Creative writing Workshop 02/10/2010

As all other groups we talked about food too. First we wrote the thoughts of the day. We tried to be as creative as possible. Our thought of the day was: Food it like sex. If it’s good you enjoy it. In the second part we tried to find out if in a world that has too much food. We tried to find as many arguments for and against it as possible.

In today’s workshop of creative writing we wrote various texts referring to the movie we had seen – Julie&Julia. First we wrote a movie review: Each Slovene-Bask pair chose an aspect from which they described the movie in few sentenced. Then we invented a culinary horoscope for all signs. Finally we started working on a debate about vegetarianism in the modern world and we wrote our opinions on the subject and the pros and contacts we will represent in the debate tomorrow.

Chemistry Workshop: Hard metals in potatoes

                                                                   

Today we had a chemistry lessons with Mrs. Metka Lampret who is our chemistry teacher. We were proving how much hard metals contain our food. We noticed that in different areas in Slovenia are different quantites of these hard metals. We proved that in potatoes is very high concentration of Pb, Zn and Cd. The important information is that only Zn is necessary for our body and that Pb and Cd aren’t good for our health.

Film Workshop

Film workshop: Analysis of the film Julie&Julia with the emphasis on the film language

 

In the morning we watched the film Julie & Julia with Meryl Streep and Amy Adams in the leading roles. In the afternoon we focused on our perspectives regarding the film. By watching certain segments of the film, which had been prepared by prof. Nina Ostan, we additionally dived into the films language and searched for the meaning and the point the film was trying to make. We found out that the film is average and fits the title “Hollywood production” it shows nothing special in the ways of the film language and the editing. We were blown away by Meryl Streep’s acting abilities and her portrayal of Julia Child. The director, Nora Ephron, showed that many years of experience had helped her with the portrayal of the parallel universes. Paris in 1949 and Queens in 2004 really come to life and show their true colors.

The idea of the film workshop was to film a short film about our eating habits, together with our exchange students we aspired for as much personal and experimental clips. We talk with them and filmed their most awkward moments, which are the consequences of the cultural gap between the Spanish and Slovene cuisine.

Impressions about English class

On the end of exchange we asked some of our friends from Slovenia and Spain to tell us their impressions about  our classes of English. Our exchange partners were in three different classes listening to three different teachers.

David: The class was nice, but the teacher didn’t explain the subject matter very well.

Irati: Classes are better in Slovenia than in Spain because in Spain we have very different levels of knowledge and teacher sometimes gives a lot of attention to weak student and the better students are bored.

Leire: It was strange because when the teachers asked a girl something and she didn’t know the answer right away, all her classmates started teasing her and they had no patience.

Maittane: There are no phones, no makeup, no sleeping in Spain but there were all these things in the English class we were in.

Zulema: It was very hard and I didn’t understand anything.

Impressions about the exchange

On the end of exchange we asked some of our friends from Slovenia and Spain to tell us their impressions about the exchange.

Lucia Cortezon: I liked Sunday very much, because I spent the whole day with my exchange friend’s family. It was very nice for me. We ate different Slovenian food and visited the carnival in Ptuj where I saw interesting costumes and ate very good hot chocolate, which was different than in Spain. On Monday it was very interesting for me because the Slovenian coast is very beautiful and I also saw the Postojna cave, where there were huge stalagmites and stalactites and also a train. And there were also a strange fish, which is very ugly. I also like Lipica, the guide was very funny.

Blažka Groznik: I loved Sunday, because I think it was very good to spend the whole day with the family and my exchange partner, because during the Saturday trip we didn’t have enough time for talking. On Monday we went to Postojna cave, but I didn’t like it, because we just walked around and listened to the boring guide. This day we went to Piran as well. The weather was very nice and we took photos with our new friends from Spain.

Exaitz Arangueren: On Sunday we went skiing and bowling with Maja’s whole family and we enjoyed ourselves a lot. On Monday we went on an excursion. I didn’t like the horses because I am not interested in them. But I liked the cave and Piran, because they were very beautiful. 

Ana Kompan: We had a great time on Sunday because we were together with some classmates and their exchange partners. We had fun playing pool. On Monday I liked walking through Piran and seeing the sunset. 

Maja Kimovec: Me gusta el intercambio porque conoces las culturas y costumbres diferentes. Me interesa relacionarme con la gente Española y las excursiones. No me ha gustado el taller de los ordenadores. Me ha soprendido que los españoles fueran timidos pero ahora no lo son. Pero en general el intercambio me gusta mucho! 

Neža Prelog: Me gusta conocer gente diferente de la misma edad pero de culturas diferentes. Tienes que practicar el idioma que estas aprendiendo en la escuela. Me ha soprendido que no a todos los españoles les gusta hablar Ingles. Pienso que la gynkana podria haber sido mas interesante. Pero en general es una buena experiencia.

Creative writing group: As all other groups we talked about food, too. First we wrote the thoughts of the day. We tried to be as creative as possible. Our thought of the day was: Food is like sex. If it’s good, you enjoy it. In the second part, we tried to find out if the world has too much food. We tried to find as many arguments for and against it as possible.

Josu Chocarro: On Friday it was very strange because I didn’t know anybody. I had a good relationship with my family from the first minute and we talked a lot at dinner. I had never tried mushroom soup and it has a very interesting taste and the taste surprised me. On Saturday it was very funny because I had never walked with snow shoes. The experience with rubber boats was fun too. 

Peio Barberena: On Friday there were many people and I was a little bit scared of Nataša’s camera. The food was very good and my family is very nice and we talked a lot at dinner. The dessert we got surprised me, because our dessert is just fruit, yogurt or ice-cream and not cake like in Slovenia. Saturday was OK and the rubber boats were very funny and exciting. It was very beautiful seeing the view in the mountains. We also ate kremšnita, which is a typical dessert for Slovenia and I like it very much, but you have a hard time eating it, because of the hard crust on the top. I also liked the castle and the Bled lake. 

Anja Vode: On Saturday after the excursion many of us met at Prešeren’s square and had a drink and then went to Bachus, where we danced until around one o’clock. We had a great time, and Spanish students love the music and they also wanted to dance to Macarena. There were also some break-dancers who had very interesting hats. 

Raquel Perez: When we arrived I was very scared and none of us of us wanted to make the first move. You have very big amounts of food at one time and then nothing for a long time. And I also miss fish. Slovenians have large meals but a lot of time between them. On Saturday I was impressed by lakes and mountains covered with snow and I enjoyed walking with ‘krplje’ because I have never done something like this. I didn’t like the rubber boat downhill. In the evening I dressed up as a clown and we went dancing. I liked it, we had a lot of fun and I learned how to dance polka – Slovenian national dance. 

Anja Vode: El intercambio me pareció requete bien. Mi compañera es una persona muy buena, divertida y traviesa. Le gustó mucho  que le contara cosas sobre Eslovenia y fue fácil hablar con ella en español. Lo que más me gustó es que si no sabía cómo decir algo, se lo he dicho con las manos, o con otras palabras, porque necesitábamos comunicarnos. Me ha enseñado muchas palabras nuevas en español y también en euskera como “maite zaitut”,  que signifíca “te amo”. El intercambio fue muy estresante, porque tuvimos  muy poco tiempo para descansar, pero me parece que nuestro esfuerzo valió la pena y que fue una experiencia interesante en mi vida.   

Mirjam Kimovec: El intercambio con Pamplona me gustó bastante. Las excursiones fueron muy divertidas e interesantes, pero los talleres fueron aburridos. Apredí muchísimas cosas nuevas de España y de Pamplona. Aprendí muchas palabras en español y  tabmién unas pocas en vasco.

Interview with Spanish teachers about the international exchange with students from Slovenia

   Reporter: What was the most interesting thing?

Teachers: There were a lot of interesting things, but if I had to choose I think that the walk around the city center of Piran; also Ljubljana, Prešeren’s house, the importance of culture for the people and celebration of the dead poet.

Reporter: What did you like the most?

Teachers: I liked people, the way of living, the warm, open people, literature, eagerness to learn new things.

Reporter: What did you not like?

Teachers: I didn’t like the fact that the trip was too short, getting wet in Venice, but mostly not enough time.

Reporter: What is similar to Spain?

Teachers: I don’t know, maybe the way you relate to the teachers.

Reporter: What is different than in Spain?

Teachers: The way of living, behaving, architecture, food, weather, interest for learning a new language. At first I thought that Slovenians will be not very open and not smiling all the time.

Reporter: What did you learn?                                                                                                                               

Teachers: I learned the history of the country, language, literature, the celebration of the dead poet. I was positively surprised, because Slovenians make monuments to poets.

Reporter: Did you learn any Slovenian words?

Teachers: Yes. Dober dan, Adijo, Dobro jutro, Nazdravje, Dober tek, Lahko noč, that words that end in –ica are diminutives and some others.

Reporter: Do you like Slovenia?

Teachers:  Yes, definitely.

Reporter: What location(s) did you like most?

Teachers: Ljubljana and Piran, but Ljubljana the most, because it’s so different than Spain.

Reporter: Thank you for your time.                                                                                     

Interview with Slovenian student about the international exchange with students from Spain

Reporter: How do you like the exchange?                                                                       

Maja Dukič: I like the exchange because I get to know the differences between Spain and Slovenia and I improved my Spanish.

Reporter: What did you think about your exchange student from Spain?

Maja Dukič: She was a little shy, but simpatico.

Reporter: Did you get along with your Spanish friend?

Maja Dukič: Yes.

Reporter: In which language did you speak with your exchange partner?

Maja Dukič: We spoke in Spanish.

Reporter: Did you teach your friend any Slovenian words?

Maja Dukič: I taught her a few words and basic phrases.

Interview with Spanish student about the international exchange

Reporter: What was the most interesting thing for you?

Zulema: The most interesting thing for me was the Bohinj Lake, the Bled Lake, carnival in Ptuj, donuts, Slovenian words like: poljubi me, ljubim te…

Reporter: What did you not like?

Zulema: I didn’t like the cold and that I didn’t speak English very well.

Reporter: What is similar to Spain?

Zulema: People are very similar,  because you and I think about the same things, for example about boys and love problems, about life…We all like having fun and going to parties, dancing, laughing …

Reporter: What is different than in Spain?

Zulema: Well, the nature, it’s quite different. For example in Slovenia, there are many mountains but not so in Spain and the temperature in Slovenia is lower than in Spain. In Spain it is about 0° C and in Slovenia between 0° and -10° C.

Reporter: What have you learned?

Zulema: I have learned many new words which I like very much and how to live in an unknown place with people I don’t know. I have also learned Slovenian habits like when you have to wake up. I have learned many new English words that I didn’t know before.

Reporter: Have you learned any Slovenian words?

Zulema: Yes I have learned many new Slovenian words for example Ljubim te, Adijo, Živjo, Poljubi me, Krofi, Sanjati…

Reporter: Do you like Slovenia?

Zulema: Yes I like it very much, because I think it’s very beautiful country.

Reporter: What trip did you like the most?

Zulema: I liked the trip to Bohinj and Bled the most, because of the lakes and mountains.

Reporter: Did you like your exchange partner?

Zulema: Yes, I am very happy to have her as my partner. She is a good person, very funny and a little bit crazy.

Reporter: Thank you for the answers. 

Diary: Treasure Hunt 02/09/2010

On Tuesday we woke up at 6.30 and went to school. Spanish students had an English class, but Slovene students were free. Later at school we watched the film Julie and Julia. We liked it a lot.  At one o’clock we had lunch in school; then we went to the center of Ljubljana, to see different places in Ljubljana, like the Congress square, University of Ljubljana, etc. The Spanish students went on a Treasure Hunt. They stopped at different places of Ljubljana and Slovene students told them a lot of different things.  After searching for the treasure, we went back to school, where professor Trobevšek talked in Euskera language with us. We had a lot of fun. Later we worked in workshops, like writing descriptions, filming, etc.

It was a very interesting and tough day.

 

Zulema Alvarez Perez

Treasure hunting in Ljubljana

On Tuesday our Spanish friends went looking for a treasure around the city center of Ljubljana. That day we also had some workshops and the next day we had presentations. Here you can see what we have told your exchange partners about Slovenia.

Here we present you some of most interesting parts of Ljubljana:

 

Gimnazija Poljane

Gimnazija Poljane is a state secondary general education school for students aged between fifteen and nineteen. It is a school with a long and rich tradition. It was founded as a lower secondary school with German as the language of general use in 1889. In 1918 the building was renovated and the German language was replaced by Slovene. The architecture of the building is the only sign of its age. More than nine hundred students in thirty-two classes and more than eighty teachers work in new, renovated and specialized classrooms, using modern teaching methods.

Central Ljubljana Market

 The Central Ljubljana Market place is one of the most beautiful architectural monuments in Ljubljana. In the past here stood the diocesan secondary school (gymnasia and higher school), which was destroyed in 1895 by the earthquake. So between 1940 and 1950 today’s market place was built in that place. It was designed by a very well-known Slovenian architect Jože Plečnik, modelled on Renaissance and Roman influence. The Market hall extends from “Zmajski most” to “Tromostovje” and it is divided into two parts: the central place, “Vodnikov trg” and the place along Ljubljanica, “Plečnik market hall”. 

For Ljubljana and its habitants it is very important, because beside fresh daily offer of fruit and vegetables and of course milk products, pastries, clothes, footwear, flowers and so called “woodware”, it is also known as a place for greeting and meeting of locals and also tourists.

Jože Plečnik (1872-1957)

Jože Plečnik was one of the most important figures of the 20th century architecture. He was the first post-modernist at the beginning of the modernist era and the last classical architect.
Plečnik built many important buildings such as the Zacherl House in Vienna, the Hradčany and the church of the Sacred Heart in Prague, National and University Library, Triple Bridge, Mutual Insurance Building, etc. in Ljubljana…His style was very much influenced by his trips to Rome and Paris as a student where he had admired the ancient Classical and Renaissance masters. He developed his own very special language using simplified manneristic and classical elements which were no longer tied to the plain fulfillment of a function but to the expression of an ideal.
For citizens of Ljubljana Plečnik is one of the most important architects because he built the most important buildings of Ljubljana and contributed to the beautiful appearence of the city.

The Franciscan Church of the Annunciation

  The Franciscan Church of the Annunciation (Slovene: Frančiškanska cerkev Marijinega oznanjenja or commonly Frančiškanska cerkev) is a Franciscan church located on Prešeren Square in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. It is the parish church of Ljubljana – Annunciation Parish. Built between 1646 and 1660, it replaced an older church on the same site. The layout takes the form of an early-Baroque basilica with one nave and two rows ol lateral chapels. The Baroque main altar was executed by the sculptor Francesco Robba. Much of the original frescos were ruined by the cracks in the ceiling caused by the Ljubljana earthquake in 1895. The new frescos were painted by the Slovene impressionist painter Matej Sternen.

 

Prešeren Square

  Prešeren Square is the central square in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. A statue of the Slovene national poet France Prešeren with a muse stands in the centre of the square. The statue faces the window where Prešeren’s “muse” used to live. There is a small statue on that building as well. The square and surroundings were permanently closed to traffic on 1 September 2007.

Stara Ljubljana

 Old Ljubljana consists of three parts: Town Square, Old Square and Upper Square. We are standing in the Town Square, in front of the Town Hall (Rotovž) and The Robba fountain officially known as the Fountain of the Three Rivers of Carniola.

The three squares embrace the foot of Castle Hill and flow one into another. They are of a typical Gothic, wreathed design. Most of the houses lining them are Baroque and only some, with their axes at right angles to the street, have retained their medieval layout.

There are also a lot of shops and bars where Slovenians spend their time with friends. The streets of Stara Ljubljana are also very popular among Slovenians because they love to walk around and enjoy the historical view that the architecture of Stara Ljubljana offers them.

  

Shoemakers’s Bridge

 Shoemakers’ Bridge is one of the oldest bridges crossing the river in Ljubljana, and dates back to at least the 13th century. It started as a wooden bridge with a butchers shop on it, but the stench from the meat was so strong that the Emperor at the time paid to have them relocated. The occupiers of their booths following this were shoemakers, and so the bridge has its present name.

The bridge has been reconstructed on many times through its long history due to floods or fires. However this was later relocated and replaced with the current stone bridge designed by the architect Jože Plečnik.

Ljubljanica

Ljubljanica is one of the most important rivers in Slovenia. It runs through Slovenian capital Ljubljana. Ljubljana or »river of the seven names« is the right affluent of Slovenians biggest rover Sava. Ljubljanica is interesting also because of the karst feature on her way from spring to mouth. Ljubljanica also flows across Cerknica Lake, which is world-famous because of dry up.

Ljubljanica appears in Prešerns ballad Povodni mož (Water sprite) and it is said that in Ljubljanica lives a water sprite, which took the beautiful Urška to his underwater home.

National and university library – NUK

 The library was established by a decree issued by the empress Maria Theresa in 1774. Around 637 books that were saved from the fire in Jesuit College were now held in the library. In 1794 the library became a public profile library and in 1807 it began with the storage of all the publications of Carniola. As more and more books were held in the library, architect Jože Plečnik created plans for the new University Library. It was build between 1936 and 1941 and it’s considered the greatest work of Jože Plečnik in Ljubljana. The exterior is built from brick and stone. After liberation in 1945, the University Library was legally recognized as the National and University Library in Ljubljana. Today it’s also known as NUK and it is the biggest Slovenian library. It contains over 240.000 books and manuscripts.

Peglezen

 The word denotes not just the clothes iron, but also about the interesting building, which it resembles in shape and was quickly named ‘the Peglezen building’ by the people of Ljubljana.

It is located on the way from Vodnikov trg towards Cukrarna and not far from the tunnel under the Ljubljana Castle.

The building has a very long and narrow plot and a very nice complete set of old houses at the Poljanska street. In the same spot, the building of a similar ‘iron’ shape previously stood there, but it was the Ljubljana earthquake in 1895 that damaged it so much, that it had to be demolished.

Plečnik’s Peglezen building was built at the end of July 1934. In front of the front side of the building he placed a high mast on a round wooden base. The building is now a dwelling place with various commercial premises on the ground floor. In 1989, the mast consisting of three pillars has been rebuilt. Each one of them is colored in the colors of a Tricolor. As part of the campaign “Ljubljana, my city” run by the Ljubljana town hall, the facade of Peglezen has also been restored.

The University of Ljubljana

   The University of Ljubljana is the first and the largest university in Slovenia; with 64,000 enrolled undergraduate and postgraduate students, it is among the largest universities in Europe.

The university as such was first founded in by the French Imperial administration of the Illyrian Provinces. The university was disbanded in 1813, when the Austrian Government regained control.

It was built in 1902 and in 1919 it became and still is the central university building. The University of Ljubljana practices basic, applied and development research, striving for excellence and quality of the highest standard in all fields of science and arts, such as the humanities, social sciences, linguistics, arts, medicine, natural sciences and technology. The University also promotes interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary studies.

The UL comprises 26 members incorporating several hundred different organizational entities and around 3500 teaching and research staff.

Congress Square

 Congress Square (Slovene: Kongresni trg) is one of the central squares in Ljubljana.

The Square was built in 1821 on the site of the ruins of a medieval Capuchin monastery which had been abolished during the reign of the Habsburg Emperor Joseph II. The square was used for ceremonial purposes during the Congress of Ljubljana. After the Congress, a park was planted in the center of the square, which soon acquired the name Park Zvezda (Star Park), due to its shape. The Square was named after the Congress of Ljubljana.

The Square has had a highly symbolic role in modern Slovenian history. On October 29, 1918, the independence from Austrian-Hungarian rule and the establishment of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs was proclaimed during a mass demonstration on the square. In May 1945, the Yugoslav Communist leader Josip Broz Tito first visited Slovenia after World War II and held a speech on the balcony of the University of Ljubljana, which stands on the square.

Around the square you’ll find the following buildings:

• University of Ljubljana-originally a ducal palace, built between 1898-1902, main seat of the university
• Slovene Philharmonics (Slovenska filharmonija), dates to 1892, you can still see performances here
• Ursuline Church of the Holy Trinity (Ursulinska Cerkev Sv Trojice), completed in 1726, we didn’t go inside but the high altar is the main feature inside, made from African marble and decorated with figures representing Faith, Hope and Charity.
• Casino (Kazina), a Classicist mansion built in 1837 to have a place to entertain the city’s elite residents, it’s now a dance school and bookstore.

 

El martés nuestros amogios españoles estaban buscando los tesoros alrededor del centro de la ciudad Ljubljana. Ellos caminaban por la ciudad y nosotros les presentamos los lugares más importantes de Ljubljana. Mientras escuchaban las presentaciones tenían que resolver las hojas de trabajo. Ahora vamos enumerar qué partes de Ljubljana vieron: el Instituto de Poljane, el mercado en el centro de Ljubljana, la arquitectura de Jože Plečnik, la iglesia Franciscana de la Anunciación, la Plaza de Prešeren, el casco viejo, el puente del Zapatero, el río Ljubljanica, la biblioteca Nacional de la Universidad, Peglezen (la casa en forma de plancha), la universidad de Ljubljana y la Plaza del Congreso.