PTPI Blog

The 2011 European Youth Forum (EYF) is currently taking place in Berlin, Germany, bringing together students ages 15-17 from all over Europe. Students apply to attend the conference in groups of five, accompanied by one group leader. View photos from the EYF on PTPI’s Facebook Page.

Group photo of the 2011 European Youth Forum delegates

Yesterday night after dinner, we went on an evening excursion to Potsdam, a small, beautiful German city, located just a few train stops from our hostel. The city is breathing with calmness, authenticity and royalty. It has the most beautiful palace we have ever seen, Schloss Sans Souci. An imposing park with beautiful statues and fountains surrounds it. The only comment we all have is that King Friedrich II really knew how to relax.

After a tour through the parks and gardens, we walked to the city centre of Potsdam, going through the Brandenburg Gate, which is smaller, but older than the one in Berlin. We found out that the city centre was the perfect place for giving out invitations to our Saturday Show. We had taken flyers and were handing them out to people we met. Before leaving, we stopped in a cute little cafe, to have a drink and talk about the impressions Potsdam left on us.

Rehearsing for the theater presentation

Today is our fourth and most pressured day of the EYF 2011. The final rehearsals for tomorrow’s theater show in the Kreativhaus are happening today. So we are all preparing our roles and giving our best to present them in the most convincing way possible. Our dearest theater expert, Martina is helping us improving our roles and preparing a real spectacle for Saturday. She is so patient, that she deserves a gold medal for working with young people. Our group leaders are also here to help us and we are all working together.

- Ena Peeva, Macedonia

To learn more about People to People International, visit www.ptpi.org

The 2011 European Youth Forum (EYF) is currently taking place in Berlin, Germany, bringing together students ages 15-17 from all over Europe. Students apply to attend the conference in groups of five, accompanied by one group leader. View photos from the EYF on PTPI’s Facebook Page.

Day 3

Delegates perform dances that are traditional to their countries

Last night we had our intercultural party. We tasted the national cuisine of each country and presented some information about our cultures. The Russian team started with a presentation of different famous dance styles in Russia: two folk dances (Tsiganochka), belly dance, classic dance. In the end, everyone joined in dancing Kalinka Malinka. The Macedonians did a great job to introduce their culture. We especially enjoyed the special wedding tradition they demonstrated. The Bulgarian delegation showed us their songs and dances, which some of us recognized as being close to our own culture. The Georgian group taught us a traditional song and showed a humorous performance about how their country came to exist. The Romanians scared us at first with their Dracula performance, but then they explained the true story behind the legend. Again we ended up dancing together. Suddenly, we felt no longer isolated. Each team contributed a piece of their culture and we felt like one family.

Energizer: demonstrating famous walks

Energizers inspire our action. This morning, we started with one called “stop and action.” Everyone could contribute and lead in this game. This made us all feel part of one big team. Every day we get closer and it’s so much fun.

Slowly we are discovering our stars, but we all work hard to prepare for performing a great play on Saturday. Even though we all want to be good performers, what really counts is making the effort and becoming friends. We very much enjoyed working on our theater play today and liked our roles. Our international blues music group is especially creative and loves improvisation, which is important on the stage.

We now feel that diversity becomes part of our intercultural understanding.

Tsvetoslava Trayanova, Bulgaria and Darina Alekseeva, Russia

To learn more about People to People International, visit www.ptpi.org

The 2011 European Youth Forum (EYF) is currently taking place in Berlin, Germany, bringing together students ages 15-17 from all over Europe. Students apply to attend the conference in groups of five, accompanied by one group leader. View photos from the EYF on PTPI’s Facebook Page.

EYF delegates participate in a getting-to-know-you game

As big fans of events for young people, we were very very happy when we were accepted to attend the EYF 2011. Today was our Intercultural Day, so the main purpose was to exchange experiences about one another’s cultures. During the morning session, we were discussing customs and traditions in our countries. The morning energizer helped us to open our eyes and ears widely and learn more about the five different countries of origin represented at the EYF. Then we discussed the term “culture” and discovered the “iceberg model of culture”.

At the World Cafe, delegates discuss how holidays are celebrated in their respective countries

For the second session, we had an intercultural PTPI World Cafe where we exchanged ideas and information about differences and similarities in our countries regarding school, community, holidays, family and free time activities. We liked the idea of learning more about the habits in our cultures while at the same time enjoying coffe, tea and delicious German cookies. We would like to suggest to the organizors for the next year to leave even more time for this activity, because in our opinion it was of crucial importance for us. We got a chance to finally learn our names and understand our diverse cultures.

Delegates rehearse for their theatre presentations

The third session was the beginning of our theatre activity. It prepared us for our final theatre show. We all had to create a sketch about certain aspects of our countries and cultures. This was in fact very connected to the previous activities and was the beginning of our “acting career” in Berlin. We enjoyed it, especially the comments and critics of our theater specialist Martina, who was very helpful. We hope our final show will be way better than our first show. We love PTPI’s EYF 2011!

Ena Peeva and Zoran Stojkov, Macedonia

To learn more about People to People International, visit www.ptpi.org