Special Needs Youth Exchange Special Needs

What could we do to learn more about Equal Opportunities in Europe?
Simply invite our friends from Latvia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania to spend 9 amazing days together with us.

When they arrived on Saturday, 9th Feb, we welcomed them with traditional English Tea and cakes and decorated the dining room in red and white.

As they were all exhausted from their long trips we kept it slow on the first day by only looking around the huge grounds of Eccles Hall School and testing the amusements in the common rooms like table tennis, pool and table kicker.

On Sunday, we played a variety of games to get to know each other and learn some names. After that, we enjoyed a healthy walk to the Sunday Market at Snetterton. In the evening, we were able to attend an English Mass at the nearby church and had a tasty BBQ.

The next day was all about sports: 6 totally mixed teams had to compete in several exercises such as egg &spoon race, 3-legged race, skipping race and many more. That was a lot of fun because even if there were some problems with the language we could understand and support each other.

At night, we had a disco everyone enjoyed a lot.
We went to Norwich on Tuesday to look around the city while doing a Treasure Hunt. Again, we were sorted in mixed groups so that we could spend some time with different people.

To really open up, we had a karaoke night in the evening so we could all sing together happily. John had a big surprise for us when we suddenly all had to go outside: A firework!
But the key event was definitely our trip to London the next day.
We visited all the famous sights, e.g. the Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace and many, many more. We met for dinner at Leicester Square where we were lucky to see a film premiere and some of us even managed to see the big stars from only 10 feet away.
In the evening we looked around Covent Garden and Soho which was beautifully decorated. When we had to get back on the busses unfortunately one of them broke down. So some of us had to wait until the damage had been repaired. To be honest: We really enjoined that because it gave us a few more hours to spend in London.

Since we came back late at night, we were pretty tired the next day but luckily we stayed at Eccles Hall School because it was activities day. There were lots of different things to try such as clay pigeon shooting, climbing, drama, cooking, high wire, art and low ropes.
On Friday, we went on a trip to Sea Palling and Wroxham. Some of us had never seen the sea before so they were really excited even if it was freezing. In Wroxham we got on some boats and could drive them ourselves along the Broads.

At night we had our cultural evening where every group presented their country and culture. It was so interesting to see pictures and videos about the other countries, listen to folklore songs, trying their traditional food and learn some new dances. Many parents of the English participants came to watch that, too.
We spent Saturday mainly doing workshops such as sign language and transports for special needs. Have you noticed? I haven’t said a word about special needs yet because we all felt equal and as one big family (even if it sounds pathetic). But yes, we had special needs participants: Some of them were deaf, one was blind and others had learning disorders. But that did not really matter as they all have great personalities and we all got along more than well.
On our last night we were given a certificate called Youthpass for taking part in that exchange. This can help us to find a job etc. and is always a good reference to have.

Later on, we had a bonfire and roasted marshmallows – yummy.
Unfortunately, our Romanian friends had to leave already at 4 am so they went to bed early but the rest of us stayed awake quite long to enjoy the last hours with our new made friends.
And suddenly it was Sunday and we had to go home. It was so sad to say goodbye to everyone but we swapped e-mail addresses and promised to stay in contact. Maybe we will see each other next year?