Story: Heidi Mäenpää
The 10IMP excursion to the
World Summit Youth Award in Graz began with us presenting each of the winning teams in the
travel blog. We didn't know what to expect from the event in the beginning, since last year the
IMPs went to the Europrix and not the WSYA. Nevertheless we decided to open our minds to everything new!
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| Thick morning fog surrounded us during the bus ride to Helsinki |
Before we even knew it we were on the plane and on our way to Vienna, Austria. Even though some of us were slightly afraid of flying, and seemed very nervous, the flight went very well. The food we ate on the plane was just the beginning of an unforgettable food culture adventure...
From Vienna airport we took a bus to one of the city's railway stations. Of course our small group of 22 IMPs didn't fit into the first bus, so we had to wait for the second one, and we were able to take enjoy the surroundings of the airport. The weather was pretty much the same than in Finland, with a little less fog! Once we finally got into the bus and to the train station we noticed that the ticket office where we were supposed to go and get our tickets had closed twenty minutes before our arrival. If we had fit into the first bus there wouldn't have been any problems! But, luckily we are an adventurous bunch and we simply boarded the train without tickets. Our reservations were still visible inside the train, and when the conductor arrived our great guide
Cai Melakoski was able to solve things out in fluent German!
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| Beginning of the presentation |
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| Listening and Tweeting at the same time! |
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| Our tour manager Thomas Radeke |
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| A robot that shoots out vodka shots... Why not! |
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| Tuomas handing out school leaflets |
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| Emma and Anna posing in front of FH Joanneum |
After an afternoon spent in FH Joanneum everyone headed to eat something before the Youth Award registration. Me, Emma, Anna and Sanna decided to listen to our hotel receptionist's advice and chose a nearby local place called
Zu Den 3 Goldenen Kugeln. It turned out to be an excellent idea! We got to taste the very popular schnitzels in various forms.
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| Sanna and Emma enjoying their spectacular schnitzels! |
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| This food is a "must" for everyone who travels to Austria! |
After a filling meal we headed to Hotel Mercure for registration coffees and teas. Because of some technical difficulties the nametags for IMPs weren't ready yet, so we had to spend the first evening without them. But since we are so unforgettable, walking around without them wasn't really a problem. After the registration we headed to the national broadcasting station of
ORF for the festival opening and welcome cocktails. In there we also ran into
Arnau Gifreu who held the IMPs
a workshop about Intercative Multimedia last February. It was really great to see him again!
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| ORF station in the darkness |
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| Opening speeches |
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| Winners' projects in a nutshell... Lightning pitching! |
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| Yummy bread! |
On Friday morning the IMPs headed to listen to the Youth Award winners pitch their projects at Karl-Franzen's University. We also finally got our nametags! After a very interesting lunch hour there was also some speeches, or Keynotes, from guest speekers.
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| The University looked magnificent inside and outside! |
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Kaisu's nametag indicated that she is from Denmark
instead of Finland... Hmm? Suspicious says I! |
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| Enjoying the lunch |
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| I have no idea what it was. Still don't. Kinda scared of it even now! |
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| Interesting topics were discussed throughout the evening |
The evening also included a guided Design Walk across Graz, but at least me and Sanna decided to take a longer tour instead and climb up all the way to Schloßberg.
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| Graz Art Museum at night, from the Design Walk (by Alex) |
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| Schloßberg steps at night. Had fun climbing them! |
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| Graz looked like a starry sky |
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| A slightly creepy tree on top of the mountain |
On Saturday morning we had four different workshops we could attend with the other WSYA participants. Unfortunately one workshop was cancelled because the person responsible for it didn't show up after all. Aside from that everything went well. During the final workshop
Anna Narinen's team was awarded for the most inventive product idea. All IMPs felt proud! When the workshops were done some final speeches were made by partners and ambassadors, such as
Mathias Haas from
SuperSocial Marketing.
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| Ready for the final day in Graz! |
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| Waiting for the first workshops to begin |
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| Making notes? Or playing games? Can you guess? |
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| Joonas and Tia discussing |
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| Our Internet café... With free condoms! |
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| Alex presenting her group's idea of pregnancy control |
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| The judges thought hard on who should win the prizes |
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| Congrats on the most inventive idea! |
After all the hard work it was time to finally party! The WSYA Gala was held inside the Schloßberg mountain, in a popular clubbing place called Dom im Berg. All winners were presented once again by the hosts Nkemdilim Uwaje and Anshul Tewari, and awarded with flowers and trophies. The awarding ceremony lasted for a couple of hours, and afterwards it was time to dance and make final connections with people. IMPs know how that works!
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| The big cave was an impressive setting for the gala |
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| Education Generation receiving their award |
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All winners and speakers
©Mathias Haas |
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| Sanna at the party |
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| Maria and Anna-Kaisa looking very pretty! |
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| Cai enjoying his time in the Gala |
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Me and Mathias doing a fancy pose!
©Mathias Haas |
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| SuperSocial afterparty |
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| IMPs connecting |
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| We just couldn't stop making new friends! |
On Sunday the IMPs left Graz with slightly wistful feelings and began their journey back towards Vienna. The train ride offered breathtaking views of the mountains, valleys and little towns in between. We even saw a sheep or two!
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| Beautiful frost covered trees along the way |
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| And of course, what would an IMP do without a laptop! |
When we arrived in Vienna we checked in our bags beforehand so that we could enjoy the town without heavy luggage. With Cai leading us we walked through the city and into the town square, where Vienna Christmas Market (Wiener Christkindlmarkt) was being held. We went around tasting strange delicacies and buying souvenirs.
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| St. Stephen's Cathedral |
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| IMPs at Stephansplatz |
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| Paparazzi number one! |
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| Paparazzi number two! |
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| Pretty horses! (My favourite picture by Alex) |
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| Walking towards the Christmas market |
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| Let's just say that we weren't the only ones going there.... |
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| A few people indeed! |
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| Yum yum! |
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| The market just got prettier as the time went by! |
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| Time for the last pictures before heading home |
It was now time to get to the airport and fly back to Finland. With relative ease we all found our way to the plane (even though some arrangements had to be made because the flight was overbooked) and safely arrived back in Helsinki.
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| Waiting for the subway |
All and all this was a great chance for the IMPs to see what is happening in the New Media business and get new contacts from all over the world. Thanks to Cai and the school for making this possible, let's hope next year the 11IMPs enjoy their trip as much as we enjoyed ours!
Suomeksi
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