Exchange with Denmark 2010-11. Parma meeting
From 6 to 13 October 2010, the class 3E was involved with a cultural exchange with a third class of the Efterskole Glamsbjerg -a sports high school in Glamsdalen, quite a small town 50 km away from Odense in Denmark.
The Danish students were guests of the Italian boys and girls’ families belonging to 3E, visited our school, had lessons with them, both at and outside school, to learn about our area and its social organization.
The program was very busy and very exciting:
On Thursday 7 in the afternoon we borrowed from Infomobility ( a – rent- a –bike municipal agency ) approximately 30 bicycles, others had been brought from home by all of us, students and teachers: so we had a bike tour all together Danish and Italian students and teachers that crossed path 0, that is the ring of boulevards which goes through Parco Ducale, along the Parma river , the Citadel, Avenue Martiri della Libertà , then left to avenue Pier Maria Rossi to Barilla Center and then inside Ex Eridania Park later to pop up again in front of the Institute for Arts , Toschi, where we stopped to return the yellow-blue bikes we had rent two hours before .
The beautiful sunny day, the clear sky , a warm breeze and the beautiful autumn colors enchanted the Danes , who were impressed by the beauty of our city but also from our cahotic , absolutely latin traffic... ...
Together we visited the premises of the Gennari SpA company at Corcagnano where thousands of Parmesan cheese and thousands of Parmesan hams are produced every week . Then the Barilla plant at Pedrignano , where pasta is produced. ....
On Friday 8 in the afternoon, all on their own , the students, both the Danes and the Italians , both boys and girls organized a football match, which actually united them all. .... Then again they did play in the gym during ph. e. lessons on Saturday morning ... On Monday 11 it was Dr. Bertoldi , the managing director of IREN in Reggio Emilia, to lecture us on how to collect waste and on the use of public water; thanks to the brilliant simultaneous translation of our great Gian Maria Troiani a student in 3E, we just managed to make ourselves and Dr Bertoldi understood .
Finally , last but not least , on Tuesday 12 we took our guests to visit Lucca; in the afternoon we stopped in Forte dei Marmi, where we enjoyed the smells and the different colours of the Mediterranean sea in October!!!
Working on a cultural exchange project is a unique experience : two different cultures meet, they observe each other , try to understand each other, ask questions about differences.
Sometimes different cultures misunderstand each other but then everything gets cleared up again so that the two cultures can keep on growing together ... ..
The spirit and the purpose of the exchange lies in this; in developing an awareness of belonging to your own culture while in the meantime you are actually discovering the other one that is gradually enriching you .
We are going to meet our Danish friends again in April 2011 : we look forward to visiting their country and to getting closer and closer to the Europe we are working for.