The ever-looming deadline didn’t stop us having a great third day on the Danube strand. The morning kicked off with a lecture by Tim Beasley-Murray about the paradoxes of the Danube. Whilst it was a beacon of safety and interconnected cultures, it also had the capacity to destroy communities via flooding and serve as a divide between nations, much like it does between Romania and Bulgaria. Another interesting point was that the Danube flows the ‘wrong way’ in that it flows away from the industrial western part of Europe to the eastern part filled with the raw materials needed in the west. On top of this, we had a skills session called ‘Talking to Strangers’ which dealt with ways to approach interviewees and what to do in certain scenarios which may hinder the process. The ideas taken away from this lecture will help our group maximise our chances of doing a successful interview where both the interviewers and the subject are comfortable.
In the language class Marta Jenkala introduced us to Ukrainian cases. She also gave a brief overview of Ukraine’s Roma population and the different facilities that Ukrainians have available in London. We also had an interactive session where we were all given a different identity and were meant to discover other people’s identity and their profession. It has helped us to improve our understanding on the basic phrases that we’ve learnt over the past few days as well as learning new vocabulary which is always the most exciting part of learning a new language. Another meaningful day has passed and we look forward to more insightful and interesting days ahead 😊
Conor, Norman, and Tom
Danube on Thames 