Symposium and exhibition on January the 20th
Thursday the 20th of January there was the symposium and exhibition about the project International Communication. The International Communication Project focused on the European Union and the communication in and around it.

The kick off of the project was on Monday the 6th of December.
On this day the students were inspired to step into the project including the EU, Hungary and many different companies.

During the trip to Hungary the student visited the companies that provided us with a communication issue they wanted to be advised on. The students had to work out their first draft of solutions. The students got the chance to present their advice directly to the management of those companies and discuss the further direction of their advice. Furthermore students specialized themselves in EU subjects during the project weeks. During the excursion to Hungary in December the students have visit the Eszterházy Károly College in Hungary.

The project is finalized with an “Symposium & Exhibition” on January 20th 2011. The Symposium was a combined event for the students where the students had to expose their communication products and present their communication advises. All groups had to present their advice and solutions at the “Symposium”. The final reports are send to the Hungarian companies and partners of the project

The students arrived at half past twelve at the NHL where they were welcomed with coffee and tea next to the exhibition of the moodboards. The moodboard were made for an assignment about the EU policy on several topics like education, environment and health. The students could visit this exhibition and vote on the best item.

At one o’clock Vera Gaikhorst opened the Symposium. Vera introduced the jury, which were Maria Ballendux – Bogyay, Jitske Wadman and Mirjam van Lasthuizen. After a short introduction the people who presented their company assignments were asked forward to present their idea to the other students, the teachers and the jury.

After the presentations the jury discussed which group gave the best presentation. In the meantime the students watched photos of their experiences in Hungary.

At the end the jury announced the winners. The winners of the exhibition are: Leonie Brunninkhuis, Lisa Kummel, Christelle Roeterink and Moniek Wallink, The winners of the presentations are Milou Faber, Heleen Jacobse and Engelien Klaver. They received a dinner cheque to the value of 100 euros.

The International project was a great and informative experience for everyone who participated in the project. The companies DBH, Hongarije vandaag, Ombrello, Brilliance, Gergely and HBHE are inspired by the ideas of the students.

Wednesday, January 5th 2011

A workshop for all students in order to learn more about the EU and the financial impact. Click here to see the pictures.
 

December 15th in Eger, Dutch and Hungarian students worked together

Workshop body language

What happens when you and your conversation partner both speak a different language? In the active workshop by Mariejanne van Dijk we have explored the world of non-verbal communication.
There were 20 students who participated in the workshop, 2 of them where Hungarian. During the workshop we played ‘the murder game’. This is a game from the Dutch television show ‘de Lama’s’. During the game you may not speak, you can only visualize things; it’s all about body language. The goal of the game is to visualize the murderer, the place and the murder weapon. The class existed out of 5 groups of each 4 students.
The goal of the workshop was to find differences in non-verbal communication between Dutch and Hungarian students. There were no big differences between Hungarian non-verbal communication and Dutch non-verbal communication. The students recognized that the Hungarian students made another sound to imitate a duck than the Dutch students.
It was a very nice workshop. The students visualized a lot of famous people like Michael Jackson, Marilyn Monroe and Napoleon. The students also visualized a rubber duck, the Eiffel Tower and the subway in Budapest. Everyone had a lot of fun during the workshop. It was very interesting that the 2 Hungarian students also participated in the workshop. In this setting it was easy to compare the differences between the two cultures.

What do we expect of the bus trip?

Our groep does not have much experience with traveling by bus. We are all lucky enough that we can afford to travel by airplane. All of us have been on a bustrip before but that’s a long time ago.

The only thing we know is that it’s going to be a very, very long trip. 21 hours in a bus is a real challenge for all of us! We are leaving at 19:00 in the evening, so we are hoping that all of us can get a good night sleep, then the journey will go faster. To prepare ourselves we are taking pillows, wine, beer and blankets to make sure that we fall into a long and warm sleep.

When we are waking up on saturdaymorning we are hoping to get some warm coffee and tea, and maybe we’ll see some beautiful Austrian ore German landscapes. All of us just hope that the trip is going save and fast and that we will soon arrive in Budapest!

Some tips and tricks for the bus journey:

• Keep breathing
• Stay calm
• Make sure that you’re neighbour is a calm sleeper (so no snorking, sleepwalking, talking)
• If not make sure that you’ve got some earphones
• Take a pillow and blanket into the bus
• Be patient
• Try to bring a good mood with you
• Put some little money in your hand luggage for the restrooms at the gas station
• Bring enough to drink and eat
• Bring music or travel games
   

Kick-Off Hungary

Friday the 10th of December, about ninety communication students are going on excursion to Hungary. Today, the 6th of December, the project started with the Kick-Off, from 10 a.m. till 4.00 p.m.
The day started with a short introduction about the study program for the third year students. After that, the Kick-Off officially opened with this movie about Hungary.

After the movie, a quiz tested the knowledge of the students about Hungary and the European Union. One of the quizmasters was Blanka an exchange student from Hungary. The students had to answer the quiz questions by holding up a green or a red card. If student gave an incorrect answer, he or she was out of the game. At the end, four students were left and were given the Maria Ballendux-Bogyay book ‘Living and working with Hungarians’ as a present. The winner of the quiz also received a small language guide ‘Hoe en wat: Hongaars’.
Sabine Veen and Fleur Kiers – both second year students – showed us a short film they made about the teachers involved in the project.
Click here to see the film.

For lunch students were able to enjoy a typical Hungarian soup called ‘Goulash soup’.

The whole group was divided into smaller groups of about 20 students and in the afternoon the groups had a class about the company visits they are going to make in Hungary.
Finally, at 2.30 p.m. Mrs. Maria Ballendux-Bogyay, writer of the book ‘Living and working with Hungarians’ gave a guest lecture about the differences between the Dutch culture and the Hungarian culture as well as the company cultures of both countries.

Tips and tricks about visiting Hungary:

• Don’t call Hungary a communistic country
• Don’t forget the Hungarian language is a “Chinese wall” between the Germanic an Latin languages
  
• Don’t be too direct when giving your opinion or asking questions.
  
• Being polite is very important for the Hungarian people

Click here to see the pictures.