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This yearbook was produced by schools from all over Europe for the the Erasmus+-project “Together Everyone Achieves More” or

T.E.A.M. (2015-2018).

The aim was to let mixed international groups work to produce texts and pictures about the project, but in a less strict way than during the project meetings with the more ‘scientific outcomes’.

Any article, any topic that adds up to the project in the broad sense, is covered in this yearbook. Why? To show that young

people from all over Europe work together not only during project weeks, but all year round, and especially to show that

they even have a lot of fun doing so. So enjoy!

Emmanuel VercruysseBelgian coordinator and editor-in-chief

COLOFON

Editor-in-ChiefEmmanuel Vercruysse, Belgium

LayoutEli Baert, Belgium

partner schoolsH.-Harthandelsinstituut, Waregem (Belgium)Hugo Treffneri Gümnaasium, Tartu (Estonia)Urspringschule, Schelklingen (Germany)Xantus Janos Kettannyelvu Idegenforgalmi Kozepiskola es Szakkepzo Iskola Marko, Budapest (Hungary)Wallace Hall Academy, Thornhill (Scotland)

„ THE TIME OF OUR LIVES”

After our exchange students left Hungary we thought that that week was the best week of our life but we weren’t right. Because the most wonderful week of all time was our trip to Belgium. Between the two exchange programs we were constantly talking in our group chat still when we arrived to the airport we realised immediately how much we missed them. Similarly to us they also organised a little welcome party for us on the first night, which was really cool. After that, on Sunday, the family day Kelsey, my exchange student, took me to the coast. Even though the weather was quite windy, we had a lovely time. I really enjoyed spending time with her family and they were really amiable and kind with me. They tried to do everything for me in order to have a good time. We talked a lot and got to know each other, we went into a restaurant and we spent quality time together. Also I ate a delicious apple pie. What was really interesting for me is that, I think Flemish people eat much more desserts than us. So at the end of the day I was full with many kind of sweets. Unfortunately our family day was over but I was looking forward to the school work too, I wanted to meet the exchange students of the other countries as well.

During the week we didn’t really do separate programs with Kelsey because the days were really busy and the whole exchange group spent time together.

Luckily the atmosphere was so good we enjoyed every single minute together. We did many funny things together, but the two afternoons of the week when we visited Brugges and Gent were the best. Apart from visiting the famous sights, we had enough time to shop and to visit other well-known places of Belgium (for example pubs). I liked both cities very much so I will definitely go back there once. I also really liked the city of the school, Waregem, which was pretty small but such a nice town. Although

it was in the countryside, everything was really modern and well-organised.

To sum up I really enjoyed these two weeks. I am very grateful for every teacher who made this whole program possible and I am very lucky to meet all these fantastic people. I think we really made friendships for a life and we still talk a lot in our group chat and also on video chat. We even try to organise a trip to go back and visit them in the summer so I hope it will be possible. Last but not least I recommend you, dear reader, honestly if you have a chance to take part in an exchange program stop hesitating and apply right NOW. ▮

HUNGARYBUDAPEST

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INVISIBLE EXHIBITION

The Invisible Exhibition in Budapest is an extraordinary jour-ney to a world, where in total darkness you find your way only by touch, sounds and scent.

We had the chance to visit this exhibition with our exchange students in February 2018, and we all agree that it was quite an experience as it was exciting and emotive at the same time.

I would say there were two main parts of the exhibition. Since the maximum amount of people who could go in to ‘see’ it at a time was 10, we split up in two groups; a group of the Belgian students, whose guide used English, and a group of the Hungarian students.

While waiting for our turn we could experience some of the challenges a blind person has to cope with at first hand. There was a few meters long maze in the hall, which we had to walk through blind-folded with the help of a stick. Not everyone tried it, but those who did said it was not easy at all.

Then came the first part of our visit and it was fascinating as we finally got to understand something most of us have already wondered about before. How do blind people read and write - by using the so-called Braille writer. It’s a system of making raised dots on paper to form letters and words that are readable by using your fingertips. It seemed a little complicated at first, but then I realised that’s it is actually super easy and a brilliant idea.

We all tried to use this method, by typingour names, or any word. We were chatting with a lady who wasn’t completely blind, but almost. She told us what we should expect in the second part of the exhibition.

We talked about how we might help blind people in the streets or in the city if they need it, which in my opinion was pretty obvious but it was still useful to discuss it.

There are points that one may not think of such as the principle that you should always ask first if the blind person needs any help at all and the rule that you must never take their arm but you should tell the blind person clearly on which side of them you are and allow them to take your arm instead.

The second part, the main ‘attraction’ of the exhibition was a completely dark room which we entered with our group and a blind tour guide.

First, we had to walk through a hallway, staying closely behind each other with one hand on the wall. It was pretty exciting and we were really curious at that point already. Our guide then introduced himself. He walked us to different rooms, where we could only ‘look around’ by touching things and trying to guess what they were. Some things were pretty obvious, but with others, we had trouble figuring out what they were, so when our guide told us, we were quite surprised. For example there was a room with statues, and we would have never guessed that one of them was a Disney character.

There was also an area where a street of a city was recreated. We could hear the sounds of a traffic jam. Other than these places, we actually walked through rooms of a house like a bathroom and a kitchen and even a hunting lodge with antlers on the walls.The last ‘stop’ was at a bar where we could sit down and just chat with our tour guide.

We learned how the life of a blind person is different from a non-blind person’s. Of course the fact that they cannot see with their eyes makes it difficult, but with some help they can easily learn

things and lead relatively “normal” lives. We, people with sight, can help them first of all by just simply being open-minded and accepting that blind people are like us in more ways than not! Advances in technology, such as smart and talking devices also help the blind a lot these days.This was my second time at the exhibition and I personally really enjoyed both visits! So did the other students, as we talked about our experience later.

I definitely recommend the exhibition to everyone. You will truly enjoy it if you want to get to understand others more and get a glimpse of others’ lives, and who would not be interested in that? ▮

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EXCHANGE WAREGEM TO URSPRING

Since we were unable to go to Schelklingen just before the Easter holidays due to a flu outbreak, we had to postpone our visit to the Urspringschule. At the end of April, the time finally came and we started our 720 km trip to our partner-school in Schelklingen with 7 students and 1 teacher/driver.

When we came there, the first thing that struck us were the beautiful surroundings: an old cloyster with all buildings next to a spring -hence the name of the school- and surrounded by woods. Call it a village in its own in which some of the students take on the duties of janitor of their building. This school also attracts students from Switzerland, China and all around the world. Of course these boys and girls can not just go home every day, so the school offers all facilities like cooking together, studying together…

To be a part of this was an experience in itself: a good old-fashioned bell indicated that we were expected at the cantina, our project work took place in a libabrary like we would want one, we even watched Bayern-Real on a hug screen in the cantina! But there was more: since we were working on the subject of ecology and sustainability, we were taken to Stuttgart, to the Mercedes-museum. The history of this car label ran together with the history of our western civilisation, a story that unwound from the top to the bottom of the building, 8 stories long. The Wilhelma afterwards showed us how the protection of animals can go hand in hand with a botanical garden.

But of course you can’t just live from cars and botanical gardens alone, so on Monday we went baking Brezels in the local bakery Becka Beck. Th pictures with white coats and caps will probably chase us forever. On Wednesday we went to Ulm, where the bravest of us dared to climb the cathedral to see the Donau from

the top. We could also lie in a chair to see Ulm anno 1890 in VR as a bird, which was coolto. And from the VR from the future, we dove again in the past: in Blaubeuren we got a tour through the stone age on Thursday.

A few reactions from students:“To me it was a unique experience. This school is situated in an area that is made of dreams to me”Jonas Decock

“To me, this was all one big adventure. We got to know a different culture. At first, it took a bit of effort to get adapted, but it was worth it. The trip to Stuttgart, the drive with the mini-van, it was all great.”Thomas De Stoop

“This was one of the highlights of my school carreer. I learned a lot about being a boarding student and it was great fun!”Emiel Dhondt

“There’s a lot more nature in Urspring than in our school. It looks like a small village, which is nice. The boarding area even resembles a house in which you can cook and watch tv together with friends. I enjoyed it a lot!”Céline Dejonghe

Koen Devlaminck Belgium ▮

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GERMANYSCHELKLINGEN

PLAYING TETRIS IN SCOTLAND

After the autumn holidays some people were missed in Urspringschule – teachers and students alike? What had happened to them? Had they ditched school – the heads of school and some students?

Far from everything the students back in school thought what had happened … they were taking part in the half term meeting in Scotland where they met the participants from the other partner schools from Estonia, Hungary and Belgium.

The flight from Stuttgart via Amsterdam to Glasgow was an easy going affair. We had booked beforehand a car for 7 persons plus luggage. Happily went over to the company’s yard where a car

SCOTLANDDUMFRIES

#BRINGBACKSCOTLAND

Day 1It was 5 o’clock in the morning. An ordinary person would have felt tired, after all the sun hadn’t even come up. But we didn’t. We were thrilled with softly buzzing excitement. We were gathered in the giant hall of Liszt Ferenc Airport.

Finally we took off. The journey was shorter than expected. After we landed it was a little adventure finding the bus coming to pick us up. On our way to Thornhill we sang the whole time while watching sheep running through the beautiful landscape. The girls were already waiting for us and it was like in movies. We ran up to each other and held tight like we hadn’t met for ages. Then everybody went to their homes. We introduced ourselves to the host families and met later since it was Bonfire night. We danced, ate hot-dogs & hamburgers and watched the huge flames.

Day 2We went to Eleanor’s, Amina’s host where we had the opportunity to try out horse riding on their beautiful ponies. Also, we were able to pet the goats and the other animals. At the end of our little journey around the hills, we had lunch altogether and laughed our heads off.

Day 3It was our first day at the school. It was a good opportunity to see such a different school from ours, nothing was similar. They had a huge auditorium which was the room where we were told about the projects. Until the afternoon we were showed around the school and we worked on some group projects in the library.

After school we went to Dumfries which was a bit bigger than Thornhill. Our hosts took us ice skating. Although we woke up

with some bruises next morning, it was worth it and we had a great time.

Day 4It was a special day because two of our girls had their birthday: Eszti and her host, Freya. In the morning we could show our folk dances to each other and to some Scottish children. In the afternoon we went to Drumlanrig Castle. We were amazed by the wonderful view and petrified from the ghost stories we were told. We ended the day with a huge dinner in the ‘birthday house’. We ate traditional haggis which was surprisingly good. Maybe it was fate who brought Eszti and Freya together, but we are sure it wasn’t a coincidence.

Day 5It was the day of the Food Court where we could show our Hungarian dishes. We are not sure which one was funnier: preparing the food or presenting it but we laughed so much we cried. Everyone thought that the ‘Cat Tongue’ was an actual tongue of a cat covered in chocolate. And we could give 3 packs of paprika paste to a Scottish boy because he liked it so much. We were proud of ourselves. In the evening we had the Ceilidh Night in the school. Every country showed their folk dance once again but this time we learned the Scottish ones as well.

Day 6In the morning we took a trip to Glasgow with the other exchange students. We went to Kervingrove Art Gallery and then had lunch. We also visited a transportation museum. At the end of the day everyone visited Heni and her host, Eilidh. We had a few laughs and watched a movie. It was really like a girls’ night in. We played WII and ate a lot of chocolate.

Day 7Unfortunately, it was our last day in the school. We celebrated it

with hanging out at Panni’s host, Freya Sale. We ate a lot of pizza and snacks. We watched a comedy movie entertained ourselves. The end of our trip was really close but all of us felt like a big family.

Day 8Some of us went to Carlisle for a shopping and to Nando’s while the others went to Edinburgh for a sight-seeing. Both of the groups had fun but in the evening we got a little sad because the day after we had to fly back to Hungary.

Day 9Although our original homesickness was cured, a new one appeared because Scotland became our new home. We cried while we said our goodbyes, but we were sure that we would meet in the future. Our little family is unforgettable and this trip was a life-changing experience for all of us.

The girls Hungary ▮

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named Galaxy was waiting for us. But it seemed to be too small … It didn’t look good – seven persons and seven big suitcases and some small bits and pieces of luggage – this is definitely something like playing 3D Tetris with real persons and items. In the end it was just a question of the sequential arrangement of suitcases and persons which worked out as follows:

• Get two persons on the extra seat in row three, they have to face backwards

• Put in the four biggest suitcases in the luggage space• The two persons have to hold them so that they can’t fall out• Close the luggage space• Put suitcase number 5 between the two persons• three persons take their places in the middle row and put

some jackets on their legs• small luggage has to be put in all the left spaces on the floor• suitcase 6 and 7 are put on the legs of the persons in the

middle row and the doors must be closed immediately• the teacher get in at the front and put more hand luggage

next to their legs• close the door

… and of we go! To tell the truth, the elbow room was very limited.

But it was worth to see the expression on the hosts’ faces when we emptied the car in front of Wallace Hall Academy!We had a great time in Scotland and we managed to get back in the same manner to Glasgow, but I think we’ll never forget this trip to Scotland! ▮

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BELGIUMWAREGEM

FIRST STEP ACCOMPLISHED – WE COMPLE-TED THE ERASMUS+ WIND TURBINE Good things come to those who can wait, this could have been the motto for the last Erasmus+ project week of this academic year for the T.E.A.M. project group. It was really a European team work that came to a good end.

More than a year ago during a project meeting about renewable energies with students from our Belgian partner school in Waregem the idea was born to build a small wind turbine together. By searching the internet we found a video which inspired us to build this special type of wind turbine. The video promised us that it would only take us six hours to build the turbine and that the costs for the material would be approximately 22 Euros, as we would be going to use only used materials.

So we started immediately looking for the used material we needed:• Used offset printing plates – where will we find a printing

press who is willing to sell us the plates for a low price? Luckily one of the Urspring students had good connections to a printing press and we got the plates for free!

• Finding an old bicycle rim with the required dimension was way more difficult and so we decided to buy a new one – we had the plan to get the turbine finished – but we broke the budget!

• All other bits a pieces we needed were either sponsored by the house maintenance or the metal workshop or we got it cheap from the local hardware store.

By now already three days were gone … we felt a lot of time pressure.

Next we tried building the rotor blades by using the video and a printed construction manual – not an easy task for unpracticed metal workers – it proved to be a big challenge for us. Thank God there is Jonas G. who had an idea what it all was about and on top he is also an apprentice in the mechanics workshop! We have to thank him a lot for his patience and for his help in this project.When the Belgians left us we had managed to build one rotor blade …six hours, as if!But this couldn’t stop us – each of the visiting partner schools got the opportunity to work together with us on the wind turbine – “the construction of a century “.Part two of the activity, Hungary calling – let’s start again. We had to familiarize ourselves again with the construction and we needed to introduce the Hungarians to the work.

Bild 01 - 03We made a progress, next to a second nearly finished blade we constructed a base for the bicycle rim and we fixed the first blade onto the rim as well as drilling lots of holes and riveting an unbelievable amount of rivets into the whole construction.We couldn’t finalize the construction, it was way too much learning by doing for everyone involved, but we were going to continue working on this project.

Bild 04 und 05May came and with it came the Estonians from Tartu – we were eager to get the wind turbine put together this time. As can be seen on the picture above we should have named the working group as “Jonas has a plan” – this would have been the perfect name!

In an unbelievable short time the group finished thr rotor blades and optimized them and the put on the bicycle rim – we were on a roll.

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This was contagious and we started to search for the perfect place where we could mount our wind turbine and everyone agreed that the old tree trunks of the Thuja-tree next to the “Mühle” would be the perfect place. Mr Ahr from the metal workshop , all personal from house maintenance and the project group were working hand in hand and very hard, to get the project finalized before the big rain was expected.

Bild 06 bis 09 On Thursday 12th May the time had come when the wind turbine was mounted safely on top of the tree. Only the wind was missing …

… and now there was the question: what for are we going to use the produced electricity? It will certainly not be enough to minimize the electricity bill of Urspring substantially – so we decided to connect it to mobile charging station. This way the running gag of the outdoor classroom with the plug socket on a tree became reality. ▮

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ESTONIATARTU

5 THINGS TO LEARN FROM ESTONIALies De Smaele from the Heilig-Hartcollege in Waregem (Bel-gium) took 5 students on an exchange to Estonia. They got to kno all about the Hugo Treffner Gymnasium in Tartu for the Erasmus+project T.E.A.M. (Together Everyone Achieves More). They came home with a bag full of interesting stuff for Flemish schools and students.

The teachers’ roomLies De Smaele: “Every teacher has his or her own desk, which is something the Estonian government is investing a lot of money in. Hence, you get a choice to work at home or in school. Hox convenient would that be for Belgium? You are together with colleagues you are working with and you always have all your stuff at hand.

I would love to separate work and private a bit more. Now I have to work every night for a few hours once the kids are in bed. In this system, I would try to do all preparation and correction work in school. This system has disadvantages too of course: you lose all your free afternoons and you mingle less with colleagues in other subjects.

No school belLies De Smaele: “A tune by Vivaldi indicates the start and end of all classes. When they hear it, all students go to the next room by themselves. We on the other hand have a really ‘Flemish’ schoolbel. A musical score is less agressive than a bell sounding.

The first and second graders in our school have to form a line and keep quiet. The last graders since the renovation of our playground not anymore. When the bell has sounded, everyone just goes to class. This is regarded as a positive evolution however: there are no troubles and you lose less time to teach.

Classes of 75 minutesLies De Smaele: “In Estonia classes last 75 minutes, which seems nicer than our 50 minutes. 75 minutes offers a chance to tell your story and differentiate in approach. I have to teach so many things that I sometimes skip movies… This way, I could give a 10 minute assignment on smartphone for example.

Older students can focus for a longer period of time. Plus, teachers will not be mocked anymore that in education, a working hour only lasts 50 minutes! (Just kidding)

On a study trip with the colleaguesLies De Smaele: “All teachers of the Hugo Treffner Gymnasium went on a study trip to Holland last year. They went to the most innovative schools there looking for ideas for the school’s organisation and teaching practice. The teachers of English even took a course in Great-Britain. A Flemish school doesn’t have the budget for that. Together looking for improvement, that’s inspiring to me.”

“Our school organises a lot of exchanges for the students. Of course the accompanying teachers alos learn a lot they can share with the team this way. But that is still something than experiencing this together.”

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VISIT TO ESTONIA

Between the 11th and 17th of March we could spend an incredible week in Estonia. Before that I knew nearly nothing about the country and its history. For me it was just one of the Baltic states. Our final destination was Tartu, which is the second biggest city of the country.

Estonia has an outstanding tradition of folk dancing. On our first day we were invited to the Tartu Folk Dance Gala Concert that lasted 3 hours.

During the week we had two sightseeing tours, too. We could visit the old town, St. John’s Church, Toome Hill, the Town Hall Square, the sculpture of the Kissing Students and the University of Tartu as well. Tartu is Estonia’s premier university town, with students making up nearly the 7% of the population. We also had the opportunity to visit the AHHAA Science Centre and the Estonian National Museum. We could learn a lot about e-Estonia and student companies.

My favourite programme was the excursion to the Meeninkunno bog. Estonia’s countryside is sparsely populated with a wide range of forests providing activities for nature-lovers. Actually 50% of the country surface is a forest area. Estonians have many things that make them unique. The Estonian ID card includes not only personal and medical information but it’s also connected to your bank account. You can even turn it into a key for your apartment. Internet connection is reliable everywhere even in the forest. All Estonians are proud of being able to manage everything in connection with the government services online. They pay their taxes online, too.

Last but not least, sauna is not just a sauna here, it’s a cultural phenomenon. Most of the people have a sauna at home. Spending a week in Estonia was an authentic experience. I’m glad for the opportunity to visit this country with a rich history, diverse culture and many experiences waiting for the travellers.

Eszter Bartha Hungary ▮2120

Respect Lies De Smaele: “It looks as if everyone in Estonia respects their material and their surroundings. You see that in the streets, but also in school/ There’s no dirt or paper on the floors or dirty toilets here. Everything is and remains neat. This is a different mindset.”

“In Belgium you find trash on the floor. Our maintenance man cleans on a daily base and still you find new trash and paper. Even cleaning their own glasses or cutlery proves not to be easy for teachers. We are not a dirty school, this is just a reflection of the mentality in all of Flanders.” ▮

Last year in March I had the opportunity to visit Estonia with an Erasmus+ project. The project lasted for about a week, and during this week we had to work on presentations, projects and we also took part in workshops.

We stayed with a host family, but we spent almost all of our free time in the school, even when we did not have to, because the school had a really good atmosphere where we loved to spend our time. We have even tried the sauna in the school!To eat lunch, we went down to the basement area and ate there, in the school canteen. It was surprising for me that Estonians drink a lot of milk. We got a glass of milk to drink with the lunch. Also, we could choose fish every day for lunch. They eat a lot of that as well.

In the afternoons we visited local museums and we had games and challenges to complete. For example I really enjoyed the photo challenge, where we had to take photos in each place they listed for us and then make a presentation out of it. It was fun!One of my favourite days was when we visited a bog. It was a two hour long hiking and after that we had lunch outside in the nature. I felt it was very special because I have never done anything like this before.

Unfortunately we all got sick during this

trip, because we are not used to this cold weather, but it did not ruin our stay.What really surprised me as well was the dance culture! In the school almost everyone took folk dance classes and trainings. They told me that they do it because it is a very strong community that they love to be part of. We have seen some of their trainings and we even tried their dances as their trainer made us involved, and asked us to try and follow them.

My other favourite place was a “museum” which was more like a science centre. It was called AHHA centre. We have a same kind of centre in Hungary as well, called Csodák palotája. I really enjoyed being there. We took a lot of pictures together with my friends from Hungary and also new friends from Estonia.

All in all it was a very special experience that I will never forget.▮

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T.E.A.M.ERASMUS+ PROJECT

2015/18