October 22 - 25, 2024, Senec, Slovakia

After a long but amusing train journey, our partners from Chýně finally arrived in Senec and the first visit has kicked off. For the next few days, the pleasant surroundings of summer resort Slnečné jazerá (Eng. Sunny Lakes) will host our first event. 

On Day 1, the members of both pupil parliaments had an opportunity to get to know each other through various icebreaker activities. They aimed at linking up both pupil parliaments, promoting intercultural understanding, and fostering our mutual partnership.

On Day 2, we all attended the 4th Children's Conference HEUREKA (Eng. Eureka), organised by our school with the support of the town of Senec for all primary schools within the town. Moreover, the chosen representatives from both schools actively participated in the conference. All 15 presentations had one common theme which aptly corresponds with our project topic - The Youth and Their Problems in Today´s World.

Afterwards our partners from Chýně had an opportunity to see the school and taste a typical school lunch. 

By the time we arrived at the accommodation, the students were already mingling and holding conversations. They connected even more during the evening activity - cooking dinner together. And believe it or not, it was the pupils from both parliaments who decided on the meals, made a list of ingredients, calculated the estimated the budget, did the shopping in a local supermarket, and prepared dinner together. A bustling kitchen, frantic search for dishes and containers, wrestling with the cooker, buzzing, hearty laughter, cutting, chopping, peeling, stirring, and frying - this sums up  fittingly our evening together. And that wonderful atmosphere during the whole process was simply priceless. Just have a look!

Day 3 brought the members of both parliaments together to collaborate on adjusting a proposed questionnaire on wellbeing and school welfare to the conditions of each school.

The pupils brainstormed ideas, discussed similarities and differences, and tried to identify key questions. Such a modified proposal will represent the main output from the joint visit. The final version of the questionnaire will soon be distributed to other pupils in both schools and some other neighbouring schools in both Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The data will then be collected and processed to be presented at the pupil parliaments conference in Chýně in January 2025.

In the afternoon, we did some sightseeing in Senec and tasted some delicious banana bread in a local café. But the real icing on the cake was surely a joint barbecue with an evening music party, led by a professional deejay, our one and only Michal M-cee Chrapčiak.