26 Jan Smile to the world and the world smiles again - Welcome home!

Dear reader,

A big chapter in the 1TP5 year is coming to an end for students and teachers, and the first have returned from their cultural travels around the world.
Students from China, Europe, Cuba and Namibia, as well as Thailand, India and Peru have arrived and the school is already buzzing with fantastic stories.

The difference between a tourist trip and an after-school expedition is that man are rested after a holiday and that the after-school trip takes all your strength because it is not a holiday but an educational journey where man also develops itself in the mirror of the different cultural encounter. Therefore, we also warn parents and students that it takes a few days to digest the many experiences of the cultural journey and come to the surface again.

We look forward to seeing all students return Monday evening, and to Tuesday to gather in the banquet hall for a joint welcome. 

In the coming week there are several exciting programme items.

Wednesday evening we will have a visit from United World Colleges Denmark, who will talk about the possibility of completing a STX education at a UWC somewhere in the world. We have several former students who have had fantastic experiences and networks from such a programme.

Join us for a musical at Fjerritslev Gymnasium on Wednesday or Thursday.
We have 200+ tickets for the musical and encourage all students and staff to take the opportunity to experience a fantastic musical with dramatic and superb hits, as well as high energy. And there will be free refreshments during the interval. Registration via School Schedule. 

See a selection of the best posts and photos from the travellers' Facebook pages. 

Costa Rica - Coral Restoration

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Cuba - Music, dance and culture

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Hey, homey! We have been to Vinales with beautiful nature, free-range pigs and a visit to a tobacco plantation - lots of idyll and Cuban atmosphere. Unfortunately, some have had some stomach problems during the day - we cross our fingers for a quick recovery. Good night from here, we'll be back with more news!

Today, most of the stomach wounds were improving. We visited a kindergarten and the students gave LEGO and played with the children. We also went to the Revolutionary Museum where we could see, among other things, the Grandma, the boat in which Fidel Castro and Che sailed from Mexico to Cuba when they landed with the rebel army in the years before the liberation in 1959. Tonight we're going to a concert of Cuban traditional music

Europe Tour - 3 major cities in Eastern Europe.

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In Theresienstad they said that before the liberation the Germans shot the young because they were the future. Tonight we chose to celebrate the future. Hurray for the lovely young people <3.

Hawaii - Operation: save the oceans!

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We leave a lot of waste and chemicals behind when we are on the water. Therefore we will explore the possibilities of sustainable materials e.g. for surfboards, surfwax, neoprene wetsuits, paints etc. On the trips we go on, we see that there is a lot of litter along the coasts, and we need to raise awareness of this among the students. We will try to get the attention of students who want to use the sea for different sports, but also want to make a difference.

Cultural meeting in India

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We've had a fantastic day today. We visited a home for orphaned girls who have HIV. We are touched, happy and impressed. It has been a great experience in every way.
Plus, we get praise from all the places we go. Our students are wonderful and a pleasure to have around.
Everyone has now gone in high spirits to the neighbour's - a small mall - to have dinner. Tomorrow we have more rest and digest the day today and move on to the next NGO project in Gingee. A drive of about 4 hours.

Japan - culture, nature and youth

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Danish version:
Now the wonderful and step-filled days in Kyoto are over and we are excitedly entering the last week in TOKYO! We've learned how the chaotic train transportation system works, tried new exciting food, how far you can walk in a day and found good food for less than 500 yen (about 30 dkk). We had a culture shock in Kyoto, with trash-free streets, few trash cans and lots of Japanese who couldn't speak English. We started by staying in a narrow but full hostel, where breakfast consisted of something as exotic as Japanese cornflakes. Then we went to templewalk, food markets and monkey mountain. The weather was great almost every day.
It wasn't just the tourist attractions that were exciting, the Japanese people were an experience in themselves. They were very welcoming and fun to try to understand, even though most of us didn't know Japanese. They were polite and always showed respect to their fellow humans.
The trip in Kyoto ended with a stressful struggle to find a night bus to one of Mt. Fuji. This is where the next exciting part of our trip begins!
We look forward to Tokyo

Frederik, Niclas, Benjamin, Linus and Zander

English version:

Sunday
We woke up early in the morning, Sunday, and took the bus to Billund airport. We flew for an hour to Amsterdam, where we switched planes, with a new destination: Osaka airport. The flight lasted for 10 hours, and everybody was really tired. Even though everybody was exhausted from the flight, we visited Osaka castle when we arrived. It was really pretty and here we tried Japanese food for the first time. In the evening we checked in to the hostel.

Tuesday
On Tuesday we took a train to the another part of Kyoto. We went to visit the monkeys mountain. It was really amazing. After that we went to the bamboo forest. Then we walked to the lake nearby, it took a couple minutes to get there. We ate there and relaxed together before we took the train to the golden temple. It was so beautiful beyond our expectations. When we got back to the hostel we had free time where we could do whatever we wanted.

Wednesday
This Was A calm Day, we left the hostel in the morning, to visit two Japanese women who taught us about Japanese food and Japanese eating customs. One of the women was Nina's friend, and she taught us about sustainable living as well. After visiting the women and eating at their home, a very typical Japanese house, we got the rest of the day off. A lot of people went shopping, while others went to see an old samurais ancient house.

Thursday
We ate breakfast together in the morning. After we went on temple run, where we saw a lot of different temples. It was very busy and crowded because of the many tourists. After the temple run we went to a very famous food market in Kyoto with many small boutiques. We ate dinner together at a ninja restaurant in Kyoto.

In this culture subject, an encounter with the "Empire of the Sun" awaits you - a fascinating country that lives in the contrast between high technology and tradition-bound customs and virtues.

China - culture and friendship school

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Malaysia - Schooling - A human right for all

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We have again today taught at the Hilla Community Center. The children at the school are delighted with our visit and we enjoy spending time with them. After the lesson we took the bus to Chinatown where everything can be bought. While we were in Chinatown, we were surprised by a violent thunderstorm and within minutes everyone was soaked. Luckily it's about 30 degrees here, so even though we were wet, spirits were high. Tomorrow we will teach again.

Join us for morning singing at Hilla Community Centre.

Animal welfare and rehabilitation in Namibia

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Nepal Trekking Himalaya

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Nepal Cultural Trek

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We were woken up at 5:20 to walk for an hour up to a mountain peak at 1,945 m to see the sun rise and give a beautiful light on the Manaslu and Annapurna massifs with peaks up to 8,167 m. Afterwards breakfast, distribution of gifts and a good time, where we learned to count in Nepali.

Nepal Friendship School

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"Ranum efterskole, the school that moves mountains" - Oscar Viborg Jensen

In just two days, with hard work, we have managed to move half a mountain (almost) to make room for a football pitch, then we have put up nets and goals. The school now has a football pitch! The pitch was inaugurated with a small tournament. It is clear that the Nepalese children and adults are very happy with our work!

New Zealand Culture and school visits

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Bridal Veil Falls, a fantastic walk through New Zealand's nature that ended in a stunning waterfall.

Oman - Middle Eastern culture and UNESCO World Heritage

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Oman is one of those countries in the Middle East we seldom hear about - but this does absolutely not make it any less interesting. Through our membership in the UNESCO ASP network we have received a unique opportunity to get close to a culture and nature that is completely outstanding and different from what we are used to.

Peru - Community Development

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South Africa - Cape Town

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South Korea - Culture and politics

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Seoul, here we come!

The first part of day consisted of a guided visit to KAIST (Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) - the most prestigious university in Korea and one of the best in the world. It was a fascinating visit where we learned about the innovative drive that characterises the school, and we got a sneak peak of the many impressive technologies that it has helped develop. We also enjoyed a luxurious lunch fit for a whole family - or an efterskole student. The KAIST visit was rounded off with a tour of the massive campus - some of it in a battery-driven bus, which is charged wirelessly ?

After that the students were treated to some spare time in e-mart - a Korean department store, similar to wal-mart.

Eventually it was time to bid our fantastic hosts goodbye and make our way to Seoul via the super-fast KTX train. We made our way safely to the hotel, and later we wandered the local area in search of food. The hunters found their prey at an underground Korean barbecue - albeit not as fancy as our previous meal (however, we did have metal chopsticks and three different kinds of rice...so no complaints).

Finally, a tired group of students and teachers made their back to the hotel in order to get their well-needed zen-sleep before tomorrow's templestay.

"time you enjoy wasting, is not time wasted"

Buddhists for a day!

Thailand

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US Roadtrip - Exploring the Southwest

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Birthday song at an American High School. It's not every day that happens.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

Stay tuned next week for a collection of photos from the trips. There are so many good ones and something to look forward to.

Mvh

Ranum Efterskole College