4 – Zagreb

Article about the Meeting

Our group, four students, Mr. Gulden and Mr. Blümmel, met at the Mannheim main station and took the train to the airport.
At 9pm we got on our plane at the Frankfurt Airport. Our flight was shorter than expected and we arrived at the Zagreb Airport at 10.30pm. We got picked up by our hosts and their parents. When we arrived at home, we went straight to bed and were excited for the days ahead of us. 

Monday, February 4

Monday was one of our favorite days. After we woke up, some of us had to take public transportation to get to school, the oth- ers were driven by the parents of their hosts. At school, we and the students from the other countries, were welcomed by the Croatians, the teachers and their principal. The school choir even sang songs for us. The school was shown to us by some of the older students. Then we visited a German class, where we we talked about the German dialects. After a short break where we got to eat some Croatian snacks, we compared the German job market with the other countries in a quick presentation. Later, we went into the city center of Zagreb, where we visited the Cathedral of Zagreb and went to the main square. After walking through the city, we were free to go where we wanted. We chose to go to a small Italian restaurant, where the food was delicious.

Tuesday, February 5

On Tuesday morning when we arrived at school at 8am we held our presentation, in which we compared different types of jobs and the soft skills needed for them. Then, we visited a workshop by one of the Croatian teach- ers about safety on the internet. Soon after, we took another workshop, this time about computer science. The Croatian teachers organized an internet treasure hunt. At 1pm we took the tram to Photomath, an app creat- ed in Zagreb, which helps so solve math problems by taking a picture of them. It was a really interesting presentation about the founding and rise of Photomath.

Later we could decide by ourselves what to do next, and the majority of us went to a shopping centre.

Wednesday, February 6

On Wednesday we took a bus to the LUSH factory and Samobor. The people at LUSH taught us how to make the bath bombs, which they are famous for. They also showed us around the factory, and one of the workers held a presentation about LUSHs philosophy.

For Lunch, the school rented a room, where all of the partici- pants ate together. After Lunch we had a break, in which we went to a small café to eat the famousKremšnita (German pronuncia- tion: Creme-Schnitta), which is a pudding cake from Samobor.

At 2.30pm a guide showed us around Samobor – a popular tourist town very close to Zagreb. This was fun because of its rich history and many sights. The guide was very amusing and told lots of fun stories about the town. Then we took the bus back to Zagreb and spent the rest of the evening with our hosts.

Thursday, February 7

On Thursday the students and teachers had a workshop about the Europass. Later we had a dis- cussion in groups about the jobs of our future. After this all of the participants walked to the compa- ny of Ericsson together. At Ericsson they held a presentation about their company an their success. Later we walked trough the company and they showed us their computer sys- tems. A few hours later we bought souvenirs for our families with our hosts in the centre of Zagreb. In the afternoon we all met without the teachers, and spent our last evening together at a student’s house.

Friday, February 8

On Friday, we had our last work- shop, which was about job inter- views. We also did a role-play in which we interviewed each other. Like on our first day we all gathered in the school’s assembly hall and re- ceived our certificates and said good- bye to every one.

Mia Kupper (15)

Projects

Work ethics: LUSH manufactury

To learn about work ethics we visited the Lush manufacturing facility.  Before exploring the actual factory, we went with the manager to the office  where he explained us gereral information about manufacture an described the work .All products are 100% natural, and they make bath bombs, soaps, lips balms and other hygiene products. One of the interesting  perks for the employers I remember is that if you come to work by bike or don’t smoke, you  receive a higher salary.  The Lush company resembles one big family.  There they have football tournaments, hiking and other activities.  During our factory tour, we had to wear security suits.  In factory there were strong  scents, which is why we also had to wear nose protections.  When we saw how bath bombs were made  they let us try to do it ourselves.  It wasn’t easy.  It takes a lot of strength and patience to make a bath bomb.  That’s why teamwork is important.  As everything is made out of natural ingredients, we could also taste products.  They are not very tasty though.  Lush is very special place to work in, because  you don’t need to have a college degree.  You just need to like the philosphy behind it, goodwill and team spirit.  At the end of the tour, everyone was given a box of Lush products, which was a very nice gesture.  To sum up I would suggest everyone visiting Lush and  learning about their work ethics and policy.

Patrick Kenda (17)

Safer Internet Day 2019

The second day of Erasmus meeting in Zagreb was marked as Safer Internet Day and a workshop has been organized for us in our school IX. gimnazija by teacher Jelka Dorić.

There were a few tasks for us to do. Treasure hunt, safe internet conversation, best passwords for use etc. The main task was acting out a scene. We were separated into 5 groups each of 5 students. Each group got a different story, for instance, cyberbullying, and we had to make a dramatic scene and play it. That was really fun to do. All groups communicated very well between themselves and people got  a lot closer after that. I am not sure if this experience will help anyone to become safer Internet user and if all students will obey the rules, but it was definitely a fun project and it was great to watch all reenactments.

In my opinion, this project was well organised, I had real fun with my fellow students. Although, at first everyone was shy, afterwards we communicated very well. We had lots of fun acting and everyone was laughing. We all had great time and we’re richer for another experience.

Karla Poljanac (17)

Impact Stories

1 

The week was really fun because we made a lot of new friends.

It was nice to see Zagreb’s beautiful nature and architecture.

You only live once.

Where there is love, there is life.

I learnt new words, tasted new food and made new friends. Now I have a second family.

I have been feeling very comfortable in my host family and I improved my English.

2

We liked:

  • visiting different parts of Lush
  • Photomath visit
  • Safer Internet Day
  • treasure hunt
  • Samobor and Zagreb
  • food, especially kremšnita
  • people and new friends
  • getting to know Croatian culture
  • Quiz time with Martin Prša
  • museums (Broken relationships, Torture)
  • hot hosts

We didn’t like:

  • Croatian students couldn’t be with us (they had to go to classes)

3

We are the future.

This week was beautiful, unforgettable.

We got a lot of new friends all over the Europe.

We’re leaving a part of our hearts in Croatia.

We’ve had a full immersion in job world; it will be useful for our future.

4

We liked ćevapi.

This experience was really useful – to know about new cultures and to meet new people.

We could practice English a lot.

5

We liked different workshops and the fact we always worked in teams.

The visit of Ericsson was very boring.

We liked the city and the cathedral. 

We liked making bath bombs at Lush.

We didn’t like the temperature.