Feeling well(ness)…

After a lazy Sunday we woke up feeling great today. So the first lecture of the day couldn´t be more appropriate. The Estonian teacher gave an excellent and very interesting lecture about wellness and wellbeing tourism. We even had the opportunity to know more about our own wellness habits. Surprise, surprise… some of us aren´t that healthy! Many things to improve in order to become more healthy.

And after that we had our daily guilty pleasure of this summer school: fried potatoes! In Portugal we use to say: do as I say, don´t do as I do!

The second lecture of the day was from the Dutch teachers. Steffen and Konstantin talked about how a place becomes a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and presented us the case study of the Wadden Sea. Professor Steffen’s lecture was focused on the economic effects on tourism and the great importance of cooperation between all the stakeholders in tourism, even more when we are talking about a place that wants to be part of that list.

The second part of the lecture from the Netherlands teachers was focused on World Heritage Sites of UNESCO, and the specific conditions that a place needs to achieve in order to get that nomination.

Professor Konstantin gave us some highlights about branding and the differences between place branding and destination branding. 

As the lectures finished at 5h30, we decided to go the beach (meaning get across the street) to get some tan and enjoy a refreshing swim. We stayed there for almost two hours and then we came back home (we already refer to Hostel Korotan as our own home) to get prepared to our picnic at the beach with Estonians, Slovenians, Dutchies and Croatian guys. It´s getting usual to go have dinner outside.

The picnic was great, Dino and Sander were having very romantic moments sharing food… Just see for yourselves. Unfortunately we had to return to the hostel because we need to come here to let you know about our day. As long as we are almost done here, we’re still thinking of going back and go for a midnight swim under the moon.

See you tomorrow

Beijos

From health to brand.

Good evening!

Today was monday the worst day of the week, but for us not! Because we had amazing lectures by teachers from Estonia. Heli Tooman and Gristel Leetma were talking about wellness. They gave us tasks like which target group is connected to wellness, what is their motivation and expectations. We also filled in personal quiz about health. After that they showed us quotes of famous people so we searched for one more that we like:

"My main goal is to stay healthy because when you're injured you realise how lucky you are to have your health." - Maria Sharapova

After lecture we had lunch and after that we had another lecture. Steffen Fokkemma was presenting UNESCO mainly focused on Wadden Sea. He showed us one video, brochures and presented everything about Wadden Sea. Konstantin Gridnevsky presented what is brand and everything connected with this. He prepared us a little different quiz at the the end and the winners were rewarded with waffles from the Netherlands.

In the evening we had more free time than usually so we decided to go shopping in Koper. On the way we listened to our favourite boy band from childhood Game Over. In Koper we spend more than we should because everything was so pretty. On the way home we also listened our still favourite Slovenian group. You can also listen them here:

GAME OVER - Igra za 2

Classroom time!

Monday fun day in the classroom! After the exploring time yesterday, today has been time for sitting in classroom and learning something new. And we actually have learnt something. We are interested in sharing that knowledge with you. So, let’s start.

The first topic was including developing and marketing a destination (a region) as wellness destination by lecturers Heli Tooman and Gristel Leetma. Did you know that is possible to define wellness as a balanced channeling energy, the long acceptance of yourself? It is the integration of body, mind and spirit. You know, it’s all about individuals and it can become a more successful lifestyle. 

Heli Tooman

By doing some kind of a personal wellness quiz, we actually found out if we are healthy people in all dimensions or we could use improvement in some areas. It turned out that we all have a well lifestyle, but the conclusion is that there is always space for making some changes to take care better care of ourselves. Here is an example of the quiz, you should try to fulfill it (be careful, because of the problems with photo shooting, it is necessary to zoom in the picture). :-) 

Personal Wellness Quiz

Personal Wellness Quiz

And do you know what is shown on this photo? No? It is the Wadden Sea, a beautiful and dynamic landscape and it was placed on the World Heritage List by UNESCO in 2009. Wadden Sea was proposed by the trilateral cooperation of Germany, Netherlands and Denmark. Speaking of World Heritage List, did you know that there are around 980 heritage sites in the world? At least, Konstantin Gridnevsky and Steffen Fokkemma told us so. ;-) 

Wadden Sea

Konstantin's lecture was about brand, more exactly, about place branding and place branding image. Kind of confusing, but we must admit, his explanation was really good. 

Steffen Fokkemma

Konstantin Gridnevsky explaining :-)

But enough talking, in our opinion, now it is time for some relaxation. Let's go to the beach!

Back to the roots – Crash course on the Wadden Sea area for the Dutchies!

As I know many of you guys think an evening at the Adriatic coast needs to end with some quiet and peaceful activities, like a glass of good wine in a fancy bar, to observe the sun going down above the sea and coloring it into a beautiful, warm orange, or to listen to some good music and enjoying the still warm temperatures. Well, the Dutchies took a more active approach on yesterday’s evening! Instead of ending the day calm, we had some action. On the volleyball field we played some interesting matches. As it turned out, sports during the evening are big time funny and a diversified workout. Konstantin, widely known as a good lecturer, language fan and tea connoisseur, even found his secret profession: being a volleyball referee!

What to do after some hours of sport? Having a nice Pizza? Hell yeah! Oh damn the restaurant with the best Pizza is 4 kilometers away?! Okay, no problems for the Dutchies and their international colleagues – some more sport then before dinner! So we took the long way accepted the challenge. As expected, it was worth it. The Pizza was awesome, the hunger was stayed and after adding some nice ice-cream on top of it the Dutchies were satisfied!

Today our schedule said: ‘Lectures, Dutchies! Learn something!’ So that’s what we did…what we actually learned might surprise you. We learned something about our well-known and beloved Wadden Sea! But what can I say…this topic never gets old! Still interesting, still learned a lot!

Also the morning lecture gave a nice introduction to wellness tourism, even though we didn´t get the change to discover such a product ourselves (yet). Our recommendation in this case, the lecturers should proof their massage skills on the audience ;-). So far, another great day in Portorož! Stay tuned for tomorrow’s blog and don’t miss the new episode of ‘Gerrit Explains’. We will now have our ‘Beach Picnic Part II’! On that note: Have a nice evening and ‘tot morgen’!

From sLOVEnija with wellness!

Everybody enjoyed yesterday´s free day. Most of us took it easy in every possible way (blog included :) ). The highlights of the day were a small but beautiful town named Koper, beach volleyball and delicious pizza-dinner in Rustika followed by (of course) best ice-cream in all over sLOVEnija in Cacao. 

As it was mentioned previously, today we are talking about wellness. Morning lecture was given by our dear teacher Heli Tooman, after what many of us were thinking about their lifestyle and choices. The wellness test confirmed that almost half of the class is happy and is  living a  fulfilled life. We realized that during this week we have actually experienced thalasso therapy at its finest. Most of us swim three times a day which gives an opportunity to get natural salt-scrubs and we also breathe fresh sea-air 24/7 – luxury, that many people are willing to pay a fortune to experience.

After lunch (obiobviously) a obligatory swim and then we participated in two lectures about UNESCO world heritage sites and branding for muddy costal area in Netherlands. During lecture it was presented a case study of Wadden Sea, we watched a video about this beautiful area and its rich biodiversity. Do you know that Wadden Sea is the home for the world’s smallest snails? The image that we had of this area was different from this that students from Netherlands had – that is the enourmous power of marketing! Previously we thought that Estonian world heritage sites (old town of Tallinn, culture of Kihnu island, the special way of Setos singing and Estonian Song Festival) are really unique, but then we found out that there are more than 900 world heritage sites all over the world. But despite the fact there are so many special sites in the world and each nationality should be proud of their own treasures.

Funday

Hello guys!

Yesterday we had crazy party in Coco. But before we went there we met on the beach where we drink and hang out. We also had an opportunity to see firework which was dedicated to us we believe. After that amazing firework we went to Coco where Miha was waiting for us. We drink cocktails, jegercola and Malvazija. The night was for some of us very long and for others ended quickly.

Today we finally had a day off. We could do everything we want. So we sleep longer than during the week (till 1p.m.) because at 1 o'clock we had lunch. After lunch we went to the beach where we swim a little, sunbath and sleep a little more. After that we went to the beach again to play some volleyball. Because of that we become hungry so we went in Piran to eat kebab. The rest of the group went to Rustika to eat pizza. Zala was outsider because she went to cinema and watch interesting new movie called The heat. Then we went to Cacao for some ice cream and that's all.

The best kebab in Piran.

Exploring time!

Hello everybody!

As we promised yesterday, here is a post about our visit to Slovenian hinterland. After visiting Piran, we went to a several hour trip to meet typical eco farms in Slovenia, where people naturally produce fruits and vegetables. Also, farms provide accommodation for tourists who are interested in the natural way of growing the ‘pearls’ of Slovenia. Despite the fact that eco-farms for us are not unknown term (in fact, in Croatia we find them in a large number), we must admit that this short trip was one of the most beautiful experiences. What makes a joy for us after visiting farms and the fact that sun was relentlessly beating down, it was the tasting of olive oil and products typical of that area. We think that the greatest joy came after offering white and red wines that represented a real pleasure for our throats.

Eco farm

Slovenian hinterland

After the exhausting trip, do you know what follow? Party time! You know, we would like to keep the details to ourselves. What happens in Portorož, stays in Portorož.

On our free day we just wanted to lay on a beach and soak up the sun. That was the starting plan but then we decided to visit Koper (Slovenia) and Muggia (Italy). Muggia is a small sweet town near Trieste. We were surprised by the lack of tourist there, but it was nice to move away from the noise of a bigger town. Exploring Koper was a little bit more fun. Over there, we were surprised by the cultural and architectural heritage. Koper is the oldest town in Slovenia, it is also the main Slovenian port. Its natural, historic, natural and cultural sights attract numerous visitors and offer a lot off opportunities for trips.

Muggia

Muggia

Yesterday we mentioned lions with open books that appeared all around Piran. They are sign of a peace and closed war and they are appearing in towns that were under Venecian authority. As we today visited Muggia and Koper, we have seen the connection between these towns. Our stay lasted just for an hour, but we couldn’t miss the lions. 

Koper

Sunday funday is getting closer to the end and tomorrow is time to go back to work.