Mobility 5, May, Akureyri - Finalizing the project

Iceland was cold and a bit dark, when the participating students and teachers arrived to Akureyri on monday 13th of may.  Everybody were leaving their countries in the summer blossom, nice +20° C, for 5° C, cloudy and bit wet Iceland :)
But the weather is not the issue here :)  It could have been better, but at least it was a weather :)

Monday was the day everybody had to travel to Iceland.

Tuesday was the day we started the whole thing.  Small meeting was held were everybody introduced themeselves.

After that we headed to a local freezing plant (Samherji) were they produce the lovely food; FISH.  Well, not actually producing it :)  More like processing the fish :)

This text is taken from their website and should explain a bit about their operation.

"Operating in a system of resource management where the aim is sustainable fishing, Samherji, founded in 1983, is a leading seafood company in Iceland.  Outside Iceland, Samherji has or takes part in operations in Germany, Poland, U.K., the Faroe Islands, Africa, Canada, France and Spain
Samherji is a vertically integrated seafood company, controlling a significant volume of fishing quota, operating a powerful fleet of fishing vessels; freezer and fresh fish trawlers, as well as multi purpose vessels, white fish factories and fish farming.  Samherji also runs extensive sales and marketing operations which are coordinated at the company´s head office.

The strategy of Samherji hf. is:

• To be in a leading position in fishing, processing and marketing seafood and thus to be in control of as large a portion as possible of the company’s value-added chain.
• To run a strong company which earns a profit for its owners and provides its employees with an interesting working environment.

Samherji’s success is primarily based on the fact that as a food producer the company itself takes care of the entire process from the catch to the market. Samherji hf. employs qualified and enterprising personnel and management, has a powerful fleet, large fishing quotas and highly advanced onshore plants. Equipped in this manner, the company aims at a continuing leading position in the fishing industry, both in Iceland and at international level. Samherji´s policies on the Environment and Quality are here. "

Here you can see some pictures (Iphone) taken from the visit to Samherji. 
We wish to thank the people at Samherji for their hospitality and warm welcome towards us.

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After the visit to Samherji, we started working on the project.
Mostly, it went well, but of course we encountered several problems, mostly technical, but we managed to solve them.  Anita started the work and she guided them through the first steps.  After that the students were focused and very much involved in the project.
Here are some pictures that show these talented people at work:

 On wednesday, we started the work at 9:00 and they worked really hard and around noon, they were starting to see the end of the whole thing.  Everything was comming together.  They concluded their  assignments, one by one, in a manner they can be proud of.  Really nice work.
At 1:00pm, just after a good lunch, the students presented their work in front of a jury of teachers and professionals in entreprenaurism.
Here are some pictures were you can see some of the presentations taking place:

While the jury was deciding who were the winners, we took the students into a studio where we photographed them with their partners and friends.  Here you can see those pictures as well:

As you can see, the pictures are of a really joyfull young people that is ready to enjoy life and have fun.  I haven't even photoshoped them in any way :)
While they were still working, the students produced this video and I think it shows the spirit and their willingness to successfully with a perfect score.

Now, this wednesday was a handful of excitement, because we had to decide the winners, in several categories.  (They will be added here very shortly, because I don't have the students names at hand at the moment)

But here are some pictures taken from that ceremony:

Now, on thursday we had planned a trip to Lake Myvatn, but because of several causes, only two icelandic teachers (Sunna and Jónas) were able to join in the tour, and we totally forgot to bring the camera so we have to show you pictures taken by Hilmar of the area (taken from different seasons, both summer and winter :) )

These pictures are taken on a beautiful day (both winter and summer), but they don't do the justice, because the weather was not like this while on the tour.  It rained and the weather was not this clear as these pictures show :)

But we believe everybody enjoyed their stay and were able to learn something new along the way.

At 4:00 pm this thursday we had our final meal together and had a good and relaxed time together.

Everybody had to go to bed early because of their flight home.  5-6 hour drive to Reykjavik/Keflavik airport and then fly home into the warm summer.

Icelandic weather can sometimes be difficult to handle.  It can sometimes show us it's better days with sun and high temprature, but sometimes it showes us quit the oposite; the weather you guys experienced :)  Cold, wet and cloudy.

We hope you guys had a good time in Iceland and that you enjoyed the company of other young people with similar interest.  We all have different background and culture, but somehow the people are the same all over; People are curious about other people,  People like to see what other people are doing and how they are doing it.

We learned a lot from you and we are were very happy in having you all in our community.

Eventhough this blog is late and christmas time is just around the corner, we had to finish the blog properly.  Bring it to the end.  It was supposed to be finished in the month of May and we the plan was to wish you all a good summer that was comming, but sometimes things go in different directions than planned.

Therefore we wish you a really nice christmas in return and a happy new year when that happens :)

Best wishes to you all,

Teachers and students from VMA, Iceland :)