CEI Conference 2016 - Resume

CEI Conference 2016 - Resume

After breakfast in Copenhagen and a 5h train ride from Copenhagen to Aalborg, we finally arrived at the train station and immediately got picked up by the conference’s Crew members. As soon as we got to the military base (yes, a real Danish military base!!), we were quite impressed of how big the place was, where we gonna spend the following six days. We got into our rooms and met all of our roommates for the week, which we instantly got on well with. 

The first day at the CEI Conference started at 8 am with the traditional “Morning Assembly”, where we got to know the Crew members, the Young guides as well as the board members. Soon after we gathered some further information, we attended our first workshop, meaning that were able to visit Aalborg City and its local, sustainable mussel farm. The owner of the team, which involves around 150 people who harvest
mussels and seaweed there, gave us plenty of information on how it works and who can participate. Furthermore, after lunch back at the base, we took part in the big “Opening Ceremony”, where every delegation was proudly represented. Obviously, we were really happy to be part of around 80 nations (even Australia or South Africa) participating! After a delicious dinner, one of the highlights of the CEI Conference was about to happen: the traditional “Food & Fun Market”, where every country should contribute a food speciality or a traditional game. As we had packed our famous “Hartwürstel mit Senf und Kren”, we were ready to also get to know other specialities from abroad. After great feedback on the Austrian snacks and tasting traditional food from literally all over the world, for instance spicy Mexican Tortillas or Chinese fortune cookies, we fell into our beds with our food tummies. 

The second day at the conference meant “Project Presentation” for us, which we all were excited for. Even though we were quite nervous, we did quite a good job and were definitely impressed of how much work and time delegations have spent to create amazing projects.
In the afternoon, we took the bus to Aalborg city once again in order to visit the Aalborg Zoo, which was fascinating and again really impressive. Moreover, we visited the famous Viking museum “Lindholm Hoje”, where we even saw a Viking graveyard and got real Viking food, which tasted delicious. Back at the base, we enjoyed a nice football game together with our friends from all over the world!

On Wednesday, it was time for the big fieldtrip, which was going to be kind of a roadtrip through the north of Denmark. First and foremost, we stopped at a typical Fjord landscape for a little break, but then went on to see a wind mill park. Furthermore, we finally arrived at Thy, which is the biggest national park in Denmark, and took a walk there as well as some great photos! Because we were now used to the Danish summer weather (15 degrees and clouds all day), we were delighted that we could breathe a little bit of the salty sea air and even go into the sea (at least with our toes).
Around 8 pm, we changed into our “Dirndl and Lederhose” and got ready for the special night, the “Cultural Evening”. In order to get an impression of other countries’ culture, every nation had to prepare a dance, song or play and present it in front of the others. We, as we are obviously big fans of the Ennstaler Polker and Volkspop, decided to create a traditional dance mixed with a little bit of sarcasm. All in all, we have to say this was one of the best evenings, even though it was mixed with sorrow as well: The night before, there were bombs once again in Turkey, where some people took part in the conference, so they decided not to present. However, all the humanity and solidarity from the other members of the conference prove that compassion knows no borders and all together, we are stronger than all the cruelty going on in the world.  

Thursday, after a delicious breakfast, we had our 2^nd project presentation, which went even better than the first one and we got a lot of compliments for our work.
In the afternoon, we had lots of free time in Aalborg city, which we used mainly for relaxing in a Danish coffee shop due to the rain, but also went on a little shopping trip.
After dinner at the base, we took part in the CEI Championship, a football tournament for everyone – talented or not. We participated in the team “Green United”, a mixture between three Austrians, three Japanese, three Greek and two Taiwanese. We can proudly say that we won the tournament – which is a real miracle considering that half of us aren’t able to pass a straight ball, but well.

Friday, which was the last day at the conference, we attended our 2^nd workshop, where we worked together with one of the board members Dan on sustainable statements, which can be further passed on to the government of Aalborg. We came up with some pretty good ideas for example education on global warming and environment in kindergarten and schools.
After lunch, it was time for the “Closing Ceremony”, which sadly meant the end of the conference. However, it wasn’t totally over, because we all were invited to a Formal Dinner, which was extremely delicious and gave us a chance to spend more time together with our new friends from all over the world. Afterwards, we were very excited for the last evening – PARTYTIME! We enjoyed a great last night full of dancing, eating, laughing and celebrating all together.

Looking back on a short night and a long day to go, our alarm went off at 5.15 am (!!). We will spare you all the story of our journey home, but after 17h, we finally arrived, tired but relieved, back home in Judenburg. 

Lastly, our resume of our journey to Denmark: we made great new friends, experiences and also learned a lot about sustainability and dance until you drop :) We would recommend the CEI conference to all of you, because it shows not only what students can create together concerning the environment, but also how much humanity there is in the world, which in our days we often tend to be doubtful about. Last but not least, we would like to thank everyone who has supported us, our headmaster to make it possible, and especially our teachers, with whom we had a whale of a time! 

We hope you enjoyed our blog and we could give you a short (or rather longer) impression of our trip! Stay tuned!