The 8th Day

Go home bus, you're drunk! Or the 8th day of Shopping list. Our 8th day of Shopping list started very early when everyone had breakfast and went from Vila Cristina to the train station where a new shiny white bus was waiting to take us to Sinaia, Peleş castle, Bran and Braşov. After a few attempts of trying to drive out of Busteni, our bus broke down and our group had to separate into two groups and go in different busses. First place we visited was Peleş castle in Sinaia, where we got a tour and took pictures in the castle garden. Later we had some free time for souvenirs. Second on our list was Bran. After arriving, all participants had a short "Men-ergizer" from the Lithuanian team girls and later we started our main activity. We we're all wearing the project uniform-green T-shirts, so our group would differ from other people. We were talking to people in the main street and market square next to Dracula castle, giving them flyers which were made by our participants in the media workshop. The flyers explained the importance of recycling, reusing, reducing materials and consumtion. Later all participants had some free time in the city, so most people went to visit the legendary Dracula castle. Our third destination was Braşov. We were giving out flyers and hanging posters in the main city square and street, talking to local people and tourists. We also had a fun energizer lead by the one and only Tolea. The workshop was about Dracula and we had a mini-drama in the main square of Braşov. Later we had a short tour in the city and had some free time to explore it ourselves. After Braşov we returned to Buşteni, had dinner and gathered for the last energizer (given by the Lithuanian team) and the evaluation of the whole project. Our last evening was mellow. People were sitting together, watching funny moments from the video making workshops, saying their goodbyes to each other and to Buşteni. But there is one word in the air to keep the spirit of Shopping list alive. And that word is.... REUNION? :))

The 7th Day

A HARD WORKING DAY…

The Portuguese day started with sleepy people… the group went to Chromatic pub last night, so you can guess... ice breaking! To get everyone ready for the hard work, there was a dynamic energizer. The day was dedicated to group work in order to finish the tasks assigned the day before which was to produce posters, flyers, videos and a catalogue, to show the learning results of this Youth Exchange project.

After dinner the final results of the 4 different teams were displayed to the all group. And how great they were! Then there was the revelation of the secret friend, which was quite different from normal:

2 people had each 2 secret friends... how did it happen?

The day was finished with a night out at a local pub where we had a lot of fun dancing and interacting with the local community.

The Portuguese Group

The 6th Day

Again, the day wakes up cloudy. The sun here is an utopia...

After having our typical Romanian breakfast, we begun the work day with an energiser called "living sculptures", and then... let's go to work!

During all the morning we were focused on the first workshop about "4R" (Reduce, Recycle, Reuse and Refuse), that started with 4 big papers imitating a facebook wall, one for each concept, and the participants could explain their ideas about it. Later, we worked in groups, with one sentence for each group and we had to discuss about it and find some ideas to improve the situation that it was described in the sentences.

The last activity in the morning was to create a project as a fishing market. Each group chose a kind of fish to promote the project using it.

After the lunch we started to manage our campaign. To do this we separated in 4 groups (2 for videos, posters and flyers, and catalogue). Starting with a brain storming to get some ideas we continued like this during all the afternoon.

And later: ROMANIAN NIGHT! Everyone enjoyed the moment trying food and wines. We sang, we laughed, we ate, we drunk. Definitely, a night to remember for all our lives.

And only one more thing to say...

WE ARE ROMANIANS!!! :)

The Spanish Group

The 5th Day

Day 5 started with a headache… Monika's and Filip's birthday party was excellent (with the exeption of a few sprained ankles in Latvian and Lithuanian team). Since the night was so lively, most of the people arrived a bit late for the first activity, which didn't make the hosts extremely happy. Consequently, we experienced the most interesting energizer in the past few days – cleaning the mess we made yesterday. After a coffee or two, we managed to wake up and start the activities. The morning and afternoon activities today required some acting and drawing skills. We became Tarzans, Barbies, bear hunters and many other interesting creatures for a day. Some people really accepted their new personalities, especially Gonzalo (or should we say Gonzalita? .) Through the activities we managed to select only 10 things that are essential in our lives and learned how to behave responsibly as consumers. The evening was very interesting, we had a lot of fun…  There was a Turkish Raki, Spanish Sangria, Lithuanian Pig Ears and Italian Pasta. We love intercultural nights 

Still waiting for Romanian night 

The Croatian Group

The 4th Day

Yo, yo, yo! The fourth day started with the most perfect energizer one can imagine. Yes, you’re not wrong — it’s thanks to Latvians (and some other nations) 

Inspired by the heavy shower outside, we all together tried to save the Rainforest. Divided into groups representing different interests, like the government, a tribe, companies with different social attitudes, and a group of world-savers, we tried to cooperate in order to meet their needs. It didn’t go as well as one would like to.

Chuck Norris is nothing in comparison to McGaver. And we are all McGavers!!! Or do you have any other better word to describe groups of people making UFOs out of balloons, sticks, tape, paper sheets, and a small string to protect an egg from falling of 5 m height?!

And then the discussions… We bet there’s hardly anyone left not thinking about such issues like nuclear power plants, fast food, brands, recycling. Different opinions, positions, attitudes, situations, and ideas were floating in the air, showing us that cultural, geographical, social, and all other kinds of diversities step back when it comes to that sort of issues.

This evening was special for several purposes, one being the Hobby Night, and the others — Monika’s and Filip’s birthday parties. While the night was still young, Lithuanian girls pleased us with some of the best Lithuanian and not-so-much Lithuanian songs, but later on Jose Maria took over by gathering citizens, wolves, witches, and some other creatures for a “battle”. And those who couldn’t fall asleep were obviously grateful to Kaktuss for his Book Readers’ Club — a once-in-life-time opportunity to speak about your favourite book whether it is Kama Sutra, Pinocchio, Twilight, Cat in Boots, and many more.

The Latvian Group 

The 3rd Day

Here we are, at our second, full day of activities! Soon after breakfast, we took our steps to reach great Urlatoarea Waterfalls in the surroundings. And up we went, all of us wearing the official green t-shirt of this “Shopping List” Exchange, as the pics can document!

After a short break to regain breath near Hotel Silva, and after peeping some curious souvenir shops, we kept on trekking on a quite slippery track among the trees until the beautiful waterfall surprised us all!

We took refreshing photos very close to the falling water and some of us also enjoyed local wild fruits, served in a very nice, wooden basket

In the afternoon, we went on deep into the topics of the Exchange, evaluating the average Ecological Footprint.

Then, each National team presented their own weekly diary, explaining their consumption according to food, beverage and services used during the week before coming to Romania… a pretty much comprehensive display of how eco-conscious we have been so far.

The evening couldn’t have been more intercultural: some countries presented other nations (e.g. Portugal presented Greece) and some others even wore traditional dresses (e.g. Latvian participants). The evening went on tasting typical food and drinks from Romania, Croatia, Greece, Latvia and Portugal; salty and sweet products satisfied (almost) any refined palate!

Then, traditional musics and songs started to play and opened lively demonstrations for each and every dancer!

The Italian Team

The 2nd Day

The second day started with sun. It was very shiny. Arda showed an energizer to participants. The energizer was from India and it was weird, but also funny. It was “MAZINGA”. After that we played some name games. Participants presented themselves individually. We prepared our gift boxes. We wrote our hopes and fears about projects on stickers and we sticked them on the wall. The hosts made house rules and safety measures clear. Then, we went to castle which was nice and great. When we come back, we prepared some panchos and wrote on them few things about our organizations. We presented it like a contest and it was very fun. We laughed a lot. At night, we sat on the benchs and sang a lot. It was a good opportunity to know each other, but we wouldn’t aware of danger about the noise...

The Turkish Group