SEDIFIEE: Strengthening Equality, Diversity and Inclusion For an Intercultural European Education : 2020

Our SEDIFIEE Croatia experience

In February a group teachers and students from the National High School in Finance and Business attended the 2^nd LTTA in Osijek, Croatia. It’s the fourth largest city in Croatia, and the center of the region of Slavonia. It’s on the right bank of the river Drava with a great mixture of West Baroque style and Balkan hospitality. In the center of the city we visited the Roman Catholic Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, one of the symbols of the city. The new pedestrian bridge, which connect the city with Copacabana, a wide open space area with swimming pools, parks, and a zoo. Not far away is the Europe Avenue with typical 19^th c. buildings that leads to the old town Trvda. It’s the best preserved group of the largest Baroque buildings in Croatia.

The second day was in the capital Zagreb. We were impressed by the cathedral of Zagreb, St. Mark’s square, the old town and Ban Josip Jelačić Square where we felt the close connection of people between the past and now.

Next day was at school writing scripts, practicing and performing role plays on the topic of the LTTA – Solidarity. Teachers chose the best performance. It was group 4 with the video entitled “Little gestures make big hearts”. In the evening, we visited The Old Senior Citizens’ Home in Osijek and each country preformed a dance or a song. The old people couldn’t wait to express their enjoyment seeing us dancing and singing. It was an unforgettable experiences for us too.

The fourth day was very sad. We visited the Hero Town Vukovar – a place completely devastated during the Serbian – Croatian Civil War in 1991. The town now is rebuilt again but each grown-up person in Croatia still keeps their memories about the time. We visited the War Museum and The Memorial Center, where Croatian students go and study about the war in the first place. In 199 all out host teachers had to move away from Osijek because of the war. Some of them told us they survived when their own house was bombed. A very shocking was the visit to the local hospital, where there is a museum that shows the life of doctors, nurses and patients during the war. There are still the holes and some remains from the war which must remind people about the war. This is the topic that unites the whole country of Croatia as each family experienced the consequences of the war.

The last day was about writing stories on the topic of solidarity. Students in international groups wrote their stories in the eTwinning TwinSpace and we all have them saved in Google Drive. The SEDIFIEE students who haven’t attended the meeting in Croatia will vote and choose the best story.

All in all, we’ll never forget our hosts’ friendliness, the lovely families who made our students feel at home, the perfect organization of each detail of the mobility because of the teachers’ excellent team work. And the language – the Slavs’ origin of both Croatian and Bulgarian helped us understand each other better too!

We’ll definitely come back to Croatia!

Dissemination in the school website:
http://nfsg-sofia.net/documents/Erazm_2020hrv1.pdf

The students' thoughts about the LTTA: