Day 1

What happens when you bring a delegation of Belgians into Norway? First, they give a musical performance at the airport showing their piano-skills at Céline Dion's My Heart will go on. Second of all: they freak out when they see a ferry, which is a huge boat that carries people as well as cars to the other sides of the fjords. And then they start performing Leonardo DiCaprio's famous scene from Titanic (coincidentally the movie Céline Dion wrote her classic for). Third of all: they gather for a weekend of home hopsitality and skiing in a snow-covered Sykkylven. 

Day 2 + 3

The coordinators and accompanying teachers were taken to a cabin in the mountains for a teambuilding activity (visiting a salmon factory, skiing, cooking together....) and the students enjoyed a day of home hospitality. The host families took them in and showed them what life in Norway was all about. They also met up with the Spanish and Icelandic delegation. On Monday, the real work in mixed groups begins, so everyone needs to be settled a bit in the group by then. 

Day 4

Monday was the hard work-day. We met at the school, the Sykkylvan Vidaregaande Skole, to get an introduction to Scratch. Indeed, the delegations of Iceland, Spain, Belgium and Norway were going to be coding. What they wanted to do was up to them, but they had to work hard in a not so long time. Luckily, in the evening a grand food court took place. The parents' committee had organised a large Norwegian buffet, to which the other delegations could add the specialities of their regions. We of course took care of the dessert buffet (although it was a hard competition with the Norwegian cakes). There was singing and (folk)dancing as well and the students from Waregem even taught everyone present the 'Indianendans'.

Day 5

Alesund! The beautiful city where lots of cruiseships take a stop and that is actually the last part between the fjords and the ocean. We went to a vantage point to have a look at the surroundings, visited the aquarium and then the pupils went on a geocaching quest. They had to photograph a list of landmarks and put them on Instagram with the hashtag #erasmuscroadS18. Check them out! We even visited an entrepreneurial enterprise where students and companies are intermingled. Including a boating simulator, VR-room and 360° presentation room!

Day 6 + 7

Wednesday was a hard day's work to get all the Scratch-clips finalised for the presentation on Friday, so we earned a day off on Thursday to go skiing. The weather was great and the company fantastic, so we went on a cross-country trip of about 6 km. Teambuilding, because some had never skied before. Afterwards we finalised all the work and prepared for Friday.

Final day

Before the delegations left for the airport to go back home, our Norwegian hosts had organised a true Oscar-show to award the best Scratch-clips. Prices were to be earned for most original concept, best programming and overall best performance. Great fun and a great view into 14 very well-developed Scratch-projects. After that it was time to say goodbye, weep on the bus back to the airport and then make our way home...