Marhaba

Egypt
01.11.2010
Köln

This has been a very hectic, yet interesting day... An excellent start for the trip!!!

It started in Cairo at the International Airport where I met my 5 fellow Egyptian colleagues, and ended in Koln with more than 30 people from around 10 different nationalities.

We arrived in Koln in the afternoon after an 8 hour trip, where we were warmly welcomed by Vera and Agnija in the airport, and went straight to the hostel after catching a glimpse of the stunning Dome.

In the evening, we went to Koln University to attend the opening, where we met the whole gang of people “except our Palestinians colleagues”. We received warm words of welcome by Tobias, Agnija, Ramon and Christian and enjoyed hearing some stories about Beyond Europe and how the Euro-Arab program started a year ago with the aim of brining European and Arab youth to work together and create a dialogue. Finally, Hany wrapped up with some information about Better World and how the partnership built with AEGEE guarantees the sustainability of that project.

After being done with the opening and taking memorable pictures, we left for a nice dinner prepared by the event organizers, and were joined by the Palestinian participants as well; where we talked, played football, ate and got to know each other a bit better.

Indeed, it was a very special day full of interesting, diverse people with different mind-sets, ages, backgrounds and nationalities, yet a few things in common: the will to communicate, discuss openly, challenge and be challenged, and accept and respect our cultural differences.

Happy to meet you all and really looking forward to the whole experience.