Hungarian Team Radio Program

Radio program by the Hungarian Team.

Images and Video by courtesy of Paco de Dios.

Romanian and Italian Radio Program

Radio program in Radio Mazagón by the Romanian and Italian teams.

Images and Video by courtesy of Paco de Dios.

Spanish Radio Program

Radio program in Radio Mazagón by the Spanish team. Their thoughts and expectatives about EuroprensaVI.

Images and Video by courtesy of Paco de Dios.

Youtube channel

This is the link to our Youtube channel, EuroprensaVI, where you can watch some videos of our activities.

Europrensa VI Youtube channel

Hungarian Presentation

On thursday morning, the group went to the local meeting hall, located at the library building to assist  to a special presentation of the Hungary team.


It was quite a surprise what they had prepared for us! I was expecting just a little speech and the typical power point.... Nevertheles, they deleited us with a little video about their customs, stereotypes and relevant places while they were talking about it in short words.

The group could even taste typical hungarian food, and a shot of their (also) typical drink. The food was little taste of hungarian sausage. The drink was a herbal liquor, tasty and powerful!

However, they left the best part for the end. First, everybody sang a typical song from their country with cutlery as instruments.

Howerver, the best party was when they deleited us with this awesome song.

Our Natural Environment

On Thursday afternoom the discussion thread was "Our Natural Environment". In this particular session, we set the activity in two phases:.
First, the teams were dividided by countries, and gathered to look for information about special places in their lands with the particularity of being part of their natural environment, information they will share with the other groups..
Second, we discussed about the impact of tourism on them, issues and possible solutions.:.

 Spain

The spanish team focused in the natural environment of Andalucia, even though they have several places along their country..

• Donaña National Park. Situated in the province of Huelva, at the South-West of Spain, it is known as one of the most important protected environmet of Europe. Recognized as "World Heritage Site" by the UNESCO, it holds the last specimens of the iberian linx. Also, several birds species live and travel to this place, like flamingos or storks..

• Sierra Nevada. Mountains located in Granada, in which it is found the heighest peak of the Iberian Peninsula, called Mulhacen, with around 3000 meters high. It's one of the most visited places in winter due to winter sports, although in summer is visited for hiking or endurance races..
  

• Taberna's Desert. Located in Almeria, it is protected as a wilderness area. It's very well known becaouse of the many western movies that were filmed in such a iconic place..
  

Hungary

The hungarian team showed us three awesome places..

Hortobágy National Park. Located in Eastern Hungary, it is a 800km² national park, rich in folklore and cultural history. The park is a part of the Alföld (great plain) and was the first designated national park in Hungary in 1973 and recognized by the UNESCO as World Heritage Site in 1999. It is the largest protected area in Hungary and the largest semi-natural grassland in Europe..

Thermal Baths. Hungary has an estimated 1300 thermal springs. Hungary's thermal waters are being used for 2000 years being the Romans the first people to use them in the first century..

• Ruin Pubs. The beginning of the 21st century was an exciting turning point in the nightlife of Budapest: in the dentral area of the city new places were opened one after another in tenement houses and factory buildings doomed to destruction. These were equipped with rejected furniture of old community centres, cinemas, and grandmothers' flats, bringing a retro feeling into these places. They were soon called ruinpubs and became popular very fast among the youth of Budapest...

Poland

• Hel Peninsula. It is a 35 km long peninsula which separates the Bay of Puck from the Baltic Sea. The width of the peninsula varies from approximately 300 m near Jurata, through 100 m in the most narrow part to over 3 km at the tip. Since the peninsula was formed entirely of sand, it is frequently turned into an island by winter storms. Until the 17th century the peninsula was a chain of islands that formed a strip of land only during the summer.
  A road and a railroad run along the peninsula from the mainland to the town located at the furthest point, Hel, a popular tourist destination. Other towns, ports, and tourist resorts are Jurata, Jastarnia, Kuznica,Chałupy, and Władysławowo..

• Zakopane.Zakopane is visited by over 250,000 tourists a year. In the winter, tourists are drawn to Zakopane for its excellent conditions for winter sports: alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, snowboarding, and ski jumping. In the summer, tourists come to enjoy hiking, climbing, and spelunking. Many come to experience góral culture, which is rich in its unique styles of food, speech, architecture, music, and costume. Zakopane is especially popular during the winter holidays, which are celebrated in traditional style, with dances, decorated horse-pulled sleighs called kuligs and roast lamb..

• Masurian lakeland. is a lake district in northeastern Poland within the geographical region of Masuria. It contains more than 2,000 lakes. The district had been elected as one of the 28 finalists of the New 7 Wonders of Nature.The Lakeland extends roughly 290 km (180 mi) eastwards from the lower Vistula to the Poland–Russia border, and occupies an area of roughly 52,000 square kilometres (20,000 sq mi). Administratively, the Lake District lies within the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. Small parts of the district lie within the Masovian. The lakes are well connected by rivers and canals, forming an extensive system of waterways. The 18th-century Masurian canal links this system to the Baltic Sea. The whole area is a prime tourist destination, frequented by boating enthusiasts, canoeists, anglers, hikers, bikers and nature-lovers. It is one of the most famous lake districts in Central Europe and a popular vacation spot, with the highest number of visitors every year..

Italy

• Dolomite Alps. They are a mountain range located in northeastern Italy. They form a part of Southern Limestone Alps and extend from the River Adige in the west to the Piave Valleyin the east. The northern and southern borders are defined by the Puster Valley and the Sugana Valley (Val Sugana). The Dolomites are nearly equally shared between the provinces of Belluno, South Tyrol and Trentino.
  There are also mountain groups of similar geological structure that spread over the River Piave to the east – Dolomiti d'Oltrepiave; and far away over the Adige River to the west –Dolomiti di Brenta (Western Dolomites). There is also another smaller group called Piccole Dolomiti (Little Dolomites) located between the provinces of Trentino, Vernoa and Vicenza. One national park and many other regional parks are located in the Dolomites. In August 2009, the Dolomites were declared a Unesco World Heritage Site..

• Venetian Lagoon. The Venetian Lagoon stretches from the River Sile in the north to the Brenta in the south, with a surface area of around 550 square kilometres (210 sq mi). It is around 8% land, including Venice itself and many smaller islands. About 11% is permanently covered by open water, or canal, as the network of dredged channels are called, while around 80% consists of mud flats, tidal shallows and salt marshes. The lagoon is the largest wetland in the Mediterranean Basin...

• Pompei. The city of Pompeii was an ancient Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area, was mostly destroyed and buried under 4 to 6 m (13 to 20 ft) of ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesubius in 79 AD. Pompeii has been a tourist destination for over 250 years. Today it has Unesco World Heritage Site status and is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Italy, with approximately 2.5 million visitors every year..

Youth Discussion

On Wednesday afternoom we had a little discussion about the youth of our countries, their problems and possible solutions.

In order to start, we created 5 groups with people from the five countries. Each group discussed for half an hour about this issue and exposed to the rest of the teams after this. The aim of mixed groups was for enfasize the differences and similarities betwen our countries in a more direct way, even though each group would share to the others their conclussions.

As expected all issues were related to the Educational System and employment. Although each country had their issues, we found similarities betwen them:

The main issue about education was that the universities are under the big influence of companies, which leads the education to be more focused on productivity than in knowledge. An issue that belong to all countries, but were more discussed by the Romanian and Polish participants, which also summarized their problems in education at college on the money control on Universities.

The Spaniards said that they need more practice at university, because they need to improve by themselves if they want to access to extra knowledge (practical and theorical).

In Hungary, they focused on the low economy support to education, which leads to a less motivation for teachers and students.

The second main issue we found was the big unemployment numbers on the youth that we have on our countries. However, the ones who found a job after graduation only can access to low salaries.

In order to improve the system, we discussed some options.

• Introduce more practical subjects at highschool so the students would have a better idea about what career to choose.
• Encourage people to choose a career which professionals are needed by the country they live by giving more help with the scholarships of those careers.

Visit to the Port of Huelva

On Wednesday the Europrensa group headed to Huelva to visit Huelva's Harbour. When we arrived to the facilities, we entered the museum and watch a couple of films in English and Spanish about the history of the company and about Huelva's history as international port since Phoenicians inhabited our marvellous land..

After the videos, we had a little ask and answer time with the representative of the harbour, in which he showed us aditional data about it, from the amount of cargo they can handle in a day to the number of jobs they produce..

After this, we headed to the port himself, exactly to the fisherman's loading dock, where we could see the "Lonja", where fish is sold and several fisherman's boats. We asked to visit the cargo port, but it couldn't be possible due to security issues for such a large group..

Customs and Stereotypes

The group was divided into the original teams of each country. First, they debated in their own groups about the stereotypes of their countries for a later presentation of them to the other groups. It was a very informative activity, which let everyone know better the countries of their new friends, finding that stereotypes actually do not define a country for themselves, and that we have to change a bit our beliefs about those countries.

Italians

They arent just plain pizza eaters. Every single region has its own traditional cuisine. Mafia is not over the whole country but is mainly active in the south. It is a stereotype that there is trash on the street because that was just a one time event in Napoli. They introduced us some gestures and their meanings through a role-play.

Polish

They sang a song that was very beautiful. They came from different parts of the country and they shared info about them. They taught us polish expressions and words. They told us stories about polish people who are world-famous. Instead of explaining stereotypes they focused on introducing their country.

Spaniards

The bullfights are not supported by everyone. They told us stories about spanish dances and they presented some of them as well. We learned about different types and styles. Flamenco has 4 types and we will have the opportunity to learn each of them during the week. We heard about the siesta and about possibilities for young people who want to have fun and party.

Romanians

Ana, the only one attendee shared information about the history of her country for example about the cemetery of Máramaros, about the parliament built by Ceausescu. About the beautiful and diverse natural habitat of the Danube Delta and about Dracula and his habits.

Hungarians

The Hungarian team devided their presentation into three parts: stereotypes, customs and fun facts. They talk about cuisine, famous Hungarian people and the attitude of society. We have gotten to learn how proud they are of having the most olympic golds and Nobel prices respectively compared to population.

Nevertheless Bucarest is not equal to Budapest!!!!

Europrensa VI Photos

In the next link you can find the album with all the photos I made so far in EuroprensaVI.

I will update later with all the videos too!!!

Photos

Sand Castle Competition

As last year this activity had a great welcome by the participants, we decided to repeat it.

On Tuesday at 4 PM five different nations decided to challenge themselves in an hard and serious competition... a sand castle competition on the seaside of Mazagón!!

Acting like children everybody tried to do his best to make the most wonderful castle of his life. After several hours of hard work everyone was ready to show his masterpiece to the competitors.

Polandia, made by the Polish team, was a huge and circular construction with high walls decorated with shells. The Spanish one was a squared castle with inner towers and a yellow buoy with a flag on the top. The most original models were made by Italians and Hungarians: the first one created a star­shaped castle with six towers and a central building; the second one was a functional contruction... a wonderful Jacuzzi!!

So... who's the winning team? As in Italy people say “ai posteri l'ardua sentenza”! (sentence waits posterity)

Meeting Point

On the first day we have started our stay from very delicious Andalusian breakfast in bar La Playa. After the meal it was a time to get to know each other a bit better. The organizator of Europrensa, Antonio, let Gábor from the Hungarian team lead to explain some group games which purpose was to break the ice between people from different nations :)

To take part in the first activity we were asked to form a circle and stand close to each other. The person who starts had to introduce himself by saying his name and show a gesture simultaneously, for example he could jump, clap his hands etc. The next participant had to repeat the name of the previous one and then add his own gesture. We were following the process one by one. There was 28 of us, 5 nationalities, so it was quite hard to remember all of the people with movements. At the end we were laughing all the time because some of the gestures were really funny. Of course we were making mistakes but finally we have learned the names. As a final turn we have repeated all the movements with names together.

The second game ´WHACK-A-MOLE´ we played was supposed to make us remember our names even better than in previous game!!! The rules were quite simple: we were divided into three mixed groups. There was one person in each group that held a rolled piece of paper ("the hammer"). 

The general rule is that the rest of the people who make a circle around the one with the hammer have to tell name of some other person from the circle as fast as possible. The person in the middle has to try to hit the person whose name has been said before he or she tells yet another name. If the person whose name has been said don't tell another name and gets hit, he gets "the hammer" and tries to hit another person, so he can get out of the middle of the circle. This went for some time, and then the groups were mixed two more times to make things even more difficult and productive. 

I think this game allowed us to remember our names even better than the first one, as it required fast reflex. It seemed that everyone enjoyed this game and had fun while getting to know each other. This game really helped to open up to other nationalities :)

The third game was supposed to be a fight. We were divided into three groups. In each turn two teams had to form lines facing the opponents. The main task was to make the other group laugh before the time of two minutes is up. The rule was not to avoid touching the deffended person and make hilarious faces and poses. One of Polish girls, Agata pretended to be a duck. She was imitating funny noises of animals so no one could resist and maintain his composure. We were receiving points after winning or not being beaten. Generally there were three rounds so we had a mini-league. 

Thanks to all activities we could break the ice and make the atmosphere much more friendly. We got really opened to each other because the games were interactive. :)

After we made friends together, we went to the breathtaking beach of Mazagon to lay in smudges of the afternoon sun. When the clear, fresh air entered our lungs, we felt fulfilled with happiness that resulted from the fact that we are going to spend an entire week in this idyllic place which is close to be a paradise.

Introduction

Europrensa is coexistence. It is the birth of friendship and interpersonal links between groups of people from different countries like Romania, Poland, Hungary, Italy or Spain.

The UNIPO association from Mazagón has been organizing Europrensa for six years, so we are facing our sixth international meeting, and the first one under the name of ERASMUS+ program. All participants will meet together in the summer village of Mazagón, located in the south of Spain, in the province of Huelva. Huelva is very well known for its infinite coast line, Doñana National Park, and the small village of "El Rocio" with its famous pilgrimage party. From the 5th to the 12th of October,the participants will live together, eat toguether and do activities in which they will share their point of view and life experiences about issues like customs and sterotypes, natural environment protection and its importance, youth and art of our countries.

This blog aims to share this unforgettable experience, through articles, photos and videos made by the participants and encourage everyone to participate in the next years. Also, we will use social networks like twiter or facebook, under the hashtag #EUROPRENSAVI.