First Partnership Meeting: Lisbon - 10th to 14th November 2010

As five hundred years ago the portuguese navigators discovered a new world, thirty people from six different countries had the opportunity to meet different cultures.

On the 10th November, the participants of European Approach Project arrived in Lisbon and in the next day, it all began with a presentation of the members of each country. After that, it was prepared an international fair, where each country shared the best of its culture.From music to pictures, drinks to finger food, a little bit of everything was shown.

During this afternoon, each country presented the project work developed by the study groups until the moment. Afterwards, the participants attended a session about 'Portuguese Discoveries and Discoverers'. The programme for the first day ended eating roasted chesnuts and drinking 'água-pé' to recreate the 'magusto', celebrating St. Martin's Day.

The 12th November was dedicated to cultural visits in Lisbon, including Belém Tower, Monument to the Discoveries, Jerónimos Monastery, Rossio, Chiado, Santa Justa Elevator and St. Jorge Castle.

In the morning of the 13th November, the group started a journey to Sintra to visit Pena Palace. In the afternoon the participants had free time to walk around and discover a little bit more about Lisbon.

The partnership meeting programme ended with a walk and farewell dinner, listening to Fado in Alfama, one of the oldest and most typical neighbourhood in the city.

After exploring, experiencing and exchanging in Lisbon, on the 14th November every participant returned to their countries.

Text by Portuguese Participants

Finnish Study Group

Finns showed a great interest in Greece

The KuuRet 55+ team of Kuusankoski Hiking Club started its studies of Greece, the Greek people and the language in mid September and completed them in mid November. There were six meetings and 35 participants. 26 participants we present at least four times. During this short course also some tasks of the EU were dealt with. The representative of the local EU Information Bureau, Mrs. Leena Halonen told the group about EU. The tutor of the group was Seppo Tahvanainen, the coordinator of the European Approach project. An important element of the studies was the meeting with the Greek Partner group at the Lisbon partner meeting.


At the beginning we collected opinions about Greece and the Greeks and sent them to the Greek partner group for comments. Later on we received their comments plus their questions about Finland and the Finns, and then we answered them. At the Lisbon meeting we had the opportunity to check some topics with the Greeks. Every meeting included some 20 Greek word or some phrases. We hope some of them will stay in mind. In addition, a food vocabulary was distributed to the participants.

According to the study schedule the following topics were dealt with: general information, history, natural environment, geography, politics, economy, population and culture. The material consisted mainly of information found on the internet and the tutor's own archives in copies for all participants. At the meetings during the starting coffee Greek music was played in the background. On the last evening we had Ms. Anna Fazou from Crete as our guest. Her comments were very interesting and refreshing. Anna is studying in Kouvola through a student exchange program. By the side of our studies we followed up news about Greece in the media and collected a lot of cut-outs to our portfolio.

Due to the size of the group and the form of the conference room interactive discussion between the participants did not play a very big role. However, in general the participants were satisfied with the methods used. There was some need for more information on traditions and everyday life of the people plus things connected with travelling. Maybe there could have been less history - although exact dates and years were avoided.

A written final assessment showed that (in spite of the short time) the results of the course were good and the course met the majority of the participants' expectations. Most of the participants had also found some further information on their own. Attitudes towards Greece and the Greeks were positive - in spite of the fact that Greece was often mentioned on the news because of the economical crisis, demonstrations and strikes. Most of the participants are interested to continue their studies concerning Greece.

ST