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April 2017 No. 16

Vidin—on the Danube again

Inside this issue: Vidin—on the Danube again

1

Job Interviews

2

Innovation Camp

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Creative workshop

2

Educational trip

3

The regional library

4

Steps to the future

5

Two concerts—one goal!

5

Visiting local companies

6

Meeting traditions

7

Baba Vida fortress

7

Contribute and don’t take away

8

 All partners’ contribution  All days impressions  All activities described

On Monday morning we started our programme with some sightseeing in the town centre. Our Bulgarian hosts, students from the partner school showed us round.

At first we stopped in front of the Vidin Drama Theatre. It was the first theatre building, erected after the liberation of Bulgaria in 1891.

Today there are beautiful concerts and plays to see, which we could experience ourselves on Wednesday evening at a concert of folk group “Severnyatsi”. After that we passed by Nikola Petrov Art Gallery. It is a really impressive building where are exposed more than 1,300 works of famous Bulgarian and foreign artists, arranged in three specialized divisions: Graphics, Painting and Sculpture.

Danube Park, through which we walked, is 2 km long and there are British gardens with tall trees. You can find playgrounds and statues there as well. You can go along the River Danube and see as far as Romania, it lies on the other river bank. The next amazing building was a synagogue. It is located near the Baba Vida Fortress. It was destroyed during the liberation war and then it was built again. The synagogue is interesting even though it is almost a ruin now and Jews left Vidin a long time ago.

Then we saw a mosque and a library of Osman Pazvantoğlu built in the 18 century.

The next stop was the Church of

St.Nicholas where we were allowed to enter and see it. St. Panteleimon Church is is a very tiny church. Every square inch of it is decorated with beautiful art work. It was interesting to compare Orthodox churches in Vidin and Catholic or Protestant churches we have in most partner counties. Later we saw more sights like Mausoleum of Exarch Antim I, Telegraph Kapia, one of the former entrance gates to Vidin, the Cross Barracks which was built in 1801 for the Ottomans. After Bulgaria’s liberation, it served as a law court and barracks for the Bulgarian army. Today it is an ethnographic museum with national costumes and Bulgarian crafts. In the end we walked through an old Stambol Gate and finished our guided tour in the main square near a statue in the centre depicting the three sisters in the legend of the founding of Vidin called “Three Ladies”. We enjoyed the tour a lot thank to our tour guides and sunny weather.

Czech team

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E S C A P E

Job interviews

„We all had a great time

On Monday 20th March 2017 Milk Energy Ltd. held a job interview in Vocational School “Prof. d-r Asen Zlatarov”. The interviewers were representatives of local institutions and the interviewed were students from seven countries: Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania and Bulgaria. The participants had applied for the following positions: Human Resources Assistant, Marketing Manager, IT Administrator, Manager Assistant, Chief Accountant, Sales Manage, Purchasing manager/ Supplier. The selected candidates signed contracts with Milk Energy Ltd.

N E W S L E T T E R

Innovation camp On the first day of the project we had to split in to 6 groups, each of them containing 4 students from the different countries.

The main task of the camp was to think of an idea which can help with the youth unemployment along the banks of Danube river.

The team’s ideas were very impressive and innovative. 3 teams were awarded with certificates for first, second and third place.

creating these masterpieces using only our imagination”

Creative workshop At the workshop we were eleven students from all seven countries. We did something called “decoupage”.

Decoupage is the art of decorating an object by gluing colored paper cutouts onto it in combination with special paint effects, gold leaf and other decorative elements.

We decorated glasses for Easter with cutouts of napkins with Eastern rabbits holding big eggs.

Not all of us did decoupage. Some students from the group did quilling.

Quilling is an art that involves the use of strips of paper that are rolled, shaped and glued together to create decorative designs.

Other students drew frogs, flowers and other colorful things on stones.

We all had a great time creating these masterpieces using only our imagination.

Our products were sold at the charity Easter bazaar in favor of children in need.

Bulgarian team

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Educational Trip to the Mountains Magura Cave

Belogradchik Rocks

On Tuesday morning we were at the Magura Cave and after that we visited the Belogradchik Rocks. We went by bus for almost one hour until we reached the cave. The weather was very nice, warm and the sun was shining. On the other hand the temperature in the cave was cold and

After we visited the Magura C a v e we went by the s a m e bus to the Belogradchik Rocks, which are about 25 kilometers away from Vidin. One of the Bulgarian Students told us a little bit about the Rocks. After she finished we went inside and we had to climb many stairs to get to the top. Finally at the top we had a breathtaking view. It was beautiful.

We took pictures with the Slovenians, Hungarians, Bulgarian and the Romanian Students.

We helped each other to take some pictures and we have captured very funny videos.

it was very wet inside. We were going down the narrow stairs and some of us fell them down, because they were slippery. The guide told us that the cave is about 2,5 kilometers long and 15 million years old. The paths were illuminated. There were ancient paintings on the walls and many little and cute bats. After we went outside, we took some pictures and had lunch.

Melisa Huskic, Dmitrii Efremov, Sabine Stummer, Anna-Maria Seirl, Ramon Paul Austrian team

“the cave is about 2,5 kilometers long and 15 million years old�

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E S C A P E

N E W S L E T T E R

The regional library

„Our programme was carefully organized, we did different things every day“

Between 19-25 March 2017 we took part in the 7th project meeting of our Erasmus+ Escape project in Vidin, Bulgaria.

Our programme was carefully organized, we did different things every day. On Monday afternoon we were welcomed at our Bulgarian partner school, and in international groups, we had to do different tasks. In Innovation Camp we had to do a presentation about how to get work the unamployment young people. We worked in small groups. There were four people in each group. They have got topics with some important points for example it must be

to have a chance to be here. It was the day of The International Day of Water. We watched short

videos about saving the water.

The Mermaid Kindergarden suprised us with nice performance. One girl of them symbolised the beginning of spring. Everyone became the Friends of Nature. We have a little break. The group from Innovation Camp prepared for representing the presentation.

Everyone had great ideas to solve the problem. The charity basar was prepared. We could buy things for a symbolic prize.

We donated for a kindergarden.

There are children who lost their parents. After that they told us the results of the presentations.

The winners got a diplom. Then we came back to the hotel. In the afternoon we had programs at school.

connected with the Danube, to have a connection between education and the job.

On Wednesday we went to the library in Vidin. Everyone took their seat. The mayor of Vidin welcomed us in the town. We Beatrix, Bianka, Evelin, Viktória, had time to ask him about the Vivien – The Slovak Team location. Some teachers thanked

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Steps to the future In the afternoon we took part to the CLIL lessons, which, in our point of view were very interesting and satisfying because we had the opportunity to interact with the other students from different countries.

The

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Two concerts—one goal!

On 22.03.2017, the beneficiaries of the project "ESCAPE" attended a concert of folk studio "Severniatsi". The dancers celebrated its fifth birthday.

We enjoyed the rich Bulgarian folklore - music, songs, dances and beautiful costumes of the region.

On 23.03.2017, we attended the concert of Sinfonietta Vidin. Under the baton of Maestro Svilen Simeonov were performed works of composers from partner countries. Great pleasure experienced by the brilliant performance of the waltz "The Beautiful Blue Danube" by Johann Strauss - son.

The presence of both the concerts and flowers given had one goal to preserve national and European cultural heritage because it is part of the intangible heritage left by our ancestors!

teachers were very nice and welcoming, trying to make us talk more about our subjects, one of them was about small talk and the other one was about selling in the Orient. They tried to let the shyness and talk as they would have done at their normal classes.

We, the students, tried to interact with the teachers as much as we could. We had a great conversation that helped us to discover new things about economy, our topics and the countries from where the other students came .We exchanged opinions and information about our country.

We think that this type of lessons would be more helpful and attractive for students and this can improve their language skills. We hope this kind of lessons will become more popular in Eli Cvetanova, the future .

Romanian team school project coordinator, Bulgarian team

„t o pr e s er v e national and European cultural heritage because it is part of the intangible heritage left by our ancestors“

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E S C A P E

N E W S L E T T E R

Visiting local companies

„We found it very interesting because nobody knew anything about oil production“

AQUAPONICS:

OLIMEX:

On Thursday, we visited two companies. One of them was a family company Aquaponics.

The company’s activity is a unity of aquaculture and hydroponics that grows fish and plants together in one integrated system. It is a new company that was created a year ago and it is also the only one in Bulgaria. They grow vegetables and fruits (salad, mint, spring onions, garlic and strawberries) on water and they use the same water for breeding carps.

Fish waste provides organic food source and minerals, so they do not have to use pesticides. The products are organic and they are sold in their shop. They are hoping to expand their business, but for now, it is still a secondary activity that gives the family an extra income.

The second company that we visited was Olimex, which produces products from sunflower seeds. It is a family business and soon the third generation will take over. They produce refined and crude sunflower oil, sunflower bakery kernels and sunflower husk pellets. Production hall has the latest technology and it was built in 2010. Just three months after the start of their production, the sunflower kernels production

Slovenian team

process was certified with the IFS (International standard for quality and safety of the food products).

95% of all products are exported to other countries whereas the rest is sold to local shops. We found it very interesting because nobody knew anything about oil production. One of the interesting things was that every series of products must pass quality check to make sure they are the best quality before they go to the market. At the end of the presentation, each of us was also given a nice present – a bag of sunflower seeds.

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Meeting tradition On the date of 23rd of March we visited the Bulgarian village Antimovo. near Vidin. When we arrived we were surprised to see the locals dressed in traditional clothing ready to welcome us with specific dances, giving us bread with honey and wine made by themselves.

They prepared traditional food like painted boiled eggs, cookies, goat milk and also different hand-made souvenirs. While some of us were tasting their delicacies, others started dancing along the locals.

We were impressed by the fact that more than half of the elders of the village knew the Romanian language; we started a conversation in our native language, the elders telling us how they got in the village.

We enjoyed the time spent there, had a lot of fun and hope that we will return there soon.

Baba Vida Fortress

On Thursday afternoon the sun was shining and we visited the medieval fortress Baba Vida. It is located on the bank of the Danube river.

Today the castle has shape resembling a square with its corners pointing at the four cardinal points. The castle has two surrounding walls. The inner one is higher and has 9 towers whereas the outside one is lower and is connected by two towers.

In these days Baba Vida functions as a museum and is a popular tourist attraction. We could walk all around and saw interior of the castle. From the top Romanian team of towers we had a beautiful view to Danube, Vidin and also a Romanian part on another bank.

We could take a picture with a statue of donkey and a knight armor.

Czech team

„We enjoyed the time spent there, had a lot of fun and hope that we will return there soon“

Contribute and don`t take away On Friday we started our day visiting a local business in Vidin run by Mick Cooper, an English man, who came to Bulgaria in 2008.

The name of his business is Phoenix Café and Bakery and it is a social enterprise.

Mr. Cooper made a presentation to us about how a social enterprise works.

It is designed to give people especially those in need skills, the confidence, the knowledge to learn a profession (baker, waiter, pastry chef) to develop themselves.

The aim is to give a chance to those who do not have a chance. The key purpose is to help and educate. The business is sponsored by charities mainly from abroad.

According to him 99% of success depends on education. By now Phoenix Café has become a legally protected brand as they are producing unique products with English taste.

He used to teach for 20 years in a hotel school in Norwich.

After this programme we went to the library

With the support of the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union

where the secretary of a youth Association “Active Society” spoke about their organization.

It is to find funds to finance projects for young people.

The aim is to increase awareness among young people and encourage them to take part in projects. After the short presentation we worked in groups.

We had to brainstorm ideas about difficulties of young people in the job search with at least 5 suggestions how to solve the problems. We collected ideas how the European Union and participant countries cope with youth unemployment.

In the afternoon we got the certificates of attendance in the training event is Vidin. The whole week was full of great activities and programmes. We really enjoyed each moment of our stay.

Attila, Bianka, Flóra, Klaudia, Soma, Zsófia, the Hungarian team

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