Step To Germany - Practicalities

Information for selected participants only

Informations en français: ici

• Who are 'we' : Hosts and Team
• Travel details
  • From Francfort airport to the venue
  • Money and Exchange
  • Weather conditions
• The venue
• Intercultural evening
• Information about your country and your organization
• Infos about Germany and the Germans

For further information and other requests please contact either:
or the

The training course is coming closer and closer and so we thought it would be good to tell you a little bit more about wat is going to happen there and what you need to take care of.

But first of all: Who are ‘we’?

My name is Mireille Gras and I work as a project officer responsible for Action 1 and 2 and EuroMed in the German National Agency. I will be your guide when it comes to practicalities during the training course “Step To” in Germany, together with Natalia Torra who will support me during the training and be present during the all week.

SALTO-YOUTH EuroMed Resource Centre appointed four experienced trainers for this "Step To" Training Course:

• Marc Muller is a freelance trainer from Luxembourg who has run already several courses on different EuroMed issues such as "Step In", "Step To" and "Environment" since 2002.
• Sylvain Abrial is a freelance trainer from France. He was already involved in several trainings related to EuroMed especially a long term training course for EuroMed youth exchanges and two "Step To" in 2003/2004.
• Heba Al-Taibi from Palestine participated to several EuroMed training courses and was already active as trainer in the long term training course for EuroMed youth exchanges as well as in a course on citizenship matters.
• Nadia El Gohary from Egypt participated as well to several EuroMed training courses and was already active as trainer in a course for EuroMed beginners.

We are very pleased to welcome you to this training course and we would like to wish you an interesting, challenging and an enjoyable week in Germany!

If you need or want to get in touch with us before the training course please find below our contact details

Mireille Gras
Jugend für Europa
Heussallee 30, 53113 Bonn
Tel: +49-228-9506229
Fax: +49-228-9506222
E-mail:  

Marc MULLER
Mobile: +352-021-494720
E-mail:

Natalia Torra
Mobile: +49-1520-2790365
E-mail:

Information about the hosts of the training course

The host of this training course is the German National Agency of the Youth Programme. On behalf of the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, YOUTH for Europe (JfE) - the German Agency for the EU Action Programme YOUTH is responsible for supporting the EU Commission in putting the action programme YOUTH into practice. As the national agency for Germany it allocates grants for international out-of-school activities as well as for youth initiatives. The JfE also acts in an advisory capacity in the planning, running and organisation of projects and provides information on developments and possibilities in the action programme YOUTH. Every year, the JfE offers an extensive range of further training and education courses for staff who specialise in international youth work and young people who want to carry out their own projects. The JfE helps in the search for international partners and, as a SALTO centre (Support for Advanced Learning and Training Opportunities), it coordinates further training activities which are offered by all national agencies in the network. Information on SALTO can be found at www.salto-youth.net.

For further information see the following website: http://www.webforum-jugend.de/

The training course will be hosted in the city of Cologne, situated in the western part of Germany. The city has about 1 million inhabitants; for more information see the following websites: http://www.koeln.de or http://www.stadt-koeln.de

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How to get to the venue of the training course from Francfort International Airport?/>

You have direct train connections from the airport to Cologne (the train station is inside the airport); it takes 1 hour from the airport to Cologne and there are many train connections all day long (you can find the time schedules under: www.bahn.de). One return ticket costs around 100€: these costs are part of the international travel costs so ask your National Agency or National Coordinator for the reimbursement of it.

From the train station in Cologne (Köln Hauptbahnhof) you´ll be picked up by Natalia Torra carrying a poster with EuroMed written on it. She will take you to the venue of the training course, Haus StGeorg.

If you prefer to go by tram take the line 16 until Chlodwigplatz. Enter the Merowingerstreet which you follow until the next big crossing which is Rolandstrasse, the street in which is located our venue.

Money and Exchange

Board, lodging and all the facilities you need during the training course is covered by the host. If you´d like to spend some money on souvenirs, clothes or music or if you want to arrive earlier / stay longer, be aware that you need to pay it on your own. The currency used in Germany is the Euro. 1 Euro is about 1,29 US$. For more information about exchange rates please see the following website: http://www.oanda.com/convert/classic.

You can exchange money at your arrival at the airport or at any bank in the city (the banks are usually open from Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 16:00)

Weather conditions

Please bring warm clothes because it is winter in Germany in December and it is usually cold and rainy! It is hard to know about the temperature in December because it differs from year to year but be prepared for a temperature between 5 degrees Celsius to 10 degrees Celsius below zero! If you want to find out the weather conditions before leaving for the training course check the following website: www.wetter.de or http://uk.weather.com/weather/local/GMXX0018?x=0&y=0

The venue:

The following website is from our venue of the training course – Haus St. Georg. Unfortunately the website is only in German but at least you can see the pictures: http://www.gaestehaus-st-georg.de

The venue of the training course is a Seminar Center in the middle of the city.

Haus St. Georg
Rolandstr. 61, 50677 Köln
E-mail:
Tel. +49 221 93 70 20-0 , Fax +49 221 93 70 20-11

Practicalities for the Training Course Residence

• you will be staying in double rooms and. In all rooms there is a bathroom and shower.
• Concerning the food, there are lots of alternatives. Please let us know your special needs, if you have any!

Intercultural evening

We would like to ask all participants to bring food, drinks and music from your country for the Intercultural evening that is planned for the 8^th of December. The Intercultural evening is a great opportunity for us to "taste" a little bit of your country! It´ll be possible to keep the food and drinks you bring cold in a fridge and if needed you can heat food as well.

Information about your country and your organization

We would like all participants to bring information about your country as well as about the organization you represent. Posters, pictures, information in English if possible about your organization will be good resources for you to use when preparing for a NGOs exhibition that will be running during the training course. The exhibition is a tool that will be used for the participants to get to know each others organizations and to inspire for partnership between organizations present during the training course.

Information about Germany and the German

www.deutschland.de
http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de
www.germany-tourism.de
www.tatsachen-ueber-deutschland.de