1st IMWe - What's Your Story?
How is it to participate on IMWe for the first time? Most of us would reply -"Not at all what I excepted it to be like!"
Here participants of IMWe share their stories and explain what they learned and experienced.
Find out about their impressions and memories below.
If you have already attended IMWe, and you are eager to write your own story, please contact us —» via e-mail.
Jostein, Norway
"Just before Christmas in 1994 I saw a tiny notice in the Norwegian Scout magazine: “International Creative Workshop in Germany this Easter? Contact the national office for more information”. Needless to say, that’s what I did"
Aljaž, Slovenia
"At first, it was a legend, a myth on the fringes of the known. Reports came trickling back to my home swamp town of Ljubljana, carried by the messengers: random scouts, usually older women. All of them awesome, but also … a bit weird."
Davis, Latvia
"The only thing that everyone who comes to IMWe for the first time has to watch out of is the addiction of the camp itself. Once you have been here you cannot really skip a year."
Birgitte, Denmark
IMWe?
"New friends – new skills – new ideas – and not enough sleep!"
Elle, UK
"I built parachutes, threw things off the roof, set things on fire, hunted geocaches under bridges, played games, spent far too many hours in the basement, made many new friends and had to leave at the end far too early for my liking!"
Clemens, Austria
"The initial duality of IMWe, that so many experience, befell me. You get immersed in the wonder of it all, whilst still feeling vulnerably alien to this seemingly big family, where everybody knows everybody. Everybody but you, since you’re the new guy!"
Michi, Austria
"After Easter, you had to stay in contact with each other writing hand-written letters, since there were no internet and no cellphones. And in case you wanted to visit each other, you had to take the train, since flying was unaffordable to a young European those days."
Inga, Iceland
"IMWe has made me a better Scout leader and transformed my event planning skills."
Steffi, Austria
"I took part in my second choice Workshop “Rythm on stage” which acutally is responsible for me going on stage the first time and going on at home with other stage experiences. "
Liene, Latvia
"The brightest impression of the event was the welcoming feeling of it. I really haven’t felt anything like that before - people just coming up to me and just being nice, helpful and friendly. "
Lübeck, Germany
"You think you have seen everything in your scout life, you think you have had every possible experience there is…
Well, you are wrong!"
Julia, Finland
"A Word Of Warning: IMWe may change your life and make you move to Germany. Been there, done that."
Enikő, Hyngary
"I love the atmosphere - every year we create a different setting - from the Hansaetic League, the Body from Within or to Sherlock Holmes. Decoration and great costumes that make you believe you are in Japan or in the space."
Michel, Germany
"The next days I realized that I had become a member of a different world, like Narnia or Neverland, by entering the Rieneck gates."
Ellen, Norway
"I never once stayed in a hotel, I visited two scout camps and a Music festival and got to see around 20 cities within 30 days and stayed the whole of my trip only with people I’ve gotten to know in Rieneck or my own family."
Valentin, Austria
"My word of warning: All other Scouting experiences will feel a bit dull after having experienced IMWe…"
Brajda, Croatia
"First it was just me and 2 girls teaching me a Polish scout song. Then some people heard us practicing and just joined us one by one so at the end we were 9 persons on stage. On IMWe you always find someone to join in whatever you are up to."
Bettina, Austria
" I am grateful to have found friends who I am still very close to, ever since we met at Rieneck Castle a decade ago. "
