8 - 17 September 2006 Camp Rodowo, POLAND

The exchange in Camp Rodowo (Poland) was an unforgettable experience which has a strong influence on all of the participants. The main aim of this exchange was to give change to young people to exchange experience and opinion about different dances.

The participants were from four countries – Poland, Italy, Romania and Bulgaria and they were between 18 and 25 years old.

For those seven days in the Camp we were meeting each other in different workshops all connected with music.

The result of working in groups was presented on the fourth day when all participants showed what they have learned.

Besides these 3 workshops the participants were divided into 2 more groups.

The first one was about dancing – rumba and modern dances and the second one about singing.

During those days we were all together, working very hard but also having a lot of fun.

Every night there was a disco in the Camp where all of us enjoyed the music and made new friends. Our free time was also well organized. There was a one day trip to the nearest town Alsztyn where we had enough time for shopping and sightseeing. There was a guide who explained us a lot about the history of the town and also we saw ancient churches towers and the old part of the city where we had the possibility to check different kinds of beers in old fashion pubs.

Near by the Camp there is a lake where we had the possibility to use canoes. There were some “smart” people who did swimming instead canoeing in that warm 16 degrees water.

Our work brought good results in the final show where we all made good impression with the dances and singing that we have learnt. Everybody was astonished by how fast we had learnt all steps.

Of course the national evenings were the most interesting thing of the exchange. Every country presented their national dances. The Italians cooked dinner for the others and made a big party in the evening. The Romanian group showed us their dances, cooked a delicious dinner and as well as sang the anthem of the other countries.

These international days are the most successful way in which people can get closer to each other and get to know other people’s culture and habits.

Every country made a separate workshop where the other participant learnt their national dances. Bulgaria made a very interesting presentation by showing some photos and traditional Bulgarian songs. Then at five o’clock we started cooking the dinner. We prepared mish-mash, meat balls and chicken soup. In the evening we gave the other participants to taste our wine and rakia. In our workshops we performed our national dance – horo and everybody learned it. In the disco most of the people were delighted with us and took the lead to dance with us all night. At the end there was a special gift from Bulgaria – rose oil for the best horo dancer.

In conclusion we can say that the whole exchange was a big party and we had a lot of fun despite the hard work.

All participants were open-minded and we could talk about everything that we wanted. And that’s the reason why we made a lot of friends who didn’t want us to go back to Bulgaria.