The meeting in Vitrolles, France

16th - 20th January 2023

The Caucadis school organised the meeting in Vitrolles. This meeting's agenda focused on fabrics upcycling and “local and zero waste” cooking.

Before the meeting, the French team collected old fabrics to be used during the meeting. Indeed, the highlight of the activities organised with the partners was the upcycling of old chairs in the school.

Monday, 16th January 2023

We started the mobility week with a welcome ceremony: a word of welcome from the headmaster followed by a presentation of the school, the town and the region. This presentation was also an opportunity to discover the painting of Cézanne, a French impressionist artist, whom we will "meet" in the streets of Aix-en-Provence the following day. The French prepared a Kahoot Quiz to test the knowledge acquired by the foreign partners. Then each student and teacher presented themselves through a Chinese PPP portrait to get to know each other. This ceremony was followed by a guided tour of the Caucadis high school, the technical facilities and the E3D label (School or Establishment with a Global Approach to Sustainable Development) by the hosting students. The morning ended with a group photo.

After a collective buffet where the different students had the opportunity to communicate and get to know each other, we started the "fabric upcycling" workshop, which is the main activity of this mobility week. The workshop began with a presentation of the work of the artist Frantz West "Test 1994" (on sofas), and then the French delegation explained the process to be followed so that each country could upcycle its chair. Each country was able to work on its own chair using fabrics and patches brought in their suitcases. Through this activity, which gives a second life to old objects, we wanted to make young people aware of the importance of waste and its possible reuse. Several teachers and students took photos and videos of the different stages to make a film of this activity. The first day ended with a meeting of teachers from all delegations.

Tuesday, 17th January 2023

The day began with a morning at the Vitrolles media library where students and teachers participated in an escape game. The students were divided into international groups. The partnership with the media library of the city of Vitrolles allowed the dissemination and visibility of our project beyond the school. The librarian team had prepared a welcome in the image of "Think globally - Act locally" mobility, displaying the countries' flags and the A4F and Erasmus+ logos while enriching it with books on the participating countries and sustainable development. The escape game allowed an intuitive visit to this cultural building while solving questions related to "climate change", "better eating", and "less waste" in the agricultural sector. This fun and informative experience helped to raise the awareness of our young Europeans to these issues that impact our daily lives.

The day continued with the discovery of a Provencal town, Aix-en-Provence, and its market of local products. To introduce the city, the French students prepared an urban trail following Cézanne’s footsteps, an emblematic painter of Provence and French impressionism. They guided the international groups through the town to discover significant places and landmarks where the artist grew up and lived, and they also provided historical information on the city.

Wednesday, 18th January 2023

On Wednesday, we went to Arles to visit the Luma Tower. The visit was important for several reasons. The first reason was that it allowed us to link with our mobility in Greece, where we worked on the rehabilitation of industrial buildings. Indeed, the Luma Tower is a former railroad workshop rehabilitated into a place dedicated to culture with a beautifully landscaped park. The second reason was to see the works of Franz West, who inspired us for the "upcycling fabrics" workshop. The third reason relates to one of the rooms being operated by artificial intelligence, which allowed the students to discover new technologies. The last reason is that the Luma Tower is also a design laboratory where new eco-friendly materials, such as bioplastics, salt wall, etc. are tested and invented, which fits in with the theme of the "Arts for future" project.

The French students took all the delegations on a guided walking tour of Arles. Then we went to the Camargue by bus to discover the typology of this regional natural park. It is in the salt marshes of the Camargue that the salt bricks, used for some of the interior walls of the Luma Tower visited that morning were created. This trip was an opportunity to discover the local agriculture and explain the importance of the rice fields' irrigation, contributing to maintaining life on this territory. The students had the opportunity to meet nature and observe the diversity of this wetland's local flora and fauna.

Thursday, 19th January 2023

The strike movement this day forced us to change our programme and adapt. In the morning, we walked up to the Rocher de Vitrolles to overview the city of Vitrolles.

When we returned to the school, we continued the "upcycling fabrics" workshop we had started on Monday.

Friday, 20th January 2023

Our last morning was devoted to the “local and zero waste” cooking workshop. All delegations were divided into 2 successive international groups, one for the "upcycling fabrics" workshop and another for the "local and zero waste" cooking. The cooking workshop aimed to prepare dishes based on local and seasonal products, all grown within 20 km of the school. Céline BARRA, a farmer in a protected area in Vitrolles, supervised this workshop. The partners who provided the products necessary for elaborating the "climatic recipes" were the Ferme du Vallon in Velaux, the Collet Blanc for the olive oil, the Fournil du Puisatier for the bread, Biocoop for the basic ingredients. This activity was an opportunity to raise awareness among young Europeans about climate-related eating habits. It also allowed us to collect eco-friendly recipes. Through etwinning, all partner schools have previously downloaded "climate recipes" that the French pupils collected before the mobility. These recipes will be published in the ebooklet "More than 50 tips and tricks". Pupils have created a tutorial on one of the "zero waste and eco-friendly" recipes, which will be visible on the project's YouTube channel. This workshop's main objective was to change the habits of young people for more sustainable nutrition. At noon, we all enjoyed this environmentally friendly meal.

In the afternoon, all the delegations were taken to discover Marseille. With the visit to the Cosquer cave, the pupils could see for themselves the impact of climate change on the area's geography since this cave of prehistoric cave art, which was once accessible, is now underwater. They were surprised to see that penguins were present on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea and were thus able to question the impact of climate change on life and biodiversity. Then the visit to the Basilica of Notre Dame de la Garde, an emblematic place for the people of Marseilles, provided a panoramic view of the second-largest city in France, and everyone received information about it.

We ended the mobility week at the media library of Vitrolles, where a musical game was organised for the students, and the certificates were handed to the participants. This last evening together was a special shared moment that allowed us to thank the host families and participants and reinforce the European spirit between all the delegations.

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