The End

The trip is now over and everyone is safe and sound in their homes in Sweden, the blog is now becoming inactive but we celebrate this with a final Powerpoint that showcases the activities of the first 4 days, enjoy!

Vision 21 - Images -

 
 

New Brewery Arts Centre

some of us have been helping out at the New Brewery Arts centre, Emelie helped in a workshop for children whereas Cornelia was preparing mosaic-bricks for another workshop. I worked with PR, preparing PMs and stuff like that. It was fun and you really learn that it is the small things that matters when trying to help out! //Jessica

The Gang on the Bridge

The majority of the class happily posing!

Tour around the Cotswolds

Last night (the 15th) a coach arrived at the college to take us away on a Magical Mystery Tour around the Cotswolds. It is not hard to see how and why Tolkien drew his inspiration for The Shire when writing the Lord of the Rings universe. This being said we did not find any hobbit holes, but it certainly was worthwhile. Following are the pictures taken and locations.

En route

Bourton-on-the-water

Burford

 Bibury


The Tunnel House Inn



View Tour of the Cotswolds in a larger map

Guest blog by Tamara

Hello to the people reading this blog, it's the dreadlocks girl writing to you at the moment! Right now I'm sitting in a bed as I'm not feeling very well, unfortunately, so my last day at Cirencester isn't going to be very spectacular, unlike the previous days of this week. I was gladly surprised as we arrived to the city, and especially to the school, as it was completely beyond my expectations! My first thought was that it looked like Hogwarts, as some of my other classmates has thought as well. I was also surprised by the fact that despite the city being "small", as we were told, it had a lot of shopping opportunities. However, it wasn't for the shopping that we came to this adorable city; no, we are here to volunteer work (despite the fact that I'm too sick to do so today) and I think it's been a great experience to work with CCVS. It's my first time volunteer working and I feel that I appreciate volunteer workers a lot more now after this.

If I have the time, I would like to volunteer work again, in Africa.

Guest blog by Ellen! Enjoy!

Cha cha bloggen, Ellen in da house! Tänkte passa på och skriva lite ur mitt perspektiv idag, då jag är hemma och är sjuk, passande sista dagen... Anyway, jag skriver också på svenska av någon anledning :) Det som har varit mest chockerande so far är att vädret ändå har vart hyfsat bra, men det är så fuktigt hela tiden och naturligtvis att bilarna kör på fel sida (det kommer jag nog aldrig vänja mig vid).

Jag kör en kort summering på hela veckan, så att ni inte blir alltför uttråkade. I måndags gjorde vår grupp små "giftcards" att sätta på paket som de ska sälja i deras charity shop, alltså typ scrapbooking kort, riktigt roligt faktiskt! Det konstiga är att när vi slutade för dagen så var nog dom flesta rätt så slut i huvudet, jag fattar inte hur man kan bli trött av att pyssla men men!

I tisdag så åkte jag, Tamara och Silvia till Gloucester till ett resource center, det är tydligen nåt dem har många av här i england. Det är typ som ett lager och affär där man kan köpa för en väääldigt billg peng, "skräp" eller grejer som de har tagit till vara på som egentligen skulle slängas och tro mig dom har allt! Allt mellan fjärrkontroller till vackra papper. Det här stället funkar som ett enormt balthazar ungefär, de tar emot olika grupper för att sedan vara creativa. Så det vi gjorde var att vi skulle komma på med olika pyssel för en grupp av äldre människor som vi tog hand om i onsdags. Detta var en svår utmaning för vi kom på med massa ideér för barn men det var svårt att hålla det simpelt med moget. Det hela slutade upp förvånadsvärt bra, vi skapade massa blommor i olikfärgade plastremsor och jag tror dom tyckte att det var kul! Nu blev det visst en uppsats, aja hoppas ni orkar läsa det ändå! KRAMIS!

Here's some pictures of the Royal Agricultural College

It was very rainy today and of course there was an event called the Swimathon (Felix participated in the Swimathon). They swam approximately 10 miles in two hours. The sun came up in the evening but it's going to rain tomorrow, again so the weather doesn't seem to be very good this week unfortunately, but we will still have fun!
--Andreas

Here are some pictures:

My wednesdays CAS session was spent partly in the Cotswold Canals and partly in the charity shop in Fairford. During the first  part of the day I was digging out dirt unveiling an ancient bridge at a crossing over the Cotswold Canal. It was grueling work but very rewarding, as the pictures declare!
-- Alex

Tuesday morning consisted of a visit to the Cirencester College where me and Alice helped the students work on and develop their local service projects. Through this collaboration an interesting exchange of ideas took place, and it was very interesting to see the similarities and differences between the two schools. There were several projects, including an auction, a lottery and a swim-a-thlon, all of which seemed like good and thought-through ideas. Furthermore an interesting exchange of cultural ideas took place, and bonds were strengthened for future projects. All in all, a very rewarding experience and the best of luck to the students at the Cirencester College! -Alexander Fredholm

above: an image of the "Blue team" and myself, the Blue Team which organises an auction.

The Volunteering

A sturdy breakfast including various things; from cereal to the infamous egg and bacon, this was the beginning of our first working day. After a fair walk from the college, an attempt to save our waistlines, we arrived at the Cotswold Centre for Voluntary Services where we had our second breakfast. Students were introduced to their supervisors and fellow coordinators of the project. Schedules were handed out and the students were told all information relevant to their project. The assigned projects are ranging from restorations of bus stops, clearing an orchard to crafting and charity shops. Hopefully some will be sharing their experiences in the next few days.




 
Group picture from the briefing at the centre.

Waking up from their first nights sleep the students head for breakfast in eager anticipation of their second day in England, which will be spent meeting the CCVS (Cotswold Centre for Voluntary Service) staff, their project supervisors and even the Deputy Mayor of Cirencester!

How a room at the Royal Agricultural College might look like.

The Journey has begun!The class of 2013 have set sail (or boarded the plane) for England. With great anticipation the students begin their voyage with hopes of an interesting cultural exchange, community interaction and leisure. First up on the agenda is the arrival at London's Heathrow Airport, which will be followed by the bus ride to the Royal Agricultural College located in the heart of the lush Cotswold Forest.

In the picture above: a few classmates eagerly boarding the SK523. 

Majoriteten av klassen samlad under förberedandet av resan, England här kommer vi!