day 1
Day 1 (Monday, 3rd of October 2022):
A warm welcome to Našice and Srednja škola Isidora Kršnjavoga Našice ;
group building activities;
workshops "united in diversity" and
introduction to composer Dora Pejacevic's life
A warm welcome to Našice and Srednja škola Isidora Kršnjavoga Našice
We met at 10am in front of the town hall and started our project meeting with a meeting with the mayor of Našice. There we were welcomed with short speeches and some gifts, followed by interviews to the local media (Radio Našice, TV Našice).
In this way, our project was disseminated on different levels: town and region - and we all were invited to a delicious second breakfast in the town hall :)
After this, we walked around the town centre of Našice.
Students and teachers of our hosting school showed us the colourful baroque St. Anthony's church and the facilities of their small and quiet town: bakeries, shops, farmacy, tennis court...
Our walk finally lead us to our hosting school. A very special welcome programme was prepared for us: a concert by the local music school, the Tambura society ‘’Dora Pejačević’’.
This was our first contact not only with the music of Croatian composer Dora Pejačević, but also with the traditional Croatian instrument, the tambura. Dean Kopri, the conductor explained the instrument to us and showed what different kinds of tambura look and sound like. We experienced traditional and classical music, but also rock music like "Eye of the tiger".
Group building activities
"Find someone who..." was the next part: an ice-breaking activity to get aquainted with each other and to find things that we have in common.
Local students guided the guests around in school and explained the organization of school life in their school. One remarkable fact about their school is that lessons are done in shifts. One half of students have lessons in the morning; in the afternoon the other students learn in the classrooms.
Workshops "united in diversity"
At 4pm a workshop done by history teacher Marina Međurečan started. Its title was "United in diversity". All students worked in multilateral groups.
One group worked on mythology as base of our common culture: They explored the wanderings of Odysseus (Ulysses) and put Odysseus' stations in a map that lead us through European geography. Another group worked on migration trends in their countries today; others found out about large migrations in Europe at special times of history (World War I, Napoleon's conquests, World War II, Arab conquests and Great migration of peoples); and again another group created a timeline about works of literature and life time of scientists of the participating countries.
All groups worked very engaged and focused and, at the end of this session, presented their results to all of us.
Introduction to composer Dora Pejacevic's life
Another workshop, given by the teachers Mirjana and Adrijana Rajić, followed: We were introduced us to Dora Pejačević's life and work. The composer, born in Našice in 1885, was both closely connected to Našice, but also part of a circle of European friends and artists.
In international groups the students did research on differents aspects of Dora Pejačević’s life (family, education, work, friendships with European artists, places she lived at, interesting facts).
This was the base for another activity that we were going to do together at another point of the meeting: bringing Dora's life on stage.
A first day, full of new impressions, was over and all guest students and teachers walked back to the city centre were their accomodation was: directly between the two palaces of the Pejačević family...
Click here for the second day of our meeting: