Blog from Penzberg 2018

Sunday, January 14

After some icebreaker games at the school, the students spent the afternoon with their host families.

The teachers went on a trip to Mittenwald and took the cable car up the Karwendel Mountains.

Monday, January 15 (French report)

In the morning, the vice mayor of Penzberg received us in the city hall. He presented us Penzberg and explained to us the procedures of how to deal with refugees, especially from Syria. He also pointed out that today there are more than 80 different nationalities in Penzberg.

Then we walked back to the school where the headmaster, Mr Bernhard Kerscher, explained to us the importance of the languages and the values of travelling in order to get to know each other. Then every nationality presented their works on the stereotypes of their countries. At the end of the presentations, a bretzel, as well as a bottle of spezi, were distributed. To finish the morning there was a presentation on the use of the media, which included a Bingo game in order to have more fun. After that, we had lunch in the school cafeteria.

In the afternoon, we visited a place where refugees can meet with other people and volunteers. First three volunteers explained the process of immigration in Penzberg since 2015. Then an immigrant from Nigeria explained what is going on in his country.

Then we formed three groups. One group questioned two immigrants who came from Iran and Nigeria to know how they felt in Penzberg. Another group told us the story of an immigrant who came back to Pakistan. The last group spoke with two other immigrants about their experiences. After that, we went home with our hosts.

Tuesday, January 16 (Norwegian report)

On Tuesday we took the train to Munich and visited the Coming Home office. There we were met by a lady who had worked there since 2004, and she told us about how they help refugees who want to voluntarily return to their country of origin. The office was established in 1996 and was originally for helping those who came from ex-Yugoslavia.

Afterwards, we ate lunch at Hofbräukeller, Wiener Platz. After lunch the group went separate ways, some explored Munich center and others went shopping at Passing Arkaden. We took the train back to Penzberg and arrived at around 7 o’clock in the evening.

Wednesday, January 17th (Romanian report)

In the morning, we attended very interesting Ethics, Economy, Maths and Latin classes. Then the students from each country presented their national policy.

The presentations were followed by discussions on similarities and differences among the countries’ national policies. Afterwards, we split up into groups of five in order to prepare a role play on the situation of refugees in the fictitious town of Lanbiu-Sandeisenberg (Langon, Sibiu, Sandnes, Eisenstadt, Penzberg).

After lunch, we met again in the GYP Atrium and performed the role play on stage. Some of us were politicians, others were refugees, worried citizens or volunteers. It turned out to be a very inspiring, enriching and dynamic activity. We really enjoyed it, although we realized that there is no easy and quick solution to this issue.

Because of the heavy weather, we couldn`t hike in the dark with torches and have a barbecue in Iffeldorf, so some of us went home and spent a pleasant evening with our hosts, others went bowling.

Thursday, January 18 (Austrian report)

We were supposed to meet at the gym hall in Penzberg at 07:55, but unfortunately the PE lesson had to be cancelled.

So, we went to school and waited until 09:45 when we had a workshop about fake news. Niklas Schenk, who works as a journalist at the „Bayerischer Rundfunk“, made this workshop. He taught us many interesting things about fake news, e.g. how fake news are spread all over the world in just a few hours.

At 12:30 we had lunch at school. At 1:30 pm we met again and carried on with the presentation about fake news. Mr Schenk also explained how easy it actually is to check whether a certain picture or video is real. There are a few tools, which can help you verify pictures and videos. We watched a YouTube video by a German comedian called Jan Böhmermann which showed how easy it is to fake a video and make it look professional. Finally, we talked about the consequences fake news items can have.

The workshop lasted till 4 pm and then we could spend some free time with our host families. At 6:30 pm we met at school again and had a very nice farewell party together. We ate traditional food from all the five countries and saw photos which had been taken throughout the week.