Sunday, May 10 at 23:18

Letter to the Info Point

Dear Erik,

Friedrich is suffering quite a lot. He's in the bathroom, crying. Please, stop being upset on him. And me. You don't know me, but i know you [not].
That's all i wanted to say. We apologise.

Kind regards,

Anne.

p.s: no ps. Read more

"No tolerance for intolerance"

....this the "official definition" of ISWI 2009 given by the Prof. Scharff, dean of the Ilmenau University.

The opening ceremony of the 9th edition of ISWI was an inspired combination between talks about human rights, the topic of this edition, good and healthy humor, inspired music and a selection of one of the most appreciated persons in Ilmenau, at this moment. rom serious and sometimes sad truths about the situation of human rights around the world, to a short theatre play and then to the ambitious words of the organisers.

Dr. Benno Kaufhold maked us realise the importance of ISWI to a more global level: intercultural dialogue, international friendship, reduction of potential conflict of prejudices are just some of the long and short term advatages brought by ISWI. 370 students from 70 countries, lots of cultues and languages, houndreds of hours spent to be here, 370 wishes to attend this event, 370 voices pronouncig "Ilmenau" ... this is how ISWI 2009 can be shorly described in numbers.

Rector Prof. Dr. Scharff was the special star of the night. With humor and an exteremely positive attitude he "stiked" a big smile on everyone's face when preseding his "outfit". He kept his attitude as well when helping the Ministy of Eduction and Science of Turingen to hold his speech, by transforming himself from rector to translator.

Women "conquered" the audience, after that, represeted by Caroline Lehman, Stephanie Prochnan and Janina Brudy, or the head of the comitee of ISWI 2009.

A short funny theatre play and the good music offered by the university band made the night of the audience. And ISWI has almost started... Future sounds good here, in Ilmenau!















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ISWIsion news on sPi TV

Instead of sPiTV during the ISWI we will daily present you ISWIsion news and keep you up to date about all the latest news and events. Enjoy the ISWI 2009. sPiTV will be back on Monday 18th may.

Press Play Read more

World cuisine & art

If you're an inhabitant of this quiet, calm place called Ilmenau and you are reading these lines right now, we start by apologizing for disturbing your usual peaceful Sunday.
The uproar on Sunday was due to ISWI – day 3, which started about 10 a.m. with the International Brunch at the well known Wetzlarer Platz. An event meant to get us together and meet each other's culture as well as possible. How else can you get to know someone else rather than by knowing his closest customs? Besides, we kind of are what we eat, afterall.
So, leaving aside philosophy and moving on to the event, some threatening clouds scared some of us, but by 11 a.m. the sun was up, the flowers and the trees were blooming and people were happily eating all sorts of great dishes. Participants all over the world set up little stands with traditional food, drinks, clothing, jewelery and other traditional objects. You had to stand in line and wait for the queue to shrink in order to taste anything, but once you managed to reach the delights, every bad feeling you had before would fade. The food was for every taste and diet regime, from chicken dipped in nut sauce and spicy Hungarian salami to Romanian rum chocolate, Russian candies or Turkish delight.
As for the drinks, the offer could have been wider(too bad for that bottle of Russian vodka which was never opened ), but the ISWI participants were quite sensible and decided not to mess up the whole day by getting people drunk in the morning. We started with tea & coffee, then got to the Georgian wine, Ukrainian vodka, then again Romanian wine and some German Radler. Quite enough to get you to talk languages you had no idea you could speak, but not enough to get you sleepy or dizzy. So just about the right way.
The stage hosted artistical performances from every participant country: dances, hymnes, songs. We had there, one by one, performances from Nigeria, Hungary, Russia, Romania, Georgia, Indonesia etc. One fine moment was the traditional Indonesian dance, when some beautiful girls danced a very simple and calm, yet elaborate dance, while other three Indonesians were accompanying them by singing. The artistical programme of the Nigerian guys was also one highly appreciated. Their bouncy tunes and enthusiastic attitude made everyone danc with them, whether it was on the grass, on the concrete sidewalk in front oft he stage or up there with them. By the time they had finished their programme, we were dancing all together and singing, no matter the song, the rhythm, the outfit, the moves. One big great party, one big happy ISWI family.
What i personally liked most: the Georgian cheese and bread, the plantain chips from Guyana, the Nigerian stage party, the sunny weather, the Ukrainean vodka, the Romanian meat balls rolled in cabbage, the Brazilian sweet nut dessert, the documentation group meeting on the green grass and overall that cosy feeling of "i'm so happy to be here today and i know you are too".
Every two years, the International Brunch manages to be one of the most appreciated events of ISWI. It brings us together more than the workshops or the lectures do, through its very human-like nature. In the old days, when someone came to your house – whether it was planned or by chance – the first thing you did was offer him something to eat. That’s how you showed your friendship. And pretty much, that’s what the International Brunch does: puts a smile on your face, whether it’s because of the exotic new taste you just tried, or because of the smile you were offered together with the dish.

Here's the photostory, thanks to our dear photographers - Lisa, Christiane and Wolfram:













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What you could do today

Good morning, Ilmenau!
Our third day starts with a culinary highlight:

10:00 - international brunch in the city
14:00 - discussion (catholic church ilmenau)
16:00 - lecture by Hans Herren (Audimax)
19:30 - opening ceremony (Festhalle) Read more

Can faith contribute to international understanding?

This talk deals with this issue on the example of Taizé. The Communauté de Taizé is a Christian fraternity, of over 100 brothers from 30 different nations and 3 confessions. For the international reconciliation work their founder Frère Roger got the UNESCO price for peace education. This work led to the global youth movement of Taizé. This "pilgrimage of trust on earth" includes regular international youth meetings with up to 80.000 participants. The connecting elements are the Taizé prayers with many meditative chants. Subsequently a joint Taizé prayer will be offered.

Join them today at 2pm in the catholic church in Ilmenau! Read more

Food, wine and everything fine.







Groupleaders met their participants.
Mensa people provided good food.
The clubs provided the wine, vodka, caipirinha and some other drinks.

Now, docu group goes to bed for a few hours. Meet you in the morning!
Drink your milk and brush your teeth, bye for today. Read more

Beware, fair participants.

The Knuwus are here.
ISWI invasion, stage 1.

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