We all know that summers are meant for sun, fun, and time spent with friends, but summers in Geoparks hit different, and let me tell you why.

First, being part of a geopark implies taking part in all kinds of educational activities, including networking experiences. Five young volunteers represented Romania at the fourth edition of the International Geopark Camp for Youth.  It is a Camp held by Muskau Arch UNESCO Geopark (a transboundary geopark between Germany and Poland) and its main target is to ease the cooperation between volunteers from across the European Geopark Network. But wait, the fun doesn’t stop here! Despite the fun bike rides along the Geopark’s Visitor Spots, the Mini-Train rides, and the craft activities, the Camp had a bigger vision. The participants had to come up at the end of the Camp with a brochure and a movie for the upcoming activities that will be targeted at the public. That sounds intriguing, right?

“In our Geopark, activities are meant for everyone” and one of this summer’s activities is the perfect fit for this quote. A group of students and teachers from the University of Bucharest were challenged this summer, during their Multidisciplinary Stage of Formation and Learning, to answer a few simple questions:  What is, more exactly, an UNESCO International Geopark and how does it help the community? The program itself tried to help the group of students to get used to the newest practical takes on microregional development.

More than all of these, Geoparks are directly related to traditions and to cultural heritage. Therefore, one of our events during this amazing summer was the Celebration Day of our national, well-known Romanian Blouse. The event we organized along the local artisans from Cooperativa Hategana, was meant to bring back focus to traditional costumes and to traditions themselves.

It is well known that Geoparks are where treasures are, but really, this summer our Geopark hosted a real treasure hunt – Geocaching!  35 players joined us, gathering their friends or their families, and spent a weekend in our area, contributing to our local tourism. The whole Geocaching thing focuses on the idea of a treasure hunt, but on a whole new level: the coordinates of the treasures are uploaded on a platform, and from there, players must follow short geology lessons to pursue to find the hidden objects. After a player finds the hidden gem, he must answer a few questions to prove he really lectured his lesson. All in all, this game is the perfect match between spending quality time in nature and learning new things, some kind of a Real-Life Pokémon Go, but with geological elements.

Talking about games and cool initiatives, there is one more to write down: our volunteers joined one of the most important LEGO Fanclubs, during a camp organized by the members of the Brickenburg Association. With their help, our volunteers and guests created dinosaurs, fossils, and small maquettes that resemble our local identity, using the well-known colorful LEGO pieces. The artworks will help our tourists and guests to get closer to our Geoparks’ geodiversity.

Soo, with all said and done, now that the summer is over, I can say that yeah, summers in our Geopark are more than just fun and sun. Summers here are about friendships, discovering the surroundings’ geodiversity, and about getting a better sight of the local community, while also having fun. That’s what geoparks are for, right?

Greetings from Romania!