s a t u r d a y :'( 23.08.2014.

DAY TWENTY!

We started with early breakfast which was followed by the Serbs and Montenegrians leaving first. It was really sad. Everyone was saying goodbye the best they could. Most of us were crying and the those who weren't weren't left untouched by the others' tears. It was quite an emotional morning.

But, that was okay. We knew that we had made strong bonds in the three weeks we spent together in this magnificent place - Malteserhof. We learned how to overcome differences and stereotypes. Discovered that trusting others is hard but possible, and we now know that we can rely on each other. Also, in times of fear and difficult situations it is good to hug people. They can help you find comfort in hard times. While building rafts, we combined ideas, thought of new ones and believed in one another to accomplish the given task. On the first Wednesday, when went hiking, we chose to trust certain people to guide us through the forest to our destination even tho we didn't know each other that well, but we gave the chance. Throughout the workshops we got more confident in sharing our opinions that maybe didn't match the majorities'. We were thought how to respect others more and how to be listened to while listening to others.
The camp gave us a wonderful opportunity to learn, but also teach. To experience first hand how people from other cultures think, act and the way live. We got a real look into the way they deal with things and in the end found out that we're all really alike. It doesn't matter where we come from because it is about where we decide to go from there, as Stephen Chbosky wrote. It was interesting seeing how our homes influence our way of making decisions, but still coming up to the same solution in the end.
So, thank you everyone who participated in the camp somehow. The participants and teamers for making even the mornings special through the songs for waking up or the "If you're happy" songs, for planning everything or just being there to laugh with or to, for making this special because if it weren't for you, the camp wouldn't be the camp that it was. You made it this way - amazing, wonderful, awesome, fantastic, something to remember if not for the rest of our lives. Thank you to the staff for keeping up with us, to the cook for making magnificant meals (expecially the mushroom sauce!!!!!!!) or for giving us ice cream, to the people leading the Creative workshops or the ones helping with climbing, rafting and the ones who lead their own workshops. We learned a lot from you, and we are going to pass on the knowledge back home. From doing some rythms or clown act to making others laugh because of the modern version of the most famous tragedy 'Romeo & Juliet' or by showing them how to make their own paper. Thank you for now knowing how to try to make a stable raft or tying an eight knot. Thank you to NOT Mr. Simon, but Mr. Hubert & his wife for being wonderful hosts and giving us the chance to experience this amazing thing.

I will miss you all, and I cannot wait to see you at the Reunion (hopefully in Poland, no?)

                                                                                                                 

 Yours truly,

Commercial group (Haris, Đuro, Vujadin, Nemanja, Una, Bakira, Aleksandra, Marta Ž., Marta P., Sarah, Hannah, Karina & Vanja, but also Lisa and Iga)

F R I D A Y :( 22.08.2014.

DAY NINETEEN!



Who would've tought that we are here for almost twenty days? I can asure you, only the people at home reading this blog. We were having so much fun, we didn't even notice that the days were passing by so fast. But this day was an exception. We went to Bonn - the de facto capital of West Germany! That morning in Bonn finished really fast. Everyone will agree on that we could've had a little more time. The city is really beautiful and the University is a very good place to study in. Maybe some of us will be roommates here in Bonn while going to the University together. Who knows?

When we got to Malteserhof, we kind of had to start packing... That was the saddest part after the Fairwell ritual. We all went together to the plenery room for the last time. We sat in a circle and talked about our highlights on the camp, made rain sounds and also shared to whom we felt most connected to during the camp and why. It was a very emotional night and there were a lot of tissues used during the ritual. When the official part ended, everyone got their own envelope so others can put letters in them. This was a great opportunity to say a lot of things we didn't get a chance to. 

Some of us stayed till very late writing letters, while others were laughing in rooms when rememering all wonderful and amazing things about camp. :)

Thursday! ! ! ! ! 21.08.2014.

DAY EIGHTEEN! 

Or also known as the FINAL PRESENTATION DAY!

If you thought yesterday had a lot of running around, you didn't see this day. People were putting up decorations, rehearsing their speaches, putting finishing touches on their presentations, cleaning all the rooms where quests are gonna be in, and also cooking! Every national group had the opportunity to prepare a national dessert. The Malteserhof was the most wonderful place to be in at that time because in almost every building you could sent the beautiful smells of cherries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, etc. Everyone wanted the dishes to be finished soon so we could all try the amazing specialities from Poland, Germany, Bosnia, Croatia, Montenegro & Serbia.

When the guests started arriving, everyone washed up, put on their nicest clothes and went outside to welcome them. We had an amazing greeting with Balkan traditions - salt and bread, and of course two girls wearing wonderful traditional outfits from Bosnia & Croatia.

When everyone took a seat in the Dining room, the presentations started. The first thing up was Mr. Hubert Simon followed by Mr. Voss who is a member of the European Union Parliament. Next up was the Commercial group presenting this blog, after them the Radio group who made us laugh with their RADIO BANANA. They were followed by the Newspaper group showing us their work through the newspaper everyone got a copy of. Last, but of course not least the Video group with the video we had to do a lot of dancing for. 

You could feel how we all were proud of each other. We have acomplished so much throughout these almost three weeks, and this was the final result of it.

In the end we all got up and sung all the contry participants versions of the song "If you're happy". Then, the real fun began - PARTY! :) We danced our hearts out.

WEDNESDAY 20.08.2014.

DAY SEVENTEEN!

We're so close to the end of camp. How sad;(
On this day we had a lot of project groups. The newspaper had still a lot of work to do as well as the video group. They were collecting final materials for their presentations. There was a lot of running around going on. Everyone was in a hurry to finish as soon as possible, while the kill game was still on.

Tuesday.......... 19.08.2014.

DAY SIXTEEN! 

Tuesday was a day without workshops, but very exciting. We visited one of the most beautiful cities in Germany – Koln. Before we got there we went to a Museum of German History and went back in time to the end of the II World War. After a wonderful tour, all of us got on a train and unbelievably fast, we were in Koln.

When we got out of the station, we were in front of one of the biggest Cathedrals in Germany – Kolner Dom. The rain was falling, but that didn’t stop us from running all around the city central to see as much as we can. One of the prettiest things we could see was the Hohenzollernbrucke. It is a lovely bridge with lots of locks on it. You cannot see the fence that separates the trains passing by and people walking above the Rhein.

While you were walking on the main pedestrian zone, you could see all of us Campus15 kids running around with bags, lots of German sweets and souvenirs. It was very sad for us when we had to come back to the Cathedral and get a train to go back to the Malteserhof. No one wanted to leave yet. There were a lot of things we wanted to do in this amazing city that had a lot of things to offer.  Some participants kind of succeeded at doing that… They fell asleep on the train going back home, then one of the teamers went back to get them on the next station.

After the big adventure, we had a meeting with Mr. Hubert, explaining the Reunion concept. We had to write down where we want the reunion to be, which topics would we want to discuss and would we like to participate again.

The majority wanted the reunion state to be Poland. We will see what comes next.

Monday! 18.08.2014.

DAY FIFTEEN! 

This morning we had a presentation from a woman who is involved with the European Union. She told us about its' history and we had an opportunity to ask questions about it. It was very pleasing for us to get answers for questions that up till then we didn't know who to ask.

After the presentation, some of us got a chance to have their own workshops. We had everything from Cha-cha-cha, baking, bracelet making, first aid, writing, public speaking to marshal arts, origami, make up and hair, music, art... It was a fantastic way to learn, but also learn to teach. It was really amazing being given the chance to teach others something that we never thought we would teach someone. The best thing was that everyone enjoyed what they were doing and we had a lot of fun.

Sunday ("No post on Sunday!") 17.08.2014.

DAY FOURTEEN!

After breakfast we had another session with Snjezana. First we had to think about three characteristics about us. We relaxed with music in the background she asked us to forget the third, second and first characteristic. We had to imagine us without them one after another, and that's when we started beginning to feel like we're loosing ourselves. When they appeared again, we started remembering who we actually are. We agreed that without them you feel empty and sad. Snjezana showed a song by Michael Jackson (Man in the Mirror) which really fit the topic.
The second part of the session was based on our future and we had to present it in the present form.

In the afternoon we went to the gym. In our element groups we had to race against each other in different ways. One example with eggs on our shoes or strapped on another person. After some discussion and much fun, we had a volleyball game. It was really funny, mostly because the ceiling was really low.

Saturday!!!!!!!! 16.08.2014.

DAY THIRTEEN!

Saturday was a very productive day for everyone. We had workshops with Snjezana about ourselves. People often don't realize what impression they leave on people. During the discussion, we discovered that we have three lives: a public one, private and secret one. We also found out that everyone has their own marks and roles in life.

On our first workshop we put on our backs a sheet of paper and everyone wrote what they don't like about the person. After we read what we wrote and we a had a discussion about things that we think they are not true. At the other part of the day we did the same but we wrote those things, we like about the others. That took much longer, so we were not really surprised to have much more nice things to say about people than bad. It was a very good workshop despite the fact that a lot of people didn't get it. For some of us, it was actually a great thing because we actually got to read the different things people see in us, so we could change them if necessary.

FRIDAY, AGAIN! 15.08.2014.

DAY TWELVE!

Friday was a really exciting day for all of us. You could say it was a "big day"; Everything was about our presentations of the creative workshops we were doing the whole week. After the stressful, but funny preparation we were really looking forward to present our work in front of our guests. First, the circus group amused us with dangerous but amazing magic tricks. After that performance, we enjoyed the drum beats from the music group which was followed by the modern version of the Romeo and Juliet play prepared by the theater group. Last, but not the least, the land art workshop presented their work with an exhibition and their video.

When the guests left we had a crazy party just for us. It lasted longer than we all expected because we had so much fun dancing. But after all we were really happy to fall asleep. The last thought was that we were thankful that week with those workshops.

Wednesday & Thursday! 13-14.8.2014.

DAY TEN & ELEVEN!

Wednesday and Thursday were kind of same. We were in 4 our project groups in which we started to practice for the presentation.
 The landart group went to the forest, mixed many colors and made lots of art. They painted on stones, trees, leaves and ground. They worked with material and transformed dead nature to beautiful art! With their Workshop-leaders Verena and Daniela they learned a lot of new things and had much fun.
The music workshop was lead by Jules. He thought us how to drum professional. Also they tried to express themselves with music.
The theater group practiced to speak on stage and to improvise. They started preparing Romeo and Julia with help of their leader Christian.
The Circus group exercised many kinds of circus activities like juggling, pipes, flags, plates, balance but also trapeze in the gym. Felix leached us many different ways to present circus.

Also, on Thursday, Malteserhof had been visited by a few other people. Those people were journalists. Campus15 was a host of a press conference. One participant from each country represented it to the journalist who were asking questions like "What is the thing that makes the camp special?" or "How are you planning on using the knowledge you've gained here in your home country and city?". But, the hardest one of all was "Why do you think you got selected for the camp?" We really had to think hard about this one, but in the end got to the conclusion that we all had that one thing that was shining even through the paper that was sent so far away. 
Also, we want to recommend this camp to every single young person. Even if you're living in Germany, and are not really appealed to the idea of spending three weeks in your own country...trust us, we don't feel like we're just in Germany, we feel like we're in Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia and Poland at the same time.

Tuesday! 12.08.2014.

DAY NINE!

Today, we started the creative workshops. We made a choice between circus, land art, music and theater.
In land art we made nature colors, and painter on threes. In theater we were learning basic acting techniques and made fake characters and we played them. In circus we tried many things, like juggling or walking on a rope. In the music group we were learning how to play yumbo, on the shore of the Rhein river.