Category: 01 Leverkusen/Oulu/Rome

” Goodbyes are not forever

Goodbyes are not the End.

They simply mean I’ll miss you

untill we meet again.”

 

We reached the very last Day of our Partnership and saying Goodbye seems to be so hard, but there is still something to look forwars too. We developed these great friendships and we think they might last a lifetime, at least some of them. After this post there may not come more blog entries, but the Ending of our Friendship has not yet been written.

Farewell from everyone:

Carolin:

“The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again.”

Everytime I think back to the night in Rome where Larissa, Samira and I sat in the kitchen and drank coffee while talking about the most random things, I can’t help but smile. ♥

Giada:

I know I haven’t joined this project since the first year, but eventhough I was the new one everyone welcomed me so warmly. I’m so glad I’ve met all of you, I will really miss all of our random talks, just laughing about bananas while watching a never ending sunset.

All these memories will keep me company when I feel lonely,

thank you guys! ♥

Regine:

 

 

 

One of the best memories from the first camp 2015 is the Salsa Evening and of course Frank. It was very nice to meet a lot of you again in Oulu and also meet the new ones.

Thank you for all the great experiences we had all together.

 

 

 

 

Eleonora:

When I came here I had no idea what to expect, but when the days began to pass I realized that this is a fantastic environment with special and unforgettable people.

I laughed, I got angry, but I lived 15 incredible days.

Florian:

It was a great experience to be a part of this camp.

It was also a pleasureo to meet you and to get to know you.

Thank you for these amazing two weeks.

Leah:

The first days were really hard for me, because most of you knew each other. But while the days passed and I was able to get to know you better, I realized that almost all of you are extremely kind and sweet people. It was really cool to meet you all. Thank you guys for these two weeks that weren’t easy all the time but definetly worth the experience.

Tanja:

It’s been amazing 3 years and every camp has been one of a kind.

I’ve met so many lovely people with amazing personalities.

Thank you all for these experiences I’ve had!

xoxo

Jan:

Most of the time I enjoyed the camp very much. But sometimes I had so many other things in mind.

Best wishes to all of you for your and our future.

Aline:

It is hard to believe that the third camp is over now. It went so fast, but on the other hand I shared so many moments with everyone it would take ages to tell them to someone.

Let’s never forget that these camps are ours!

Our special time which made us grow stronger as individuals and closer as a group.

Samira:

” I cannot say goodbye to those whom I have grown to love,

for the memories we have made will last a lifetime,

and will never know a goodbye. “

I could fill a 1000 pages book with the stories I have to tell thanks to this experience. You are my second family and I will keep these memories very close to my heart. Forever. I made the best of friends here and this camp changed me as a person. It has been the best three years of my life and I’m looking forward to sharing more “first time stuff” with you all.

My favorite Memory is surely the Day we spent at the Beach in Italy. I’ll never forget this Day.

Going back to my daily life now, knowing there might not be a chance to do this all over again, feels like dying. But still I am so grateful for all the Time we had, although I wish it would have been more…

Thank you all for being here! Thank you for being who you are!

I wish you all the best!

See you soon!

I love you… ♥ ♥

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rebecca:

I enjoyed those three years together. I had a lot of fun and I will always keep beautiful memories of this Camp.

Larissa:

This Camp has been a small escape from reality. During these three years we got to know ewoca participants by their actions, behaviours and emotions without knowing so much about their background and history.

We experienced and learned so much together. We had most stupid inside jokes, shared our love, laughters, all the late nights and music together.

For me, it was one of the most important experience so far. I learned a lot about

myself and people.

I’m very grateful and thankful for all the memories we shared here.

I think this is going to be the

hardest goodbye for me so far.

Go bananas!

Francesco:

In these 3 years I changed a lot and I’ve grown up a lot in particular thanks to the discussions I had with other people of this 3 years project.

So many Moments, Memories and Laughters, that I can’t even describe what I exactly feel right now, but I know I will miss this.

It’s gonna be a meaningful chapter of my life.

I’m feeling blessed and grateful for all I received.

Roosa:

When I joined this project almost three years ago I was 16 years old and didn’t know what to do with my life. I’m not saying that I would know it now clearly, but at least I can say that I made the best decision in my life when I decided to join this project.

It has given me so many memories with the most beautiful people. I’ve learned many useful things and also how to interact with different people. These years have given me a lot of courage to be myself and to trust other people when I let them close to me.

All in all I am really grateful to all of you who have been part of this journey.

Thank you ♥

That’s it. The final Chapter for now has been written. But although we might head into diffrent directions after returning home, we shared all these beautiful momennts and love always wins. So eventhough we do not see each other everyday, we are still Friends.

And true Friendship never parts!

So much love… ♥ ♥ ♥

Oulu, 29.07.2017

Almost there. 3 Years of a life changing journey are going to End. We are so close to moving on from this great experience and although we know we’re going to meet again at some point in Life, the uncertainty makes us all a bit sad. We spent three Years of laughter and love together and developed great Friendships.

What are you going to miss the most?

Tanja: the late night hang arounds and all the campers and the teamers.
Just the camp all together because I’m so used to it and this is the last year and it makes me feel kind of sad.
I’m happy this year I could feel more comfortable and be myself, getting involved and working with everyone.

 

How do you like the camp compared to the last ones?

Tanja: I feel the group is more united than the last years; also the freetime is more organized. I like this year a little less, because for me it’s not abroad, so it’s not as exiting than the years in Germany and Italy.

What are you looking forward to the last days?

Larissa: To create new memories, get new experience and just to be together.

How is the second week going compared to the first? What has changed? What stayed the same?

Rebecca: On a social level, the group got closer together, so the group work got better and the people are less shy. Also the work got better, because I personally prefer the work at the wall over the theoretical work. Something that stayed the same is the environment, the nature that surrounds us still amazes me. I really like it.

 

Giada, Carolin, Samira

28.07.2017

What was your favorite part of the planning part?

Bappy: I loved all the drawings and I think the morale is pretty good, my favorite part are the masks. I liked to work with everyone.

Paolo: I enjoyed to plan all together, to choose the colors and after the brainstorming seeing how our ideas work. I love to see how it keeps growing and getting better with everyone’s help.

Tanja: The best part about planing and painting process was painting itself, details, when everyone had the chance to give their own opinion.

Larissa: I enjoyed planing what to express on the wall with the group, I think we made a good choise.

Roosa: Best part was discovering the culture and maybe trying to be a better person. Painting was fun as well.

Wilma: I think painting is great, the planning seemed individual, didn’t expect it like that, had been educational, it sometimes was chaotic but fun.

Florian: The workshops were interesting but not as much as painting outside in the heat…

Francesco: Eating…no I liked the planing part, because it was original, I liked the brainstorming sessions, it was so creative.

Elenora: Talking together about ideas colour and painting is the best part now…

Rebecca: Today we are doing a great job, everyone is able to see if something is missing, it has this participation spirit.

Elli: Best thing were the workshops because I like drawing my own ideas and realising them.

If you could have done another painting,what would it be ?

Francesco : I would have made a huge banana, because it’s so meaningful to me, it represents all the campers, we love bananas

 

Giada, Carolin, Samira

Oulu, 26./27. 07. 2017

Todays post is going to be about more general things like our work together and the group.

Have you ever been in the kitchen group,can you describe how it works?

Roosa:I have been in the kitchen group and I really like it.
Our task is to decide what food we are going to prepare for the campers, cook it and clean afterwards.
I think this is very useful because it helps you learning about food and household stuff.
It is also very interesting to see how the recipes change for every country.
Infact the difficulties is to find something that everyone can enjoy.
But it’s part of the project getting to understand everyone’s tastes.

How did you feel working all together? Do you like this group?

Eleonora: It was difficult at the beginning, because not everybody was involved but after a little they wanted to help more and more, it was a developing process that I’m glad happened.
I also like the group,because everyone is so friendly and looking forward to have fun together,I’m gonna miss them.

Could you tell us what you liked the most about Finland?

Bappy : The city is lovely and all the natural elements are just stunning.
I love how the city is not crowded, everyone looks relaxed and is so kind to me.
The thing I’m going to miss the almost is the possibility to go around with our bikes, through the wood, I really love it.
And the food is always great.

I know you had another road trip on Thursday, did you enjoy it?

Florian: I’ll start saying that everything was very awesome.
The bus ride didn’t take too long,and I’ve enjoyed the ferry.
The weather was awesome because of the heatwave and I tried to swim, although the water was so cold I couldn’t go further than to my knees level.
The beach was empty and very nice.
I’m glad they took us there.

 

Giada, Carolin, Samira

23./24./25. 07. 2017

Some more Days have passed and we finally started the painting on the wall, which is going to be presented on Saturday. Before going to the wall we drew a lot the days before and learned how to put our thoughts on the paper right in front of us. We learned a lot about life itself and some of our thoughts might have changed a little afterwards.

Let’s ask some participants:

What do you think about this year project?

Rebecca: we needed more time to plan it but I still think it’s a nice project and the result will be good.
I like it because I like to be free to express myself through art

 

What was your first impression when you saw the wall?

Tanja: I thought the wall was going to be bigger
But as soon as we started I realized everything took so much time to think and be made, but I’m excited anyway and the drawing is cool

 

Could you explain the project?

Wilma: It’s about the stereotype and prejudice
The masks represent how we hide behind them,all the things we don’t want people to see, but it’s just superficial.
Because everything is not just black and white, there’s more stuff.

 

Giada, Carolin, Samira

Oulu, 22.07.2017

The day started really early with breakfirst at 6.00. We left at 7.30 and after a 3 hour bus tour and a break with an small hike, which not everybody approved, we finally arrived at the Arctic Circle. After a small lunch in front of an huge “Arctic Cicle” sign we had freetime and the chance to finally meet Santa in his village, that was only a few minutes away. We were really exited, until we saw the price for a picture with Santa…In spite of the price, for some seeing Santa face-to-face was a childhood-dream come true. Some people left for a hike through the beautiful nature of the Santa forest and followed a wooden path. Sadly, the planned bonfire did not go as planned, so we had just a small fire back in our camp, but it was still a perfect ending for the day.

 

Samira, Giada, Carolin

Oulu, 21.07.2017

After staying awake most of the night to have the opportunity to congratulate Wilma for her Birthday, it was no wonder that we all were a bit sleepy the next Day. Most part of the Day we spent in the City, exploring it and going shopping. In the evening we all joined to sing and play the guitar outside, because she wished for it. Although she was sick that Day she still thought it was a very nice way to spent her Birthday surrounded by her Ewoca Family. She really enjoyed the singing and her Birthday cake. We all hope that she will remember this Day for a very long time.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILMA!

we love you :)

 

Your whole ewoca family….

Oulu  19-20/07/2017

 

Giada: So we´ve had this discussion about stereotypes and prejudices, what do you think about it?
Roosa: I´ve enjoyed it very much for it gave me many things to think about, it concerned an attual and interesting topic.
Giada: And may I ask you what do you think about stereotypes?
Roosa: I don´t like them and I hope we could get rid of them but I also feel like there´s no chance we could really erase them from our society , they´ll be always there.

Giada: Okay thank you Roosa for answering. Jaakko, Leah what do you think are the main difference between stereotypes and prejudices?

Jaakko: I think it´s all about how you act, a stereotype affect your perception of people you haven´t met yet .
A prejudices has deeper roots and changes your actions and how you act to people.

Leah: I agree with Jaakko, it´s all about the actions.
I feel like prejudices are based on stereotypes, and are mainly negative, while stereotypes can be good or funny as well.

Giada: Thank you, and did you like the discussion?

Jaakko: Yes of course!
I´m always glad to see people discussing themselves and talk about such important matters.
It also surprised me seeing how the group didn´t foucus on national differences but on topics that they all shared like age and gender.

Leah: I wasn´t surprised with the final result because i feel our generation has open minds, and don´t think about national stereotypes and this kind of things, but i enjoyed the discussion anyway because the topic was very interestinmg and it´s always nice to have a good discussion.

Giada: Again, thank you for joining us and answering our little questions.

 

Carolin, Giada, Samira.

Oulu, 18. 07. 2017

Following we’ll write an Interview about different Expectations and First Impressions. Enjoy :)

 

Interviewer(I): Please, tell us Something about your first Impressions and about your Expectations.

Samira: I was very excited to reunite with some of my old friends, that I had to leave last summer. Also I was looking forward to meet the new Participants. I really enjoy staying at a very new place and am excited to explore the City.

Florian: I really like this place outside of the City; it’s so calm here. Although it would be nicer with sunshine. I’m staying in another house, very close to the main house and in my room there is space for two people. The living and the dining room are both very big rooms and you have enough space to interact with everyone else.

Beza: I was happy to see all the new people. But at first it seemed to be very quit because most of us didn’t know each other. I agree with Florian, it’s very calm here and the nature is so beautiful with all the gardens.

I: How did you like the Biketour through the City?

Samira: I liked the Biketour; it was so much fun to explore the new City. Some spots are really pretty, although the weather wasn’t that nice. But it was great to spend time as a whole group.

Florian: It was great, although the weather changed from sunny to rainy. I really like the market in the city center and the funny tasks we had to make. At first I was a bit shy but then I felt more comfortable because of the friendly people around me.

Beza: I was happy to ride a bike after a very long time, although it took me some moments to remember how to use it. It was interesting to learn things about Oulu and the view was pretty although it is only a small City. I enjoyed doing the tasks.

 

Carolin, Giada, Samira

Oulu, Finland 17.07.2017

Another Year has passed and we were looking forward to meet everyone again and also to get to know the new participants. Although we were really excited to reach our destination, in the end everything we wanted was to go to sleep, because the Italians and Germans arrived very late in the evening. Only some stayed awake to greet the international groups, the others greeted them the next morning. There was a lot of laughther and excitement all around, we talked about so many things because we had to catch up on the other peoples lives and to get to know the new ones.

This Year we are supposed to talk about Stereotypes and Culture. We’ll paint a large Wall in the City of Oulu, Finland. For most of the following Days we’ll upload a short Interview.

 

 

Carolin (Germany) , Giada (Italy) and Samira (Germany)