Youcee

youcee september 13th 2023

Today marked the official start of YOUCEE 2023! After the arrival of the Dutch delegations, students had the opportunity to introduce themselves and their schools to each other, by showing the short movies they had made. After the lunch break, the participants quickly changed their clothes, put on their overalls and got ready for an intensive afternoon full of sporting activities at the Orange Barracks! In the evening, they had the time to brainstorm together about future programmes.

youcee september 14th 2023

Today was all about the veterans and them sharing their stories, led by The Netherlands Veterans Institute. In the morning, students were introduced to five veterans, who all had a different background. After splitting up into groups, the participants had the chance to listen to the engaging stories the veterans had to tell. Luckily, there was also plenty of room to ask questions and to have some fun discussions together! In the afternoon, the participants were put to work by two of the veterans. The tasks that had to be completed required a lot of teamwork and communication, but were a lot of fun! We ended the day with a cosy movie night, during which we watched "A bridge too far".

youcee september 15th 2023

This morning, students had to get up early to prepare for a very busy, but very exciting day! Shortly after breakfast, we drove off to our first stop: the Westerbouwing in Oosterbeek. Here we had a meeting with David Locke, who told us more about the fights at that place. We continued by foot and walked along the White Ribbon Mile, representing the route soldiers had to walk to cross the river. On our way to our delicious lunch at the municipality of Renkum, we made a quick stop at the Concertzaal in Oosterbeek. Here, we watched a live simulation of the situation in a WWII hospital for soldiers. Very impressive and it looked very real! After lunch, we visited the Airborne Museum, after which we were brought to Arnhem where we had some free time. In the evening, we attended our first commemoration of the week at the Airborne Square. In all, it was a very busy but memorable day.

YOUCEE SEPTEMBER 16TH 2023

Our last full day today sadly, but that did not mean the programme was not completely filled! In the morning, we took off to Ginkel Heath to watch the parachute droppings and to attend the commemoration there. Following this breathtaking event, we had our lunch and drove off to Driel for the commemoration at the Polish monument. One of our Polish participants had written a beautiful poem, which she got to perform. Some also laid wreaths or contributed in another form to the ceremony. After the commemorations, we headed back to Ede to enjoy a delicious barbecue! We ended the day with a spontaneous karaoke night!

YOUCEE SEPTEMBER 17TH 2023

After having breakfast, cleaning our rooms and checking out, it was time to head to our last commemoration of this week at the war cemetery in Oosterbeek. Together with children from various schools in the area, we laid flowers at the graves of the soldiers. After the ceremony, it was time to say goodbye, during which some tears have been shed. With that, YOUCEE'23 had officially come to an end.