Justyna Wątroba, Poland

When I got the chance to take part in Socrates Comenius Project 2008, in France, I did not expect it to be such an amazing, valuable and unforgettable experience!
It was a great opportunity to improve my language skills, learn something about other nations and their cultures and according to main target of the project: to integrate and learn a lot more about emigration.
Organizers have prepared many interesting attractions. Presentations of school, debates and discussions, meeting with refugee from Kongo and Amnesty International's workers, showing the movie about emigrants and their bad situation, working in groups on the questionnaire, and, what is more - a few trips to sightseeing.
The Familly who accomodated me during the project was very kind and caring, all the people whom I met were very friendly and helpfull. I had an amazing time there.
I am so gratefull fot having a chance to participate in such a wonderful experience.

Questionnaire Immigration

QUESTIONNAIRE IMMIGRATION
NOVEMBER 2008

1. Did any members of your family arrive as immigrants in your adopted country?

Yes they did.
No they didn’t
2. If yes, who in your family was born elsewhere and emigrated?

I was born in another country
My parents were
My grandparents were
3. Did they find it difficult to integrate in their adopted country?

Yes, very difficult
Yes, but only at the beginning
No, not all
4. Why did they emigrate in the first place?

For economic reasons
For political reasons

To join other members of their family
To discover a new country
5. Do they intend at some later time to return and spend the rest of their life in their country of birth?

Yes they do
No they don’t
6. Would you envisage emigrating to another country or will you spend the rest of your life in your homeland?

Perhaps emigrate (go straight to question 8)

Stay in my homeland (don’t answer question 8)
7. If you don’t want to emigrate, why not?

I don’t want to change anything.

I don’t want to lose the culture I was born with.

I would miss my family and friends
8. If you envisage one day emigrating, what would your reasons be?

I’d probably find a better job and brighter prospects abroad.

I’d enjoy a more pleasant lifestyle (food, climate, social life etc.)

I’d learn a new language, meet new people, discover another culture etc.
9. Do you believe a multicultural society where immigrants retain their original culture, traditions and
language is desirable?

Yes I do
No I don’t
10. Do you think there are too many foreigners in your country?

Yes I do
No I don’t
11. Generally speaking, has immigration had a harmful or a benefical effect on your country?

a beneficial effect
a harmful effect
no effect
12. Do ethnic minorities suffer from racism or discrimination in your country?

Yes they do.
No they don’t.
13. Are these problems getting worse for immigrants in your country?

Getting worse
Not getting worse
Staying the same
14. If you had the opportunity, would you let more immigrants into your country or would you stop them?

Let them in
Stop them
15. Are there any special programmes in your country to facilitate the integration of immigrants?

Yes there are
No there aren’t
16. Can you give examples of these programmes?

Dissemination activities

Back home all teams started the dissemination activities in their schools and cities.

Yesterday Mr. Ioan Tiplea, from Eminescu College, presented the visit to France in front of over 50 teachers of History and Philosophy from all the lycees from Baia Mare and surroundings, pointing out the way the French students are being educated by their families, the respect and discipline in the school we visited.

Mr. Teodor Marton, Mrs. Mariana Hudrea and the two students Marius Anitas and Andreica Adrian shared their personal exerience with their colleagues, both teachers and students.

The wonderful wxperience was also shared via three e-groups containoing over 6000 members: eomania_eu_list@yahoogroups.com, infoprojectmgh@yahoogroups.com,

mm_english_teachers@yahoogroups.com .

Articles about the project were published in France in "La Dauphine Liberee" and "La Vie nouvelle" no.1329, November 20th. In Romania the articles were published in "Graiul Maramuresului", "Glasul Maramuresului" and "Informatia Zilei" ( 12th, 13th November).

Minutes of the Meeting

The first project meeting took place in France and was hosted by ‘Lycee du Granier’.
The participants were students and teachers from the 6 schools taking part in the project:

1. Lycée du Granier, La Ravoire Cedex, France- Coordinating Institution
2. Georg Büchner-Gymnasium, Seelze, Germany
3. Polo Europeo della Conoscenza – Istituto Comprensivo Fumane “Lorenzi B.''
Fumane(Verona), Italy
4. Liceum Ogólnokształcące in Tarnów, Poland
5. Mihai Eminescu National College, Baia Mare, Romania
6. Bursa Polis Koleji / Bursa Police College, Bursa, Turkey

Staff & Pupils
France: Alasdair Watts, Michel Gougain, Venera Thevenot, Colette Bourgeois
Juliette Gauthier, Julie Bergin, Mathilde Elloé, Oriane Sulpice, Antoine Cistac, Léa Armani
Marie Loschi, Marion Caillet and their classmates.
Germany: Wolfgang Mertens, Till Winkler, Gerold Mueller
Sarina Neumann, Tobias Leidig
Romania: Mariana Gabriela Hudrea, Ioan Tiplea, Teodor Marton
Marius Anitas , Adrian Andreica
Italy: Monica Meneghelli No pupils
Poland: Jola Prodanowska, Dorota Boryczko
Klaudia Tarczori , Justyna Watroba
Turkey: Huseyin Ozturk, Salim Duzgun R.Ertugrul
Eriz Fethullah Akay, Berkay Tutuk

The Romanian team arrived in Chambéry on Monday 10th November and the other teams
from Germany, Italy, Poland and Turkey on Tuesday 11th November.
A most positive thing to mention was the fact that all the guest teams were accommodated in
the same hotel offering them the possibility to spend most of the time together.
The foreign students were all accommodated by their French partners.
All the teams managed to arrive in Chambery by Tuesday when they met one another and
also Mr. Alasdair Watts , the international coordinator of the project who, all along the stay of
the partners proved to be a perfect host and organizer, being helped by the school
headmaster and by his school colleagues.

The activities started on November 12th with the presentations of the 6 countries, schools and
the situation concerning immigration in each country. The presentations were made by
students and were much appreciated by all the participants.
The French students prepared extra presentations related to immigration and all those present
also appreciated this contribution.
A visit of the recently built ‘Lycée du Granier’ offered all the guests the opportunity to discover
a place in which both students and teachers enjoy excellent work conditions.
Dinner in the school canteen was another opportunity to discover the excellent school
management.
Chambery, once the capital of the Kingdom of Savoy, is a place where a large number of
immigrants live, some of them the students’ parents or grandparents.
That is why the guided tour of the city offered the participants the opportunity to find out
more about this topic so closely related to our project.

On November 13th the students attended language classes with Mme Bourgeois and Mme
Thevenot. The contact with French teachers and students was also a very rewarding
experience.
During this time the teachers involved in the project evaluated the work so far achieved,
including the previous day’s meeting, and planned the work remaining before the end of the
school year, mostly the work relating to the questionnaires and the preparation for the second
meeting to be held in Romania.
In the meantime the students were organized into 3 groups of 4 and worked on the
questionnaires.
When they finished they presented their work in front of their teachers.
Everybody appreciated the students’ dedication and seriousness in achieving the tasks.
Mr. Alasdair Watts took the three questionnaires with the aim of selecting and putting together
the students’ ideas to form a single common questionnaire which would then be emailed to
the partners to be discussed in their countries, so that comments be made and the final form
negotiated.
In the afternoon the participants watched the film “It’s a Free World”, directed by Ken Loach
and then took part in a debate conducted by two members of Amnesty International.
The film was quite shocking and made a considerable impression on all the participants.
In the evening the participants were invited to a Restaurant where students learn to become
chefs and waiters.
The headmaster of Le Lycée du Granier, Mr Briglia, honoured the guests with his presence.
On Friday 14th November a Round Table discussion was organized in which the two ladies
from Amnesty International came to school accompanied by an immigrant from the
Democratic Republic of Congo.
The discussion lasted over three hours as both students and teachers kept asking questions
about the problems immigrants are being faced with and the organizations that are involved
in helping them.
In the afternoon the participants took the train to Annecy , the former capital of the Geneva
Family, that also had a very interesting history related to immigration .

On Saturday the teams from Romania, Germany and Italy left Chambery for their countries,
followed on Sunday by the Polish and Turkish teams.
After returning home the foreign guests sent e-mails of appreciation for the wonderful
organization of the meeting that offered the possibility to meet one another, to achieve all the
tasks and to plan the activities for the future.

Back from Chambery

The reunion was just GREAT!

Preparations for the Project Reunion

There are few days till our reunion.
All teams have almost finished their preparations.
We are all looking forward to meeting one another.
The Romanian team will travel to Chambery via Cluj Napoca, Barcelona, Lyon.
The first flight for some of us. Exciting, isnt't it?

Mariana

Food for Thought

Baia Mare North University, in cooperation with “Petre Dulfu” County Library, organized today the Conference “Emigration without Exile” held by CĂLIN-ANDREI MIHĂILESCU, essayist and university professor at UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO CANADA.
I accepted the invitation sent by the American Corner for three reasons: the topic, the weather and my curiosity.
I must confess that the event surpassed my expectations.
At first sight the lecturer himself, an intelligent and charismatic person , is an immigrant.
He left Romania for Canada. But he is more than that. He traveled all over the world both physically and spiritually, becoming an expert in comparative literature, literature from all continents, a person with an impressive cultural background.
I was surprised by the fact that although he left Romania long ago, he did not seem to have forgotten his native language ( as sometimes happens with some people who want to give the impression they are above all and in only several months begin to utter Romanian words with a foreign accent).

In the first part of his speech he referred to the "exile" concept.

I remember that before and during Communism many intellectuals left Romania because they could not cope with the regime. Some of the most famous were Eugen Ionesco (1), Emil Cioran (2) and Mircea Eliade(3)
They managed to become famous abroad.

While Noica (4) and Nicolae Steinhard (5) were sent to prison and marginalized.
The situation today is different. Most of the people leave Romania mainly for economic reasons.
The most interesting is the situation of the Romanian working in Spain and Italy.
While in Spain they feel at ease and have started to organize themselves in large communities with an Orthodox Church and even classes in Romanian, in Italy they are faced with fascist manifestations reminding us of the 30s. The causes are complex and mostly the people without proper education, without any profession , started to create unpleasant situations that led the natives to exasperation .

The Romanians abroad no longer live in exile.
They can travel from Europe to America in only 10 hours.
Due to the Internet they can communicate with their families and with their friends.
However, because they have to adapt themselves in a new society, possessing sometimes completely different mentalities, it is not easy to integrate rapidly.
Some of the immigrants are not able to do that and in a short time they might experience a nervous breakdown and some of them end tragically.
The discussions with the audience pointed out some interesting issues.
Adults/ old people do no longer look tragically to the families who are abroad. On the contrary, they gather together on holydays and share stories about their children abroad, about their intentions to visit them or about the fact that they keep sending money home to build a new house and set up a business when coming back . Some of them come back. Others don't.
The aspect of the villages in Maramures has changed a lot.
But the dramatic aspect of the present day immigration is that of the young children who miss the affection of their parents.
Their school situation is visibly affected. They sometimes meet together forming communities of adolescents who spend time and money together in pubs and discos. School is no longer that important for them.They have money and the feeling life is easy.
The idea of belonging to a group drives them together.

I think our project, by using the experience of such teenagers, could give us a new perspective upon this phenomenon and we could become more efficient in helping them.
______________________________________

1.Eugène Ionesco, born Eugen Ionescu (November 26, 1909 – March 28, 1994), was a Romanian and French playwright and dramatist, one of the foremost playwrights of the Theatre of the Absurd. Beyond ridiculing the most banal situations, Ionesco's plays depict in a tangible way the solitude and insignificance of human existence. (http://en.wikipedia.org)
2 Emil Cioran (April 8, 1911 – June 20, 1995) was a Romanian philosopher and essayist. (http://en.wikipedia.org) who, starting with 1937 lived in France and wrote only in French.. (http://en.wikipedia.org)
3. Mircea Eliade (March 13 [O.S. February 28] 1907 – April 22, 1986) was a Romanian historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who established paradigms in religious studies that persist to this day. His theory that hierophanies form the basis of religion, splitting the human experience of reality into sacred and profane space and time, has proven influential. (http://en.wikipedia.org)
4. Constantin Noica (July 25 [O.S. July 12] 1909, Vităneşti, Teleorman - December 4, 1987, Sibiu) was a Romanian philosopher, essayist and poet. His preoccupations were throughout all philosophy, from epistemology, philosophy of culture, axiology and philosophic anthropology to ontology and logics, from the history of philosophy to systematic philosophy, from ancient to contemporary philosophy, from translating and interpretation to criticism and creation. (http://en.wikipedia.org)
5. Nicolae Steinhardt (born Nicu-Aurelian Steinhardt; July 12, 1912-March 29, 1989) was a Romanian writer, Orthodox hermit and father confessor. (http://en.wikipedia.org)