Daily report, Saturday 13.11.

On Saturday it was time for another City Rally! This time in Zadar. Everybody got to know the beauties of Zadar: sea organs, the Greeting to the sun and the whole old part of the city filled with old churches and monuments such as the church of st. Donat. In the end the unanimous conclusion was that Zadar is a fabulous city!

After 3 days spent on the coast of Croatia, it was time to go back to Zagreb.

Daily report, Friday 12.11.

An interesting workshop took its place on Friday. It was time for Team Design! Participants were divided into three groups. They were given a task to build a windmill with different materials. Everybody had a lot of fun. The result was 3 super cool windmills!

The evening was reserved for „The Italian night“. The organisers got to know Napoli through various games that our participants prepared for us.

Daily report, Thursday 11.11.

Thursday morning was reserved for travelling from Zagreb to Pag. Our participants and organisers visited the wind park Ravne on the island Pag. There, Ivo gave an interesting lecture about wind aggregates and wind parks.

In the evening hours the BEST bus arrived at the final destination – Zadar.

Daily report, Wednesday 10.11.

The whole Wednesday was reserved for the City rally – an activity in which the participants get to know the city they are in, in our case Zagreb. By completing numerous tasks which included playing traditional children's games, learning croatian phrases, finding different places around Zagreb they learned about important people who shaped the history of our capital and its' rich architecture.

The participant weren't lacking enthusiasm despite the pouring rain in the morning hours when the City rally started. Some of the places they visited are: HNK, Tesla's statue (Most of them knew who Tesla is. However they were surprised to hear he was born in Croatia), Zrinjevac, Manduševac, the tower Lotršćak...

In the evening the participants were surprised by the members of BEST Zagreb by birthday gifts. It was time for another theme party: „Surprise birthday party!“.

Daily report, Tuesday 9.11.

A major part of Tuesday was reserved for a field trip to Vukomerić. Vukomerić is a eco-village near Zagreb whose main characteristic is that they produce everything for themselves, from energy to food.

Our participants were there given a presentation from the founders of the village: Matko, Danijel and Sunčana. Matko introduced them the ecological way of building houses, Sunčana talked about food production in Vukomeric and Danijel presented renewable energy resources that they use such as solar panels.

After a productive visit to Vukomeric our participants were given a few hours of free time to relax and rest. They spent it in Avenue Mall shopping.

In the evening it was time for pub crawling with the catchy title: „The secrets of Gric“. Everybody was divided into 3 teams and was given a list of tasks to complete before midnight. During the night we met a witch, mixed a potion with the wizard, raced under the Lotrscak tower, had encounter with a killer, a ghost and a dead man. All of them told us their stories and made the night the BEST night of the Cultural exchange so far!

Daily report, Monday 8.11.210.

After we welcomed all our italian friends yesterday, it was time for the official opening of our Cultural exchange.

It started at 9:30 with a warm welcome from prof.dr.sc. Davor Petrinović, vice dean for education at Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing. Our honourable members and other professors of the same faculty were also present. Ana Habijanec, the main organiser and Local Best Group Zagreb president, gave a short presentation about „Youth in action“ – the program which supports Cultural exchange. Our participants were given welcome packages with croatian souveniers.

After the official part of the opening a small banquet was held in front of the Grey hall. Finally, it was time to work!

The rest of the morning and the whole afternoon was reserved for the Case study about waste managment in Zagreb. Participants were divided into 3 teams and given the information neccesary to solve the study about collection and disposal of returnable packaging for the student dorm.

After all the hard work it was time for the first theme party called: The Croatian night. During the evening organisers presented 3 croatian regions with their traditional food, drinks, a traditional song, game and a word. This way our dear participants learned what do „fjaka“ , „kažun“ and „međa“ mean, they tried fritule, sang „Dalmacija u mom oku“ and many other interesting things.

Daily report, Sunday 7.11.2010.

3, 2, 1 and... we're off!

And what a start it was! Our first Italian neighbours came to Zagreb before dawn, at 4AM. After a long journey, we had breakfast/lunch in Cvjetno naselje.

Considering Sunday was, as per schedule, intended as the arrival and welcoming day, the participants had a free afternoon. They spent it together with the organizers in the newly opened Arena Centar.

After dinner in Cvjetno naselje, the entire local BEST group Zagreb, gave our friends from Napoli the best welcoming present - a BEST party !

It's just a few more days between us and Cultural exchange Vol. II!

This activity is the second part of the Cultural Exchange program in which more than 40 people from Italy and Croatia took or will take part. First part of the program took part this summer in Napoli.

We are heading for a real adventure, which will take place in Zagreb, Zadar and the windy island of Pag from 7th till 15th of November 2010.

Cultural Exchange program is a program lead by BEST (Board of European Students of Technology), a student organisation commited on broadening young european minds and helping young people in developing tolerance towards other cultures and differences in general.

The second part of the project, organised by the Local BEST Group Zagreb, is funded by a grant from a European program "Youth in Action". "Youth in Action" is an EU program which, as one of its main goals, has the support of youth organisations whose projects involve non-formal learning through fun, volunteering and the exchange of experiences.

That's exactly what our Cultural Exchange will look like: lots of fun through various workshops, a Case Study, Team Design and all that with a common theme, "Sustainable city development and renewable energy sources".

‘This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.