School Partnership of the Gimnazija Poljane and
 | East Enlargement - West Enlargement |  |
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| Season 3: 2010-2011 |
 | Preparations in Vienna and Ljubljana (Autumn 2009 - Spring 2010) |
| The Slovenian students visit Vienna (May 2010) |
| The Viennese students visit Ljubljana (May 2011) |
In late autumn 2009 Janja Jakoncic Faganel, the Slovenian Spring Teacher 2003, her colleague Marjeta Sreš and I started preparations for the visit of the Slovenian partner class, scheduled for May 2010.
The Slovenian students started learning German in 2007, and so our students can talk to them in German and English - and of course in a number so southern Slavic languages. As it was not possible, to integrate a first grade of the HAK into the project, we decided in spring 2010, to introduce our Slovenian partners to two third grade classes of the HAK: the 3AK (2009/10) and the 3BK (2009/10).
The Slovenian class had 30 students, who were accompanied by their German teacher Mira Kersnik and their Englisch teacher Emil Lokar. It goes without saying that we used all available languages for communication. | |
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| On Monday, May 10 the Slovenian group arrived in Vienna in the afternoon, after having had an interesting lunch break in Graz. The skies were very dark, when we started our short afternoon walk from Schwedenplatz to Stephansplatz. But we were lucky: the heavy rain only started pouring down, after we had visited St. Stephen's Cathedral, and after I had had the chance to give the students at least a short overview of where they can find Kärntnerstraße and Graben. They also could the the Stock im Eisen, before we had to seek shelter from the heavy rain. | |
| The group had a nice accommodation at theJugendgästehaus Brigittenau. On Tuesday, May 11, we met shortly before 9am ub front of Schönbrunn Palace, in order to buy the tickets for the tour. Our young tour guide spoke slowly and clearly, so that the Slovenian guests could understand as much as possible. She informed the group about the palace, about the Habsburg emperors - and especially about Maria Theresa and Franz Joseph I. and his wife Elizabeth, who were certainly the most famous residents of the palace. |
| After the tour, those who wanted could dress up in old fashioned clothes and thus even more imagine what life was like for the imperial residents of the palace. That was a lot of fun for all of us! Now we were all hungry, and so it was time to walk up to the Gloriette, from where it is only a short walk to the entrance of the Vienna Zoo. I had booked lunch at the Tirolerhaus in advance, and we needed some good nutrition in order to gain new energy for the afternoon. |
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 | After lunch, we bought the tickets for the zoo, where we had nearly three hours to explore a wide variety of animals. Of course, everybody needed a rest from time to time. The most important aspect was, that the students could walk on their own and see those animals they were most interested in. |
| We met again at the Neptune Fountain, where we had one more chance to take a group photo. Then we had to return to the bus and headed for the Upper Belvedere, where we saw the palace as well as the garden, from where we had a wonderful view of the city. Now everybody was tired, and it was time for the group to return to the Jugendgästehaus Brigittenau. The young people needed some rest to be fit for the program next day. |  |
| On Wednesday, May 12 the bus first took the group on a round trip of the Ringstraße, before the arrived at the VBS-HAKIII Schönborngasse. The students of the 3AK (2009/10) were at school even before their lessons started, in order to go and buy some beverages and sweet as well as salty snacks for our guests. The Slovenian students arrived - and were highly interested in checking out the facilities of the school, such as the cafeteria, the courtyards - and the garden, where they finally took some rest. | |
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| After this "warming up" we moved to the festival hall of the school, in order to participate in a Panel discussion, which was organized by the Österreichische Gesellschaft für Europapolitik in the course of the EU-Touring Exhibition. Of course, it was not easy for the Slovenian students to follow the debate. The speakers on the podium spoke clearly and slowly - and thus made it possible for our guests to understand as much as possible. It was certainly a good training in the foreign language for them - on a very high level. | |
Thursday, May 13 was Ascencion Day, which is an official holiday in Austria. Therefore, our school was closed - which made it easy for me to accompany our Slovenian guests on another excursion. In order to find the right mixture of culture and entertainment, we had chosen the following: first a visit of the Natural History Museum and then some entertainment in the Prater. |  |
 | All boys and only a fee girls had chosen the first topic, while the second topic was the favourite of the girls. It was impressive, how well the young ladies could understand the tour in German and how much they knew about biological topics. Mira Kresnik, who accompanied this group, also supported them by giving some translation of one or the other term into their mother tongue, but we really have to say, that their level of German is very high already. |
The other group, which concentrated on the Evolution of Life, quickly switched to English, which made sense, as Emil Lokar, their English teacher, could help them understand some words, they were not familiar with, by translating from English into Slovenian. |  |
There our first destination was the Giant Wheel. We were very lucky, as we did not have to stand in line for long and could quickly board the waggons and start our round trip, which offered interesting bird's eye views of the city. | |
| On Friday, May 14 our Slovenian guests had to get up earlier, as we already expected them at school at 8.30 in the morning. Now the students of the 3BK (2009/10) bought some beverages and sweet and salty snacks. As soon as the guests had arrived, we first demonstrated, how we use the laptops in our lessons, where we save our data - and also, that we close the laptops, if they are not used. Then we went out of the classroom and took a photo on the staircase - which was not easy with this huge group. We had another half hour for chatting and getting to know each other a little bit. Then, the Slovenian guests had to say good bye again: |  |
 | we had booked a tour of the Vienna International Center for 10.30, and unfortunately, the 3BK could not come with us, as they had a paper in WINF scheduled for this day. But the Slovenian teachers invited the class to come and visit the Gimnazija Poljane in Ljubljana next school year. Before we could enter the UNO City, we had to pass Security. As soon as we had reached the entrance hall, we were welcomed by our tour guides. The Slovenian group was divided in two - and the students were happy to be offered an English tour. |
| The guide of the girls group was called Markus, and he excellently combined his explanations about numerous important aspects with one and the other short question, which again and again helped to integrate the youngsters in the tour. First we learned a lot about the main tasks of the UN: peacekeeping, security and human rights. Then Markus explained the structure ot the UN. All were familiar with the General Assembly. They also knew about the Security Councial: But which countries are a member of this council? And for how long? |  |
 | Some of the youngsters were astonished to hear, that the five permanent members can block decisions of the Security Council by their veto - even if only one of them opposes such a decision. The tne non-permanent members are elected every two years. Where are the four headquarters of the UN located? Those, who did not yet know, could enlarge their knowledge here: apart from Vienna there are UN Headquarters in New York, Geneva and Nairobi. |
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| From May 16 to 20, 2011 the students of the 4BK (2010/11) travelled to Ljubljana to visit our long term partner school. Although this trip was not part of our Comenius partnership, we nevertheless included the topic of Migration. We had already started planning our visit in autumn 2010. Numerous e-mails had been exchanged, and finally Marjeta Sreš had organized a wonderful program for us. On our way to Ljubljana, we made a one hour stop in Graz on May 16. We started our walking tour by climbing the Kriegssteig up to the Clock Tower on top of the Castle Hill. It was worth the effort, because we had a wonderful view of the city from up there. After a short rest we walked downhill again to the Sporgasse, from where we continued our way to the Main Square, where we could see the Erzherzog Johann Fountain. As a youth festival was taking place in the courtyard of the Landhaus, we could only get a glimpse of the beautiful Renaissance building. |  |
 | After a short lunch break we reached the border, and from there it took us another 1 1/2 hours to get to Ljubljana. As also sitting on a bus makes people tired, everybody was glad to have some rest, before we were picked up by Marjeta, who went to the city center with us. The Prešeren Square and the Triple Bridge were full of people. The waters of the Ljubljanica reflected the houses on the other side of the river. We enjoyed the warm late afternoon sun, and soon everybody was hungry. After some shopping and an ice cream, we finally found a nice Italian restaurant, where we enjoyed dinner. Later also Janja Jakoncic joined us for a cup of tea. The youngsters already found their way back to the hotel on their own - and we all looked forward to the next day. |
| On May 17 Marjeta picked us up at the hotel in the morning. Together we walked to the Gimnazija Poljane. As a new bridge, the Grain Bridge, was built some time ago, the distance is now even shorter than it was before. Marjeta's students welcomed us with bread and salt. Afterwards, Marko Trobevšek gave us a short crash course in Slovenian. Those students, who have got a Slavic mother tongue, had an advantage over the others, of course. But the course was fun for all of us. |  |
 | After the Slovenian course, Andrej und Tina, who attend the 3rd class of the Gimnazija Poljane and speak very good German, showed us their home town. We walked across the market and stopped at the new Butchers' Bridge near the indoor market. We saw the University and the National Library, and we enjoyed the stroll along the river. Finally, also the students of the first class joined us and tested their skills in German. As language studies and a city walk need a lot of energy, we were now all hungry and were glad to get some good food at the school buffet. After lunch, our bus driver Daniel came to the school. So we could quickly board the bus and drive to Postojna. The Postojnska Jama (Adelsberger Grotto) has been open to the public since 1818. |
| Before visitng the cave, where the temperature is appr. 8°C all over the year, we saw the newly opened Vivarium, where visitors can watch a movie about the history of the cave and its exploration. It was fascinating to learn about the big diversity of life, which could adapt to the difficult conditions in the cave. The visit of the cave starts with a train ride, which already offers first impressions of the magnificent forms of stalagmites and Stalactites. After having got off the train, our German speaking guide walked appr. 1,5km through numerous impressive halls with us. Did you know, that stalagmites and stalactites need 10 years to grow only 1mm? |  |
 | As the Predjama Castle is very close to the cave, we decided to go there by bus and at least see the castle from outside. When you see how closely it snuggles up against the rocks, you can easily imagine, that those, who besieged the castle, had difficulties to find out, how the inhabitants managed to transport food into the castle. There is a cave behind it, which has an exit to another valley. |
| The morning hours of May 18 were reserved for information about European companies, which also operate in Slovenia. First we visited the headquarters of the Uni Credit Group, where we got the opportunity to learn more about the banking business in general and in Slovenia in particular in a presentation of Franceso Vercesi. As Mr. Vercesi does not speak German, we "switched" to English. We generally switched between a number of languages during this excursion - according to the needs of various situations. |  |
 | In a 45 minutes mix of presentation and discussion, which was very rich in variety, Mr. Vercesi was able to explain the most important aspects of the banking business even to those among us, who had so far not known much about it. We really enjoyed it! The Uni Credit Group is operating in 21 states and has 160.000 employees. Mr. Vercesi was a perfect representative of his company! As we had some time before the start of the second business talk, the students had appr. an hour to explore the huge BTC Shopping Center. |
| Later our driver Daniel brought us back to the Gimnazija Poljane, where we met Mag. Thomas Schmidtmeier at 12.30. He is now the head of the branch office of the Wiener Städtische Versicherung / Vienna Insurance Group in Slovenia. He explained the structure of the Vienna Insurance Group to us, which is operating in 24 European states and has got 24.000 employees. The Vienna Insurance Group bought a number of insurance companies in Eastern European countries and lets these companies continue operating under the names well known by the customers. Mag. Schmidtmeier studies Slovenian in order to convey the impression to all his local business partners, that he really does his best to communicate with them in their mother tongue as much as possible. He is convinced that this improves business relations. |  |
 | Mag. Schmidtmeier worked as a representative of the Vienna Insurance Group in Romania, before he moved to Slovenia. During our discussion with him it became clear, that although the Vienna Insurance Group acts as one company on the market, the various branches do their best to meet the needs of every national market as best as possible. This is probably the reason for the big success of the company. This business talk also was so varied and lively, that time flew by. Nevertheless, the youngsters needed a break after two business presentations - and a free afternoon was now the best option for them. |
| While the students went their own ways, Marjeta and I walked to the Tivoli Park, where we enjoyed some ice cream in the afternoon. In the evening we met Mira, who had visited Vienna with her students in 2010. Together we took the elevator up to the coffee house on the top floor of the Nebotičnik (the skyscraper built by Jože Plečnik between 1928 and 1933). From up there we had a marvellous view of the city! After having enjoyed an aperitif, we went back down to the street level and had dinner in a fine Slovenian restaurant, where I could taste žlikrofi, which are called Schlutzkrapfen in Austria. |  |
 | We had to start early on May 19, as we had a longer way to travel. Our first destination was the city of Piran on the Adriatic coast, where we had an appointment with the mayor at 11am. Dr. Peter Bossman is not only a medical doctor, who is very popular with the local population, he is also a very unusual mayor. He was born in Ghana, and as an immigrant to Slovenia he has integrated into the society of his new home country to such an extent, that his fellow citizens thought that he would best be qualified to govern their community. |
| As the students had participated in the Comenius Project Migration - Chances and Challenges for Europe since autumn 2010, the meeting with Dr. Bossman was a real highlight of our excursion. It was exceptional, to get the chance to speak to a migrant, who has integrated so wonderfully, that only his skin colour tells people that he is not a native Slovenian. The discussion with Dr. Bossman was truly refreshing. He summarizes his positive view of life as follows: Whenever a door closes, another one will open soon. Therefore we should always think positive. This attitude is certainly part of the secret of his success and his popularity with his fellow citizens. We wish Dr. Bossman all the best for his time as a mayor of Piran! |  |
 | Janja Jakoncic, with whom I had started our school partnership in 2003, was with us this day. It was a real pleasure for me to have some hours for interesting exchanges of ideas with her. After lunch we left Piran and made a short stop in Portorož, where we could walk along the beach and eat some more ice cream. Next we drove to the Sečovlje Nature Reserve, whose salt evaporation ponds are part of the biggest wetlands on the coast of Slovenia. You can find a wide variety of birds there. The salt evaporation ponds are a unique ecosystem, which combines all transitional types of salt water, sweet water and mixed water. |
| In the evening I met Marjeta, and during dinner we had time to discuss some more organizational details for the day to come, to exchange our photos and to start planning the visit of the Slovenian students to Vienna in 2012. | |
| Unfortunately, we had to leave Ljubljana on May 20 in the morning. We met Marjeta in Rogaška Slatina, a spa with a very long tradition, where the mineral water has been used for medical purposes since the 17th century. First we visited the spa gardens. But that had only been the beginning of our visit. Marjeta had planned two more interesting visits: the first to the glass factory Crystal Rogaška and the second to the Open Air Museum Rogatec. At the glassworks we were allowed to watch the craftsmen work on very beautigul glasses, and at the Open Air Museum we could test our skills in baking bread, making a candle and producing a simple Slovenian flute. |  |
 | It was a pity, that we finally had to say good bye. We had spent some wonderful days in Slovenia, but now we had to return back home, where a bunch of work was waiting for us. We highly appreciate the hospitality of our Slovenian hosts and are looking forward to our next meeting in Vienna. |
© Dr. Susanne Pratscher (Austria), Prof. Mira Kersnik, Prof. Emil Lokar and Prof. Marjeta Sreš (Slovenia) together with the students of the project classes | |
