Establishing the bridges of friendship and mutual understanding between RSTU and Marianne-Weber-Gymnasium of Lemgo (MWG)

Establishing the bridges of friendship and mutual understanding between RSTU and Marianne-Weber-Gymnasium of Lemgo (MWG)

Within the framework of realization of the contract about cooperation in the field of education, culture and sports signed between the Rostov State Transport University (RSTU) and Marianne-Weber-Gymnasium (MWG) of Lemgo (Germany) in January, 2011, due to support of the RSTU governing body headed by the rector, the academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, V.I. Kolesnikov, a visit of the delegation of German high-school students to RSTU took place from March, 29 till April, 05, 2012.

It is necessary to note that this visit is a return move of our German colleagues: in May, 2011, students and pupils of RSTU lyceum visited the city of Lemgo where they could get themselves familiar with peculiarities of educational process in the German gymnasium. And this year German gymnasium students, representatives of the governing body of MWG, representatives of organs of public self-government of Lemgo and Bad Salzuflen have arrived for a visit to the students of our university.

The bad weather conditions that postponed the arrival of our German friends for one day, and also the luggage of the majority of MWG students that didn’t arrive in time could not sadden the pleasure from the meeting of the German guys with their Rostov peers. The first collective evening spent in the atmosphere of open Russian hospitality was followed by the trips to Bataysk to see ostrich farming and to the village of Starocherkasskaya with the original Cossack culture and sights, a visit to the Rostov Musical Theatre. All these events helped the German visitors and our students to break the language barriers and to communicate with each other at ease. And the time spent in family circles of the university and lyceum students, who kindly agreed to accept the German gymnasium students, made unforgettable impressions on our visitors. The cultural – excursion program also included a visit to the factory of agricultural machinery “Rostselmash” and a sightseeing tour to Taganrog.

An extensive educational program was prepared for the guests from Lemgo at the university: the MWG students could get acquainted with training and laboratory facilities of the university. They visited open lessons of the students’ creative teams “Lubava” and “Agiotage” in the students’ club of RSTU. In the lyceum our visitors could meet and communicate to both the university and the lyceum students who, with pleasure, asked the German peers about study in Germany, their hobbies and interests. Our students sang songs and quoted poems in a foreign language. The MWG students also attended a number of lessons in RSTU lyceum and saw the process of their Russian peers’ training. Besides the foreign visitors could become witnesses of the opening ceremony of the final games of basketball among students’ teams in a sport center of our university.

A pleasant surprise for the visitors from Lemgo was the invitation to spend an evening among the students of our university living in RSTU hostel. Our students tried hard and prepared a real students’ meal – fries and Russian pancakes for our German friends. And then the guys communicated for a long time, sang songs and played the guitar, joked and laughed – this evening became a real holiday of Russian-German friendship for both our students and the German.

During the meeting with the employees of the department of the international activity our German visitors learnt about the projects of international cooperation being conducted at the university. They could communicate in a mode of an open dialogue about the prospects of cooperation development between RSTU and Marianne-Weber-Gymnasium. They could share opinions on the most interesting ways of interaction between our educational institutions. And during the meeting with the rector of RSTU, the academician of the Russian Academy of Science, V.I. Kolesnikov, who in his salutatory speech emphasized the importance and significance of establishing bridges of friendship and mutual understanding between our peoples, the German visitors once again could make sure that our university is ready to cooperate and develop joint projects in the field of education, culture and sports with Marianne-Weber-Gymnasium. According to the results of the negotiations and consultations carried out during this meeting such projects as language training of our students in Lemgo on the basis of the university Ostvestfalen-Lippe (Hochschule Ostwestfalen-Lippe), guest performances of RSTU students’ creative teams in Lemgo in pre Christmas days, joint sports projects and many others will begin in the nearest future.

Saying goodbye in the airport of Rostov-on-Don, the German visitors thanked heartily the university and the lyceum students, teachers and RSTU staff for a warm cordial welcome and the unforgettable days spent at our university.

The expert of the department of the international activity Y.K. Panchenko