Students report - Crossing The Barriers

As members of our LBZH - Theatre group we were allowed to join the Comenius meeting in Vienna  in November 2012.

On Monday 19th November we went with our little school bus to the Airport of Osnabrueck and Muenster. We were very excited about our first flight ever. After the check-in we were able to see the plane through a huge window. It was bigger than we had expected. With a short delay we started our flight towards Vienna. After our arrival at our hotel we went to the school for the hard of hearing in Vienna, where we met students and teachers from Austria, Poland and England. All students presented their schools, hometowns and countries, using PowerPointPresentations or films (all produced by themselves). After delicious pieces of pizza we discovered Vienna by night: For the first time we went by underground and in a giant wheel at the Prater- how exciting that was!

During the next days many different theatre exercises  for us all took place. We rehearsed the first scene of our common theatre play “murder in the Comenius-express. Sometimes we needed time to translate everything into the different spoken  and signed languages. Nevertheless there were always possibilities to express the play through International signs, pictures or mime. That was great fun.

The preparation time for the Austrian evening was a good chance of getting to know each other better and better. Together we learned, how to prepare “Apfelstrudel”, “Sachertorte” and “Wiener Schnitzel”. The pupils from Vienna presented different traditional dances and sketches about Austria. That was very interesting.
To be recognized as members of the “Comeniusteam” we printed our own T-shirts, which we could wear for our next common theatre rehearsal.
The whole group went on a trip to the “Christkindlmarkt” of Vienna, the “Schloss Schönbrunn” and the zoo of Vienna. We were surprised that there were bats at the zoo as well. We had never seen them before! During the week we got to know each other better. So we really enjoyed our common trip to a huge swimming pool in Vienna. The teachers had their own programme during the week. They got to know different theatre techniques, learned about how to act on stage, how to get started and how to express themselves on stage. In another workshop they learned some International signs. On Saturday we flew back to Osnabrück. In the afternoon we arrived at the LBZH, being tired and full of new impressions. We hope to see the students and teachers from the other countries soon and would love to visit Vienna again.

Our Comenius meeting in Vienna (19th-24th, November)

Our journey to Vienna we started at 6.00 a.m going by bus from our Centre to Katowice. From Katowice we went by train to Vienna. At the station we were welcomed by an Austrian teacher and then got to the hotel. Next we went to Austrian school, where we got to know teachers and students from England, German and of course Austria. We also handed some small gifts, had made earlier at our school, in the headmaster of the Austrian school.  The unexpected attraction of this day were the evening visiting Vienna and the great ride on The Giant Ferris Wheel of Vienna.  On the end of the day we got back the hotel, tired but really enjoyed this first day in Vienna.

The second day we started with common breakfast. After coming to school we were divided  in groups and the youth went to the school gym, when teachers began the theatre workshops. After lunch we made the Comenius logo on the T-shirts and after a short break  we were painting the chosen elements on the walls of the Austrian school. Many of us tried painting on the walls first time in their life. In the afternoon together with colleagues from other countries we went playing football. In the evening we visited the Christmas Market, where we were having the great time, taking commemorative photos, buying souvenirs and small gifts. The day passed quickly and in interesting way.

On the third day together with other students we went for a trip to zoo, where we saw many interesting animals for examples bats. Then we also visited the Palace. After coming back to school we were again divided in groups and one of us started preparing traditional Austrian dishes, the other began the theatre workshops. Then the groups changed the roles. After dinner we took part in Austrian evening, really interesting and well- prepared.

On the next day we were visiting the center of Vienna and after integrating games and contests at school we went to the Danube Tower. We went upstairs by a lift to admire the wonderful view of Vienna from the top.

And came the last day of our meeting. In the morning we saw the presentation about the school in Osnabrück and then there was an official farewell meeting. After lunch most of the youth went to the swimming pool to finish the day with the dinner in Mc Donald.

We will very fond memories of our stay in Vienna and for sure we will be missing the newly known friends.
Authors of the report: Monika. P, Justyna. D, Justyna. K,
Translation in English: Danuta Rogula.

In Vienna I liked the most the architecture of the city. I mentioned nicely the Christmas Market. There were so many beautiful things on it. The teachers and students who hosted us were really friendly and I’d like to get to know more about their culture and customers.
Justyna D:

In Austria I liked the most the school, it was so big and colorful! I liked also the trips for example to the zoo or the Christmas market. It was nice how they organized it teachers went to the theatre workshops and we the youth had other activities. I enjoyed baking the cake too, it was nice and funny. Although I was missing the English words, it was the super fun!
We liked the trip to zoo and animals we saw there. We also liked the school, it was so big and colorful!