I had the possibility to take part in an EU-project meeting “European Approach” in Estonia 27.-31.7.2011. The meeting was a part of Grundtvig learning partnership project. We were nine participants together from Finland. The main theme of the meeting was this time dance culture. The other participants in this meeting, which was held in Palamuse, were from Greece, Turkey, Italy, Estonia, Poland and Portugal, 30 persons altogether.
The beautiful Estonian landscape and people who in spite of the different cultures and inadequate language skills were able to communicate and cooperate so well together made a big impression on me. The most important aim of the EU is to create contacts at grass roots level between people living in different circumstances and in this way promote the understanding of different cultures.
Especially rewarding were the verbal and illustrated presentations of the participants on the culture, life, political situation and particularly on the perspectives of each country. The international get-together with product exhibitions, dance performances and entertainment programme gave a god opportunity to discussions between the participants.
Because of my inadequate language skills I got help from my kind English speaking fellow travellers, when we drove around in Palamuse, Tartu and Tallinn and their sights which in many ways were related to traditional landscape, past and culture of Estonia which the Estonians want to cherish and sustain.
To sum up all the participants got pleasant memories from the seminar. Our special thanks go to the Estonian project coordinator Ivar Vinkmann for his efforts for our comfort and entertainment.
Teuvo Nurmi
