InterCOOLtura N E WS
Belgrade welcomes EFIL network About 70 participants attended EFIL's General Assembly 2013, hosted by our Member Organisation in Serbia, Interkultura. Continue on page 12
ISSUE 6 MAR/APR/MAY/JUN 2013
Interkultura’s annual volunteer seminar 2013 - Divčibare The seminar was held 12-14 April and for the first time it was also our teacher-volunteers who took part in it.
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IN THIS ISSUE February in Belgrade page 3 Laterza in Mladenovac pages 4 & 5 Swiss volunteers in Serbia page 6 Interkultura's annual volunteer seminar 2013 - Divčibare page 7
October is not that far away pages 8 & 9
I am an AFS volunteer! page 14
The impact of virtual media on student exchange and intercultural learning pages 10 & 11
Intercultural eveningsin Subotica: once, twice,three, four times! page 15
Belgrade welcomes EFIL network page 12
Interkultura in Užice page 16
I am proud to be here page 13
ISSUE 6 MAR/APR/MAY/JUN 2013
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Dear friends, In May, Interkultura hosted several important international events in Belgrade. The first one was EFIL’s seminar Strengthening youth NGO’s through intercultural exchange, targeting volunteers in smaller and weaker AFS organisations. The aim of this one-week seminar was to offer the participants a more detailed insight into the functioning of an AFS organization and to giv n the agenda were the endorsement of EFIL’s strategic plan 2013-2020, elections for the EFIL Board and acceptance of AFS Poland into EFIL membership. AFS President Vincenzo Morlini addressed the audience about the developments in the AFS global network and EFIL Honorary Chair Roberto Ruffino spoke about the four corner-stones of a successful and healthy AFS organisation. Delegates from Spain, Belgium, Italy and Serbia shared their organisations’ best practices in different areas. The unofficial part of the programme included a city tour of Belgrade, reception at the garden of the Home of the Pavlović Family and gala dinner at Madera Restaurant. The last event in the sequence was the training What every AFSer should know about intercultural learning, delivered by two of the AFS qualified trainers.
excellent service of the Hotel Moskva certainly contributed to the overall impression. By organising these events, Interkultura and Serbia got a lot of visibility among the colleagues from other organisations. Most of them knew little about Serbia and were pleasantly surprised by, as they put it, the “semi-Mediterranean atmosphere” in Belgrade. For many participants, this was the first visit to Belgrade, but we hope not the last one. Ivana Gazikalovic-Pavlović
Interkultura volunteers and staff did their best to ensure that everything should be well organised and the participants satisfied. The location, general atmosphere and
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February in Belgrade: Mid-stay Orientation
It's been more than 8 months since our exchange students arrived in Serbia. Time has flown by quickly between many meetings and group activities, so in February it was the right time for the mid-stay orientation. It was held in Belgrade 14-17 February for our 13 exchange students staying on a year programme. The workshops were led by Interkultura's experienced volunteers as well as some returnees and new volunteers. The main subject of the orientation were exchange students’ impressions and experiences, their progress in Serbian language, goals they have for the rest of their exchange and the ways to achieve them. They proved to know many Serbian words and were even more
successful in some activities related to Serbian than usvolunteers! The most successful and responsible students were given Interkultura T-shirts, which made them very happy, and encouraged the others to make a progress until the next orientation. In addition to serious workshops, talks and mutual consultations, students were also given the opportunity to present Valentine's Day celebration in their countries, to see how Belgrade looks in winter, to listen to Serbian music, to play "Mafia", to sing and play guitar... Our exchange students were guests on two national televisions where they talked about their stay in Serbia, and two of our returnees from Italy also talked about their experience. 3
We had a great time, and the best proof is our student’ evaluation in which they said that this was their best orientation so far! Тhe only thing we can do now is try to make the end-of-stay orientation even better! Tamara Milošević
Laterza in Mladenovac Students from an Italian city Laterza were guests in High School Mladenovac. The visit was very well organised and will be remembered by many new friendships, a great hospitability, touristic tours and other cultural and sports events. High Schhol teacher from Mladenovac, Olja Milošević, prepared and organised the whole visit, in cooperation with the school head teacher and other school teachers. During the exchange, we talked to the participats, Olja Milošević, Italian teachers Antonio Cillo and Nunzia Carrera, as well as students from both schools. Olja Milošević told us, that she was inspired to organise this visit after a meeting with Alan Luna, an exchange student from Venezuela in Serbia, because she was his contact person. She wanted her students to get to know another
country, their peers from a different culture. And so she initiated the exchange with a school from Laterza.
participated in. My Italian guest was like a real brother to me. He has to promise that he will come again and stay longer next time.
Nicola Manicone: This visit was a great experience for me, I met a new culture. I will remember it for the great hospitality and truthful friendship.
Marija Srejić: A wonderful experience, which I would like to have again. I don't know why we haven't organised exchanges like this earlier. I made a friend for life.
Michele Martemucci: I have no words to describe the people I met, they left a fantastic impression on me. I knew nothing about Serbia before coming here. My impressions are wonderful.
Mateja Rašković: A great experience. I was surprised that they wanted to try all of our food. My Italian friends really liked going out and our parties.
Michela Peterlli: This is something new for me. It is a fantastic experience. People I met are lovely and we visited many places. And I think schools in Serbia are more liberal. Varsaković Pavle: This exchange was one of the best things I 4
Antonio Cillo: I have no words to describe my surprise about Serbia. Hospitabilitly, politeness and yor wish to meet us really left a strong impression on me. All the places we have seen and met are also important, but we put an emphasis on meeting a human soul. Schools in Serbia are different than in Italy. We need time to get
to know everything. Nunzia Carrera: Meeting is the most important thing. Because learning about countries through books is not the same as meeting in person. Books say something, but not everything. Serbian culture is very
reach, and the only thing we knew about Serbia before coming here, are wars. Vukica KaradŞić
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Swiss volunteers in Serbia
In the beginning of April, Interkultura had the opportunity to welcome and meet four volunteers from the Swiss AFS - Alex, Sina, Sabrina and Andrea. The reason for their visit to Serbia was to simply meet our country and all of its qualities in order to promote it in AFS Switzerland and to support future exchange students with good reasons to choose Serbia for their exchange. Their stay was divided in three parts. First, they arrived in Belgrade, the capital, where they were met and hosted by Interkultura volunteers, who showed them around the city. The second part of their stay was a visit to Kikinda, a town in
the northern part of Serbia. This way they were able to meet a different Serbia, the more traditional one. They were amazed by Serbian people, our spirit, warm hospitality and, of course, Serbian food. However, the most important experience for us volunteers was that not only did we get a chance to associate with our Swiss colleagues, but also to learn from them. In the last part of their stay, which we all spent together on the mountain DivÄ?ibare, on the Interkultura's annual volunteer seminar, they told us about their country and their AFS. We participated in all of the workshops, simulations and
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other activities in the seminar together. When it was time to say goodbye, Alex, Sina, Sabrina and Andrea told us how much fun they had visiting Serbia and that they will do their best to represent Serbia in the way it deserves. We supplied them with many ideas and reasons for the future exchange students to choose Serbia, so we hope our suggestions were helpful and that we will soon host students from Switzerland. Nevena Sićević
Interkultura's annual volunteer seminar 2013 DivÄ?ibare Every year Interkultura organises a seminar, which gathers all of its volunteers. The new ones learn from the older ones, and the older ones meet the new. Interkultura's annual volunteer seminar 2013 was held on mountain DivÄ?ibare, and besides from the Serbian volunteers, Interkultura also hosted a trainer from Italy, Marco Tosi, as well as four Swiss volunteers as guests of the seminar. The seminar was held 12-14 April and for the first time it was also our teacher-volunteers who took part in it. Their workshops were mostly held separately, but free time and evening activities were spent together. The emphasis of the part of the training for the teachers was put on class exchange, because this programme is almost completely dependent on the initiative of the teachers: they are the ones who have to start it and organise it, so without their cooperation it is impossible. Therefore it was Marco Tosi's presence, which contributed
much to this part of the seminar, since his activities in Intercultura Italia are connected to class exchanges. He confirmed that Italy is ready to organise more class exchanges with Serbia, and his visit was of great importance because Italy is one of Serbia's most important partners for the class exchange. Interkultura Srbija wanted to prepare and support teachers through this seminar to organise class exchanges in their schools. For the other part of the seminar, it was the Swiss volunteers who were the enrichment to it, although they did not take part in it as trainers, but as participants. It was interesting to hear about their experiences and to compare them to ours. Because of them, most of the workshops were held in English and during the ones which were in Serbian, they were always next to Interkultura volunteers, who were translating everything. So in the end they told us they felt very well accepted and included in all of the workshops. 7
This annual seminar was attended by many different volunteers with different levels of experience, some of them met now for the first time; some are in Interkultura for years, and some joined it just now. For this reason it was difficult to have a programme and workshops which would be suitable for everyone and not let anyone feel overwhelmed by the information given. Despite this, there was a good balance between theoretical and practical knowledge and the seminar was very successful, useful and interesting which was confirmed by all of the participants in the evaluation in the end. And most of all, it was successful because it contributed to strengthening the AFS network in Serbia. Bojana Ilić
October is not that far away Class exchange Sarno - Novi Bečej
When I heard about the class exchange between my school and a school from Italy, I signed up for it immediately because I love to meet new people and cultures, so this was a perfect opportunity for me to meet someone from Italy. We created a Facebook group, got acquainted and talked about the upcoming stay in Serbia. We were getting along well. Some students found the language barrier rather difficult but we managed to communicate anyway. We spent a lot of time writing emails and chatting on Skype, and the more we talked, the more we wanted to meet. Giusy chose me as her host sister probably because we found a common language from the first conversation we had. Days were passing by and the long-awaited moment was approaching. We were all eagerly waiting for that fantastic 18 April and we were all so excited to meet our exchange brothers and sisters! The day before they came was Wednesday, a very tiring day for all the hosts. We spent it on making the welcoming posters, arrangements about the party. Phones kept ringing, we were anxious and the whole atmosphere was pretty exciting. We kept asking ourselves "What if they are too shy? Maybe they can't speak English?" But I was totally relaxed because I knew that there would be no problems with my Italian sister, she was everything I expected from this exchange. On 18 April, we went to Belgrade
and there we discovered that their flight will be 20 minutes late. We were standing in lines and even painted the Italian flag on our cheeks. We looked funny, we laughed at the whole scene. We put "Welcome to Serbia!" on our posters, in English, Italian and in Cyrillic letters in Serbian. Other passengers arriving from Italy kept coming out. Some of them thought this was a joke, so they were thanking us laughing, but our 13 Italian guests were nowhere to be seen and we started to feel nervous. After half an hour, a group of students accompanied by their teachers suddenly appeared! We kept standing, speechless, excitement was enormous, we could do nothing but just stand and hold our posters. Finally we threw the posters away and embraced our dear guests. It was incredible!! When we arrived to Novi Bečej, we went to our homes, introduced them to our parents and had dinner. Most of them didn't even unpack because we were eager to show them the place where we usually go out. We spent the first night at a cafe with Juan, who is an exchange student from Mexico on a year programme. We were talking about their impressions of 8
Novi Bečej, people, families and I'm sure they were all pretty satisfied. We organised a party on Friday, and although we were listening to some Serbian music which is not very representative or tasteful, everyone had lots of fun. Every day was exciting, particularly Saturday when we went out together. Even the people who didn't like the music danced and felt happy. Giusy, Borko, his Italian brother Cristiano and I went for a walk afterwards, and it was a bit scary but we grew closer during this walk. Sunday afternoon we wanted to spend together so we had a barbeque. We gathered and the fun started. Italian teachers wanted to have a bicycle ride so I lent them my bicycle, and Giusy and I went on foot. Giusy and Carmen had a five-minute ride experience during which they managed to get lost in Vranjevo, the rural part of Novi Bečej. We went looking for them luckily and they were cycling around hopelessly. Thursday was the end of their stay. We set off for Belgrade in the morning to see them off, but we also found the time to wander around through Belgrade before their departure. All our Italian
friends learnt many Serbian words, though mostly swearwords. At the airport, tears started to run down the cheeks of almost every participant. It was so sad to see them leave, they were the people we spent 24 hours a day with, we shared our meals with them, our homes, everything... When the moment came for them to go we were all flooded by the
emotions. We were near the exit when they all stopped and told us a very usual Serbian curse, which was funny and amusing at that moment.
come soon enough and we will meet again, although some even have plans to spend their summer in Italy.
The days are going by and all that is left are memories and during my daily coffee time with Borko, we talk about this visit constantly, not a day goes by without us retelling and revisiting some story and situation we had with the Italian guests. October is not so far away, it will
This was a beautiful experience which we will remember forever. We formed friendships that we will keep alive, despite the distance between us.
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Jovana Požunić and Borko Sabljić
The impact of virtual У Утицај вирту виртуелних елних media медијаonнаstudent размене ученика ик ика exchange and intercultural learning интеркултурално учење и A very interesting seminar for AFS volunteers was held in Nectiny in the Czech Republic 22-28 April. I had the opportunity to take part in it thanks to AFS Russia, which covered my participation. Besides me, the seminar was attended by 16 other volunteers from the Czech Republic, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Russia, Hungary, Turkey, Finland, Slovenia, France and Iceland, and workshops were held by four wonderful trainers: Inga and Tina from EFIL, Katja from AFS Russia and Charlotte from AFS Denmark. We are aware of how developments in technology influence ourselves, but probably we are still not aware of how we can make use of it for our Interkultura. Facebook does not have to be
used only for the usual chat and posting pictures, but it can be a good advertising space through which we introduce more people with our goals and ideas. Media such as Wikipedia, Google, Skype, blogs, smart phones and social networks have a big influence on today's exchange students. Before going to the exchange, they can easier find information about the new area and a new culture, they may have some new friends and meet family at least virtually, but there the impact does not end. Throughout the exchange students use the Skype to talk with friends and family, and via social network they can share their impressions and images. The main objective of this seminar was to teach us how to use these 10
media in a smart way and how they can help improve the exchange itself. Some of our tasks during the workshops were to discover the positive and negative aspects of the media in intercultural learning, to smartly take advantage of all the possibilities that are offered on the internet, to use a variety of online programs for advertising, intercultural learning and to improve communication among volunteers. There was also a special guest, Tia, an expert in this area, with whom we were able to try out some new programs for the online conferences. All workshops were interesting, I was able to hear a lot of new information and I tried to learn as much as I could, in order to transfer it after my return to our other volunteers.
We also organised an intercultural evening where we presented our countries and talked more about our organizations. We spent one afternoon in Pilsen, where we had the opportunity to visit the most famous Czech brewery, toast and try typical Czech food.
Each seminar is an opportunity to learn something new, meet a new culture, visit a new place, but also an opportunity for the most important thing in the Interkultura's world: making new friendships that will certainly last for a long time because we are all connected by the same love.
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After the seminar, we visited the capital, Prague, where we spent more time as a group and agreed to meet soon all together for a coffee, at least on Skype. Jelena Petrović
Belgrade welcomes EFIL network General Assembly approves EFIL Strategic Plan 2013-2020 About 70 participants attended EFIL's General Assembly 2013, hosted by our Member Organisation in Serbia, Interkultura. Among the participants were the leadership of the European network of EFIL, as well as guests from AFS International, including the Chair of the Board of Trustees Christian Kurten and AFS President Vincenzo Morlini. At the opening dinner on Thursday night, GA delegates were treated to an interesting look at Serbia's past and present by guest speaker Aleksandar Miladinović, journalist and working for a leading TV and radio station in Serbia, mostly covering economic, political and social issues. Opening the GA and key-note speaker on Friday morning, the speech by Milan Pajević - Head of the European Integration Office- was highly appreciated by all.
Because 2012 marked the end of the period covered by EFIL's "Strategic Directions 2007-2012", endorsed by the Membership at the General Assembly in Lisbon 2007, at this GA in Belgrade, we were looking back at the past 6 years. An overview of EFIL's achievement in the various activity fields was presented by EFIL Secretary-General Paul Claes. Following this presentation, best practice examples by Members were given as a sequence of short presentations: AFS Spain elaborated on their involvement in the EU's Comenius Individual Pupil Mobility Programme, AFS Belgium Flanders reported on their efforts to promote and grow the European Citizenship Trimester Programme (ECTP), AFS Italy presented their nationwide approach to the annual Intercultural Dialogue Day, and our host AFS Serbia focused on the successful teachers' seminars they are organising.
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Further sessions during the two days of the General Assembly included discussions in working groups (Open Space format), covering the key result areas of the new Strategic Plan, as well as a session facilitated by AFS President Vincenzo Morlini in which he addressed the audience about matters related to actual developments in the AFS global network, and a session by EFIL's Honorary Chair of the Board Roberto Ruffino, focusing on the four inter-linked corner stones as tools for growth to create a successful and healthy AFS organisation. Agenda points of the statutory session included, among other issues, the adoption of the new Strategic Plan 2013-2020 and the Business Plan 2013-2014, the successful application for membership by the partner organisation in Poland, and the election of EFIL Board members. A big thank you goes to the host, our Member Organisation in Serbia, Interkultura. A sightseeing tour on Friday evening; followed by a garden party at the magnificent house in which the AFS office in Belgrade is located, were much appreciated by all and contributed to the overall successful event this General Assembly was. Magazine EFILife Edition 106 May 2013
EXCHANGE STUDENTS SPEAKING I am proud to be here with students from the countries all around the world, starting to know about a new culture, new style of life, new ways to eat and eating new food. I also share information about my country and my culture to everyone around me, I am in contact with a new life style, I learn how to live on my own, and I grow up decades in just one year. In the beginning I didn't know anything about Serbia, so I started researching on the internet and looking for books to find out more about my host country, but what I didn't know is that I would never learn from books what I am learning here. I remember it like it was yesterday, me arriving at the airport Nikola Tesla in Belgrade and seeing the happy face of Dunja, the volunteer, waiting for me. After a warm hug I thought, "Now starts one of the best years of my life, now starts my exchange year in Serbia." All the orientations, AFS volun teers and Interkultura Serbia are amazing, they give me all the support that I need and are always ready to help me. For sure I can say that AFS became my second family. The best things you get from an exchange are making friendship
Serbia is a wonderful country with different foods, drinks and music. Different style of streets, modernism and old style together in the same place. People that are always ready to help, people that are extremely friendly and hospitable. A country full of history, and culture! I love waking up every morning and knowing that I am in Serbia, and that I chose Serbia for my exchange year. North, central and south Serbia are a totally different Serbia. But my love in Europe will always be Belgrade, the capital city. A city that can represent Serbia the best way possible. I can't explain how proud of myself I am for being here. Of course that the hard times come, and you have some cultural shocks, but with the help of your new host family, friends and 13
AFS, you can win all the barriers and go thorugh all the hard times. It's a good choice to learn about a new culture, learn a new hard language, make new friends and a new family, learn about history living in another country and have the time of your life during an exchange year, but the best choice is to do it in Serbia and with the AFS that connects lives and shares cultures around the world. Felipe Pinheiro
I am an AFS volunteer! In a small place like Ivanjica people are very close-minded. They don't think about the unknown, learning about other people and other cultures. However, when they met Stefano, Suyin, Ekaterina and Federico, the exchange students staying in Ivanjica, they realised that the world is much more than Serbia. The way Interkultura works fascinates me! Even the most conservative ones started to accept foreigners, although fearfully, they are ready to change their attitude.
Recently I was given a chance to officially become an Interkultura's volunteer and take part on Interkultura's yearly volunteer summit ,organised on mountain DivÄ?ibare. I learnt a lot by listening to older volunteers and their experiences. With us were also guests, volunteers from Switzerland. It was a wonderful experience! As a volunteer, I would like to help as much as possible in spreading and developing Interkultura. I want to expand my hori-
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zons! I don't want to be without an open mind and without possibilities. I am proud that I can say: "I'm an AFS volunteer!" Sonja Ranković
Intercultural evenings in Subotica: once, twice, three, four times!
Subotica is a city in the North of Serbia and it has always been multiethnic. Walking through the center, you can always hear Serbian, Hungarian, Croatian or English, and from last summer even Spanish. Although people from Subotica already have different traditions and customs among themselves, they are always ready to meet one more culture, language and country. Javier Mendez Retamal is an exchange student from Chile who has been living in Subotica for 8 months now. Most of the people already know him very well because he is very friendly and outgoing, but also because from time to time we organise intercultural evenings. The Week of Global Education was the occasion for us to organise the first intercultural evening on 16 November in a local High School, with the title ,,Global learning: Interkultura – Chile”. Guests and students had the opportunity to hear about Interkultura and its goals, but also to meet Javier, who presented Chile and his culture. Everyone had a very good time and asked Javier a lot of questions. The majority was about food, girls in
Serbia and Subotica. And he answered in very good Serbian. After this evening, students and teachers of other schools got interested in meeting our Chilean boy. So a history teacher from a local technical school initiated the second intercultural evening. She wanted her students to hear about Javier’s opinion on Subotica and Serbia, but also on the differences between Serbia and Chile. Students were also introduced to exchange programs as well as hosting opportunities with Interkultura. The third Intercultural evening in Subotica was part of the workshops organised by an English teacher. She invited Javier in the beginning of February to present his country, and in March, Lauren Atkins from New Zealand also took part in these workshops presenting her country with a short and interesting video. Apart from Javier and Lauren, Subotica also had the opportunity to meet some other exchange students. 9-16 March a mini-exchange was organised in Serbia, so Federico Tiralongo from Italy, Alan Luna Timoteo from Venezuela and 15
Isadora Mello from Brazil came to our city, while Javier was away in Zaječar in the eastern Serbia. These students fit in very well in our schools and made new friends. At the end of their week in Subotica, there was one more intercultural evening in the High School. The guests found out something more about Brasil from Isadora, learned about differences between Italy and Serbia from Federico, and listened to Alan talk about his Venezuela. All of these evening found their place in local media and newspapers. As an Interkultura volunteer, I hope that I introduced enough people in Subotica with the programs of Interkultura, so that next year there are new faces of exchange students in the hallways of Subotica's schools and we are once again a very good host city. Dušica Salopek
Interkultura in Užice Užice is a town in the West of Serbia and on 25 March Interkultura Srbija was presented in the local High School. For the first time Interkultura's activities were presented in Užice. as well as students exchange programmes, ways of becoming a volunteer, while the emphasis was put on finding host families and presenting hosting opportunities. Students of the first and second grade, aged 15 and 16 showed the biggest interest in it.
student would be welcome in his High School. Aside from wanting his school to be a good host, he considers it important for his students to be in a intercultural environment. Also the local youth organisation was interested in cooperation with Interkultura and the local media reported about the event. Ana Mišević
The High School's head teacher was pleased with Interkultura and the presentation so he proposed that in case Interkultura finds a host family in Užice, the exchange
InterCOOLtura N E WS Editor: Bojana Ilić Design: Nikola Vuković
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