From the 31. August to the 1. September Jonas, Kim, Niklas, Eva, and I went to Solothurn because there was a conference of the UNESCO associated schools of Switzerland.
In the Morning we took the train to Solothurn. Everybody was exited and looked forward to it. We played games and laughed and talked and the journey felt very short. When we arrived in Solothurn we first went to our hotel. Its name was “la tour rouge” (the red tower) and after we had gone there we went to the “Landhaus” which was a beautiful, big, old house right beneath the river. In the “Landhaus” was the first part of the conference and there were many students and teachers. In the right corner of the big room were some instruments that looked as if they were from another country (because they were!) and in the left corner were some instruments that are common for Swiss folk music. There was a band from Senegal who played Senegalese music and also a band from Switzerland who played Swiss music. In the end they played together one song. The music of both bands was very beautiful and inspiring and helped to not get too tired while sitting and listening the whole time.
The Theme of the conference was “engagez vouz” (get active) and also the dialogue between cultures. There was a dialogue between two wrestlers from Switzerland and Senegal. There were also some visitors from Senegal (two teachers, two students and the headmaster of their school) who told us about their school and the cooperation with Swiss people.
It was a very nice atmosphere but a bit much sitting for one day.
For dinner we went into the hotel right across the street. During dinner we had some nice talks with other people and the food was also very good. After that we went into our hotel.
The second day with breakfast in our hotel and after that we went to the local cinema where our film “Mare Nostrum” was shown. The cinema was very special because you were not looking down or just strait in front of you. You were looking up! Before we watched the movie Niklas said something about it and our school. After the movie I was also in front of everyone to answer questions. It was quite fun but I was nervous before it.
Then we all walked to the Kantonsscule Solothurn where everyone presented their schools. It was interesting to see all the other schools and the projects they make. Later on we went to the canteen of the Kantonsschule to eat lunch. That was also fun to see how such a canteen works. When we came out of the canteen there was a group of girls (also the two visitors from Senegal) dancing and singing. Niklas and I joined them and then we tried to teach them the shosholoza but it was a bit tricky because we didn’t remember it completely and we couldn’t teach it to the end because we had to go to another place.
It was some kind of little palace where there was another lecture but at the beginning we decided to go earlier because our concentration was not so good anymore. So we took the earlier train but it made no difference we arrived at the same time because we had to wait for the connection train in Sargans. We were all much more quiet and we didn’t play so many games we were all tired I guess.
It was a cool thing to do and I enjoyed it very much to see those different cultures and people and to learn more about the world.