Tetranationale Begegnung "Knowledge and understanding for better neighbourhood" im polnischen Krzyzowa (Kreisau) 27. April - 03. Mai 2007








International Youth Exchange
Krzyzowa, April 27th – May 3rd

Reflections


by Kateryna Bykova
(member of the Ukrainian group)


A foreign land, which in a way is so similar to your own, a foreign language that you cannot speak, but in several days start understanding…..some part of it…..and you can even say some phrases because there is this huge desire inside of you to be able to communicate with new people in a new culture and show them your respect for their home. Smiles, laughs, happiness, expectations for something new, for something extraordinary each day, learning, singing, dancing….and of course harmony with nature – yellow fields, spreading like carpets to the horizon, fresh country air, sun and green grass…..What could be the best? Yes, that’s what is called intercultural learning – our wonderful Krzyzowa experience.

How did it start? Very simple….we all (by “us all” I mean the 4 groups that were invited to the event: Polish, German, Ukrainian and Russian) came to Poland by “whoever took what” – trains, buses…..I think there were no planes….and as we were traveling from different countries I am sure that on the way to the final destination each of us thought: How is it going to be like? Who are those people? How do they look like? How old are they? Who is going to be my roommate? From what country will this person be?.............Are we there yet?
I remember this moment at Wroclaw train station when we were waiting for other groups to join us to go to Krzyzowa Foundation by one and only same bus. I was looking different directions and as I watched each group coming up to us I was trying to guess who those people were – Germans, Russians or Polish. On a bus it was hard to concentrate on who was from where….you could hear all possible languages spoken, dozens of names pronounced, hundreds of stories told and of course the most popular question: Where is the place? That’s how we all met, and the place (our final destination – Krzyzowa Foundation) was wonderful!

The first day seemed to be the hardest, everyone was tired after a long exhausting trip…and in addition we had to do the activity (we were split into smaller teams) which included walking…..yes on foot….across the whole village of Krzyzowa, trying to find and take pictures of its sites and study the information about what is what and who built what and who lived where and why it was there. But it was great!!! Meeting so many new smart, friendly, open and just gorgeous people gave us new energy…..and maybe the inner voice was constantly saying “I need to sleep…..can’t wait till I finally take that shower and lay my head on that soft pillow”, but the mind and the heart refused to loose precious minutes of that marvelous time. And that’s how it was every day, we soon became like one team gathered for the same purpose – to learn, to understand and to exchange our experiences.

What have we learnt? Perhaps, I could just say a lot…or so many interesting things….but I say that we have learnt something that none of us would learn at home or at any kind of University without meeting one another in person. Workshops, discussions, presentations, team challenges, role play activities and the rest of the “day’s stuffing” were not held like simple classes, each team tried to make the best of what they had to prepare for other groups and I can say that each team definitely succeeded. And of course the photo workshops – where else would I learn so much about the photography if my major is Linguistics? I guess through learning to take good, professional pictures I learnt about the existence of a new inner world which now makes me see the objects and capture the moments which I would never even notice before.

Of course I liked the cultural evenings the most ( I am sure many others would say the same……I know on some days we were all waiting for that delicious lunch or dinner after profound and “food for thought” giving discussions…….but the level of excitement before cultural evenings is hard to express by words). Why cultural evenings? Because I think it was the best way to learn about other cultures and traditions….about the lands and their people, food, drinks, history, dances, songs and so many other things you have never heard of before. And the parties, the talks, the debates which never stopped even at 2 a.m. when your head wasn’t even trying to think that the next morning it will….half asleep of course…think: should I sleep and miss my breakfast or wake up and join the rest of the minds who think alike at this very moment? Yes, we woke up and greeted each new day in Krzyzowa as if it were a new beginning of something great….and it was in fact….each day had the moments which took my breath away.

Right now I reflect on the bonfire, lit on the last day of our stay in Krzyzowa. Of course it was sad, as it is always a great pain to say good-bye to the people who became so dear to you…..and just one thought came to my mind as I was sitting on a bench by the fire looking at everyone around me: each of us is unique and all of us are different but yet we are the same…

This gives an answer of why we need events like International Youth Exchange. Through this unforgettable experience people can destroy their prejudices and stereotypes towards nations and people they have somehow heard of before but never met in person till this particular time. Such events are not only educational but also developing, and mind-changing, they give new ideas, new strength, new motivation to make this world a better place.


Till new meetings, my friends, in the integrating world!
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