary costumes of the Kukeri which look like they have come from an elaborate horror production. They consist of creepy masks, huge bells on their belt and they are made of thick animal pelts. Sara had a desire to see this carnival and she was very lucky because her history teacher told her to write a motivational letter for participation in a „Erasmus+“ project and Bulgaria was a part of it. She hoped to win this scholarship and to visit Bulgaria.

Part 2

Sara, who was living in Finland also appriciated the nature and culture in Finland. She

just wanted to get some new experiences and see different cultures. She loved to adventure in Finlands’ nature and the holidays were like something out of this world. Especially Midsummer Day or “juhannus” and Christmas were the best in her opinion.

The food in Christmas was amazing and juhannus was just on a whole anoher level. The different kinds of Christmas casserols like rutabaga casserol for example and different kinds of steaks and sausages in juhannus that were heavenly. Even thought these were the top things in her life she wanted to have something refreshing. This is why she really really wanted to win the scholarship. The assignment for this prize was not too tought for her because of the disposition of Finlands’ culture and geograpichal location. To get trought of almost never ending, or that’s what it felt like, dark and cold winter as well as rainy and muddy autumn with only two or three sunny months, if you’re lucky, isn’t that easy without some good motivation and positive life attitude. So she started to think and write down things that she thought were maybe the most important things for a human being to survive all the discomforts and misfortunes life has to offer you. She came up with this:

Part 3

In order to survive you need a good sense of humor and positive vibes. Furthermore, you need a light in life, like a hobby, for example reading, traveling or horse riding and a family who stands by your side.

Sara took her aunt as a role model. She's always happy, does whatever she wants to do and enjoys life. Last year her aunt visited Germany and was very impressed. They sat together at lunch and she told Sara everything about her stay there.

The first thing her aunt has realized when she arrived at the airport was that German is a very difficult language to learn and understand. Even though she had learned a little bit of German before she didn't understand a word. Later in the hotel lobby she saw a man wearing sandals with socks. She was shocked.

During her stay she visited Neuschwanstein Castle and the Brandenburg Gate. She took some incredible pictures and showed them to Sara. She was fascinated by the great architecture.Not only does Germany have great buildings but also a scenic landscape. From the coast in the north to the mountains in the south – Germany has everything. The highest mountain is the `Zugspitze´with 2962 meters.

Her aunt also told her that she had been to several pubs and ate lots of German food, for example the famous Bratwurst with Sauerkraut or Currywurst. Vegetarians don't have an easy life in pubs.

“When I am old enough, I want to travel around the world just like my aunt,“ Sara thoght.

All this is going to be part of her application letter. She hopes it helps her to get into the Erasmus+ project